HIV •

Southern cities report high HIV rates for bisexual, gay men

A rapid oral saliva test can detect HIV in around 20 minutes

Several southern cities have reported higher HIV rates for gay and bisexual men than the national average, a newly-released study reports.

According to the survey, cities such as Jackson, Mississippi, Columbia, South Carolina, and El Paso, Texas, have above-average HIV rates. Specifically, 3 out of 10 bisexual or gay men have been diagnosed with the virus, which is three times more than the national rate. Overall, 21 out of the 25 metropolitan areas where most cases were reported were located in the south.

The survey, conducted by assistant professor of epidemiology Eli Rosenberg of Emory University, Atlanta, used data gathered in 2012. The findings also showed that around 15 percent of all gay and bisexual men in the US are HIV positive.

This is the first study to indicate HIV rates among US gay and bisexual men according to location. However, the study does not indicate what factors may explain the different rates. It is also worth mentioning that the study only considered HIV rates by taking into account diagnosed cases. Therefore, as a certain number of cases remain undiagnosed, the findings do not show how common HIV infections are in the areas surveyed.

Health officials hope that the conclusions of the survey will help men in the gay and bisexual communities receive more support. According to Dr. Jonathan Mermin of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the study represented “a key piece of the puzzle” illustrating a gap between the South and the rest of the country.

The largest gay and bisexual communities are to be found in some of the largest US cities, such as New York and Los Angeles. However, as the rates of HIV infections are higher in smaller, Southern cities, it offers an insight into the areas lawmakers and private sector actors should focus their attention on.

The findings, Mermin stressed, should help “empower” those engaged in fighting the virus, such as health officials and community organizations and point to them the areas where help is needed the most. CDC officials also praised the research word done and stressed its importance when deciding on the allocation of funds destined to activities aimed at preventing the spread of HIV.

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Florida Still Has The Highest Number of HIV Infections

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For the third year in a row, Florida still has the highest number of HIV infections in spite of the fact that numerous other states are improving in numbers. Recent data has showed that the Sunshine State is rather dim on the matter of HIV and AIDS occurrences. It’s at an all time high and many are blaming Dr. John Armstrong.

Reports have noted that new cases of HIV have been in decline around the United States within the past years. However, there are a few exceptions, among which Florida holds the highest count. In 2014, there were 6,147 people diagnosed with HIV in the state. Among them, 15 were children under the age of 13 years old. The matter is growing worse.

According to the data, this was the highest number recorded since 2002 in Florida. Counties Miami-Dade and Broward are in the lead with 1,411 and 993 cases respectively. The situation looks grim, as the state also saw to 2,600 cases of AIDS in 2014 as well. In 2013, the situation was not at all better, with 5,377 infections recorded. California was second place with a close number of 5,334 infections. However, in 2014, Florida’s numbers unfortunately surged.

It seems that Gov. Rick Scott and Dr. John Armstrong are widely blamed for the worrying situation of the state. The Department of Health had seen to drastic reductions in staff that is now deemed as one of the reasons for the rise of HIV. Other states have experienced a decline, so it’s no wonder that the increase is being blamed on current circumstances. In fact, those who have worked in the Department of Health’s HIV program believe that the staff reductions have severely damaged their impact.

According to Sen. Oscar Braynon, they are now “cutting just to be cutting”. It shows exceptional neglect of the administration if they are choosing to reduce spending in matters of health. The state has seen a major decline in services by county health departments, and it’s unfortunately how the situation will grow worse. If left untreated, HIV will evolve into AIDS, which is ultimately fatal for the victim.

That is why regular testing, early detection and prevention are crucial to fight the disease.

However, Dr. Armstrong stated that the reduction in staff members did not affect the healthcare’s focus on HIV. All factors, including “surveillance, education, prevention, counseling, testing, care and treatment” for the infection are still the same as they always had been. He does not deny the rise in the number of cases, but states that the blame is not in cut of staff or budget.

Florida will reportedly be spending over $34 million for HIV and AIDS prevention, all thanks to a federal grant.

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Less Than A Quarter of U.S. Sexually Active Teens Get Tested For HIV

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In spite of warnings and recommendations from the CDC, less than a quarter of U.S. sexually active teens get tested for HIV, a disease that is common in their age group. The problem has lingered for a long time, so researchers are looking for potential solutions. More and more teenagers are having sex without a condom, which encourages the spreading of HIV infections.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), almost 50% of all high school students in the United States have had sex without a condom. Among them, 15% have had sex with at least four sexual partners, where just one third of them have actually been screen for HIV. The CDC data shows that HIV rates have been indeed in decline, but there are still 50,000 new cases diagnosed each year.

And a number of 1 in 4 infections are in people between the ages of 13 and 24 years old. Without proper screening, the issue could only grow more severe. It has been estimated that there are a worrying 25,000 adolescents infected with HIV, but are unaware due to a lack of testing. That could only further encourage the numbers to grow. Those unaware of their infection portray as a much higher risk for spreading it.

Those most vulnerable to the disease are gay or bisexual men, intravenous drug users, and those who have multiple sexual partners. However, all who have had unprotected sex should undergo testing. Without a diagnosis and screening, they will become patients of HIV infections without their knowledge, which will deprive them of proper care and screening. If left unattended, the virus can evolve into AIDS, which is ultimately deadly.

According to the CDC, just 22% of high school students have been tested for HIV, even though there were 10,000 cases of new infections found in their age group in 2014. The rate was found to be at 9 out of 100,000 cases for those 15 to 19 years old, but the numbers gradually grow with age. For those between 20 and 24 years old, they reach over 25 in 100,000, which underlines their study’s point: start testing early on.

The most common age group remains of young adults between the ages of 25 to 29 years old, at a worrying 36 in 100,000, with some rates higher in the aforementioned groups based on sexual preference. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) constantly advised for young adults under the age of 21 years old to get regularly screened for HIV.

The improvement in testing could see to the rate of infection going down. And, it’s achievable.

Through proper sexual education, system-level intervention in clinics, and free testing services covered by insurance, it’s possible to see the numbers decline. Anonymity and affordability are also a few of the barriers among young people that should be eliminated. Parents or people of authority are encouraged to be more open about sexually transmitted diseases and how to prevent them.

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Study finds preventative treatments dramatically cut HIV risk in gay men

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A UK-based research has shown that the gay men can lower their risk of infection from the potentially fatal AIDS causing virus HIV by an impressive 86 percent with the use of preventative treatment methods, such as daily dose of dedicated medications like Gilead AIDS drugs.

According to the researchers, the results of British trial of so-called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) offered a real hope of reversing the HIV epidemic among gays who are one of the highest risk groups for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Lead study researcher Sheena McCormack said, “These findings show PrEP is highly effective at preventing HIV infection in the real world.”

McCormack, a University College London professor of clinical epidemiology, said that the team used a Gilead’s anti-retroviral drug called ‘Truvada’ to find out the success rate of such preventive treatment methods in checking HIV spread among the high risk group in the context of a ‘real world’.

Gilead’s ‘Truvada’ is a well established drug for reducing the risk of new HIV infections in placebo-controlled trials.

In PrEP, those people are involved who even though don’t have the HIV infection but remain at their higher risk and therefore use preventive treatments, such as single antiretroviral pills every day, to remain safe from the deadly disease AIDS.

Nearly 35.3 million people across the world have a HIV-positive status. According to the global estimates of AIDS experts, new HIV infections among gays could by lowered by 20 to 25 percent through PrEP.

For the study, the researchers involved nearly 545 men who were enrolled at 13 sexual health clinics in England. The participants were randomised to get PrEP immediately or after 12 months period, enabling researchers to conduct comparative study of those on PrEP and those who are not.

The study’s findings showed 22 cases of HIV infections among the participants in the first year, i.e. 19 in the deferred group and three in the immediate one.

According to the study group, the protection by 86 percent is the best recorded from a randomised controlled PrEP-based research trial to date.

The findings of the study were presented on Tuesday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle in the US, and the complete research work and its results will be soon detailed in a medical journal.

High hopes on experimental AIDS vaccine which blocks HIV in monkeys

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US-based scientists have developed an experimental drug compound that has shown promising results against the AIDS causing virus called Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

The novel drug candidate has been developed by the scientists at more than dozen of institutes, including the Scripps Research Institute in Florida and Harvard Medical School.

The scientists tested the experimental drug on monkeys (rhesus macaques) which can get infected from simian HIV, a virus that is similar to the HIV that infects humans.

During the clinical procedure, it was found that macaques inoculated with a compound called eCD4-lg, which is present in the drug, didn’t catch the simian HIV, even when the scientists repeatedly exposed them to high levels of the virus over an eight-month period.

Lead study researcher Michael Farzan, an immunologist at the Scripps Research Institute, said, “Our compound is the broadest and most potent entry inhibitor described so far. Unlike antibodies, which fail to neutralize a large fraction of HIV-1 strains, our protein has been effective against all strains tested, raising the possibility it could offer an effective HIV vaccine alternative.”

Along with providing protection to the monkeys, the lab tests showed the drug candidate helped in blocking all the known strain of HIV-1 and HIV-2, which are the two main types of the AIDS virus that infect humans.

It was built on prior research works by Farzan’s lab into a receptor known as CCR5, which plays a key role in allowing the AIDS virus to latch onto a cell’s surface and start replicating.

The new compound of the drug binds to two sites on the virus’ surface at the same time, preventing the infection of a cell.

Hailing the results of the study, Farzan said, “This is the culmination of over a decade’s work on the biochemistry of how HIV enters cells. When we did our original work on CCR5, people thought it was interesting, but no one saw the therapeutic potential. That potential is starting to be realized now.”

The study was published in the journal Nature.

Scientists detect new HIV strain in Cuba that rapidly progress to AIDS

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A new deadly strain of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been detected in some patients in Cuba, which the researchers claim much more aggressive as compared to the previously known strains of virus.

According to a new study, the progression rate of the new strain of HIV is so fast that it could cause the potentially fatal disease Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the person within three years of infection.

The condition is growing worrisome for the health scientists and professionals in Cuba and other parts of the world as the existing antiretroviral drugs treatments are falling short of this new strain as they are likely coming too late to combat its rapid progression.

The new HIV variant, dubbed CRF19, is a combination of HIV subtypes A, D and G.

Health experts say any HIV strain usually takes five to ten years to progress into AIDS, a potentially deadly disease, in the absence of any proper treatment.

“As these patients had progressed very fast, they are likely to be recently infected. As we know that they had been tested HIV negative one or a maximum two years before, none of them had received any form of treatment for the virus. And all of them are infected with the mutated strain of HIV and now have developed AIDS within three years period,” Anne-Mieke Vandamme, a professor of medicine at the University of Leuvan in Belgium, explained.

The progression rate of HIV to develop into AIDS majorly depends upon the immune system of the patient in comparison to any particular virus subtype. But, Vandamme says the one happening in Cuba is something very different and new.

The medical experts strongly recommends the people living in or visiting Cuba to beef up all preventive measures, such as avoid unprotected sex or have safe blood transfusion, to minimize their risk of falling prey to the potentially fatal disease.

The study’s findings were detailed in the journal EBioMedicine.

US observes 15th National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Saturday

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The health experts and medical professionals across the United States have joined hands to create awareness about Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome—the deadliest viral infection having no 100 percent cure till date– as the country observes the 15th National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Saturday (February 7).

The day is recognized as a dedicated event for encouraging the people across the country, especially the African Americans, to get educated about the precautions, symptoms, screening and treatment of the potentially fatal infection.

The medical professionals also intend to aware people about a daily pill, called PrEP, which can prevent HIV infection.

The health experts at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say the African Americans face the most severe burden of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) among all the ethnic and racial groups in the United States.

A CDC report shows black males have more than six times higher rate of new AIDS diagnoses than their white counterparts. In simpler terms, one in every sixteen black males will be contracting the AIDS virus in his lifetime.

However, the doctors and health experts are leaving no stone unturned to create awareness across the country and in Frederick County to educate all, especially the most vulnerable group about the prevention, screening and treatment of the fatal infection.

Deborah Anne, a certified registered nurse for AIDS at the Frederick County Health Department, said, “It’s like the big bullet we’ve been waiting for to stop new infections. I’m proud that here at Frederick County Health Department, we have actually been trying to educate everyone that comes in for HIV testing that if they are putting themselves at risk on a regular basis, this is a good option for them.”

The health experts also assert the Americans to know their HIV status on regular interval. They believe timely screening helps in timely treatment and check the further spread of the potentially fatal infection that targets the immune system of human body.

Researchers develop smartphone device that can screen HIV in 15 minutes

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At a time when the international scientists are working rigorously in direction of finding effective medication to treat the highly fatal HIV/AIDS, a team of researchers at the Columbia University has made a remarkable invention of a low-cost smartphone accessory or dongle that promises to perform a test for simultaneously detecting three highly infectious and dangerous disease markers after taking blood from finger prick in just 15 minutes.

The research team behind the project characterizes the device as a historic one which replicates for the first time all optical, electronic and mechanical functions of a lab-based blood test.

The research work was led by Samuel K. Sia, associate professor of biomedical engineering at School of Engineering and Applied Science in Columbia University.

Specifically, the device performs an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) without requirement of any stored energy because all the necessary power required is drawn from the smartphone.

Explaining the working mechanism of the device, Sia said, “It performs a triplexed immunoassay not currently available in a single test format, HIV antibody, treponemal-specific antibody for syphilis, and non-treponemal antibody for active syphilis infection.”

The micro device can get easily connected to a smartphone or computer. Recently, it was piloted in Rwanda by health care workers who tested 96 patients by examining their whole blood obtained through a finger prick.

“A full laboratory-quality immunoassay can be run on a smartphone accessory,” Sia asserted.

Researchers are finding the development as a major breakthrough in the screening and treatment of such type of fatal disease. They also said that early diagnosis and treatment of the infection in pregnant mothers can largely lower the adverse consequences to both mothers and their babies.

Sia said the dongle is likely to have an estimated manufacturing cost of USD 34, which is much lower than USD 18,450 that typical ELISA equipment runs.

Concluding the study, the authors said, “By raising detection of syphilis infections, we might be able to reduce deaths by 10-fold. We might be able to scale up HIV testing at the community level with immediate antiretroviral therapy that could nearly stop HIV transmissions and approach elimination of this devastating disease.”

The research work detailing about the device was reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Europe and Central Asia failing to check HIV: WHO

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The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday said that both Central Asia and Europe have failed to tackle the HIV epidemic despite major advancement in the treatment and large scale awareness programs.

According to the WHO officials, about 136,000 people in Central Asia and Europe are becoming newly infected with the fatal AIDS causing HIV in 2013.

“Europe has not managed to reach the 2015 Millennium Development Goal target and time is running out. We cannot afford dropping our guard on AIDS-causing HIV,” WHO’s regional director Zsuzsanna Jakab said.

The combined report prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) showed 80 percent more new cases of HIV in 2013 as compared to the 2004 figures.

The health experts say these figures indicate that we are missing the crucial target of reversing the tide of HIV/AIDS in the region.

HIV, also known as Human Immunodeficiency Virus, defuncts the immune system of the patient, leading to a lifelong illness. As the HIV infection grows, it destroys the immune system completely and the end-stage is the development of the deadly Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The fatal virus spread through the sexual transmission, blood transfusion and breast feeding.

Of the total new HIV infections reported in the 53 nations of the WHO’s European region last year, over 105,000 were found in Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

New HIV cases among children declined 40% between 2009 and 2013: UNICEF

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The new cases of HIV infections among the children have witnessed a decline of about 40 percent between 2009 and 2013, a report by UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) showed on Friday.

According to the experts, this is an encouraging indication but the global goal of achieving a 90 percent reduction in the HIV cases remains a difficult task.

The UNICEF report showed an estimated 1.1 million new infections from the fatal virus among the children under 15 prevented between 2005 and 2013.

Experts hold several factors responsible for this progress. Some of these factors are creation of more awareness programs against HIV/AIDS, especially for HIV positive pregnant women, more and more services for the prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT).

Botswana, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zimbabwe are among eight other African countries to witness the maximum decline in the new cases of AIDS causing HIV.

The report also showed that only 67 percent of HIV positive pregnant women living in low and middle income nations received proper and most effective treatment in 2013. In the dearth of proper treatment, an estimated 190,000 children under 15 fell prey to HIV/AIDS-related reasons.

Expressing need to reach every child in order to achieve the global call, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said, “We must close the gap, and invest more in reaching every mother, every newborn, every child and every adolescent with HIV prevention and treatment programmes that can save and improve their lives.”

Dr. Alina Alonso, Director of the Florida Health Department in Palm Beach County, said getting proper treatment and regular screening can help tremendously in preventing HIV.

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