HIV/AIDS

So I freaked out a couple weeks ago when the statistic came out that "28% of South African school girls are infected with HIV": South Africa: 'Over 25% of schoolgirls HIV positive' 28 Percent Of South African Schoolgirls Have HIV Because Of 'Sugar Daddies,' Health Minister Says The good news is, this statistic is WRONG: Media get it wrong on SA schoolgirls' HIV statistics Last week the Mail & Guardian used a South African Press Association (Sapa) article on its site incorrectly stating that 28% of South Africa's schoolgirls were infected by HIV, compared with 4% of schoolboys. But the…
The News in HIV the past few weeks has been the same message: Get people tested. Get people antiretrovirals. It saves lives. YAY!!! KINDA! FOR NOW! Test and Treat in Los Angeles: A mathematical model of the effects of test-and-treat for the MSM population in LA County. This group of folks looked at a very specific question: What are the anticipated effects of ASAP HIV testing and ASAP antiretrovirals in the homosexual community of LA? If we start implementing this strategy now, in 2013, what will the HIV landscape in this community look like in 2023? First, the good news-- The people who are…
In A Perfect World, everyone who was infected with HIV-1 would be tested and treated. 1-- People with access to antiretrovirals live longer. Increases in Adult Life Expectancy in Rural South Africa: Valuing the Scale-Up of HIV Treatment I really like the introductory paragraph to this paper: For most of the 20th century, life expectancy increased in nearly every part of the world (1). However, from the late 1980s, the HIV epidemic led to a reversal of this trend in southern Africa, with a large rise in mortality among working-age adults (1–3). In South Africa, life expectancy at age 15…
HIV-- Its a terrible game of chance. Odds of HIV transmission are, superficially, rather low (its no measles). And, we can make the risk of transmission even lower various pro-active ways-- antiretroviral use to keep viral loads down in HIV+ people (especially in pregnant women about to give birth), screening donated blood and organs, condom use, needle exchanges, and so on. But people still get infected. Some progress relatively quickly to AIDS. Some dont progress at all, and never need to take antiretrovirals. Some have huge levels of HIV in their blood. In some, their physicians can barely…
A few weeks ago, The Thinking Atheist was in town-- He gave us a sweet preview of the new video hes planning on officially unveiling at the American Atheists convention and  signing copies of his new book "Deconverted". Beforehand, he set up some camera equipment and did quick impromptu interviews with fellow OK Skeptics Caleb Lack, Red McCall (more on Reds video later!), and me! Due to The Thinking Atheists interests/audience, my answers are a little more atheistic-y themed ;) Of course they are extremely short, so I had to be very general, but if you have any questions or want more info…
I really hate blogging on non-published information, but for the second time in as many weeks, we have had interesting information come out of CROI.  This bit of news isnt as exciting. It pretty much confirms my annoyed Debbie Downer stance on using antiretrovirals in non-infected individuals as a means to prevent HIV infection (thats not entirely accurate-- my position is more 'concerned', 'baffled', 'distressed' about the obvious route of an increase in drug-resistant transmittable HIV). This is a BIG OL Debbie Downer post. VOICE, or Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the Epidemic,…
This year, we have had some educational moments in HIV/AIDS treatment. 1. A paper Ive been meaning to blog about demonstrated that the sooner an HIV+ individual starts antiretroviral therapy, the better. Ideally, <4 months after infection: Enhanced CD4+ T-Cell Recovery with Earlier HIV-1 Antiretroviral Therapy 2. A baby might have successfully cleared HIV-1 infection after immediate treatment with antiretrovirals (and possibly other unknown factors at this point). We might have jack squat for an HIV-1 vaccine, but we have made great strides in HIV/AIDS treatment by the development of…
Okay, I have a 'reputation' on the internet. You hear some wonderful news via Google alerts or on the MSN homepage about some FANTASTIC breakthrough with HIV... and then you come to ERV to come crashing back to reality. So, you might have heard about the kid who 'got cured of HIV infection'... Debbie Downer & Lindsay Lohan Infamous SNL Blooper Sketch - watch more funny videos Now, I hate to disappoint you all... but... This is actually possible. Of course I havent read the paper or any research associated with this particular case, but theoretically, it is possible. Under 'normal'…
A 12-year-old girl with sickle cell anemia in Saudi Arabia just got a blood transfusion that was tainted with HIV. In response, some politicians were fired/fined. Problem solved. *blink* Except the 'problem' of HIV in Islamic countries wasnt caused by some administrative oversight. There are no gay people in Iran. None at all. No one has sex outside of heterosexual marriage. There certainly isnt any IV drug use. All of these things are forbidden according to the Muslim belief system. Forbidden, with dire consequences. *blink* I just cant imagine what is keeping people from getting tested for…
I recently got to chat with the guys of Skeptiles this weekend about viruses, vaccines/anti-vaxers, HIV, HepC, Creationists-- We were all over the place, and it was so much fun! Skeptiles: Episode 21 – Abbie Smith
Everyone has been wanting to know about this news item: Scientists say vaccine temporarily brakes HIV Therapeutic HIV Vaccine Shows Promise Huge Breakthrough In HIV Research Brings Us Closer To A Vaccine This is the actual paper: A Dendritic Cell–Based Vaccine Elicits T Cell Responses Associated with Control of HIV-1 Replication They did something super cool-- Took viruses out of HIV+ patients. Grew up a bunch of virus. Heat inactivated the virus (killed it). Took dendritic cells out of the same HIV+ patients. Fed the DCs the dead virus. Put the DCs back into the patients (virus + cells from…
Technically, its the immune response to the HERVs that can control the HIVs, not the HERVs directly. :-D Ive written about the proposed connection between ERVs and HIV a couple times before-- Briefly, viruses do lots of things by accident.  Things just happen.  Sometimes viruses make us blind for no good reason, or give us cancer for no good reason, 'bad' things happen to us because of viruses we are infected with that are actually 'bad' for the virus too.  But when you are dealing with the population/infection numbers we deal with in virology, and all the blind randomness going on, 'bad'…
HIV diagnosis is The Root of most of the problems we have in HIV World. "How can we get more people antiretrovirals?"... How can you give someone antiretrovirals before they have been diagnosed with HIV? "How can we stop HIV transmission to sexual partners?"... Condoms work, but why would you insist people in committed monogamous relationships  wear condoms if neither one was HIV positive? "How can we stop HIV transmission to babies?"... Pre-birth antiretrovirals work, but why would you give an expectant mom anti-HIV drugs if she was not HIV positive? We need to know if someone is HIV+ before…
An outcome some of you might expect, but for reasons you probably dont expect-- Let me tell you the punchline first: Effect of High-Dose vs Standard-Dose Multivitamin Supplementation at the Initiation of HAART on HIV Disease Progression and Mortality in Tanzania, A Randomized Controlled Trial Scientists had a pool of patients (over 3000) with HIV infection, who were prescribed HAART.  They divided that group into two-- One group got a multivitamin, and one group got a 'high-dose' multivitamin.  Part way through the study, they had to shut it down, because the patients on the 'high-dose' had…
There are some HIV-woo ideas that I cannot believe we are still dealing with in 2012. 1. 'Condoms dont stop HIV' - Actually, they do.  Really, really well.  Better than any 'prophylactic antiretroviral' (with no side-effects).  Virus cant evolve resistance to condoms.  Virus cant swim through the tiny holes in the structure of latex.  Condoms work, whether the Pope or abstinence-only educators or that guy who REALLY wants to bare-back-it wants to believe it or not. 2. 'Magic potions cure HIV!' - Really?  Literally the best minds of three decades worth of scientists have been actively working…
Jerome Horwitz, the man who invented AZT, died-- Being in the basic virology realm of HIV Research World, I dont always pay as much attention to the clinical side of things as I should.  Thus I didnt know about the really interesting history of Jerome Horowitz and AZT.  Apparently he invented it as an anti-cancer agent, it didnt work, and they forgot about it... until someone tested it as a therapeutic agent for HIV, a moment that changed the course of the HIV epidemic.  Sure it wasnt a perfect drug (drug resistance when used alone, terrible side-effect profile), but it gave everyone hope…
By Sara Gorman Recent biomedical advances in AIDS research have allowed political figures such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to proclaim that the phenomenon of a generation without HIV/AIDS is within reach. But how well-founded is this optimism? A recent editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine asks this very question and concludes that there is ample reason for scientific optimism but that the global resources needed to achieve the eradication of this illness are simply not being deployed properly. Yet the science itself does not indicate that the possibility of the…
The story of 'How we know where HIV-1 came from' is really cool-- A group of researchers went into the jungles of Africa, collected lots of monkey poop, and figured out pretty much the exact colony of chimpanzees that transmitted their SIV into humans, which lead to the HIV epidemic we know today. Those researchers have struck brown gold again! Eastern Chimpanzees, but not Bonobos, Represent a  Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Reservoir There are lots of different kinds of 'HIV'. Apparently, all of the  HIV-1 (Group M is causing the HIV epidemic in humans, and then Group N and O) we know today…
I am, in no way, a 'fan' of using anti-retroviral drugs in uninfected individuals as a way to prevent HIV.  I think its a terrible idea that will result in more drug resistant HIV (already an issue before this idea was implemented) and ridiculous considering everyone who needs anti-retrovirals to live does not have/are losing access. Condoms are a cheap, drug-free, side-effect free, effective way of preventing sexual HIV-1 transmission, and HIV-1 cannot evolve to be 'condom resistant'. So you might be surprised to find out that I think that this is a good idea, and I hope it ends up working…
This story has been making the rounds online-- Unlicensed Acupuncturist intentionally infects patients with HIV Unlicensed Acupuncturist Charged In 16 HIV Infections In Switzerland Swiss acupuncturist charged in 16 HIV infections Swiss "healer" accused of intentionally infecting 16 people with HIV using acupuncture needles -- I only have the details you all can see there. Im not exactly sure what to make of this. Long-time readers of ERV might expect me to do a post on how a psychotic woo-meister used his powers of woo to kill people, the trust people put into woo-ers who are uneducated…