http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. South Africa is home to the largest HIV epidemic in the world with a total of 5.6 million people living with HIV. Large-scale clinical trials evaluating combination methods of prevention and treatment are often prohibitively expensive and take years to complete. In the absence of such trials, mathematical models can help assess the effectiveness of different HIV intervention combinations, as demonstrated in a new study by Elisa Long and Robert Stavert from Yale University in the US. Their findings appear in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-shortcut-cost-effective-interventions-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:40:01 EST news285243996 A reformulated version of an anti-HIV gel developed for vaginal use was found safe and acceptable by HIV-negative men and women who used it rectally, according to a Phase I clinical trial published today in PLOS ONE. The study, led by researchers with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN), tested a reduced glycerin formulation of tenofovir gel, and has spurred the development of an expanded safety study of the gel, expected to launch later this year. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-gel-safe-approach-hiv-anal.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 03 Apr 2013 17:00:11 EST news284215947 Human cells have an intrinsic capacity to destroy HIV. However, the virus has evolved to contain a gene that blocks this ability. When this gene is removed from the virus, the innate human immune system destroys HIV by mutating it to the point where it can no longer survive. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-innate-immune-hiv-viral-gene.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:03 EST news283707538 Support services for people living with HIV will benefit from better information about prosecutions for the sexual transmission of HIV, according to a report released today by researchers from Sigma Research at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and Birkbeck, University of London. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-guidance-hiv-transmission-law.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:00:04 EST news281723817 A new study shows that a microbicide gel is highly effective in block infection by the AIDS virus in a non-human primate model. In the paper published December 6 in the Open Access journal PLOS Pathogens, Dereuddre-Bosquet and colleagues from the European Combined Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Microbicides (CHAARM) Consortium describe the gel's key ingredient, which are small peptides engineered to present a decoy to bind up the virus and prevent it from entering and infecting the cells of the body. Because this is a gel it can be topically applied and could represent a powerful preventative agent against sexual transmission of HIV. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-vaginal-microbicide-gel-strategy-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 06 Dec 2012 17:10:02 EST news274031729 At least 2 million people worldwide will be infected with HIV this year, driving the need for better HIV prevention strategies to slow the global pandemic. A better understanding of how to prevent HIV transmission using antiviral drugs led to approval of the first oral pill for HIV prevention, and microbicides delivered as topical gels or via intravaginal rings are in clinical testing and have yielded both positive and negative results. The complex factors involved in the sexual transmission of HIV, the urgent need for new preventive approaches, and the most promising methods currently in development are examined in a special issue of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc, publishers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-hiv-aids-preventionprogress.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 05 Nov 2012 16:37:39 EST news271355847 (Medical Xpress)—People who inject drugs (PWID) can significantly reduce their risk of HIV infection with the use of opiate substitution treatments such as methadone, as suggested by an international team of researchers in a paper published today on bmj.com. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-methadone-hiv-transmission-people-drugs.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 05 Oct 2012 09:26:19 EST news268647951 Starting HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy reduces food insecurity and improves physical health, thereby contributing to the disruption of a lethal syndemic, UCSF and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have found in a study focused on sub-Saharan Africa. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-antiretroviral-therapy-hiv-infected-africans-nutrition.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:15:59 EST news268406147 Thirty years into the HIV epidemic, many people who are at high risk of HIV infection cannot or will not adopt safer sexual practices, such as abstinence and condom use. This means there is room in the market for alternative methods to reduce either exposure to or transmission of HIV among these individuals. One such strategy, HIV home testing (HT), is the subject of a recent study by Alex Carballo-Dieguez and his colleagues at the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at New York. Their work appears online in the journal AIDS and Behavior. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-hiv-home-kits-worth.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 20 Aug 2012 12:56:21 EST news264686109 (HealthDay) -- Two-thirds of Americans aged 15 to 24 have engaged in oral sex, according to a broad new survey of young people's sexual habits. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-two-thirds-youth-oral-sex-cdc.html Health Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:20:01 EST news264332826 Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) in partnership with Indian researchers and HIV positive networks groups, have found that in India, non-disclosure of HIV serostatus to sex partners among both HIV-infected female sex workers (FSWs) and HIV-infected clients of FSWs is exceedingly common. These findings currently appear online in the journal AIDS and Behavior. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-non-disclosure-hiv-serostatus-common-india.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:43:25 EST news262266143 The UN agency tasked with fighting AIDS on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the United States to allow the use of an HIV prevention pill for the first time. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-unaids-drug-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 17 Jul 2012 06:38:40 EST news261725914 An investigation led by UCSF has found that the risk of female-to-male HIV transmission is increased three fold for women with bacterial vaginosis, a common disorder in which the normal balance of bacteria in the vagina is disrupted. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-bacterial-vaginosis-higher-female-to-male-transmission.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:00:07 EST news259944658 Non-breastfed babies born to HIV-positive mothers who didn't receive antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy are routinely given zidovudine, commonly known as AZT, shortly after birth to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus that causes AIDS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-drug-combo-azt-mother-to-infant-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 20 Jun 2012 17:00:08 EST news259417234 More than 15 percent of new HIV infections occur in children. Without treatment, only 65 percent of HIV-infected children will live until their first birthday, and fewer than half will make it to the age of two. Although breastfeeding is attributed to a significant number of these infections, most breastfed infants are not infected with HIV, despite prolonged and repeated exposure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-breast-hiv-blocks-oral-transmission.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:59:30 EST news258911954 Are women willing to use a vaginal gel to protect themselves against HIV infection? Researchers at The Miriam Hospital say that is the million dollar question when it comes to developing products known as microbicides that can prevent the sexual transmission of HIV. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-women-microbicides-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:20:02 EST news254058949 A gel formulation of the antiretroviral drug tenofovir designed specifically for rectal use was found safe and acceptable, according to a Phase I clinical study led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN), and presented today at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). The results of the study, which included HIV-negative men and women who used the gel rectally once a day for one week, serve as an important step toward the development and testing of a rectal microbicide to prevent HIV from anal sex. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-rectal-tenofovir-gel-safe-early.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 06 Mar 2012 04:20:01 EST news250228749 (AP) -- Business and social media leaders teamed up Friday to tackle the transmission of HIV from mothers to babies, saying the medicine and the money are largely in place, and with the right organizational skills they can eliminate HIV-infected births by 2015. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-business-social-media-babies-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:40:01 EST news246867458 The HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 study, led by Myron S. Cohen, MD of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been named the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year by the journal Science. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-hiv-scientific-breakthrough-year-science.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:00:09 EST news243779772 Routine criminal prosecutions for not disclosing HIV status should be abolished, write three HIV/AIDS experts in an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-abolish-criminalization-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:00:07 EST news243517029 HIV infections continued to rise in Europe in 2010, but thanks to treatment the number of cases of full-blown AIDS has dramatically declined in recent years, according to a report published Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-hiv-europe-aids-cases-declining.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:11:45 EST news241863094 In a major setback for AIDS prevention research, a clinical trial of a new vaginal gel supposed to reduce HIV infections has been suspended after studies showed it to be ineffective. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-hiv-trial-scrapped-gel-ineffective.html HIV & AIDS Sun, 27 Nov 2011 12:50:01 EST news241619690 Could engineered fatty particles help prevent AIDS? Liposomes block HIV infection in early tests; could be a cost-effective preventive for developing countries http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-fatty-particles-aids.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:48:44 EST news235669669 HIV epidemics are emerging in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa among men who have sex with men, a term that encompasses gay, non-gay identified homosexual men, and transgendered and bisexual men. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-large-hiv-epidemic-gays-middle.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 03 Aug 2011 03:40:03 EST news231560040 UK regulators have approved Europe's first clinical trial of a monoclonal antibody produced from genetically modified plants. This landmark decision sets the stage for the testing, in humans, of an anti-HIV product made from genetically modified tobacco plants. It will open the door for trials of additional plant-derived medicines treating a range of diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-clinical-medicines-genetically.html Other Thu, 21 Jul 2011 10:29:35 EST news230462955 Using a technique that silences genes promoting infection, researchers have developed a novel, topically-applied molecular microbicide capable of preventing HIV transmission. The microbicide is predicted to have long-lasting effects in mice, opening the door to developing an intravaginal microbicide that could protect women against HIV infection potentially for weeks at a time and bolster public health efforts to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-aptamer-approach-hiv-transmission.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 16 May 2011 12:38:44 EST news224768311 Men and women infected with HIV reduced the risk of transmitting the virus to their sexual partners by taking oral antiretroviral medicines when their immune systems were relatively healthy, according to findings from a large-scale clinical study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-hiv-infected-people-antiretrovirals-significantly-transmission.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 12 May 2011 11:43:02 EST news224419358