Category Archives: News

 Global Health Awareness Week (GHAW) 2012 starts tomorrow with a community service event serving food at Midnight Mission on Skid Row! GHAW Continues with lunch lectures everyday next week, a documentary screening with former ER and Law & Oder: SVU producer Dr. Neal Baer, and a faculty & student dinner and roundtable discussion with a very special keynote speaker.

GHAW is also hosting a book drive with WorldwideBooks.org. Bring your new and used books, textbooks, and cookbooks to CHS 13-154 or to any GHAW event to donate.

RSVP at http://ghaw.org/ucla by this Friday!

Results from a small study suggest that in some individuals with well-controlled HIV infection, replacing antiretroviral therapy with interferon treatment may help the immune system control HIV. The findings also suggest that interferon treatment may lower HIV levels in ‘reservoirs’ where it hides from antiretroviral drugs.

Interferon is a protein produced by immune cells that stimulates immune function. An artificial form of interferon is a common line of treatment for hepatitis C infection and some types of cancers.

“Our data shows that our human immune response can be made to control HIV in persons who have otherwise lost that ability,” said Dr. Luis Montaner, Director of the HIV-1 Immunopathogenesis Laboratory at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, and senior author of the study, in a recent press release.

“And while we still have much to pursue with this early clinical finding, I firmly believe this gives us hope that one day we can control – and eventually eradicate – HIV in absence of antiretroviral therapy,” he added.

Dr. Montaner noted that HIV usually impairs interferon-producing immune cells after infection. “But in our study, conducted at a later stage of chronic infection in an individual, we saw that adding interferon to a recovered immune system can have a dramatic effect in directing responses against HIV to both control and reduce its detection within places we know it can hide,” he said.

“While our data may not immediately change clinical practice, it identifies the first strategy that shows a clinical response where both viral replication and HIV reservoir indicators are observed to be reduced in the absence of current [antiretroviral therapy],” said Dr. Montaner. “This is the type of response HIV cure research aims to achieve.”

Results from this study were presented last week at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle.

Click HERE to read the rest of the article about this study at aidsbeacon.com

Snigdha Vallabhaneni, X Li, E Vittinghoff, D Donnell, C Pilcher, and S Buchbinder, Univ of California, San Francisco, US; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Res Ctr, Seattle, WA, US; and San Francisco Dept of Publ Hlth, CA, US

Background:  Although efficacy is unknown, some men who have sex with men (MSM) attempt to reduce their HIV risk by adapting their sexual practices to the perceived HIV serostatus of their partners. We used data from several cohorts to assess the association of seroadaptive practices with HIV seroconversion.

Conclusions:  All seroadaptive practices considered in this study appear to be protective when compared to receptive anal sex with an HIV⁺ or unknown serostatus partner. MSM reporting monogamy and being top-only have the lowest risk of seroconversion, while those who practice seropositioning have a similar risk to those reporting no UAS. The increased risk associated with serosorting, compared to no UAS, likely results from mistaken perceptions of partner serostatus.

___________________________________________________________________________

An meta-analysis of HIV-negative gay men’s sexual behaviour and HIV incidence rate in four HIV prevention studies, presented aerlier this month at the 19^th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) has found that attempting to ‘serosort’ by restricting unprotected sex to partners known to be HIV-negative does have efficacy as an HIV prevention strategy when compared with having none at all.

Serosorting is, however, considerably less effective in reducing the chances of having HIV compared to other strategies such as monogamy, only having insertive sex, or ‘seropositioning’ (only taking the bottom role with partners known not to have HIV and being top with partners of positive or unknown status). ‘Seroadaptive’ behaviours include any method of attempting to reduce the risk of HIV acquisition or transmission by altering one’s sexual behaviour according to the HIV status of partners. The term ‘serosorting’ has been used in various different ways. Most commonly it means restricting unprotected anal sex to partners known to have the same HIV status as yourself. When unprotected sex between HIV-negative men is confined to a primary relationship, with condoms use in all other encounters, this has been called ‘negotiated safety’.

While some studies have found serosorting in HIV-negative men to be effective, others have not. Attempted serosorting by HIV-negative people has an inherent drawback that serosorting by HIV-positive people lacks: people can only be certain of their status up to the first time they risk exposure to HIV after their last negative HIV test. Research indicates that a large minority of people in high-risk communities who assume they are HIV-negative in fact have HIV, and that a large proportion of men who ‘know’ their partner’s HIV status have in fact tried to guess it.

Click HERE to read the full article about this study on www.aidsmap.com

The Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services (CHIPTS) at the University of California, Los Angeles and the Center for Strengthening Youth Prevention Paradigms (SYPP Center) of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles announce the release of a new resource titled The Role of Social Determinants of Health & HIV.  This is the first publication in a series called HIV Prevention at the Structural Level.

Understanding social determinants of health is critical for effective implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States.  This resource provides a framework for HIV service providers and community planners to better articulate the many factors that impact HIV risk beyond the individual level.

Download the PDF here: [Download not found]

The NIH is interested in supplement applications from CFARs in the following scientific areas:

1. HIV-TB Co-infection
2. Ethical Issues in HIV/AIDS Research Involving Specimens

Attached is the CFAR supplement announcement for more details on the above scientific areas of interest.  The key aspects of this funding opportunity are:

• The deadline for applications to be received at NIAID is May 14, 2012
• Budget requests vary by scientific area as described in the announcement
• Funding will be for one year
• Project directors must be new investigators or established investigators in non-HIV fields who have never received an R01 in HIV/AIDS
• Potential applicants must have at least one year of funding in the parent grant in June to be eligible to apply to this announcement (CFARs in a bridge year or in a no cost extension are not eligible.)
• One application is allowed per CFAR per scientific area of interest
• The earliest start date is 6/15 but may be delayed due to administrative issues

Please note that the number of applications that will be funded for this administrative supplement announcement will be based on funding availability and scientific merit.

Download supplement announcement here: [Download not found]

Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its HIV Surveillance Report, 2010, Vol. 22.  This report presents data for diagnoses of HIV infection and AIDS through December 31, 2010 and reported to CDC through June 2011.

CDC’s 2010 HIV Surveillance Report is used by epidemiologists, researchers, and public health practitioners across a wide variety of institutions to help guide program planning, evaluation, and resource allocation.  The surveillance report contains data collected throughout the United States and six U.S. dependent areas by HIV surveillance programs in state and local health departments. It is one of the primary sources of information on HIV in the United States.

We are pleased to note that there are now 51 areas (46 states and five dependent areas) that have had confidential, name-based HIV infection reporting long enough (i.e., since at least January 2007, with reporting to CDC since at least June 2007) to be included in the 2010 HIV Surveillance Report.  The 46 states represent approximately 92% of cumulative AIDS diagnoses in the 50 states and the District of Columbia through 2010.  New states included in this year’s report are California, Delaware, Montana, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington (state).

AIDS data from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and six U.S. dependent areas are included in the report. AIDS data from one US dependent area, the Republic of Palau, are included for the first time in this report.

The 2010 HIV Surveillance Report shows, from 2007 through 2010,

• The annual estimated number and rate of diagnoses of HIV infection remained stable in the 46 states (i.e., there was less than a 5% increase or decrease from 2007 through 2010), even though estimated numbers and rates of diagnoses of HIV infection increased in some subgroups and decreased in others. CDC estimates that there were 47,129 diagnoses of HIV infection in the 46 states in 2010. The estimated rate of diagnoses of HIV infection the 46 states in 2010 was 16.1 per 100,000 persons.
•  The annual estimated number of AIDS diagnoses in the United States remained stable, and the rate of annual AIDS diagnoses decreased (based on data from the 50 states, and

the District of Columbia). CDC estimates there were 33,015 AIDS diagnoses in 2010. The estimated rate of AIDS diagnoses in the United States the same year was 10.8 per 100,000 persons.

• From the beginning of the epidemic through 2010, there have been 1,129,127 persons diagnosed with AIDS in the United States.
• The majority of diagnoses of HIV infection were among blacks/African Americans (46% of all diagnoses of HIV infection), whites (29%), and Hispanics/Latinos (20%). The only racial/ethnic group to have an increase in the rate of HIV diagnoses was American Indians/Alaska Natives.
• By transmission category, the only increase seen in the number of HIV diagnoses was among adult and adolescent males with infection attributed to male-to-male sexual contact.

The 2010 HIV Surveillance Report shows a 10% increase in the number of HIV diagnoses among persons aged 15-19 years and a 33% increase among persons aged 20-24 years. The fact that our young people are bearing a significant burden of the nation’s HIV infections has been highlighted in recent CDC publications of HIV incidence and a recent CDC surveillance supplemental report focusing on diagnoses of HIV infection among adolescents and young adults. HIV continues to have a significant effect on young people in the United States, especially young men who have sex with men.

Click HERE to see the whole HIV Surveillance Report, 2010, Vol. 22.  

 HIV is an independent risk factor for lung disease, according to new data reported Wednesday, March 7, at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. Though the study results from a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine team note that people living with HIV—particularly those with viral loads not being kept in check with antiretroviral (ARV) therapy—have reduced lung strength and a more rapid loss of pulmonary function compared with HIV-negative controls, the researchers also point out that cigarette smoking was very common in the cohort studies and remains an important risk factor to contend with.

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a nationwide observance that encourages people to take action in the fight against HIV/AIDS and raise awareness of its impact on women and girls. It is coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health (OWH). It helps organizations across the country come together to offer support, encourage discussion, and teach women and girls about prevention of HIV, the importance of getting tested for HIV, and how to live with and manage HIV/AIDS.

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is observed specifically on March 10 every year, but OWH encourages organizations to hold events throughout the month of March.

Find out what you can do! Read the OWH Director’s Dear Colleague letter(PDF, 166 KB).

Learn more about National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

More Than Half of HIV Patients Found to Have Long Gaps in Between Appointments

PHILADELPHIA — Only about 75 percent of HIV/AIDS patients in the United States remain in care consistently, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published online this week in AIDS. The study of patients across the United States is the first to provide a comprehensive national estimate of HIV care retention and information about patients who are most likely to continue their treatment over time.

“Helping patients with HIV stay in care is a key way to reduce their chances of getting sick from their disease and prevent the spread of HIV in the community. Our findings show that too many patients are falling through the cracks,” says the study’s lead author, Baligh R. Yehia, MD, a fellow in the division of Infectious Disease and the Health Policy Research Program at Penn Medicine. “The benefits of keeping patients in care are clear both for patients and the community at large, and it may even result in decreased health care costs by preventing unnecessary hospitalization for an acute illness.”

The researchers studied 17,425 adult patients cared for at 12 clinics within the HIV Research Network, a consortium that cares for HIV-infected patients across the nation, between 2001 and 2008. Just 42 percent of patients studied had what researchers defined as “no gap” in treatment — intervals of no more than six months in between outpatient visits — over the timeframe studied, while 31 percent had one or more seven- to 12-month gaps in care. Twenty-eight percent appeared to have gone without care for more than a year on one or more occasions. Since there is no gold standard on the best way to measure retention in care, the team used three different measures of retention to examine each patient’s visit record.

Women, white patients, older patients, male patients who were infected via sex with men, and patients who began treatment on Medicare (compared to those on private insurance) were all more likely to remain in care more consistently. Retention was also greater among patients whose CD4 counts — the measure of how advanced the disease is — were very low, at the point associated with AIDS, when they entered care.

The team suggests that their findings may help guide clinicians in assessing which patients are more likely to follow their prescribed visit schedule, and develop intervention strategies to improve their chances of adhering to their care. “Clinicians need to know what barriers to screen for, so our findings help to better define groups of patients who may require extra help to stay on track,” says the study’s senior author and Yehia’s mentor, Kelly Gebo, MD, an associate professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Housing, transportation and financial problems, substance abuse and mental illness can all be contributors to problems with care retention, and patients who don’t have symptoms may not believe they’re “sick” enough to require regular visits with their providers.

Yehia also notes that a standardized criteria for determining the appropriate time between visits is needed, since patients who are at various stages in their disease, have other health conditions or certain social circumstances may require unique plans for care — thus making it hard to assess aggregate retention across the entire HIV population. And since patients may switch doctors, move frequently, go to jail or become institutionalized and still receive care during those times, the research team suggests additional studies that track patients across those circumstances, such as research involving data from insurance records.

Questions also remain about how HIV treatment retention may change as time passes during what has become, for many, a chronic condition spanning decades of their lives.

“It’s possible that as time goes by, some patients may become more regular users of care, while others may become complacent and skip appointments,” Yehia says. “We need to better pinpoint times when certain patients may be less likely to remain in treatment and find ways to ensure their continued care.”

In addition to Yehia and Josh Metlay, MD, PhD, also from Penn, other authors of the paper include investigators from Hopkins, Oregon Health and Sciences University, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

News release courtesy of Penn Medicine.

Addressing a key issue in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC) has released “Guidelines for Improving Entry Into and Retention in Care and Antiretroviral Adherence for Persons With HIV: Evidence-Based Recommendations.” The recommendations were published March 5 ahead of print in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
While it is well established that entering care immediately after an HIV diagnosis, staying in care and adhering to antiretroviral (ARV) therapy are necessary steps on the road to successfully controlling the virus, figuring out how to ensure that people living with the virus take these steps has turned out to be a challenge. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that only half of people living with HIV in the United States are receiving regular medical care, and far fewer have their virus under control with ARVs. Numerous studies have been undertaken to address this challenge. Until now, they have not been compiled and assessed based on their results.

Read the full AIDSmeds article HERE.