Two decades after AIDS first became noticed, as a disease of homosexual men, women now account for half of the 37 million adults infected with HIV, according to a new United Nations report.
An expert in blood safety said that the blood supply remains questionable and transfusions remain risky business, at the American College of Chest Physicians' Chest 2002 in San Diego, California.
The total number of pills that need to be taken every day in HAART therapy has the greatest impact on adherence of 10 characteristics studied, according to a survey of HIV-positive individuals, nearly two-thirds of whom had experienced at least three treatment regimens.
Adenovirus (Ad) gene transfer vectors can be used to disrupt HIV replication in alveolar macrophages, the first line of defense against pulmonary infection, researchers report.
As HIV/AIDS continues to ravage parts of Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, the epidemic has developed a "young face" as it has begun to move virtually unchecked into the youth population, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warns in a new report released September 18, 2002.
A new study conducted by Chicago researchers shows that internal mucosal layers of foreskin are more susceptible to HIV infection than cervical tissue or the external layers of foreskin, which explains why uncircumcised men seem to be at much higher risk for HIV acquisition than men who are circumcised.
A patient infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who is admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in this era of highly active antiretroviral therapy has a markedly improved survival rate, according to a study in the first issue for August 2002 of the American Thoracic Society's peer-reviewed journal.
AIDS researchers have developed a candidate vaccine strategy that, for the first time, demonstrates an ability to elicit antibodies that block the infection of multiple HIV virus strains - an elusive scientific goal that has been pursued for a decade.
A commonly used method of determining appropriate HIV treatment for adults may not work as well for pediatric HIV patients, researchers in the United States warn.
California's representatives in Congress joined across party lines to ask House of Representatives leadership to end waiting lists for AIDS drugs by increasing funds for treatment.
A compound that could potentially immobilize the AIDS virus or selectively extract radionuclides from nuclear wastes at various U.S. high-level storage sites has been developed by a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories who wasn't even looking for it.
Short-course nevirapine therapy doesn't help prevent vertical HIV transmission from women with access to standard treatment regimens, researchers argue.
A scientist at King's College London has discovered a unique gene in humans that acts as a defense against attack from HIV. The gene, CEM15, represents a new type of natural resistance to viral activity that could be exploited to produce new treatments for HIV or AIDS.
Prices of antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV/AIDS dropped up to 54% last year in Latin America and the Caribbean countries as a result of agreements between ministries of health and drug manufacturersaccording to a survey by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
More than 40 million people worldwide are infected with HIV. In Africa alone this incurable immune deficiency caused more than 2 million deaths last year.
Combinations of drugs can significantly reduce the concentration of HIV in patients' bodies, even in those with advanced HIV disease, according to interim results of a study presented at the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona.
A natural method of disarming some types of viruses may enable scientists to someday treat HIV, according to a virologist at Jefferson Medical College.
A new study suggests that physicians could be making a lethal mistake if they fail to give the same credibility and treatment to depressed patients with HIV that they give to nondepressed patients with the disease.
A group of researchers in South Africa and the United States have elucidated the significance of heightened CD38 expression by cytotoxic T cells in pediatric HIV patients.
CD4 cell death triggered by HIV infection relies on factors other than the gene coding for the viral Env protein, researchers in the United States argue.
People coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus may see reductions in HCV loads in the liver as a result of taking HIV treatment regimens containing protease inhibitors.
Anti-HIV maintenence therapy consisting solely of reverse transcriptase inhibitors provides benefits comparable with those of conventional regimens, with significantly reduced toxicity, researchers say.
Researchers in the United States have developed a new policy for administration of Pneumocystis pneumonia prophylaxis to HIV patients. "Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) have experienced a dramatic decrease in Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), necessitating reassessment of clinical guidelines for prophylaxis," explained Dr. Sue J. Goldie and colleagues at Harvard University, Boston University, and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and the Community Research Initiative New England in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Breakthroughs in protease inhibitors (PIs), drug therapies designed to combat HIV, have enhanced the life expectancies of those infected with the virus. However, there is increasing evidence that PI therapies have significant adverse effects, including the promotion of coronary artery disease, possibly causing premature births in pregnant women.
A nationwide study sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), shows that black and Hispanic HIV patients are only about half as likely as non-Hispanic whites to participate in clinical trials of new medications designed to slow the progression of the disease.
HIV protease inhibitors can profoundly alter the pharmacokinetics of lipid-reducing agents when they are administered concurrently, researchers in the United States warn.
Endotoxins from pathogens like Escherichia coli and Mycobacteria tuberculosis can prevent HIV from entering and infecting cells, researchers in the Netherlands report.
CD40 and its ligand may represent a therapeutic target for a number of disorders stemming from microglia-induced immune activity, including HIV dementia and multiple sclerosis, researchers in New York say.
Replication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is briefly suppressed during acute measles, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. A study of HIV-infected children living in Zambia found that HIV levels in the blood were significantly lower while having measles compared with HIV-infected children who did not have measles.
A new phase of the world's first clinical trial to test a vaccine candidate for one of the most prevalent HIV strains affecting Africa started April 4, 2002, in London and Oxford. This expands the ongoing trials in Oxford and Nairobi which aim to harness the ability of the body's own immune system to fight disease. The first volunteers on the London arm of the trial were vaccinated April 4.
Tuberculosis infection in HIV patients may not signal the development of full-blown AIDS in areas with high TB rates, researchers in South Africa report.
The Institute of Human Virology (IHV) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and CEL-SCI Corp. (CVM) presented clinical data for CEL-SCI's immunotherapy drug, Multikine, at the March 2002 annual meeting of the Society of Gynecological Oncologists in Miami, Florida; these findings could lead to a new treatment for HIV-infected women with human papillomavirus (HPV)-induced cervical dysplasia, the very frequent precursor to cervical cancer.
The course of HIV infection varies significantly among patients of different genders and ethnic backgrounds, according to researchers in the United States.
HIV strains that develop resistance to template-analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors (TRTIs) also develop crippling defects, according to researchers in New York.
Researchers in the United Kingdom say that the reverse transcriptase inhibitor efavirenz may be the best option for first-line antiretroviral therapy against HIV.
An agent that blocks the activity of matrix metalloproteinase enzymes shows promise for the treatment of AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma, researchers in the United States report.
Heightened free fatty acid (FFA) levels may underlie insulin resistance in patients with HIV lipodystrophy syndrome, researchers in the United States report.
Medical researchers have cautioned that the advent of better antiretroviral medications not only has extended survival in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) but also has created a situation where hepatitis B virus mutants may develop faster in patients infected with both viruses, mainly as a result of their living longer.
Immune cell levels have only a limited effect on the genetic features of hepatitis C virus (HCV) populations in HIV patients, according to researchers in France.
Nutritional supplements enriched with peptides and some fatty acids can help HIV patients gain weight while improving immune function, researchers in Spain report.
Controlled interruptions in antiretroviral treatment can reduce the morbidity - and high cost - associated with such therapy, researchers in the United States and Europe report.
Intensive antiretroviral HIV therapy does not appear to alter the course of anal morbidity associated with the infection, researchers in the United States report.
Medical collaborators in the U.S. have cited hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection as well as several other factors for causing proteinuria and kidney failure in women infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS.
Minority AIDS patients in the United States are more likely to start antiretroviral treatments late and less likely to continue using these drugs, researchers in New Jersey report.
Researchers in the United States say that cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors may be an effective treatment for patients with HIV related kidney dysfunction.
Protease inhibitor (PI)-based antiretroviral HIV treatment is the best option for patients suffering from oral candidiasis, researchers in Italy report.
HIV patients who remain relatively healthy despite clinical signs of advanced disease may have enhanced nonspecific immune function, according to researchers in the United States.
Prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports
Both HIV and Alzheimer disease can damage the brain, but most people think the similarity between the two ends there. Recent research from San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (SFVAMC) suggests a closer connection - the brain damage from both diseases appears to involve inflammation, suggesting that anti-inflammatory drugs could help.
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