HIV denialists spread misinformation online: Consequences could be deadly

Source: Science Daily

The Internet is serving as a fertile medium for "HIV denialists" to spread false ideas about HIV/AIDS, which could have terrible public health consequences, say scientists in a policy paper in PLoS Medicine.

"It may seem remarkable that, 23 years after the identification of HIV, there is still denial that the virus is the cause of AIDS," say Tara Smith (University of Iowa College of Public Health) and Steven Novella (Yale University School of Medicine). But with the arrival of the Internet, HIV denialist organizations such as "Reappraising AIDS" have reignited their campaign to spread misinformation.

There is a consensus in the scientific community that HIV is the cause of AIDS, based upon over two decades of robust research. Deniers must therefore reject this consensus, say Smith and Novella, "either by denigrating the notion of scientific authority in general, or by arguing that the mainstream HIV community is intellectually compromised."

It is therefore not surprising, they say, that much of the newer denial literature on the Internet reflects a basic distrust of authority and of the institutions of science and medicine. Distrusting mainstream medical practitioners, many HIV deniers turn to unproven "alternative" medicines in search of treatment.

Many members of the general public do not have the scientific background to critique the assertions put forth by these groups, say Smith and Novella. Those who believe the false information spread by HIV denialists could end up putting themselves at risk of HIV infection (e.g. by abandoning safe sex), while those who are already infected could end up seeking unproven, ineffective remedies.

"The effect of denial groups on public perception of HIV infection is an area ripe for careful research," they say "as this denial can have lethal consequences."

Citation: Smith TC, Novella SP (2007) HIV denial in the Internet era. PLoS Med 4(8): e256. (available here)

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Public Library of Science.

Canadians want to ramp up global AIDS initiatives: poll

Source: CBC News

Most Canadians want the federal government to help increase access to treatment for people living with HIV and AIDS in developing countries, according to an Ipsos-Reid poll released Friday. Ninety-one per cent of those surveyed said that it's "very important" (46 per cent) or "somewhat important" (45 per cent) that the federal government should help facilitate access to drugs and medical treatments.

Residents of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were most likely to believe this is important, accounting for 93 per cent of the responses. Forty-eight per cent of respondents felt that current spending on HIV and AIDS outside of Canada is too little, while 43 per cent said the government spends "the right amount."

Stephen Lewis, board chair of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, told CBC.ca that the poll highlights a large divide between the views of Canadians and their politicians. He spoke at a press conference in Toronto announcing the results of the Ipsos-Reid poll.

"I've never fully understood that. The G8 governments have always had this extraordinary disconnect between what obviously the public feels about the issue and what the politicians express or do on the issue. I don't know what that means," he said. "Does it mean that the budget is more important than human well-being? How do they go to Africa for their photo ops and then they come back and it's business as usual?"

Lewis used the press conference to lobby the federal government for more aid. "We are calling on Canada to provide five per cent of the global [AIDS] fund, which is $900 million over the next three years."

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More information here: http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pressrelease.cfm?id=3596

Rare blood virus found in almost 4 in 1,000 in Nunavut

Source: CBC News

Almost four in every 1,000 people in Nunavut may have a rare, incurable yet preventable virus called HTLV-1, a research report prepared for the Nunavut government has found. Known as the Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type One, HTLV-1 is transmitted through sexual intercourse, breastfeeding, blood-to-blood contact and needle sharing. In less than five per cent of those infected, it can cause cancer of the blood and disorders affecting the bladder, legs and nervous system.

The overall prevalance rate of the virus in the territory is still low at 3.7 for every 1,000 people. But health officials are stressing the importance of safer sex practices and testing, said Dr. Geraldine Osborne, Nunavut's associate medical officer of health

"It's a concern as much as any sexually transmitted disease — as much as hepatitis C, hepatitis B, all these other viruses that are here that are preventable," Osborne told CBC News.
The study, which had its final report published in July, was prepared by the Public Health Agency of Canada and Nunavut Health and Social Services.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

bioLytical Gains Support of BC Persons with AIDS Society and AIDS Vancouver in HIV Testing and Awareness Campaign

Source: bioLytical Laboratories

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 9, 2007) - bioLytical today announced the added support of the BC Persons with AIDS Society and AIDS Vancouver for the inaugural Test Your Commitment Campaign. Through the campaign bioLytical hopes to bring increased awareness to HIV and the ease of being tested. Running August 10th at the Vancouver Art Gallery and August 11th at Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby, the Test Your Commitment campaign will feature live demonstrations of the INSTITM kit, the only Health Canada approved rapid HIV test for point-of-care testing. At 60 seconds for a reading, the INSTITM HIV test is the fastest HIV diagnostic test in the world.

Upon consultation with local HIV/AIDS community groups, including BC People With AIDS Society (BCPWA) and AIDS Vancouver, bioLytical agreed the public would be best served with an HIV awareness and education campaign. 15,000 Canadians are HIV positive and do not know it.

Community organizations raised concerns that testing public venues would risk confidentiality of test results. As an alternative solution, it was decided to showcase the INSTITM kit through live testing of public personas and local celebrities. While the focus of the campaign will be on the importance of getting tested for HIV, actual testing will be encouraged in private point-of-care facilities across the province. AIDS Vancouver will be on hand supporting the event by providing educational support and information.

"These community organizations work directly within HIV communities and are an invaluable source of knowledge and insight into events such as this," comments Carl Roy, CEO bioLytical, "We appreciate their concerns and recognize the importance of confidentiality."

BCPWA Society and AIDS Vancouver recognize the benefits the INSTITM kit offers in terms of increasing the accessibility of HIV testing. Both groups believe the INSTITM kit, when applied together with confidential care and counselling, will benefit HIV/AIDS education, prevention and care.

"The INSTITM kit provides a welcome advancement in addressing the HIV epidemic," says Paul Lewand, Chair of BCPWA. "Being able to obtain HIV test results in just 60 seconds makes HIV testing much more accessible and convenient. The rapidity of the test could translate to greater numbers being tested and becoming aware of their HIV status. The sooner HIV positive people are aware of their status, the sooner they can implement an appropriate care and treatment regime, and the sooner they can take steps necessary to avoid further infections."

"AIDS Vancouver welcomes new opportunities to increase public education and awareness about HIV disease. Combined with proper standards for client-confidentiality, informed consent and counselling, the point of contact test kit has potential to be an extremely useful tool for health care providers," comments William Booth, Executive Director, AIDS Vancouver. "We appreciate that bioLytical recognizes the importance of collaborating with community-based organizations such as AIDS Vancouver, who provide care and support services for individuals living with HIV disease."

Currently in British Columbia, the INSTITM test is only available at limited locations. Though approved for use by all point-of-care facilities, the provincial healthcare system has yet to cover the cost of the kit under the current healthcare plan. It is hoped that B.C. will follow the example of the Ontario government and offer the test free of charge as part of the provincial healthcare system. Such government funding would alleviate supply demands on individual clinics and physicians.

ABOUT THE BRITISH COLUMBIA PERSONS WITH AIDS SOCIETY

The British Columbia Persons With AIDS Society (BCPWA Society), a non-profit, consumer-driven organization is in its 20th year of operation, is dedicated to empowering persons living with HIV disease and AIDS through mutual support and collective action. As western Canada's largest AIDS organization, with a membership of more than 4,400 HIV+ individuals, the Society provides support and advocacy services, treatment information, and volunteer opportunities to its diverse membership.

ABOUT AIDS VANCOUVER

AIDS Vancouver was founded in 1983 as one of the first AIDS service organizations in Canada. For the past 20 years, AV has been at the forefront of community response to the epidemic here in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. Their 28 paid staff and 300 volunteers strive to provide a comprehensive and integrated range of health promotion, education, and support services.

ABOUT INSTITM HIV-1 RAPID ANTIBODY TEST

The INSTITM HIV-1 Rapid Antibody Test is a rapid, in-vitro, qualitative test for the detection of antibodies to Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 in human whole blood, serum or plasma. The test is capable of providing results in 60-seconds and is intended for use as a screening assay by trained personnel in medical facilities, clinical laboratories, emergency care situations, and physicians' offices.

ABOUT BIOLYTICAL LABORATORIES

bioLytical Laboratories (Inc.) is a leading developer and manufacturer of diagnostic tests for global health care markets. bioLytical is a privately owned company with headquarters and a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility located in Richmond, British Columbia, with offices in United Kingdom and Uganda, Africa. For more information about bioLytical and INSTITM, please visit www.biolytical.com.

This news release is not, and under no circumstances is to be construed as, an advertisement, solicitation or offering of securities of bioLytical Laboratories. The statements made in this news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ from the Company's expectations.


For more information, please contact

Smith Biotech
Amanda Smith, BSc.
Media Contact for bioLytical Laboratories
(778) 846-4116
Email: amanda@smithbiotech.com

or

Media Contact for AIDS Vancouver
Arthur Yee
(604) 893-2241
(604) 893-2211 (FAX)
Email: arthury@aidsvancouver.org

Pfizer wins U.S. approval for new HIV drug

Source: Reuters

Pfizer Inc (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday that U.S. regulators approved its AIDS drug, Selzentry, the first in a new class of oral HIV medicines. Selzentry is the first drug designed to keep the HIV virus that causes AIDS from entering healthy immune cells. Older AIDS medicines attack the virus itself. The drug, also known as maraviroc, blocks the CCR5 co-receptor that serves as a main doorway for the HIV virus into immune cells.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Selzentry for use in patients who have tried other medicines and for those for whom a diagnostic test has confirmed their HIV strain is linked to the CCR5 receptor. About 50 percent to 60 percent of patients who have been treated with other AIDS drugs meet that definition, the FDA said.

Selzentry will come with a "black box" warning, the strongest for prescription drugs, about the risk of liver toxicity, the FDA said. The drug's label also will mention the possibility of heart attacks under a list of warnings and precautions, the agency said.

The most common problems reported in studies of patients who took Selzentry included cough, fever, upper respiratory tract infections, rash, abdominal pain and dizziness.
Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, expects Selzentry to be available next month.
In the company's studies, about 45 percent of patients who took maraviroc had their HIV virus suppressed to undetectable levels. The same was true for 23 percent who got a placebo. All patients also were treated with a cocktail of the best available drugs and had tried other regimens.

Click here to read the entire article

Study helps explain how HIV becomes AIDS

Finding could help scientists seeking therapies to block virus progression

Source: University of California Irvine, Calif., July 31, 2007
A new UC Irvine study sheds light on how HIV develops into AIDS and suggests a possible way to block the deadly transformation.

UCI biologist Dominik Wodarz has shown for the first time that the development of AIDS might require HIV to evolve within a patient into a state where it spreads less efficiently from cell to cell. This counters the current belief that AIDS develops when the virus evolves over time to spread more efficiently within a patient, ultimately leading to the collapse of the immune system.

The study also finds that multiple HIV particles must team up to infect individual cells, called co-infection, in order for deadly strains to emerge and to turn the infection into AIDS. If just one virus particle infects a cell, the deadliest strains may not be able to evolve, stopping HIV from progressing to AIDS. By keeping more than one HIV particle from infecting a cell, scientists might be able to ward off AIDS, the study suggests. AIDS killed more than 17,000 people in the United States in 2005.

“If this is true, a new approach to therapy could be to block the process of co-infection in cells,” said Wodarz, who used a mathematical model to draw his conclusions. “This would prevent deadly HIV strains from emerging and the patient would remain healthy, despite carrying the virus.”

The study appears online July 31 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/content/l7237342p6683318/ (access to full-text restricted)

Click here to read to complete press release

New study points to need for better HIV education among inmates

Source: CBC News
Published: Monday, July 30, 2007 | 5:29 PM ET
Canadian Press: KRISTINE OWRAM

TORONTO (CP) - Offenders who are admitted to Ontario remand facilities are 11 times more likely to be infected with HIV and 22 times more likely to be infected with hepatitis C than members of the general population - numbers that point to the need for better education and preventive measures among inmates, a new study suggests.

The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, indicates injection drug use is by far the most important risk factor in the transmission of HIV and hepatitis C among inmates of Ontario's remand facilities.

"This shows the importance of education, because in some cases, there were people who knew they were infected and still were engaging in behaviours that would transmit the infection," said Liviana Calzavara, one of the authors of the study. Calzavara, who is deputy director of the HIV Social, Behavioural and Epidemiological Studies Unit at the University of Toronto's department of public health sciences, added that one-third of the inmates who tested positive for hepatitis C weren't aware they were infected. "This study draws attention to issues around education for individuals in terms of how to avoid it, how to avoid transmitting it to others and treatment that is available that would limit the health effects," she said.

This is particularly important because inmates tend to spend relatively short periods of time in remand centres - an average of 32 days - before moving on to somewhere else, said Calzavara. The study found that 56,000 adult and young offenders are admitted to remand facilities in Ontario each year, where they await the outcome of legal proceedings, serve sentences under 60 days, or await transfer to provincial or federal jails. This means there are significant opportunities for transmission of diseases to other populations through high-risk behaviours such as injection drug use or unsafe sex, said Calzavara.

Click here to read the complete article.
The study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal is available HERE.

China bans AIDS rights meeting, group says

Source: Reuters

BEIJING, July 29 (Reuters) - China has banned AIDS activists from holding a meeting on the rights of people with the disease, one of the organisers said on Sunday, citing official fears over foreign involvement in the sensitive subject.

The conference would have brought together 50 Chinese and foreign experts and activists to discuss how to press the legal rights of people with HIV/AIDS.

But government authorities told the New York-based Asia Catalyst group to cancel the meeting planned for early August in Guangzhou near Hong Kong in the south, said Sara Davis, one of the organisers.

"Authorities informed us that the combination of AIDS, law and foreigners was too sensitive," Davis told Reuters. There were no plans to reschedule the meeting, she said.

Phone calls to government spokesmen in Guangzhou and Beijing were not answered on Sunday.

China has become increasingly open about AIDS in recent years, facing up to an epidemic once stigmatised as a disease of the West.

The nation had 203,527 officially registered cases of HIV/AIDS by the end of April, up from 183,733 at the end of October 2006. Of the latest figure, 52,480 had progressed to full-blown AIDS. But the United Nations estimates the true number of HIV/AIDS cases in the country to be around 650,000.

Nowadays, Beijing backs campaigns to educate citizens on avoiding infection, and victims infected through reckless commercial blood collection in rural Henan province have been given free medicines. But officials in the one-party state remain wary of local activists and foreign groups pressing legal claims of infected citizens or raising official complicity in the spread of the disease. Henan has informally blocked patients from suing officials over tainted blood.

The meeting co-organised with China Orchid AIDS Project, a Beijing-based group, had invited several experts from South Africa, India, the United States, Canada and Thailand. Planned topics included discrimination, blood safety and setting up a legal aid center for people with HIV/AIDS.

"Protecting legal rights is key to any successful fight against AIDS," said Davis in an emailed statement about the cancellation. "China has passed laws protecting those rights, and people with AIDS need assistance in order to exercise them."

In May, China barred a prominent AIDS and environmental activist couple from leaving the country, accusing them of endangering national security. Earlier in the year, Henan officials tried to stop Gao Yaojie -- a doctor who helped expose the rural AIDS epidemic there -- from going to Washington to collect a human rights award. They let her go after an international outcry.

Early treatment of HIV-infected infants with ART significantly reduces mortality

Source: AIDSMAP
Theo Smart, Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Treating HIV-infected infants with antiretroviral therapy (ART) as early as possible, within the first six to 12 weeks of life — rather than waiting until they show signs of immunological or clinical deterioration — dramatically decreases their risk of early death, according to findings from the Children with HIV Early Antiretroviral Therapy (CHER) trial, a South African study presented today at a late-breaker session of the 4th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Treatment and Pathogenesis in Sydney.

“Starting ART before 12 weeks of age reduces early mortality by 75%,” said Dr Avy Violari of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who, along with Dr Marc Cotton from Cape Town, led the study.

After only 32 weeks of follow-up, the difference between early and deferred treatment was so profound that the study’s Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) called for the deferred ART arm of the study to be terminated, and urged that infants who weren’t already on treatment “should be urgently recalled and assessed for ART.”

Click here to read the article.

Zimbabwe: Scientists Start Human Trials of Revolutionary HIV Treatment

Source: AllAfrica (Published in The Herald - Harare)
25 July 2007

SYDNEY.

Scientists have begun human trials of a revolutionary HIV treatment that genetically modifies people's cells to halt the virus, a conference of international experts in Sydney was yesterday. US professor John Rossi said the world-first trials began recently at the City of Hope hospital in California, the culmination of research that began in the early 1990s.

"We have already enrolled our first patient, who will be infused with his own genetically modified blood stem cells and we will enrol four more patients after him," said Rossi, the head of the hospital's molecular biology division.

The process, known as intra-cellular immunity, involves changing the genetic information in the human cells, known as T-cells, that the HIV virus normally locks into and infects before replicating and spreading. A piece of genetic material is introduced into the cells that makes then recognise HIV as a threat, stimulating the body's natural cellular defence mechanism to prevent the HIV cell from replicating.

"Our approach has been to take blood stem cells and T-cells out of patients that are HIV infected and introduce into these cells genes that produce products that inhibit HIV replication," Rossi told the International Aids Society conference in Sydney. "This would be long-term, this is a permanent modification of these cells, so that as long as these cells persist in the patient, they will have resistance to the HIV infection."

Rossi said the ultimate goal of the research was to either completely control the HIV virus or reduce its presence in patients to such an extent that they needed fewer drugs to survive.

"It's a landmark trial in many ways and we're very excited about being the first people in the world to do this," he said.

Fighting Drug Resistance In Hepatitis C Virus

Aource: Science Daily
Researchers at McGill University have found a clue in developing new drug candidates to fight the hepatitis C virus (HCV) by identifying a defence mechanism in the virus similar to resistance found in HIV.

“If you understand the biochemical mechanisms of drug resistance, you may be able to develop drugs in the test tube that are more capable of doing their job in the clinic,” says Dr. Matthias Götte, an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at McGill and a recipient of a national career award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Antiviral therapies commonly employ inhibitors, compounds that block enzymes from reproducing the virus. The infection eventually subsides as a result. However, a defence mechanism previously identified in HIV works when the virus enzyme “excises” inhibitors, removing them and allowing the virus to continue multiplying.

In their study, to be published in the August issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (AAC) but already available online, Götte and colleagues experimented with a promising class of inhibitors, called nucleoside analogues, to see whether hepatitis C uses a similar defence mechanism. They found that some of these inhibitors are efficiently excised, while others remain attached and block a crucial virus enzyme. Understanding how some nucleoside analogues counteract excision may enhance their function as drugs.

Since hepatitis C infection is a major cause of severe liver damage and liver cancer, further research is needed urgently, says Götte. There are an estimated 200 million hepatitis C-positive people worldwide. Approximately 1 per cent of Canadians are infected with the virus, some 250,000 people.

Several factors have held back the development of better treatment to fight HCV. People often carry the infection unknowingly because symptoms arise much later as compared with HIV. Tests for patient infection were only made comprehensive in the early nineties, and the tools required for advanced drug design were not available until recent years.

“Treatment success depends largely on the strain of virus causing infection, and the current hepatitis C therapy is often thwarted by the most common strain. The success rate is much lower than seen in HIV drug treatment,” says co-author Megan Powdrill, a graduate student who worked on the study. Dr. Claudia D’Abramo, a former graduate student, and Dr. Jérôme Deval, a former postdoctoral fellow, are also co-authors of the paper.

Götte’s group is taking lessons from HIV therapy and drug development to boost research on HCV. His group and colleagues from Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company in California, recently experimented with a drug called tenofovir. Unlike AZT, another major anti-HIV drug, tenofovir counteracts excision in HIV by forming an inactive complex with the enzyme. This paper will also be published in the August issue of AAC. “Although the formation of a similar complex with hepatitis C inhibitors is not evident,” said Götte, “this adds to our understanding of how viral resistance can be overcome.”

This research was funded by the Cancer Research Society, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the National Canadian Training Program in Hepatitis C (NCRTP-HepC) and the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec (FRSQ).

New HIV infections outpace treatment

Source: Boston.com
By Meraiah Foley, Associated Press Writer | July 23, 2007

SYDNEY, Australia --Access to life-extending HIV/AIDS drugs in developing countries has improved during the past three years, but new infections still dramatically outpace efforts to bring treatment to patients, health officials said Monday.

Three years ago, fewer than 300,000 people in the developing world were receiving the anti-retroviral drugs that help treat the virus. Last year, 2.2 million people in developing countries received the drugs, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"However, for every one person that you put in therapy, six new people get infected. So we're losing that game, the numbers game," Fauci told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

In many parts of the developing world where the HIV/AIDS epidemic is still growing exponentially, effective prevention strategies -- such as condom distribution, needle exchanges and basic education about the disease -- reach less than 15 percent of the population.

"The proven prevention modalities are not accessible to any substantial proportion of the people who need them," said Fauci, one of the keynote speakers at the Fourth International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment in Sydney, Australia, which runs through Wednesday.

"Although we are making major improvements in the access to drugs, clearly prevention must be addressed in a very forceful way," he added.

According to recent World Health Organization statistics, only 28 percent of the world's HIV/AIDS patients are receiving anti-retroviral drugs.

Dr. Brian Gazzard, chairman of the British HIV Association, said that while great advances have been made in extending access to anti-retrovirals, the disease is still running rampant in parts of Asia and Africa.

"The HIV epidemic is essentially uncontrolled, uncontrolled in Africa, uncontrolled completely in Asia right now," he told reporters at the conference, which has drawn 5,000 delegates from 133 countries. "The epidemic still is in an exponential growth phase ... and I think that is likely to continue."

New issue of AIDS Care received (Vol. 19, no 6, July 2007)

AIDS Care - Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV
In this issue:

The impact of HIV treatment on risk behaviour in developing countries: A systematic review
pp. 707 – 720
Abstract

Prevalence of HIV and factors associated with risk behaviours among Chinese female sex workers in Hong Kong
pp. 721 – 732
Abstract

Investigating factors associated with uptake of HIV voluntary counselling and testing among pregnant women living in North Uganda
pp. 733 – 739
Abstract

Adherence to antiretroviral therapy in a context of universal access, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
pp. 740 – 748
Abstract

It's not just what you say: Relationships of HIV dislosure and risk reduction among MSM in the post-HAART era
pp. 749 – 756
Abstract

Self-monitoring of behaviour as a risk reduction strategy for persons living with HIV
pp. 757 – 763
FREE ACCESS

Adherence to antiretroviral therapy in children: A comparative evaluation of caregiver reports and physician judgement
pp. 764 – 766
Abstract

A continuum-based outcome approach to measuring performance in HIV/AIDS case management
pp. 767 – 774
Abstract

What is a missed dose? Implications for construct validity and patient adherence
pp. 775 – 780
Abstract

The social and economic impact of parental HIV on children in northern Malawi: Retrospective population-based cohort study
pp. 781 – 790
Abstract

Differences in HIV disclosure by modes of transmission in Taiwanese families
pp. 791 – 798
Abstract

Participatory communication and HIV/AIDS prevention in a Chinese marginalized (MSM) population
pp. 799 – 810
Abstract

Paediatric HIV/AIDS disclosure: towards a developmental and process-oriented approach
pp. 811 – 816
Abstract

Acceptability of PRO2000 Vaginal Gel among HIV un-infected Women in Pune, India
pp. 817 – 821
Abstract

Are sexual partners met online associated with HIV/STI risk behaviours? Retrospective and daily diary data in conflict
pp. 822 – 827
Abstract

Psychiatric morbidity in HIV-infected children
pp. 828 – 833
Abstract

Contact the library to request copies of articles.

HIV patients build normal immune strength in study

Source: Reuters

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AIDS drug cocktails may be able to restore the ravaged immune systems of some people infected with HIV, researchers reported on Wednesday.

Immune cells known as CD4 T-cells returned to normal levels in an ideal group of patients, picked because they responded optimally to a combination of at least three AIDS drugs, the researchers reported in the Lancet medical journal.

The human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, plunders the immune system, leaving people vulnerable to a range of infections that may prove fatal.

AIDS is incurable, but doctors try to prop up the immune system with life-extending drug therapy aimed at reducing the amount of virus in the body.

The study involved 1,835 HIV-infected people drawn from a larger study involving more than 14,000 patients from across Europe, Israel and Argentina.

"I think it's very encouraging that if people can respond to treatment well enough and can suppress the virus for long enough, we have sufficient evidence to say their CD4 counts can return to normal," Dr. Amanda Mocroft of Royal Free and University College Medical School in London, one of the researchers, said in a telephone interview.

"Our previous understanding was that there was a plateau in CD4 counts so that CD4 counts would stop increasing after a sufficiently long time taking combination therapy," she added.

Mocroft said not all HIV patients respond as well to these drugs, and many, particularly in the hardest hit regions like sub-Saharan Africa, do not have access to them.

"This is sort of the best-case scenario, if you like, that we can identify a group of patients who we would expect to have a normal CD4 count with sufficient treatment," Mocroft said.

These patients were chosen because they responded well to the treatment, with the drugs suppressing the virus to very low levels. They were tracked for about five years.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said doctors who care for HIV-infected patients have noticed this restoration of normal levels of CD4 cells in some of them. Fauci credited Mocroft's team for documenting this phenomenon in a systematic way.

CD4 cells, a type of white blood cell, help protect the body from infection. But HIV targets CD4 cells, using them to create more copies of the virus, thus undermining the immune system.

After initial infection, a person can produce more CD4 cells to take the place of those attacked by HIV. But in time, the body cannot make enough, increasingly weakening the immune system.

Although it is impossible to eradicate the virus with existing drugs, it is possible to keep it at extremely low levels in some people with the right combination of drugs.

The AIDS virus infects close to 40 million people globally, most of them in Africa. It has killed more than 25 million.

New UNAIDS publication: Improving confidentiality and security of HIV information

Source: UNAIDS

In middle-and lower-income countries there is a push to improve patient management and the monitoring and evaluation of HIV services. To do this, all information systems, either paper-based or electronic, need to allow for relatively easy access to information. To ensure that patient confidentially is not compromised in the process, new guidelines have been released.

The ‘Interim Guidelines on Protecting the Confidentiality and Security of HIV Information’ offer information on data transfer, guiding principles, even disposal of information all to help maintain patient confidentiality.

Developed through a special workshop supported by UNAIDS and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), international health professionals and people living with HIV reviewed existing materials that could then be adapted to middle- and lower-income countries.

The new guidelines provide definitions, guiding principles and technical recommendations for the maintenance of privacy, confidentiality and security in working with HIV-related information.

The "Interim Guidelines on Protecting the Confidentiality and Security of HIV Information" are available in the library and online.

HIV test gives results in just 60 seconds

Source: The Globe & Mail
KEITH LESLIE - Canadian Press

TORONTO -- Ontario has become the first jurisdiction in North America to offer HIV tests that provide results in just 60 seconds and will double the number of sites across the province where anonymous tests are available, Health Minister George Smitherman announced yesterday.

It will cost about $350,000 a year to have the HIV tests available at 50 sites, which Mr. Smitherman said is a small price to pay - especially when it eliminates the agonizing three-week wait patients currently endure for results.

"I'm a gay man, and I'm one of those that has experienced that gut wrenching three-week wait," he said. "Everybody remembers that wait, and accordingly, you can't put a price on it."

The entire process with the new tests, which involves taking a drop of blood along with pre- and post-test counselling, takes about 20 minutes.

The tests will be available at anonymous testing sites, sexually transmitted disease clinics and community health centres across the province, including 24 new sites in northern and rural Ontario, but not through family doctors. "This is an initiative that is linked to the anonymous testing sites," Mr. Smitherman said.

"If we look at the profile of HIV and AIDS, we really appropriately have to tailor our initiatives to reducing barriers for those at-risk communities."

With faster HIV-test results, patients who need treatment will get it faster, Mr. Smitherman said.

It's estimated that 30 per cent of people who are HIV positive are unaware of their status - up to 15,000 Canadians - and Mr. Smitherman said the 60-second point of care tests may help convince those reluctant to be tested to actually go to a clinic.

(...)
Click here to read the article

New video: HIV Positive voices

HIV Positive Voices: An Inside Look at the AIDS Epidemic in Baltimore, Maryland, was produced by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs and Stuart Productions. It was awarded Best Documentary Under 30 Minutes at the Second Annual New York AIDS Film Festival.

This film is the story of four people who each represent a different form of HIV transmission. Their stories are gripping. Their lives difficult. But their outlook is positive.

HIV Positive Voices shows the devastating effect of what it is like to live with HIV and cope with the social stigma, rigorous treatment regimen and related health problems. It also shows that it is possible to live a productive and positive life even if you are HIV positive. The film is accompanied by a discussion guide that helps viewers understand and process the various aspects of the film. Each of the four people profiled in this Emmy Award winning documentary represents a different mode of HIV transmission. They have courageously chosen to speak out about their HIV status, and become positive voices for awareness, compassion and prevention.

Rickeena Free is a 15-year-old girl who contracted HIV perinatally from her mother. Rickeena maintains a positive, yet pragmatic, attitude about her infection as she and her mother educate others about HIV prevention and living with HIV.

David Waller contracted HIV/AIDS through injection drug use. This mode of transmission accounts for the majority of new HIV/AIDS cases in Baltimore. David served 20 years in prison for crimes related to his drug use. Now drug free, he has started a new life with a supportive family.

Kimberly Smolen learned she was HIV-positive when she donated blood following a successful run in the New York City marathon. She traces her infection back to a college boyfriend. Kimberly turned her life around after a self-destructive period that included drug addiction and homelessness.

Keith Barmer struggled to accept his HIV-positive status after his uncle raped him as a teenager. His life spiraled downward with drug Addiction and other risky behaviors. Now openly gay, Keith views his HIV status as an opportunity to help others either prevent HIV or live with HIV in a positive manner.

Contact the library to borrow this video.

New Journal issue received: AIDS Education and Prevention, Vol. 19, no 3, June 2007

In this issue:

Effectiveness of Antenatal Group HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing Services in Rural India
Authors: Deepti Gupta, Dekey Lhewa, R. Viswanath, S. Mini Jacob, S. Parameshwari, R. Radhakrishnan, Kristy Seidel, Lisa M. Frenkel, NM Samuel and Ann J. Melvin
Page start: 187
Abstract

Measurement of Stigma in People with HIV: A Reexamination of the HIV Stigma Scale
Authors: Janice Yanushka Bunn, Sondra E. Solomon, Carol Miller and Rex Forehand
Page start: 198
Abstract

Association Between Exposure to an HIV Story Line in The Bold and the Beautiful and HIV–Related Stigma in Botswana
Authors: Ann O'Leary, May Kennedy, Katina A. Pappas–DeLuca, Marlene Nkete, Vicki Beck and Christine Galavotti
Page start: 209
Abstract

The Relationship of Stigma to the Sexual Risk Behavior of Rural Men Who Have Sex with Men
Authors: Deborah Bray Preston, Anthony R. D'Augelli, Cathy D. Kassab and Michael T. Starks
Page start: 218
Abstract

Translation, Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of an HIV/AIDS Knowledge and Attitudinal Instrument
Authors: Carlos S. Zometa, Robert Dedrick, Michael D. Knox, Wayne Westhoff, Rodrigo Simán Siri and Ann Debaldo
Page start: 231
Abstract

Injection Drug Users' Strategies to Manage Perceptions of Personal Risk: How Do IDUs See HIV as Having Affected Them?
Authors: Katherine Clegg Smith, Tiffany Lefevre Lillie and Carl Latkin
Page start: 245
Abstract

Replicating a Teen HIV/STD Preventive Intervention in a Multicultural City
Authors: Diane M. Morrison, Marilyn J. Hoppe, Elizabeth A. Wells, Blair A. Beadnell, Anthony Wilsdon, Darrel Higa, Mary Rogers Gillmore and Erin A. Casey
Page start: 258
Abstract

Contact the library to request copies of articles.

Recent acquisitions

The library recently acquired the following titles. Contact us to borrow these books!

Epstein, Helen.
The invisible cure : Africa, the West, and the fight against AIDS
New York, NY, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007
C 510 EPS 2007
Epstein, a public health specialist and molecular biologist who has worked on AIDS vaccine research, overturns many of our received notions about why AIDS is rampant in Africa and what to do about it. She charges that Western governments and philanthropists, though well-meaning, have been wholly misguided, and that Africans themselves, who understand their own cultures, often know best how to address HIV in their communities. Most significant is Epstein's discussion of concurrent sexual relations in Africa. Africans often engage in two or three long-term concurrent relationships—which proves more conducive to the spread of AIDS than Western-style promiscuity. Persuade Africans to forgo concurrency for monogamy, and the infection rate plummets, as it did in Uganda in the mid-1990s. On the other hand, ad campaigns focused on condom use helped imply falsely that only prostitutes and truck drivers
get AIDS. In addition, Epstein examines what she calls the "African earthquake": social and economic upheaval that have also eased the spread of HIV. Epstein is a lucid writer, translating abstruse scientific concepts into language nonspecialists can easily grasp.
Provocative, passionate and incisive, this may be the most important book on AIDS published this year—indeed, it may even save lives.
(May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.

Fan, Hung Y.; Conner, Russ F.; Villarreal, Luis P.
AIDS : science and society
Sudbury, MA, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2007
C 200 FAN 2007
"The new Fifth Edition of AIDS: Science and Society provides readers with a firm overview of AIDS from both biomedical and psychosocial perspectives. The book covers the molecular and cellular aspects of the HIV virus and the immune system’s response to it, and then considers epidemiology and its role in understanding HIV/AIDS."

Kartikeyan, S.; Bharmal, R. N.; Tiwari, R. P.; Bisen, P. S.
HIV and AIDS : Basic elements and priorities
Dordrecht, The Netherlands, Springer, 2007
C 200 KAR 2007
In June 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first evidence of a new disease that would later become known as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). HIV and Aids: Basic Elements and Priorities is a concise collection of all aspects of this disease and a source of readily available knowledge. It examines all currently advocated preventive measures such as health education, condom use, safer sex practices, and treatment of sexually transmitted infections.
Coverage includes: up-to-date information on multiple dimensions of the HIV/AIDS epidemic; a discussion on new anti–retroviral therapy/drugs, new drugs under clinical trials and preventive HIV vaccine; coverage of current ethical, legal and social issues related to HIV/AIDS; an evaluation of general public awareness about HIV/AIDS; a global perspective and information about HIV/AIDS.

New Journal received: AIDS Care, Vol. 19, no 4, April 2007

AIDS Care - Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV

Contact the library to request copies of articles.

In this issue:

Time perspective and quality of life among HIV-infected patients in the context of HAART
pp. 449 – 458 Abstract

Estimating the impact of alcohol consumption on survival for HIV+ individuals
pp. 459 – 466 Abstract

Occupational therapy for advanced HIV patients at a home care facility: a pilot study
pp. 467 – 470 Abstract

Acceptability of male circumcision for prevention of HIV infection in Zambia
pp. 471 – 477 Abstract

Continuation with cotrimoxazole prophylaxis for the prevention of opportunistic infections in HIV-infected persons in rural Zimbabwe: feasibility, obstacles and opportunities
pp. 478 – 481 Abstract

Long-term follow-up of uninfected children born to HIV-infected women and exposed to antiretroviral therapy: survey of parents' and health professionals' views
pp. 482 – 486 Abstract

Late presentation for HIV care in central Haiti: factors limiting access to care
pp. 487 – 491 Abstract

Protease inhibitors and cardiovascular disease: analysis of the Los Angeles County adult spectrum of disease cohort
pp. 492 – 499 Abstract

Barriers to access to medical cannabis for Canadians living with HIV/AIDS
pp. 500 – 506 Abstract

A randomised control trial of structured interrupted generic antiretroviral therapy versus continuous therapy in HIV-infected individuals in Southern India
pp. 507 – 513 Abstract

Differences between HIV-positive gay men who 'frequently', 'sometimes' or 'never' engage in unprotected anal intercourse with serononconcordant casual partners: Positive Health cohort, Australia
pp. 514 – 522 Abstract

Differential improvement in survival among patients with AIDS after the introduction of HAART
pp. 523 – 531 Abstract

Oral health needs of HIV/AIDS orphans in Gauteng, South Africa
pp. 532 – 538 Abstract

The Evolution of HIV illness representation among marginally housed persons
pp. 539 – 545 Abstract

The effect of homelessness on hospitalisation among patients with HIV/AIDS
pp. 546 – 553 Abstract

Community perspectives on care options for HIV prevention trial participants
pp. 554 – 560 Abstract

Preliminary findings of an intervention integrating modified directly observed therapy and risk reduction counseling
pp. 561 – 564 Abstract

A study on burnout syndrome in healthcare providers to people living with HIV
pp. 565 – 571 Abstract

HIV testing and disclosure: a qualitative analysis of TB patients in South Africa
pp. 572 – 577 Abstract


Contact the library to request copies of articles

Targeting HIV better than broad screening -study

Source: Reuters
By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO, June 11 (Reuters) - A program targeting people most likely to be infected with HIV and offering counseling to prevent further infection would be far more effective than the government's recommendations for mass testing, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

They said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations for widespread HIV testing of those aged 13 to 64, regardless of risk, would cost $864 million a year.

The CDC's recommendations for mass screening would not require counseling, and patients could opt out of testing if they chose.

A plan that targets those at high risk and offers counseling services could pick up more than three times as many people with HIV and could prevent four times as many new infections -- all for the same price, according to an analysis by David Holtgrave, an expert on HIV prevention at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

"It's really a question of which policy would be more effective," said Holtgrave, whose study appears in the June edition of the journal PLoS Medicine.

His analysis found that the CDC's new testing strategy -- announced in September -- could diagnose nearly 57,000 cases of HIV in a one-year period.

But a strategy that zeros in on likely targets of HIV infection -- by geography, health care setting or risky behavior -- would identify 188,000 people with the disease out of an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 people in the United States living with HIV but not knowing they are infected.
(...)

Click here to read the complete article

Africa's AIDS epidemic slowing - World Bank

Source: Reuters
By Arthur Asiimwe

KIGALI, June 13 (Reuters) - The pace of Africa's deadly AIDS epidemic is slowing as communities are empowered to help themselves in tandem with better delivery of condoms and live-saving treatments, a World Bank report said on Wednesday*.

Launched in the Rwandan capital Kigali, the study noted a marked increase in access to HIV prevention, care and treatment programmes on a continent where the disease killed more than 2 million people last year. Another 25 million became infected.

"AIDS stole into Africa like a thief in the night," Joy Phumaphi, a former Botswana health minister and senior World Bank official, said in a statement. "All these years later, we still must stay vigilant ... even when it seems that infections are starting to fall and more people are being saved with treatment."

The World Bank report said the epidemic was showing signs of slowing in Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe, as well as in urban Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi and Zambia.

"The mobilisation of empowered 'grassroots' communities, along with delivering condoms and life-saving treatments, are beginning to slow the pace of the ... epidemic," the study said, without giving specific statistics for the decrease. Southern Africa, however, remains the epicentre of the disease with unprecedented infection rates, the report added. One recent household survey in Botswana's second biggest city, Francistown, showed a staggering 70 percent of women aged 30-34 and men aged 40-44 carried the HIV virus, it said.

The study assesses the results of the bank's six-year, $1.28 billion Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Program (MAP), set up in 2000 to increase access to prevention, care and treatment plans. The scheme tested almost seven million people in 25 countries, distributed nearly 1.3 billion condoms and set up some 1,500 new counselling centres, among other activities. It also financed civil society and youth groups and organisations for people living with HIV, as well as paying for anti-retroviral treatment for 26,699 people in 27 countries.

Global funding for HIV has more than quadrupled between 2001 and 2005 to over $8 billion a year, the Bank said. Last week, at the G8 summit in Germany, leaders announced a $60 billion commitment to fight the disease in Africa, although critics said the promised funding did not come with timelines. But the Bank said HIV/AIDS would remain an enormous economic, social and human challenge to sub-Saharan Africa for the foreseeable future.
"In sum, HIV/AIDS threatens the development goals in the region unlike anywhere else in the world," it said.

* The World Bank report, The Africa Multi-Country AIDS Program 2000–2006, is available in the library and online. Click here to access it.

New journal: Treatment update 161, March/April 2007

In this issue:

I ANTI-HIV AGENTS
A. Getting to know your co-receptors
B. Maraviroc—coming soon
C. Maraviroc—absorption and drug-interaction issues
D. Access to maraviroc

II SIDE EFFECTS AND COMPLICATIONS
A. Stimulating growth hormone
B. Tesamorelin—results from Phase III
C. Clinical trials of tesamorelin in Canada

This journal is available in the library and online, on CATIE's Website.

New journal issue: AIDS, Vol. 21, no 8, May 11, 2007

Here is a selection of articles from this issue:

Early clinical and immune response to NNRTI-based antiretroviral therapy among women with prior exposure to single-dose nevirapine.
pp. 957-964
Abstract

Recent epidemic of acute hepatitis C virus in HIV-positive men who have sex with men linked to high-risk sexual behaviours.
pp. 983-991
Abstract

Twin pregnancy as a risk factor for mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1: trends over 20 years.
pp. 993-1002
Abstract

Trends in HIV prevalence in blood donations in Europe, 1990-2004.
pp. 1011-1018
Abstract

The complete table of contents is available here.
Contact the library if you need copies of articles

New book in the library - Body count : Fixing the blame for the global AIDS catastrophe

Gill, Peter. Body count : Fixing the blame for the global AIDS catastrophe
New York, NY, Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006
C 500 GIL 2006
"In the last quarter of a century, 25 million people have died of AIDS-related infections and over 40 million have become HIV-positive. In this book, the author argues that many of these lives could have been saved and that many of these infections could have been averted, and criticizes those in positions of authority who have done nothing or actively hindered the fight to curb the spread of HIV. The book also includes interviews with politicians, church leaders, advocates and HIV-positive people."

Contact the library to borrow this book.

Zimbabwe to put 40,000 more on ARVs by year-end

Source: Reuters

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will put 40,000 more people on life saving anti-retroviral drugs by the end of the year despite an economic crisis that has hobbled the country's health care, state media reported on Tuesday.

The southern African country is among the worst hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, killing more than 3,000 people every week and accounting for 70 percent of hospital admissions.

But Zimbabwe, in the grips of a deep recession, has also become one of the few AIDS bright spots on the continent after its HIV prevalence rate declined to 18.1 percent last year from 25 percent six years ago.

Health Minister David Parirenyatwa said the number of people receiving the life-prolonging medicines has increased from 60,000 in December to 80,000 this month but that the government would add another 40,000 patients by the end of the year.

"Currently the number of people on ARVs has grown to 80,000 since December last year and we hope to achieve our target of getting 120,000 by the end of the year," Parirenyatwa told the official Herald newspaper.

Parirenyatwa said that at least 300,000 people living with HIV/AIDS were in urgent need of ARVs.

Zimbabwe's drive to increase access to ARVs has been hampered by a severe shortage of foreign currency, itself a sign of an economic crisis that has pushed inflation past 3,700 percent and increased poverty levels.

The crisis has been particularly felt in the health sector, where basic drugs are in short supply while strikes for better pay by doctors and nurses have worsened the situation.

President Robert Mugabe -- who says Zimbabwe is showing the way for Africa in the fight against HIV/AIDS -- rejects charges of mismanagement and blames the West for sabotaging the economy as punishment for seizing white-owned farms to distribute to blacks.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved

Bush Seeks $30b for HIV/Aids in Africa

Source: AllAfrica

Constance Ikokwu
Washington D.C.

President George W. Bush yesterday, announced his intention to double America's financial commitment to fighting HIV/Aids in Africa, from $15 billion to $30 billion, if the plan is approved by Congress. This will bring America's financial contribution to fighting the pandemic to $48.3 billion across 10 years, assuming Congress approves the President's request.

The additional aid will help provide treatment for HIV/Aids patients under Bush's Aids relief programme, the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PREPAR). The initial 5-year $15 billion authorizing legislation approved in 2003 for PREPARE expires at the end of Fiscal Year 2008. A reauthorization is thus needed to keep the programme afloat.


Bush thanked Congress for its "strong bipartisan support for PREPAR" while disclosing that through March 31, 2007, America would have supported treatment for 1.1 million people in the 15 focus countries, including more than 1 million in Africa. PREPAR hopes to continue treatment for 2.5 million people, prevention of more than 12 million new infections and care for more than 12 million people, including 5 million orphans and vulnerable children.

"PEPFAR's success is rooted in support for country-owned strategies and programs with commitment of resources and dedication to results, achieved through the power of partnerships with governments, non-governmental, faith- and community-based organizations and the private sector. With full implementation of a new "Partnership Compact" model, the next phase of the American people's commitment to those suffering from HIV/Aids will continue to expand life-saving treatment, comprehensive prevention programs and care for those in need, including orphans and vulnerable children, to support," said the President.

HIV And Malaria Combine To Adversely Affect Pregnant Women And Their Infants

Source: Science daily

University of Toronto researchers have uncovered the basis by which pregnant women protect themselves against malaria and have also discovered how the HIV virus works to counteract this defence. The research could lead to improved vaccines for pregnant women in malaria-ravished regions.

Malaria is a parasitic disease spread by mosquitoes that kills more than one million people every year. While the disease affects mostly children, malaria also severely affects pregnant women, especially during their first pregnancy, accounting for an estimated 400,000 cases of severe anaemia and 200,000 infant deaths each year. With the recent realization that HIV further aggravates pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM) there is an urgent need to understand these diseases during pregnancy and turn this knowledge into effective therapies.

Until now the mechanisms by which pregnant women defend themselves against malaria and how HIV impairs this defence have been unknown, but a paper published in PLoS Medicine pinpoints how the virus targets the immune response in pregnant women. "PAM can be a deadly condition that leaves mothers and their children particularly vulnerable," says Professor Kevin Kain, an infectious disease specialist and lead author of the study. "We set out to understand how women acquire protection against malaria during pregnancy and how HIV infection impairs that protection. By understanding how they lost protection in the face of HIV we learned how they acquired protection against malaria in the first place."

The research article, HIV Impairs Opsonic Phagocytic Clearance of Pregnancy-Associated Malaria Parasites, is available online, on PLOS Medicine website.

WHO and UNAIDS Issue New Guidance on HIV Testing and Counseling in Healthcare Facilities

Source: World Health Organization

New recommendations aim for wider knowledge of HIV status and greatly increased access to HIV treatment and prevention

30 MAY 2007 | LONDON -- WHO and UNAIDS today issued new guidance on informed, voluntary HIV testing and counselling in the world's health facilities, with a view to significantly increasing access to needed HIV treatment, care, support and prevention services. The new guidance focuses on provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling (recommended by health care providers in health facilities).

Today, approximately 80% of people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries do not know that they are HIV-positive. Recent surveys in sub-Saharan Africa showed on average just 12% of men and 10% of women have been tested for HIV and received their test results.

Increased access to HIV testing and counselling is essential to promoting earlier diagnosis of HIV infection, which in turn can maximize the potential benefits of life-extending treatment and care, and allow people with HIV to receive information and tools to prevent HIV transmission to others.

"Scaling up access to HIV testing and counselling is both a public health and a human rights imperative," said WHO HIV/AIDS Director Dr Kevin De Cock. "We hope that the new guidance will provide an impetus to countries to greatly increase availability of HIV testing services in health care settings, through realistic approaches that both improve access to services and, at the same time, protect the rights of individuals. Without a major increase in HIV testing and counselling in health facilities, universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care will remain just a noble goal."

Click here to read the presse release.
A copy of "GUIDANCE ON PROVIDER-INITIATED HIV TESTING AND COUNSELLING IN HEALTH FACILITIES" is available in the library.

New research supports Vancouver's safe injection site

Source: CBC

Independent researchers have released new scientific findings on the impact of Vancouver's safe-injection site that they hope will answer the federal government's criticism that more study is needed before a decision is made on its future.

The Conservative government has been highly skeptical of the project, which opened its doors to addicts in Vancouver's troubled Downtown Eastside in 2003.

Dr. Evan Wood, chief author of the report, says that the impact of the safe injection site is 'remarkable.'
(CBC) Health Minister Tony Clement is set to announce major changes to Canada's national drug strategy next week and there are fears they could spell the demise of North America's only safe-injection site.

The researchers have previously shown the facility has reduced the spread of HIV and reduced crime in the area.

In a paper published Friday in Addiction, the world's foremost medical journal on drug dependency, researchers with the independent B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS say the new results are also very clear.

They say InSite deserves credit for a 30 per cent increase in the number of addicts getting off the streets and into detox and treatment programs.
(...)

Read more on CBC website

New book: Criminal HIV Transmission

Bernard, Edwin J. Criminal HIV transmission
London, NAM, 2007
H 600 BER 2007
"[p]rovides evidence-based information that may be relevant to the investigation, prosecution, and defence of criminal HIV transmission cases. Primarily aimed at individuals who work within - or are in contact with - the criminal justice system, this book may also be helpful for HIV support organizations, members of the media, and other interested parties, including potential complainants and defendants."

Two new resources on homosexuality in Africa

Hoad, Neville. African intimacies : Race, homosexuality, and globalization
Mineapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2007
C 510 HOA 2007
"There have been few book-length engagements with the question of sexuality in Africa, let alone African homosexuality. African Intimacies simultaneously responds to the public debate on the “Africanness” of homosexuality and interrogates the meaningfulness of the terms “sexuality” and “homosexuality” outside Euro-American discourse.

Speculating on cultural practices interpreted by missionaries as sodomy and resistance to colonialism, Neville Hoad begins by analyzing the 1886 Bugandan martyrs incident—the execution of thirty men in the royal court. Then, in a series of close readings, he addresses questions of race, sex, and globalization in the 1965 Wole Soyinka novel The Interpreters, examines the emblematic 1998 Lambeth conference of Anglican bishops, considers the imperial legacy in depictions of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and reveals how South African writer Phaswane Mpe’s contemporary novel Welcome to Our Hillbrow problematizes notions of African identity and cosmopolitanism.

Hoad’s assessment of the historical valence of homosexuality in Africa shows how the
category has served a key role in a larger story, one in which sexuality has been made in line with a vision of white Western truth, limiting an understanding of intimacy that could imagine an African universalism."

---

Johnson, Cary Alan. Off the map : How HIV/AIDS programming is failing same-sex practicing people in Africa.
New York, NY, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), 2007
C 510 JOH 2007
Online access: http://www.iglhrc.org/files/iglhrc/otm/Off%20The%20Map.pdf

"Off the Map explores the ways in which HIV/AIDS stakeholders are potentially jeopardizing overall efforts to combat the AIDS epidemic. The report examines the ways in which same-sex desire and behavior have been simultaneously erased and criminalized in Africa and looks at the small, but important body of knowledge regarding same-sex transmission of HIV on the continent. Same-sex practicing men and women are at increased risk of contracting HIV, not solely because of bio-sexual vulnerabilities, but as a result of an interlocking set of human rights violations that prevent access to effective HIV prevention, voluntary counseling and testing, treatment, and care."

New Issue of AIDS Patient care and STDs

In this issue:

Case Report

Destructive Osteomyelitis Associated with Early Secondary Syphilis in An HIV-Positive Patient Diagnosed by Treponema Pallidum DNA Polymerase Chain Reaction
George Kandelaki, Rajendra Kapila, Helen Fernandes
pp. 229-233.
Abstract

Immune Reconstitution Syndrome in a Patient with AIDS with Paradoxically Deteriorating Brain Tuberculoma
Chen-Hsiang Lee, Chun-Chung Lui, Jien-Wei Liu
pp. 234-239.
Abstract

Tenofovir and Abacavir Combination Therapy: Lessons Learned from an Urban Clinic Population
Bruce L. Gilliam, Mohammad M. Sajadi, Anthony Amoroso, Charles E. Davis, Farley R. Cleghorn, Robert R. Redfield
pp. 240-246.
Abstract

Lack of Effect of Gastric Acid-Reducing Agents on the Pharmacokinetics of Lopinavir/Ritonavir in HIV-Infected Patients
Yi-Lin Chiu, Cheri E. Klein, William C. Woodward, Kathryn R. King, Christian Naylor, Walid Awni, Scott Brun
pp. 247-251.
Abstract

An Evaluation of Awareness: Attitudes and Beliefs of Pregnant Nigerian Women toward Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV
Kingsley C. Okonkwo, Kimberly Reich, Adewale I. Alabi, Nwaife Umeike, Sharon A. Nachman
pp. 252-260.
Abstract

Desire for a Child Among Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Northeast Brazil
Aglaêr A. Nóbrega, Fabíola A.S. Oliveira, Marli T.G. Galvão, Rosa S. Mota, Regina M. Barbosa, Inês Dourado, Carl Kendall, Ligia R.S. Kerr-Pontes
pp. 261-267.
Abstract

Desire to Have Children: Gender and Reproductive Rights of Men and Women Living with HIV: A Challenge to Health Care in Brazil
Vera Paiva, Naila Santos, Ivan França-Junior, Elvira Filipe, José Ricardo Ayres, Aluisio Segurado
pp. 268-277.
Abstract

Prevalence and Determinants of Fertility Intentions of HIV-Infected Women and Men Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy in South Africa
Landon Myer, Chelsea Morroni, Kevin Rebe
pp. 278-285.
Abstract

Antiviral Briefs
pp. 286-288.

Drug Developments and STD News
pp. 289-291.

Contact the library to request copies of articles

New issue of AIDS and Behavior

Volume 11, Number 3 / May, 2007

In this issue:

Acceptability of Male Circumcision for Prevention of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review
Authors N. Westercamp and R. C. Bailey
pp. 341-355
Full text

Male Circumcision to Prevent HIV Transmission and Acquisition: What Else do We Need to Know?
Author Adamson Sinjani Muula
pp. 357-363
Abstract

Mediational Analysis in HIV/AIDS Research: Estimating Multivariate Path Analytic Models in a Structural Equation Modeling Framework
Authors Angela Bryan, Sarah J. Schmiege and Michelle R. Broaddus
pp. 365-383
Abstract

Medication Beliefs as Mediators of the Health Literacy–Antiretroviral Adherence Relationship in HIV-infected Individuals
Authors Joseph Graham, Ian M. Bennett, William C. Holmes and Robert Gross
pp. 385-392
Abstract

Using Theory to Understand How Interventions Work: Project RESPECT, Condom Use, and the Integrative Model
Authors Fen Rhodes, Judith A. Stein, Martin Fishbein, Risë B. Goldstein and Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus
pp. 393-407
Abstract

Knowledge of Maternal HIV/AIDS and Child Adjustment: The Moderating Role of Children’s Relationships with their Mothers
Authors Deborah J. Jones, Sarah E. Foster, Alecia A. Zalot, Charlene Chester and Antonette King
pp. 409-420
Abstract

The Stress Moderating Role of Benefit Finding on Psychological Distress and Well-being among Women Living with HIV/AIDS
Authors Karolynn Siegel and Eric W. Schrimshaw
pp. 421-433
Abstract

Prevalence and Correlates of Condom Use and HIV Testing Among Female Sex Workers in Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Implications for HIV Transmission
Authors Catherine S. Todd, Gulchaekra Alibayeva, Mumtaz M. Khakimov, Jose L. Sanchez, Christian T. Bautista and Kenneth C. Earhart
pp. 435-442
Abstract

The Importance of Discreet Use of the Diaphragm to Zimbabwean Women and their Partners
Authors Mi-Suk Kang, Jessica Buck, Nancy Padian, Sam F. Posner, Gertrude Khumalo-Sakutukwa and Ariane van der Straten
pp. 443-451
Abstract

Perceptions of Community HIV Prevalence, Own HIV Infection, and Condom Use among Teachers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Authors Li-Wei Chao, Jeff Gow, Olagoke Akintola and Mark Pauly
pp. 453-462
Abstract

Contact the library to request photocopies.

Asian drug users need more HIV prevention help

Source: Reuters

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING, May 14 (Reuters) - Asian countries need to wake up to the threat of HIV transmission via intravenous drug use and spend more money on needle exchanges and other programmes or risk a rapid rise in new cases, a U.N. health official said on Monday.

Around one-third of new infections worldwide, excluding sub-Saharan Africa, are from injected drug use.

Asia has about 6 million users, and most new HIV cases are blamed on dirty injecting equipment, according to the United Nations.

But less than one-tenth of Asian users have access to prevention services, UNAIDS Asia Pacific Regional Director Prasada Rao told Reuters in an interview.

"If you look at comprehensive interventions, which means giving the option of both needle exchange and drug substitution, I think very few countries are doing it," he said by telephone from a conference in the Polish capital Warsaw.

"They have to prioritise interventions among intravenous drug users and the aim is for at least 80 percent coverage by 2010," Rao added.

"That requires enormous scale up in terms of resources and also in creating an environment where drug users can come out and access these services. Because in most of these countries they are still criminalised, and police raid them and catch them.

"It needs a change of attitude and a change of legislation relating to drug use. Because most often they don't distinguish between the supplier of drugs and the ultimate victim who is the user," he said. (...)

Click here to read the article

HIV trial set to make legal history in Canada

By Bill Dunphy
The Hamilton Spectator
(May 14, 2007)
Jury selection begins today in what is likely the first Canadian case of murder by disease.

Fifty-year-old Johnson Aziga, of Hamilton, is charged with killing two women, 48 and 29, by infecting them with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Aziga is alleged to have had unprotected sex with 13 partners without telling any of them that he had been diagnosed with HIV back in 1996: two of his partners have since died from AIDS-related illnesses, five have acquired HIV and six remain HIV negative. The liaisons are alleged to have taken place between 1999 and 2003, after Aziga had separated from his wife of 15 years.

All of the alleged victims were women. Their identities are protected by laws governing sexual assault charges.

Aziga has been in custody since his arrest in August 2003, but at the time of his arrest he was living in Hamilton and working in Toronto as an analyst for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General.

It is believed Aziga's case is the first murder charge in Canada arising from the sexual transmission of a disease and that has caused some controversy with AIDS activists saying it risks criminalizing a public health problem that is better tackled through education. And, because Aziga's case (and criminal charges arising in other AIDS cases) pivot on allegations of knowingly exposing sexual partners to the risk of HIV without informing them of the risk, they fear this case and others may lead to fewer people getting tested for HIV.

HIV uproar over PM plan

Source: Herald Sun

A PLAN by the Howard Government to monitor the movements of HIV-positive visitors in Australia has sparked an international storm.

Mr Howard has reportedly written to immigration and health ministers asking for advice on possible risks to public health of HIV-positive tourists.

The plan could involve restricting or tracking high risk HIV-visitors.

But gay advocates overseas have already seized on the reports, calling the policy "disgusting" and "discriminatory".

"To deny entry based on HIV status would mean that you are deeming those individuals as 'lesser citizens' or 'lesser humans' than their peers," the Minnesota Daily wrote.

See also Plan to track HIV positive visitors , GayNZ.com

U.N. study sees subtle discrimination

Source: International Business Times

By Bradley S. Klapper
Posted 10 May 2007

The disabled, gays and lesbians, and people living with HIV/AIDS are suffering from new and more subtle forms of workplace discrimination, the U.N. labor agency said Thursday.

Despite major advances in the fight against discrimination, gender, race and religion continue to determine how people are treated in the employment market and at the workplace, the International Labor Organization said in its flagship report on global working conditions.

Women are especially prone to labor discrimination, the ILO said in outlining only a mixed bag of success since the last installment of its "'equality at work"' series four years ago.

"'It's striking to see how everywhere in the world, irrespective of how rich or how poor a country is, or what type of political system it has, discrimination is there,"' said Manuela Tomei, author of the 127-page report. "'Discrimination is a never-ending story of human nature. But it's something that society can no longer tolerate."'

While more women are joining the work force around the world, they continue in every geographical region to be paid less than men for the same jobs, the report said.
(...)

Discrimination against gays and lesbians "'has only recently been recognized as intolerable"' by many nations, Tomei said, but noted that homosexuality remains illegal in over 75 countries, "'subject to corporal punishment and even the death penalty."'

The use of AIDS tests is "'extremely widespread"' in screening job seekers, despite laws specifically targeting the practice, Tomei said. "'Many people are subject to AIDS tests without even knowing it,"' she added. (...)

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The study, "Equality at work: Tackling the challenges", is available online at http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/@webdev/documents/publication/wcms_082607.pdf

Twin pregnancies involve greater risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission unless potent anti-HIV drugs used

Source: Aidsmap

Michael Carter, Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Twin pregnancies involve an increased risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, according to the results of a large French study published in the May 11th edition of AIDS. However, the risk was only higher in the period before effective anti-HIV treatment became available, and since 1997, the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission has been equally low for both twin and single pregnancies. Known complications of twin pregnancies, especially premature rupture of the membranes, were associated with HIV transmission to a twin, and the investigators found that the twin born first was significantly more likely to acquire HIV infection than the second twin, probably because of exposure to HIV in the birth canal.

There has been little previous examination of the risks of mother-to-child transmission in twin pregnancies. The only study to examine this issue was conducted in the 1980s, before antiretroviral therapy was used to prevent mother-to-child transmission, and involved only 22 pairs of twins. It found that twin pregnancies did not involve any increased HIV transmission risk.

Nevertheless, it is well known that multiple pregnancies have an increased risk of complications, such as premature labour or rupture of the membranes, and such complications are known to increase the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. (...)

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The 2007 National Conference on Latinos and AIDS

A National Forum on HIV/AIDS for Health Professionals Who Provide Care for Latinos

July 30-31st, 2007
Miami Beach Resort & Spa - Miami, FL

http://www.minority-healthcare.com/ncla_2007/index.html

The goal of this activity is to update the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of healthcare providers who care for patients with HIV/AIDS. This activity is also designed for healthcare media, federal and state legislators, AIDS service organization officers, social workers, peer counselors, church leadership and corrections healthcare personnel. The objectives are to familiarize participants with the epidemiology of HIV in the United States, current guidelines and cutting edge clinical modalities for the management of HIV, current research encompassing drug abuse and its connection to the HIV epidemic, social and psychiatric concerns of the HIV-infected patient, policy initiatives, trends and political issues which impact all HIV-infected patients.