After the Hype, Depakote no Cure for HIV Long-awaited data from a follow-up study of valproic acid (Depakote) indicate that it is not likely to be a “cure” for HIV infection. The new report, published on the Journal of Infectious Diseases’ website ahead of its official printing, debunks a paper released two years ago suggesting that the widely available anti-seizure medication may help decrease the pool of “latent HIV” in the body and, in turn, potentially allow for the eradication of the virus.
January 30, 2007
Leishmaniasis Drug Stimulates HIV Replication A widely employed anti-leishmaniasis agent can promote HIV replication in human cells and tissue, Canadian researchers report in the January 15th issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
January 25, 2007
PIs Increase Carotid Thickness in Women HIV protease inhibitors are associated with increased carotid intimal medial thickness (IMT) in HIV-infected women, according to a report in the December issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Hundred-Fold Greater Risk of Osteonecrosis in HIV HIV-positive people face a 100-fold greater risk of developing bone death than the general population, according to a study completed by the National Institutes of Health. The results, released online by the University of Chicago Press, are to be published in the March 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
January 23, 2007
Selenium Treatment Beneficial in HIV A new research paper suggests that selenium supplementation is associated with significant health benefits in HIV-positive people, including stabilized viral loads and moderate CD4 count gains. The nine-month placebo-controlled study, conducted by investigators at the University of Miami, was reported in the January 22 issue of the American Medical Association’s Archives of Internal Medicine.
January 22, 2007
Risk of BCG Infection in Positive Infants HIV-infected children who have been given BCG (Bacille Calmette Guerin)
vaccine are at high risk of developing disseminated BCG disease,
researchers from South Africa report.
January 18, 2007
AIDS Dementia Predicts Time to Death HIV-associated dementia independently predicts time to death in patients with advanced HIV infection, according to a report in the Archives of Neurology for January.
January 16, 2007
Nevirapine Works After Use in Pregnancy HIV-positive pregnant women who use single-dose Viramune® (nevirapine) during labor to prevent transmission of the virus to their babies may still benefit from using the drug in a complete treatment regimen to protect her own health, provided that at least six months have passed since the time of delivery.
Lifespan Expanding for Patients with HIV Although life expectancy is still significantly reduced, young patients recently diagnosed with HIV have an estimated median survival of more than 35 years, Danish researchers report in the January issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
January 15, 2007
'Serosorting' Appears To Be Limiting Spread of HIV Selection by men of sexual partners and behaviors according to HIV status, a phenomenon called serosorting, influences the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, according to a report in the December 2006 issue of Sexually Transmitted Infections.
January 10, 2007
Early Treatment Linked to CD4 Gains A new report suggests that early HIV treatment is more likely to result in "normal" CD4 (T4 cell) counts, compared to treatment started in accordance with current treatment guidelines.
January 09, 2007
A More Sensitive Drug Resistance Test Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have developed a highly sensitive test to identify drug-resistant HIV strains in the blood, including "minority populations" that may not be detected using standard genotypic or phenotypic assays.
High HIV Lung Cancer Risk (Not Just From Smoking)
The risk of lung cancer is "substantially elevated" among people living with HIV, according to new data published by researchers at the National Cancer Institute.
January 05, 2007
WSJ Uncovers Abbott's Norvir-Busting Marketing Strategies
A scathing front-page article published in the January 3 Wall Street Journal (WSJ), outlining strategies by Abbott Laboratories to limit access to Norvir® (ritonavir) for the sake of keeping Kaletra® (lopinavir/ritonavir) sales afloat, has once again raised the ire of treatment activists.
January 04, 2007
Abacavir in Kids with HIV-Associated Encephalopathy
High-dose abacavir provides significant clinical, immunological, and virological responses in children with HIV-associated encephalopathy (HIV-AE), according to a report in the December issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.
January 02, 2007
Risk of HIV Shedding Greater With NNRTIs Than PIs HIV-positive women being treated with a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-based drug regimen are more likely to have detectable amounts of HIV in their genital tracts compared to those being treated with a protease inhibitor (PI)-based regimen.
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