Rates of new HIV diagnoses amongst US gay men 44 times greater than those in other populations

"HIV has a hugely disproportionate impact on gay and other men who have sex with men in the US, according to new figures released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Surveillance (CDC).

"Investigators calculated that the rate of new HIV infections amongst gay and bisexual men is 44 times that seen in other men, and some 40 times greater than women.

...

“There is no single or simple solution for reducing HIV and syphilis rates among gay and bisexual men”, said Fenton. “We need intensified prevention efforts that are as diverse as the gay community itself. Solutions for young gay and bisexual men are especially critical, so that HIV does not inadvertently become a rite of passage for each new generation of gay men.”"

Read more in Aidsmap, March 11, 2010.

HIV Reservoir Found in Blood Progenitor Cells in Bone Marrow

"SUMMARY: HIV can hide in the bone marrow inside hematopoietic progenitor stem cells, even in people with long-term undetectable plasma viral load, according to study results reported in the March 7, 2010 online edition of Nature Medicine. When the cells are forced to differentiate into different types of blood cells, the viral genome becomes active and begins producing new viral particles. The ramifications of this finding are not yet clear, but will certainly have implications for the growing effort to accomplish HIV eradication."

Read more in HIVandHepatitis.com, March 12, 2010.

AIDSmeds in San Francisco: Highlights from CROI 2010

"Though this year’s Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) won’t likely be remembered for HIV prevention or treatment breakthroughs—there weren’t any—it certainly confirmed that research into the virus and its complications continues at a dizzying clip."

Read more in POZ, March 9, 2010.

HIVandHepatitis.com on Retroviruses conference, related information:

LEDGF Integrase Inhibitors and Capsid Assembly Inhibitors Offer New Approaches for Blocking HIV Replication 3-2-2010

ACTG 5202 Shows Abacavir/lamivudine and Tenofovir/emtricitabine Provide Similar HIV Suppression at Low Viral Loads 3-2-2010

ACTG 5202 Sub-study Finds Lipoatrophy Uncommon, Antiretroviral Drugs Have Varying Effects on Bone and Body Fat 3-2-2010

Early Antiretroviral Therapy Reduces HIV Transmission in Discordant Heterosexual Couples 3-2-2010

CDC National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention Releases New Strategic Plan 3-2-2010

Once-daily Boosted Darunavir (Prezista) Works as Well as Twice-daily for Treatment-experienced Patients 2-26-2010

Quitting Smoking Lowers Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in People with HIV 2-26-2010

HIV Raises Lung Cancer Risk, but Smoking Is a Much Stronger Predictor 2-26-2010

Research Sheds New Light on HIV in the Gut 2-26-2010

FDA Announces Preliminary Data Suggesting Heart Risk with Saquinavir (Invirase) plus Ritonavir (Norvir) 2-26-2010

Investigational Drug TBR-652 Demonstrates Dual Activity against CCR5 and CCR2 Co-receptors 2-23-2010

Poor CD4 Cell Recovery on Antiretroviral Therapy Is Linked to Late Treatment, Leads to Adverse Outcomes 2-23-2010

Treatment Intensification with Maraviroc (Selzentry) Did Not Raise CD4 Cell Counts in Small Study 2-23-2010

The U.S. HIV Research Agenda and the Future of PEPFAR 2-19-2010

Gilead's "Quad" Pill Matches Atripla, New Booster Cobicistat (GS 9350) Looks Good with Atazanavir (Reyataz) 2-19-2010

Vicriviroc Fails to Beat Stiff Competition, Merck Will Not File for Treatment-experienced Approval 2-19-2010

Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) Starts Tuesday in San Francisco 2-16-2010

Inflammatory Markers and Cardiovascular Risk in Treated and Untreated People with HIV 2-16-2010

Read more in HIVandHepatis.com, March 4, 2010.

Stopping Tenofovir Doesn’t Always Reverse Kidney Damage

"In conclusion, Wever’s group writes, 'improvements in renal function after tenofovir cessation is variable and incomplete, particularly in patients with more gradual decline in GFR who are not receiving a protease inhibitor.' They also suggest using a GFR below 90, as opposed to a CKD-defining GFR below 60, when determining whether to discontinue tenofovir treatment 'to avoid permanent renal dysfunction.'"

Read more in POZ, March 3, 2010.

A highly efficient short hairpin RNA potently down-regulates CCR5 expression in systemic lymphoid organs in the hu-BLT mouse model

"Inhibiting the expression of the HIV-1 coreceptor CCR5 holds great promise for controlling HIV-1 infection in patients. Here we report stable knockdown of human CCR5 by a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) in a humanized bone marrow/liver/thymus (BLT) mouse model."

Read more in PubMed.gov, February 25, 2010.

HIV drug that protects a fetus should be avoided for 1 year after childbirth, researchers say

"Women given the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention drug nevirapine to protect their fetus should not use an HIV-drug regimen that contains nevirapine for at least one year after childbirth, say researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

"A new UAB study found that while nevirapine works well to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, a single dose of nevirapine in infected pregnant women can trigger resistance to some forms of the AIDS-drug cocktail known as combination antiretroviral treatment (ART). This nevirapine-induced resistance fades after about 12 months and no longer hinders ART, says UAB Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Jeffrey S.A. Stringer, M.D., the study's lead author.

"The findings are published in PLoS Medicine, a journal of the nonprofit Public Library of Science. ...

"The UAB study included 878 infected women in Zambia, Cote d'Ivoire and Thailand. Some were given single-dose nevirapine and others were not; all participants were given ART immediately upon confirmed infection and monitored for one year.

"Nevirapine continues to be the backbone of anti-HIV therapy in the developing world, and its usefulness in preventing mother-to-child transmission is confirmed in the new study, Stringer says."

Read more in EurekAlert!, February 25, 2010.

Anti-tetherin activities in Vpu-expressing primate lentiviruses

"Primate lentiviruses show a high degree of flexibility in their use of anti-tetherin factors, indicating a strong selective pressure to counteract tetherin restriction. The identification of an activity against human tetherin in SIVgsn Vpu suggests that the presence of Vpu in the ancestral SIVmus/mon/gsn virus believed to have contributed the 3' half of the HIV-1 genome may have played a role in the evolution of viruses that could counteract human tetherin and infect humans."

Read more in Retrovirology, February 18, 2010.

HIV Poses a Community Risk for Blacks

"HIV prevalence among US blacks is so significant that focusing on high-risk groups within the community leaves the majority unaware of their risk, warned a report presented at the recent 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. African Americans account for 12 percent of the population but half of US HIV cases. 'Part of our challenge is that a lot of the black community has not perceived itself to be at risk based upon the evolution of how we understood risk of HIV in the United States,' said Dr. Kimberly Smith of Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center. 'If we start to focus on this as a community challenge rather than focusing on individual risks, then that may move us in the right direction.'"

Read more in CDCNPIN, February 19, 2010.

Hep C Treatment Might Also Guard Against HIV Disease Progression

"Hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment—when successful—offers survival benefits over and above reductions in liver disease among people coinfected with both HIV and HCV, according to a study reported February 19 at the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco."

Read more in POZ, February 24, 2010.

H1N1 Meets HIV

"People with HIV are generally no more likely to experience severe complications of H1N1 influenza virus than people not infected with HIV, according to studies reported on Wednesday, February 17, at the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). However, studies presented here also paint a conflicting picture regarding the ability of H1N1 vaccines to spark sufficient immune responses against the virus in people with HIV hoping to avoid the novel influenza virus still circulating the globe."

Read more in POZ, February 18, 2010.

Measurement of Naive CD4 Cells Reliably Predicts Potential for Immune Reconstitution in HIV

"Conclusions: Measurement of naive CD4 percent in patients can identify those least likely to reconstitute immunity, who may benefit from earlier ARV treatment."

Read more in JAIDS, February 24, 2010.