HIV ceases to be killer disease

The dreaded Human Immune Virus (HIV) which has wreaked havoc in the last three decades across the globe may lastly be on its way out as a killer disease. Scientists researching into a treat have announced that if an HIV-positive person immediately starts suitable treatment of anti-retroviral drugs, the risk of transmitting the virus to an uninfected sexual partner is nearly totally eliminated. That is dramatic and welcome news to the entire world because the disease had puzzled the scientific and medical communities as incurable. The international trial, conduct by the HIV avoidance Trials Network, tracked more than 1,700 couples across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United States and found that the risk of illness fell by 96 per cent.

A statement from the UN Information Centre in Accra last Friday said the reduction in risk was so big that the trial was stopped some three to four years ahead of schedule. "This breakthrough is a serious game changer," said Michel Sidibe, the Executive Director of the Joint UN Programmers on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). "Now we require making sure that couples have the option to choose treatment for prevention and have access to it," he explained. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, (WHO) explained the results of the study as "a crucial development, because we well know that sexual transmission accounts for about 80 per cent of all new infections".

UNAIDS said it would convene a meeting with other key association tackling the scourge of AIDS to discuss the trial and its implications for the reply to the disease. In July, WHO is also releasing new guidance to assist HIV-positive people to keep their partners. The two agencies stressed the need for couples to make proof-based decisions on which combination of HIV prevention options was best for them, and that anti-retroviral therapy supply as one of the options made available. "No single method is entirely protective against HIV," the agencies said in a joint press statement. "Treatment for prevention wants to be used in combination with other HIV prevention options.

Gilead Ends Trial of Novel Drug for Rare Lung Disease on Lack of effectiveness

Gilead Sciences Inc., the world’s major maker of AIDS drugs, said it is stopping a late stage study of an investigational lung disease therapy because it did not help patients with the state, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The drug, ambrisentan, was in the last stage of testing usually necessary for U.S. approval, the Foster City, California- based company said in a report today. The decision to halt the study followed an interim study of data by a monitoring committee and the company’s review, according to the report.

Gilead said on Dec. 20 that it had decided to obtain Arresto Biosciences Inc., of Palo Alto, California, for $225 million. Arresto’s lead investigational drug is a monoclonal antibody being tested for cancer and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the similar fatal lung disease that Gilead’s currently canceled study for ambrisentan was targeting. “Gilead is conduct a thorough review of the data and will converse the full consequences of this analysis to the medical community when they are accessible,” Gilead said in the statement.

Nathan Kaiser, a Gilead spokesman, said there is no association between the decision to stop the ambrisentan study and the company’s contract with Arresto. “Gilead was just conversant of the results of the data monitor committee this week,” Kaiser said in a telephone interview today. Ambrisentan conventional U.S. approval in 2007 as a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension, a tapering of the artery that causes smallness of breath and heart failure. It is market under the brand name Letairis. Gilead share fell 2 percent to $35.60 at 6:07 p.m. New York time in extensive trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market after finishing down 22 cents to $36.34.

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AIDS Quilt show Downtown

Last Wednesday was World AIDs Day, where many events took place across town remembering those who have lost their lives to the disease. The annual AIDs walk and vigil was previous week as well. On Tuesday, the World AIDs Quilt was on show here at Metro Galleries at 19th and Eye Streets downtown. Names, faces and personal messages adorn the eight section of the quilt on display as part of World AIDs Day events. It is a part of art that travels the world constantly. Aimed at remembering those who have died, inspirational those living with the disease and to educate.

"We have thousands of people here in Kern County who live one way or a further with HIV," said Michael Viola, who has lived with the disease for additional than 20 years. "And just so people are bare to the education, and the awareness, that's actually the only way we can battle the ignorance." Viola know 33 of the lives that help create the quilt, 91,000 plus people in total. He calls considering the quilt bittersweet as it reminds him of lost friends. "It's a calming result being among the panels here, being among the whispers of the panels," he said.

"This is certainly something that is notable to have been brought to Bakersfield," said Bakersfield AIDs Project founder Audrey Chavez. The project along with Kaiser, community donations and Bakersfield City Councilwoman Jackie Sullivan, who's daughter Joyce's panel is among those on display nearby, helped bring part of the quilt here to help people look beyond the statistics of a disease that have impacted more than 33 million people worldwide. "It's just totally gorgeous, several of the pieces that were shaped were sewn with a lot of tears, a lot of love, and talent and are just as diverse as the population they represent," Chavez said.

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Heavy Alcohol Consumption May enlarge HIV Disease Progression

A new review of many studies has found some evidence linking heavy alcohol use to accelerated HIV disease progression. In particular, alcohol use influences how dependably people take their medication, which can affect HIV progression. However, it is still unclear whether alcohol affect sequence independently of antiretroviral adherence. “There is strong evidence that alcohol use interferes with antiretroviral therapy adherence. The more a person drinks alcohol, the extra medication he/she misses,” said Professors Judith Hahn and Jeffrey Samet, the authors of the appraisal, in correspondence with The AIDS Beacon.

“Suboptimal obedience to these medications can cause HIV to become opposed to and for the treatment regimen to fail,” they added. However, whether alcohol affects disease progression separately of missed antiretroviral drug doses is more controversial. Scientists have extensive speculated that alcohol and drug use affect the rate of HIV progression. Alcohol is known to have oppressive effects on the immune system, and illegal drug use has been linked to faster progression. However, the role of alcohol in HIV progression has remained elusive. “While many studies conduct in the early 1990s found no link between alcohol use and HIV disease progression, more recent studies have recommended that there is such a link,” said the authors.

To better recognize the connection between alcohol and disease progression, the authors of the review examine a number of studies from before and after the arrival of antiretroviral therapy, as well as animal studies where alcohol use was extra controlled. Results show that prior to the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), studies found no association between heavy alcohol consumption and HIV disease progression. However, more fresh studies from the post-HAART era have been inconclusive. Three of the six studies from the post-HAART era included in the review established an association between heavy alcohol use and at least one measure of HIV disease series, such as higher viral load, lower CD4 count, opportunistic infections, or death.

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Histoplasmosis

Histoplasmosis is a fungus disease that affects the lungs and may occasionally invade other parts of the body. It is a rare disease with fewer than 12 cases reported in upstate New York each year. Anyone can get histoplasmosis. It is known more often in immunocompromised individuals, such as AIDS patients. Birds bats, dogs, cats, rats, skunks, opossum, foxes and other animals can get histoplasmosis and may play a role in distribution the disease.

The disease is acquired by inhaling the spore phase of the fungus. Outbreaks may occur in groups with common exposures to bird or bat dung or recently disturbed, impure soil found in chicken coops, caves, etc. Person-to-person spread of histoplasmosis does not occur. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, ranging from flu-like illness to serious lung disease.

Symptoms may show within five to 18 days after exposure. However, most people do not skill symptoms. Exact medications such as amphotericin B are available. Minimize exposure to dust in contaminated and with these environments such as chicken coops and their surrounding soil. Use of a defensive mask and spraying the area with water may be helpful in minimizing contact to dust.

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Nigeria: Uncertainty of HIV/Aids Local medication

Lagos — Since the discovery of the Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV) which causes Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) 27 years ago, the world has been confronted with the penalty posed by the reality that no cure has been found against the disease.Again, no vaccine approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been invented, thereby extending the hope for stable eradication of the virus.

Even the ARV drugs used in the management of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) is in short supply in poor countries, as some giver nations to developing countries have soft-pedaled in their funding activities, partly due to the global financial recession, and distraction of funds meant for HIV/AIDS medication into private pockets of some corrupt government officials.

Whereas the developed nations have what it takes to provide for their PLWHAS, the poor countries still depend on drugs from outside donors to take care of theirs.In the quest to limit the spread of the virus, scientists in advanced countries are busy struggling to discover reliable vaccines, while traditional and orthodox healers in some developing nations like Nigeria are parading range of medications which they claim to be potent for HIV cure, even AIDS.

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Sexually transmitted diseases among Aussie youngsters on the rises

Experts have called for a new HIV awareness movement after it was seen that venereal disease among young Australians has skyrocketed.According to federal government figures, the number of chlamydia cases doubled to 60,000 over the four years to 2008, and people matured between 20 and 29 are the group at highest risk.

Professor Michael Kidd, who chaired a ministerial advisory group on sexual disease strategy, says the higher infection rates mean young people are ignoring the government's safe-sex ad movement.The surge in risky lifestyle, he said, could also result in an enlarge in HIV (human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS).

"That's one of the grave concerns," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Professor Kidd as influential reporters on May 27 in Sydney."The concern is that if we see a condition like Chlamydia on the rise, that indicate that there's a lot of unsafe sexual practices occurring and of course that sets up an situation where HIV transmission can increase as well," he stated. 

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