Mention the phrase “diverse ecosystem,” and it conjures images of tropical rainforests and endangered coral reefs. It also describes the human colon. A new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine reveals in greater detail than ever before the full extent of the bacterial community inhabiting the human bowel - 10 times more diverse
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December the 1st 2008 marked the 20th anniversary of World AIDS day - a day when people around the world take stock of the AIDS situation and consider those who have died from the disease and those who are struggling to live with it.
Experts say in the last decade the infection rate in Australia has been slowly rising and now more than ever the safe sex message is important - in the the ACT and NSW the infection rate has remained relatively stable but in other areas, particularly Victoria and Queensland, there has been a significant increase.
According to a group of HIV specialists at the World Health Organisation (WHO), universal and annual voluntary testing could reduce new HIV cases by 95% within 10 years - these predicted results are based on a a mathematical model which found that such testing followed by immediate antiretroviral therapy treatment (irrespective of clinical stage or CD4 count) can achieve such results.
While experts say everyone needs to take responsibility for their own health and individuals have the power to avoid HIV by simply following the rules of safe sex, the authors of the study say universal voluntary testing followed by immediate ART could have additional public health benefits such as reducing the incidence of tuberculosis and the transmission of HIV from mother to child.
Such testing they say could result in a significant reduction of HIV-related deaths in poor countries struggling to cope with HIV epidemics.
At present the WHO policy on HIV treatment involves voluntary testing and clinical and/or immunological evaluation (e.g. CD4 count) to determine eligibility for treatment with antiretrovirals and WHO recommend preventive interventions including male circumcision, partner reduction, correct and consistent use of condoms, and interventions targeting most-at-risk populations, also known as “combination prevention.”
A meeting early next year aims to bring together all those involved in HIV prevention to discuss issues relating to the wider use of antiretroviral therapy.
The study is published in The Lancet.
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Universal and annual voluntary testing followed by immediate antiretroviral therapy treatment (irrespective of clinical stage or CD4 count) can reduce new HIV cases by 95% within 10 years, according to new findings based on a mathematical model developed by a group of HIV specialists in WHO. The findings were published in The Lancet 1 today
Full Post: Universal voluntary testing, immediate treatment can reduce new HIV cases by 95% within 10 years
Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General says a major milestone in the long struggle against HIV/AIDS has been reached. This year is the 20th anniversary of the emergence of the devastating disease and Dr. Chan says more than 3 million people in low and middle-income countries are now receiving life-prolonging antiretroviral therapy - an achievement which
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A study published in the British medical journal Lancet yesterday suggesting that testing all adults in Africa annually for HIV and immediately treating every person who tests positive could halt the AIDS epidemic in Africa within a decade has spurred the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) to renew its call for the massive scale up of,
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Babies born to HIV-positive mothers and given the antiretroviral drug nevirapine through the first six weeks of life to prevent infection via breast-feeding are at high risk for developing drug-resistant HIV if they get infected anyway, a team of researchers report. But the investigators highlight the proven superiority of the six-week regimen in preventing mother-to-child
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Genetic Immunity, a US/Hungarian clinical-stage company focused on development of nanomedicines for targeted immune amplification, today announced it has treated the first subject in a Phase II clinical study to evaluate DermaVir Patch. DermaVir Patch, the Company’s lead nanomedicine candidate for treatment-na? HIV-infected individuals, is designed to amplify de novo HIV-specific memory T-cell responses
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