A while back I had posted about this BBC report which stated that antiretroviral therapy (ARV/ART) medications make HIV positive people become “close to non-infectious”. It also stated that “early detection and treatment would prevent transmission”. This new article Study Confirms That Antiretroviral Therapy Significantly Cuts Risk of HIV Transmission states that HIV positive individuals who used antiretroviral therapy reduced the risk of transmitting HIV to their uninfected partners by 92 percent. I find these studies interesting because it is increasingly clear that medicated individuals are hardly a risk to people they are engaging in risky behaviors with. Therefore, they are absolutely not a risk to people with whom they are not having sex with, nor sharing needles with. The point is that the people who are spreading HIV are people who do not know they have it (and are therefore not taking medication) and people who unfortunately do not have access to the medication (in resource poor settings).
Tag: HIV/AIDS News
The Search for a Cure
Thanks to Suzan at Red Ribbon Diaries for this video update on the search for a cure for HIV.
Infant HIV Testing
HIV can be passed from a birthmother to child during pregnancy, labor, delivery or breastfeeding. Transmission rates are approximately 35% if the mother and child are not treated (this average varies in different parts of the world and twins have a higher transmission rate). The best way to prevent transmission is for the mother to stay on a course of anti-retroviral therapy(ARV) throughout the pregnancy, and for the newborn baby to receive medicine as well. In this scenario, transmission rates fall to 1%.
All newborn babies carry their birthmother’s antibodies. A baby born to a mother with HIV will test positive to an HIV antibody test, until the mother’s antibodies leave the baby’s bloodstream, which can take up to 18 months. This does not mean that the baby has HIV. The recommended HIV test for babies 18 months or younger is a PCR test which tests the baby’s DNA (not the antibodies).
Negative: HIV infection can reasonably be excluded among HIV exposed children with two or more negative DNA PCR tests performed at age greater than one month and one of those being performed at or greater than four months. Negative DNA PCR tests drawn when the infant is less than 28 days do not exclude HIV infection, particularly if the infant has been exposed to antiretroviral medication in utero or after birth.
Positive: An infant is diagnosed as infected at any age by two positive DNA PCR tests performed on separate specimens.
HIVguidelines.org
UN seeks to eliminate mother-to-child-transmission in Africa
Could this be the last generation of AIDS orphans? From the United Nations News Centre. A wonderful ambitious plan. Here is a short excerpt:
The United Nations is seeking to virtually eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, where 390,000 infants became infected with the virus that causes AIDS in 2008, through the use of antiretroviral drugs during and after delivery.
“AIDS has become the leading cause of death among infants and young children in much of sub-Saharan Africa,” Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Executive Director Michel Sidibé said…
BBC: ARVs make HIV+ people become close to non-infectious
This BBC report is about using ARVs to stop the spread of AIDS. In it, Dr. Brian Williams, a leading figure in the field of HIV research is sited:
Speaking at at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San Diego, he said 30 million people around the world were infected with HIV – with two million dying each year.
“The tragedy is that the disease continues unabated. The only real success story is the development of these extremely effective drugs that keep people alive and reduce their viral load by up to 2,000 times. They become close to non-infectious.
I make note of this because people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States are given ARV meds so that their viral loads become ‘undetectable’. In other words, there is VERY little of the HIV virus in their bloodstream. This report is claiming that an undetectable state is close to a non-infectious state. If you read between the lines, Dr. Williams does not even mention the use of condoms – he mentions the use of ARVs to stop the spread of the virus. [I could go into a discussion about that, but this post is about the article itself.]
This is the second time I have heard the word ‘non-infectious’ being used. The first time being the Swiss study which says that HIV-positive individuals on effective antiretroviral therapy and without sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are sexually non-infectious.
However, separate research (last paragraph) showed that 10% of men with an undetectable blood viral load had “significant” viral load in their semen which they said meant that HIV could be detected, but were unable to say if potentially infectious quantities of the virus were present.
Positively Orphaned 