IAS 2015

aidsmap news from IAS 2015

• Thai testing campaign suggests how local cultures can influence testing behaviour

  HIV testing programmes
  Gus Cairns | 17 September 2015

  A campaign to encourage Thai gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) to test at least once a year for HIV has had modest success, a study presented ...

• Bone loss slows, but continues long-term in HIV-positive people on antiretroviral therapy

  Bone and joint problems
  Liz Highleyman | 14 September 2015

  People with HIV experienced a decrease in bone density at the hip and spine during their first two years after starting antiretroviral therapy (ART). While bone loss slowed after 96 weeks, it ...

• Asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment in people with HIV does predict later neurocognitive symptoms

  Neurological and cognitive problems
  Liz Highleyman | 11 September 2015

  People with HIV who showed evidence of asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment at study entry were nearly twice as likely to progress to symptomatic HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders as those with initially normal tests, according to ...

• Rilpivirine + darunavir HIV maintenance regimen matches standard three-drug antiretroviral therapy

  Changing treatment
  Liz Highleyman | 10 September 2015

  An NRTI-sparing dual antiretroviral regimen consisting of the NNRTI rilpivirine (Edurant) plus the boosted HIV protease inhibitor darunavir (Prezista) maintained viral suppression and was well-tolerated by people who switched from a standard ...

• Oestrogen may block HIV reactivation, hints at gender differences in viral reservoirs

  The search for a cure
  Liz Highleyman | 08 September 2015

  Oestrogen receptors on cells may play a role in HIV latency and reactivation, and drugs targeting these receptors could potentially be used to either promote reactivation of integrated viral genes or keep ...

• HIV treatment as prevention scale-up linked to reduced mortality among people who inject drugs in Vancouver

  Undetectable viral load and treatment as prevention
  Liz Highleyman | 01 September 2015

  HIV-related and all-cause death decreased significantly among people who inject drugs – with similar declines for both women and men – since the introduction of expanded access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) ...

• HIV-positive youth are less likely than adults to achieve viral suppression on antiretroviral treatment

  Retention and linkage to care
  Liz Highleyman | 28 August 2015

  While adolescents and young adults are about as likely as older people to be linked to care after being diagnosed with HIV in the United States, less than a third were retained ...

• Fatty liver may contribute to higher risk of death for HIV/HCV co-infected people

  Hepatitis C symptoms and diagnosis
  Liz Highleyman | 26 August 2015

  About a quarter of people in a New York City cohort who had HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) died over a ten-year period – a "strikingly low" survival rate – according ...

• People with HIV and hepatitis B co-infection can safely switch to simpler TAF single-tablet regimen

  Hepatitis and HIV
  Liz Highleyman | 18 August 2015

  People with HIV and hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection maintained HIV viral suppression, maintained or achieved HBV suppression and showed improvements in kidney and bone markers when they switched to a single-tablet ...

• People with hepatitis B can safely use Truvada PrEP for HIV prevention

  Hepatitis B
  Liz Highleyman | 14 August 2015

  People with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection did not experience liver inflammation 'flares' or other adverse events when they used or stopped using Truvada for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), according to an analysis ...

• First Brazilian PrEP data reinforce evidence that PrEP is most used by those at greatest risk

  PrEP
  Gus Cairns | 11 August 2015

  The first data from a Brazilian open-label demonstration project of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) show, in common with several other studies presented at the Eighth IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention ...

• Indiana HIV outbreak offers lessons about containing local outbreaks and need for harm reduction

  Harm reduction
  Liz Highleyman | 10 August 2015

  An early-2015 outbreak of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) in rural Indiana, USA, linked to injection of prescription opiates, offers a good example of how to track and contain a localised outbreak, ...

• WAVES shows elvitegravir regimen beats boosted atazanavir for women with HIV

  Treatment for women
  Liz Highleyman | 06 August 2015

  A study of antiretroviral treatment specifically for women with HIV showed that a single-tablet regimen containing the integrase inhibitor elvitegravir suppressed the virus better than a regimen containing ritonavir-boosted atazanavir, according to a ...

• Open-label PrEP in Botswana: very high adherence and no HIV infections seen

  PrEP
  Gus Cairns | 05 August 2015

  A study of open-label Truvada HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in Botswana among heterosexual people found very high adherence rates. Around 90% of participants had useful levels of the drug in their blood; there ...

• Peer or community interventions improve outcomes for mothers with HIV

  Prevention of mother-to-child transmission
  Carole Leach-Lemens | 05 August 2015

  Peer- and community-based interventions can significantly increase retention in care of mothers with HIV and early antenatal clinic visits, according to results from two large multi-country studies presented last month at the Eighth ...

• Daclatasvir plus sofosbuvir cures HCV for most people with HIV and HCV co-infection in French compassionate use programme

  Hepatitis C treatment
  Liz Highleyman | 03 August 2015

  Interferon-free treatment using daclatasvir (Daklinza) and sofosbuvir (Sovaldi), with or without ribavirin, was well-tolerated and produced sustained virological response rates of 95-100% for people with HIV and HCV co-infection and advanced liver disease, ...

• Interferon-free hepatitis treatment is highly effective for people with HIV and HCV co-infection in three studies

  Hepatitis and HIV
  Liz Highleyman | 29 July 2015

  Three different interferon-free regimens – sofosbuvir/ledipasvir, AbbVie's 3D regimen and grazoprevir/elbasvir – were well-tolerated and cured more than 90% of participants with HIV and HCV co-infection in three clinical trials, confirming that HIV-positive ...

• Intensification of antiretroviral therapy reduces risk of late-term mother-to-child HIV transmission

  Prevention of mother-to-child transmission
  Carole Leach-Lemens | 29 July 2015

  Maternal and infant antiretroviral therapy (ART) intensification is very effective in preventing HIV transmission during labour and birth in pregnant women with HIV in Thailand who present late for care (with less than ...

• Implant and injectable hormonal contraception most effective methods for women living with HIV

  Contraception
  Carole Leach-Lemens | 29 July 2015

  Hormonal contraceptive methods are highly effective in reducing the risk of pregnancy in women living with HIV whether on antiretroviral therapy (ART) or not, according to an evaluation involving over 5000 women, Maria ...

• Liver fibrosis regression after hepatitis C treatment linked to reduced complications and death in people with HIV and HCV co-infection

  Hepatitis and HIV
  Liz Highleyman | 29 July 2015

  People with HIV and HCV co-infection, with liver cirrhosis, who achieve sustained virological response (SVR) and experience an improvement in liver fibrosis are less likely to develop liver disease complications or die from ...