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The
HIV/AIDS eNews is published by the British Columbia Persons With AIDS
Society. This publication is a compilation of various articles
collected from numerous news sources. Opinions and information
expressed are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those
of the Society.
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Calling all proposals!
Positive Gathering is a three-day, all-inclusive event where HIV+ British Columbians come together to learn and share with their peers in a safe, open & constructive environment.
Time is running out for Workshop Proposal applications!
Click here to learn more and apply now. |
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 Creative Writers' Workshop
Join this upbeat, supportive opportunity to craft your stories and point of view. A light-hearted challenge for new and experienced dreamers and writers.
Where: BCPWA's Training Room (Level1)
When: Fridays 1–3pm, February 6, 13, 20, 27/ March 6, 13.
RSVP: (required) 604.893.2200 |
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AmBigYouUs
Are you HIV+ and Trans? Join us at AmBigYouUs, a weekly mingling and networking event specifically for the HIV+ Trans community.
Where: BCPWA's Training Room (1st Floor)
When: Wednesdays, 6-8pm (Next event, February 4)
For more information, please call 604.893.2258 |
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SUITS
Join us for the kick-off of our new monthly networking event for professional, gay HIV+ men!
Where: Milestones Yaletown (1109 Hamilton Street)
When: January 26, 2009, 5.30-8pm
RSVP: (required) 604.893.2258
For more information call 604.893.2200 |
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Volunteer at BCPWA
Volunteer Event Organizer
Do you enjoy talking and meeting new people?
Some Responsibilities:
- Assist with the coordination of the Annual Volunteer Recognition Event in April
- Securing door prizes from local sponsors
- Strong communication skills to call and meet people
- Providing administrative support to the Coordinator
* 6 month Volunteer commitment required (1 position) start December
Please see Marc Seguin-Coordinator Volunteer Services BC Persons With AIDS Society, for more information; marcs@bcpwa.org 604-893-2298 |
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No exposure to hepatitis, HIV from tainted syringes
Nearly
completed tests on almost 1,400 patients have yet to turn up someone
who contracted hepatitis or HIV from exposure to contaminated syringes,
health officials in northern Alberta said Thursday.
January 16 2009
HIgh Prairie, Alta. -- Nearly completed tests on almost 1,400 patients
have yet to turn up someone who contracted hepatitis or HIV from
exposure to contaminated syringes, health officials in northern Alberta
said Thursday.
"There has been no identified link between any infection and the
incident," Deb Guerette, spokeswoman for the Peace Country Health
Region, said in an interview.
The syringe scare flared last October when health officials announced
testing was required because some nurses at the High Prairie Health
Complex had for years routinely injecting drugs into intravenous lines
with the same syringe.
Guerette said test results for 1,000 of 1,380 patients are in and so far there have been 30 cases of infection.
"There were some positive test results expected," she said.
"There are existing rates of these infections in this community of
about three per cent. And that's approximately right around what we
have discovered in our testing."
Some of the 30 had the infections before going to the hospital or
display symptoms because they were vaccinated and still have the
antibodies.
"There's still a lot of followup work to do."
Officials are still trying to locate 80 patients but have failed so far because they have either moved or can't be contacted.
"We are still trying, but we are running out of methods to exhaust," said Guerette.
Patients are being notified of their test results by registered mail
and the province will get a final report later this year, she said.
Gerry Predy, Alberta's acting chief medical health officer, said Thursday the early results have been encouraging.
"The risk here, I think, is low but (the province) felt the risk assessment was high enough to go through this process.
"We're hoping, of course, they won't find anybody who has been infected (by the syringes)."
The injections were performed by registered nurses and licensed
practical nurses, who both receive training on safe injection practices.
The concern was that intravenous lines sometimes have blood seeping
into them from a vein. If a syringe is reused, a new patient could come
in contact with the blood of the previous patient and possibly inherit
an infection.
Some of the syringes were reused in endoscopy procedures, during which
a fibreglass scope is inserted into a patient's bowel or stomach and
beams back video images to scan for cancers, colitis and digestive
problems. Prior to the procedure, the patient is sedated by a syringe
inserted into the intravenous line.
Alberta's Quality Health Council is investigating the root causes of the breakdown.
Similar concerns also cropped up in Lloydminster on the
Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary, and in other parts of Saskatchewan and
Manitoba.
The Canadian Press, http://www.ctv.ca
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Former UNAIDS Head Peter Piot Joins the Gates Foundation
Peter
Piot, MD, PhD, former founding executive director of the Joint United
Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) and co-discoverer of the Ebola
virus, has agreed to serve briefly as a health adviser to the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation
January 16, 2009
Peter Piot, MD, PhD,
former founding executive director of the Joint United Nations
Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) and co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, has
agreed to serve briefly as a health adviser to the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. He will hold that post until May, when he will move to Imperial College in London to launch a global health program.
Piot has previously criticized the Gates Foundation’s philanthropic
efforts for directing too much of its funding toward research projects
such as searching for a malaria vaccine. He has always urged for
improved delivery of medications to poor countries lacking in effective
health infrastructures.
“Setting up [delivery] programs in developing countries was our main
activity,” said Piot in reference to UNAIDS, which he helmed for 13
years.
Piot added that despite efforts by UNAIDS and other AIDS treatment
advocates, five HIV-positive people die for every two who get
antiretroviral treatment.
http://www.poz.com
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Dems propose AIDS funding
Some
$3 billion in new money is being set aside for disease prevention and
wellness. Earmarked within that is $355 million more for domestic
prevention programs for hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases,
with expectations that about 70 percent will go to HIV.
January 22, 2009
Increased
funding for HIV prevention and AIDS services is part of the $825
billion congressional economic stimulus plan. The House Democratic
leadership introduced the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of
2009, on January 15.
Some $3 billion in new money is being set
aside for disease prevention and wellness. Earmarked within that is
$355 million more for domestic prevention programs for hepatitis and
sexually transmitted diseases, with expectations that about 70 percent
will go to HIV.
HIV prevention programs at the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention have seen a 20 percent decline in
purchasing power over the last five years. In testimony last year
before a House subcommittee, CDC Director Julie Gerberding said they
would need an additional $877 million over the next five years to
significantly reduce the number of new infections. The proposed
increase would be an important step toward that goal.
The AIDS
Institute praised the proposal. Lobbyist Carl Schmid said, "We strongly
agree with the House, preventing disease, such as HIV/AIDS, will
dramatically reduce future health care costs." He added that health
care should be "a top priority for the economic health of our country
and our society."
The federal share of Medicaid will go up $87
billion over the short term. That will help states that are hit hard by
declining state tax revenue, rising unemployment, and increased numbers
of low income households that now qualify for Medicaid.
Estimates
are that about 40 percent of persons living with HIV rely upon Medicaid
to access their healthcare. Frank Oldham, executive director of the
National Association of People With AIDS, applauded the effort as
crucial to maintaining their health.
However, the AIDS Drug
Assistance Program, another key safety net program, will not receive
any new money under the stimulus proposal. That is troubling because
waiting lists for drugs are growing again in a number of states, and
the burden on the program increases as the economy declines.
In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has agreed to fully fund ADAP, as was reported in last week's Bay Area Reporter .
While
most ADAP funds are used to purchase drugs, they also can be used to
pay health insurance premiums. This includes assisting workers who lose
their job, but under the so-called COBRA law can continue to pay for
health insurance coverage under their old employers group plan.
Additional
billions from the stimulus package will go to the National Institutes
of Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, Indian Health Services, and
community health centers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San
Francisco) said that the leadership has put the measure on the fast
track, with committee mark-ups and a floor vote by the end of the
month. The Senate plans to consider it in early February and have it on
the president's desk before the mid-month recess.
In another
matter, on January 6, Representative Jose Serrano (D-New York)
introduced the Community AIDS and Hepatitis Prevention Act of 2009
(H.R. 179). It would remove all legal barriers to states and cities
spending federal funds on needle exchange programs. It has 35
co-sponsors.
Estimates are that about 11,000 new HIV
infections and 30,000 new hepatitis C infections a year are directly or
indirectly linked to contaminated drug injection equipment. Needle
exchange programs have demonstrated effectiveness at reducing this
transmission and they do lead to increased use of injection drugs.
By Bob Roehr, The Bay Area Reporter Online
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Australian HIV-positive man jailed for attempting to infect partners
"I
said, 'I can't understand how I could have returned a positive result',
because (Neal) was the only one I'd bare-backed with," the man told the
court. He claimed that Neal had then said: "It's better to get it
from someone you know out of love than a stranger and to not know."
January 16, 2009
An HIV-positive grandfather from Melbourne who preyed on "vulnerable"
gay men when he tried to infect them with the virus has been sentenced
to nearly two decades years in jail.
Michael Neal, 50, was convicted in July of fifteen charges including
attempting to infect a person with HIV, rape, reckless conduct
endangering a person and procuring sex by fraud.
Today Judge David Parsons sent him to prison for 18 years and nine months.
During his trial, the court heard how Neal picked up his lover from the
doctor in December 2002 and was confronted about his HIV positive
status.
"I said, 'I can't understand how I could have returned a positive
result', because (Neal) was the only one I'd bare-backed with," the man
told the court.
He claimed that Neal had then said: "It's better to get it from someone you know out of love than a stranger and to not know."
After a police investigation, Neal was arrested and charged with
numerous crimes including two counts of intentionally infecting a
person with HIV.
The six-week trial which ended with a mixed verdict, found Neal not
guilty on two counts of deliberately infecting a person with HIV but
guilty on fifteen other counts.
The case shone a spotlight on the State Government's approach to
monitoring and containing the spread of HIV and ultimately led to the
sacking of Robert Hall, Victoria's chief health officer.
During the trial, prosecutor Mark Rochford said Neal had set out to
infect as many people as possible with HIV to serve his own needs and
fulfil his desire to have unprotected sex.
He said that Neal also told a number of his sexual partners that he
wanted to make others HIV positive so that he could increase the amount
of people he could have unsafe sex with.
Some of the people he told made complaints to the Department of Health and a file on Neal was opened in 2001.
By then Neal had already begun attempting to infect his victims with
HIV and visits from State Government officials warning him to practice
safe sex made little impression.
A series of written warnings from the health department also failed to curb his behaviour.
Between November 2001 and 7th April 2006, the department served Neal
with three letters and four orders issued under section 121 of the
Health Act. But Neal continued to have unprotected sex.
Throughout the trial, Neal's counsel, George Georgiou, maintained that
Neal genuinely did not believe he was able to pass on the HIV virus
because of his undetectable viral load, the amount of HIV in the
bloodstream.
He said that Neal had not really wanted to infect others and was simply
engaging in a "sick fantasy" when he spoke of his "pos pigs" or made
comments to sexual partners such as "I've made 75 people pos".
During the pre-sentence hearing Mr Georgiou said risky sexual behaviour among gay men was commonplace.
"It is clear from all that has been said and done in this trial that in
the particular sub-culture of which Neal was a member, risky sexual
behaviour was a prominent feature," he said.
He went through some of the charges on which Neal was convicted,
disputing parts of the evidence, drawing a rebuke from Judge David
Parsons.
"What is the point of saying that these people indulged in risky behaviour, that somehow they're at fault?" he said.
"The point is that he should not try and infect them with HIV.
"In a sense he knows that he is preying on people that are even more vulnerable."
Judge Parsons said he had "little sympathy" for Mr Georgiou's reasoning.
Related Articles
http://www.pinknews.co.uk
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Iranian AIDS doctors sentenced to prison
Two
renowned Iranian AIDS physicians were convicted for allegedly taking
part in a U.S.-backed plot to topple Iran's Islamic system, mystifying
human rights activists who said the two were apolitical and doing
innovative work on stemming the spread of the HIV virus.
January 19, 2009
Tehran, Iran - Two renowned Iranian AIDS physicians were convicted for
allegedly taking part in a U.S.-backed plot to topple Iran's Islamic
system, mystifying human rights activists who said the two were
apolitical and doing innovative work on stemming the spread of the HIV
virus.
Rights groups condemned the conviction and sentencing of the
scientists, brothers Arash and Kamyar Alaei. It was the latest instance
of the hard-line government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad targeting
Iranians with Western connections and depicting them as tools for an
American campaign to overthrow the Islamic republic.
Iran's state news agency said Monday that the Alaei brothers, and two
others convicted in the same case, were leading a CIA-funded effort to
recruit other scientists, doctors and professions to foment a "soft
overthrow" or velvet revolution in Iran.
"They aimed at creating social crisis, street demonstrations and ethnic
disputes," the general director of the Intelligence Ministry's
counterespionage section said, according to the state-run IRNA news
agency. The director, who was not identified in the report, said the
four had already recruited dozens of people and said the CIA spent some
$32 million on the plot.
The conviction and sentencing of the four was announced Saturday — but
the Alaeis, who were arrested in June, were not identified as among
those convicted until Monday's IRNA report. The other two defendants
have not been named. While it was announced that all four were
sentenced to prison, the length of the sentences has not been made
public.
The four were tried in a one-day, closed-door court session in December.
The allegations are similar to those Iran made against four
Iranian-Americans in 2007, including academic Haleh Esfandiari. Those
four were imprisoned or had their passports confiscated for several
months until they were released and allowed to return to the U.S. They
all denied the allegations.
While several of those four were involved in democracy-building
activities — perhaps explaining why they attracted the attention of
Iranian authorities — the Alaei brothers have been strictly apolitical,
focusing on AIDS prevention, said Sarah Kolloch, of the
Massachusetts-based Physicians for Human Rights.
The Alaeis have run a clinic in Tehran and run HIV/AIDS treatment and
prevention programs in Iran, focusing particularly on at-risk sectors
like prostitutes and drug users. They have also held training courses
for Afghan and Tajik medical workers.
"We don't know why they were targeted. Most of their presentations were
about innovative work in Iran on HIV prevention. If anything, Iran
should have been excited that something positive like this was coming
from Iran," Kolloch said.
Public discussion of AIDS and HIV virus was long taboo in Iran, but in
recent years the government has taken one of the most open approaches
in the Mideast to the problem. State television has shown programs
emphasizing how the virus is transmitted and urging people to avoid sex
outside of marriage.
In December, the health minister acknowledged that there were more than
18,000 HIV-positive citizens registered and that the actual number of
cases could be as high as 100,000. It blamed not only drug use but also
"illegal sexual relations," referring to adultery, prostitution and
homosexuality — a rare admission that such phenomena exist in Iran.
The prosecution of the Alaeis appeared to have more to do with their contacts with the United States than with their AIDS work.
The doctors' lawyer, Masoud Shafii, told the Associated Press they were
tried under a law by which anyone who cooperates with a foreign hostile
government against Iran could receive between one to 10 years in prison.
"But their foreign cooperation and relations were only scientific and
cultural and not against the country," he said. Shafii said he did not
know the length of their sentence because he and the Alaei family had
not been officially notified of the verdict. He said he would appeal.
The Alaeis traveled extensively to international conferences on AIDS,
and Kamyar Alaei was pursuing a doctorate at the SUNY Albany School of
Public Health in Albany, New York. The two attended a 2006 conference
in Colorado sponsored in part by the U.S. State Department, but did so
with the knowledge of the Iranian government, said Hadi Ghaemi, of the
New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
"This has been a trend by the Ahmadinejad government — anyone who is
promoting Iran internationally can be accused of spying, especially the
scientific and academic community," Ghaemi said.
He said he believed the prosecution was an attempt by Ahmadinejad ahead
of presidential elections due later this year to show the Iranian
public that his government is "uncovering so-called coup plots" against
Iran.
Tension between the Washington and Tehran has been high in recent years
over Iran's nuclear program and Tehran's alleged arming of Shiite
militias in Iraq.
By Katarina Kratovac, Associated Press
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IRAQ: HIV-positive persons fear reprisals
To
be HIV-positive in Iraq means social isolation - and even death at the
hands of religious extremists who believe the virus is proof that an
HIV-positive person must have engaged in indecent acts.
January 14, 2009
Photo: DVIC  |
| Baghdad has at least 11 medical centres serving HIV/AIDS patients and there is also a centre in each province (file photo) |
Bagdad - Wife and now widow Hana’a Khalil (a pseudonym she uses to
disguise her identity) fainted when a doctor at one of Baghdad’s
hospitals told her in the late 1990s she had contracted HIV. When she
came to she could not take in what the doctor was telling her.
“I was physically at his office but my mind was elsewhere, fixated on
the health and social consequences I could face,” she said.
To be HIV-positive in Iraq means social isolation - and even death at
the hands of religious extremists who believe the virus is proof that
an HIV-positive person must have engaged in indecent acts.
Iraq has a very low HIV prevalence rate: only 44 people are
HIV-positive, according to Ihsan Jaafar, who heads the Health
Ministry’s public health directorate, responsible for combating
HIV/AIDS.
He said the directorate encouraged people to get tested and monitored
the health of HIV-positive persons and their families, providing them
with “free-of-charge treatment in addition to financial aid”.
Hana’a’s husband became infected two years after their marriage in the
early 1990s. At that time the couple had one child and decided not to
tell anyone, for fear of being stigmatised. But when she was diagnosed
HIV-positive, the couple decided to reveal their secret.
Shunned
“We panicked and needed support,” Hana’a told IRIN. “We told my
husband’s parents, with whom we were sharing a house, but unfortunately
they didn’t understand, telling us to leave because they felt ashamed
of us,” she said.
Her parents did not welcome them, so the three-member family decided to
rent a house, telling other relatives they were travelling abroad. In
the early 2000s her husband died of tuberculosis, the most frequently
occurring opportunistic infection in people living with HIV.
After the US-led invasion in 2003, the widow’s plight entered a new
phase with Muslim extremists saying HIV-positive persons were “sinners”
who should be killed.
“I became like a Bedouin, moving from place to place looking for food
and water, but in reality I was looking for safety,” she said.
First detected in 1986
The virus first came to Iraq in 1985 via contaminated blood imported
from a French company. It was detected the following year in scores of
people suffering from haemophilia, a hereditary blood disorder, said
Wadah Hamed, the head of Iraq’s AIDS Research Centre.
“Treatment at that time was tough and arbitrary. Those found to be
infected were placed in segregated medical facilities,” said Hamed, who
also heads Iraq’s national AIDS prevention programme.
Some 482 cases have been detected since 1986. Of these, 272 were Iraqis
and the rest foreigners. Today only 44 are still alive, he said.
Patients get the equivalent of about US$85 per month from the
government, as well as a clothing allowance. Those infected in 1985 are
paid an extra $200 monthly.
They get free monthly check-ups; their partners are examined every
three months, and other family members are checked every six months.
Baghdad has at least 11 medical centres for this purpose and there is
also one such centre in each province.
Low-key awareness campaign
“Give yourself a chance and have a medical check-up in one of the
HIV/AIDS centres, free of charge. Your name and any personal
information are not needed,” says a poster in Hamed’s office.
 I feel as if I’m a thief hiding from people. |
Tentatively, the ministry is launching a campaign to raise awareness
about HIV/AIDS, coordinating with local media outlets, distributing
posters and holding workshops.
Awareness programmes have also been included in the curricula of
secondary schools, and a hotline has been set up to enable people to
get advice.
“We believe the campaign should be low-key because our country is still
not open to such subjects. We don’t want to trigger panic and anxiety
among the public when they see these posters everywhere,” Hamed told
IRIN.
In cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO), the ministry
prescribes combination therapy involving three antiretroviral drugs
free of charge.
Keeping a low profile
Each time Ammar Mohammed (not his real name) goes for his monthly
assessment or draws his monthly payment, he dreads being seen by
someone who knows him.
“I feel as if I’m a thief hiding from people,” said Mohammed who was
shocked in late 2006 to learn of the murder of an HIV-positive person
being treated at a medical centre.
“Since then I’ve started to change the medical centre from time to time
in order not to be spotted at the same centre each month,” he said.
The Iraqi health and security authorities have no data on HIV-positive persons killed by gunmen.
IRIN
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Unprotected sex between long-term partners with HIV: no evidence for superinfection
A
study of long-term HIV-positive partners who do not use condoms when
they have sex with each other has found no evidence of HIV
superinfection, and instead a clear relationship between long-term
frequent exposure to their partner’s virus and a strong immune response
to that virus, suggesting that repeated exposures eventually build
immunity against superinfection.
January 19, 2009
The findings, published in the October 2008 edition of PLoS Pathogens,
a free access online journal, are important, say the University of
California researchers, because of the growing practice of
`serosorting` - unprotected sex between people of the same HIV status.
Current guidance for people with HIV from many sources is that
unprotected sex poses a risk of superinfection – infection with a new
strain of HIV that over-runs the existing virus population due to lack
of immunity to that virus.
However there is limited evidence about the frequency of superinfection
and little evidence that it has harmful effects even when it takes
place.
Superinfection seems to happen not only in people who have been
recently infected with HIV, but also in those with longstanding HIV
infection. A recently reported study in Kenyan women estimated an annual incidence of superinfection of at
least 4%, but no evidence of disease progression as a consequence of
superinfection. A study in gay men reported an incidence of 5% per year.
Although superinfection has been associated with CD4 cell declines, and
a handful of cases of transmitted drug resistance, it does not appear
to have a widespread compromising effect on either the health or
treatment outcomes of people with HIV.
There is much stronger evidence that unprotected sex with other
HIV-infected people is harmful for people with HIV where it involves
the risk of exposure to sexually transmitted infections – especially
syphilis – or to hepatitis C, both of which have been on the rise among
men who have sex with men in Europe and North America.
The study
Researchers from the University of California and San Francisco General
Hospital examined HIV-specific T-cell responses in 49 individuals with
undetectable viral load on antiretroviral therapy from a prospective
cohort of HIV-positive couples receiving treatment through the Positive
Health Program at San Francisco General Hospital.
Individuals were divided into two groups: those with partners who had
undetectable viral load (n=29), and those with partners who had
detectable viral load (n=20). There were no significant differences
between the two groups in terms of relationship length, time on
treatment, age, duration of infection or CD4 cell count.
Analysing T-cell HIV-specific interferon-gamma responses to various HIV
epitopes (portions of viral protein that elicit an antibody response
from the host), they found that significantly stronger responses to
protease, reverse transcriptase and integrase peptides were detectable
in those with viremic partners, with the strength of responses in this
group strongly correlated with a greater frequency of unprotected sex
and in particular with the frequency of receptive exposure to HIV
(being the passive partner in intercourse). There was no correlation
with the number of events of insertive intercourse.
There was evidence from two patients in this group whose partners
started antiretroviral therapy of a subsequent decline in HIV-specific
responses over the course of a year, suggesting that the control of
viral load led to a loss of immune stimulus.
There was no evidence of superinfection, as measured by phylogenetic
analysis of HIV DNA from patients and HIV RNA from partners.
However the authors speculate that, in order for HIV-specific immunity
to be induced, a degree of superinfection must have taken place, but
that it is probably confined to the mucosal surface of the body – most
likely the rectum and the gut.
This phenomenon is similar to the pattern seen in exposed but
uninfected sex workers, who appear to lose HIV-specific immunity if
they have unprotected sex less frequently. A study in Nairobi sex workers found that women who took a break from sex work and lost HIV-specific
CD8 cell responses were more likely to seroconvert subsequently,
suggesting that localised mucosal infection ceased to be contained
(although the study could not rule out renewed sexual exposure).
These findings suggest that even where an individual has drug-resistant
virus and a detectable viral load, the risks of superinfecting an
HIV-positive partner with that drug-resistant virus are low even if
that partner is receptive.
The findings provide no information about what happens if an individual
with HIV has receptive intercourse with many different partners with
HIV, but the study’s lead author Chris Willberg, now of the Biomedical
Research Centre at the University of Oxford, told aidsmap:
“We would speculate that it is regular exposure to the same epitopes
that is required to stimulate the responses. What we did not explore is
the ability for new [epitope] responses to be developed through
exposure.”
Would women exhibit the same responses if exposed to HIV from a viremic partner?
“The most logical explanation for the maintained responses that we
observed is that they were driven by receptive exposure to HIV antigen
derived from the viremic partner,” Chris Willberg commented.
“Therefore, we would expect to see the same results in women also
receptively exposed to viremic partners. If the mechanisms responsible
for driving the responses in this study are the same as those that
drive responses in exposed uninfected individuals, then there is plenty
of evidence to suggest women would respond in a similar manner.”
Reference
Willberg CB et al. Immunity to HIV-1 is influenced by continued natural exposure to exogenous virus. PLoS Pathogens 4 (10): e1000185, 2008.
By Keith Alcorn, www.aidsmap.com
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Aethlon Medical Nears Completion Of First Medical Device Study To Treat HIV/AIDS
The
Hemopurifier® is a therapeutic filtration device that serves as an
artificial adjunct to the immune system. The device has been designed
to improve infectious disease treatment outcomes through real-time
clearance of infectious viruses and immunosuppressive particles. In HIV
care the Hemopurifier® targets all circulating strains of infectious
HIV, including those varieties that cause patients to fail antiviral
drug regimens. Additionally, the device preserves the immune response
through the removal of gp120 and other toxic proteins shed by HIV to
kill-off immune cells, the hallmark of AIDS.
January 19, 2009
Aethlon Medical, Inc. (OTCBB:AEMD) announced that it is nearing
completion of the "first-in-man" study of a medical device to treat
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the disease that causes Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). In the study, an HIV-infected
individual recently initiated treatment with the Aethlon Hemopurifier®
as part of a 30-day case study being conducted at the Jattinder Gambhir
Hospital (J.G. Hospital) in Punjab, India. The study protocol, which
calls for the administration of up to twelve Hemopurifier® treatments,
is scheduled to be completed on January 23rd. The study goal is to
demonstrate that the Hemopurifier® can safely and effectively reduce
viral load and trigger replenishment of CD4 immune cells in the absence
of drug therapy.
The Hemopurifier® is a therapeutic filtration device that serves as an
artificial adjunct to the immune system. The device has been designed
to improve infectious disease treatment outcomes through real-time
clearance of infectious viruses and immunosuppressive particles. In HIV
care the Hemopurifier® targets all circulating strains of infectious
HIV, including those varieties that cause patients to fail antiviral
drug regimens. Additionally, the device preserves the immune response
through the removal of gp120 and other toxic proteins shed by HIV to
kill-off immune cells, the hallmark of AIDS.
"The antiviral and immunotherapeutic attributes of our Hemopurifier®
offer a realistic strategy for managing a broad-spectrum of infectious
disease conditions," stated Jim Joyce, Chairman and CEO of Aethlon
Medical. "In caring for those infected with HIV, we plan to enhance the
benefit of drug regimens by curbing the proliferation of viral strains
that cause drug resistance, and we seek to extend and improve the lives
of individuals once they no longer respond to drug therapy," concluded
Joyce.
In a previous infectious disease studies, treatment with the
Hemopurifier® resulted in robust viral load reductions in Hepatitis-C
(HCV) infected patients who completed a treatment protocol of three,
4-hour Hemopurifier® treatments every other day during the course of
one week. The Study was conducted at the Fortis Hospital in Delhi,
India.
Patient #1 had a 95% reduction three days post treatment and 89%
reduction seven days post treatment. The initial viral load for patient
1 was 5.3 x 10(5) viral units per ml of blood (IU/ml). Patient 1's
viral load seven days post treatment was 5.7 x 10(4) IU/ml.
Patient #2 had a 85% reduction three days post treatment and 50%
reduction seven days post treatment. The initial viral load for patient
2 was 9.2 x 10(6) IU/ml. Patient 2's viral load seven days post
treatment was 4.6 x 10(6) IU/ml.
Patient #3 had a 60% reduction three days post treatment and 83%
reduction seven days post treatment. The initial viral load for patient
3 was 3.0 x 10(8) IU/ml. Patient 3's viral load seven days post
treatment was 5.1 x 10(7) IU/ml. All viral load measurements were
performed with real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction
(RT-PCR). Control samples were measured in duplicate while treatment
samples were generally measured in triplicate.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
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PrEP Studies Raise HIV Prevention Concerns
While
recent studies show that few MSM have tried using PreP instead of a
condom—in a Boston study, only one respondent out of 227 admitted to
doing so—experts fear that FDA approval of a PrEP regimen could boost
infection rates.
January 20, 2009
With worldwide clinical trials
currently under way for a drug regimen that could boost HIV immunity
before exposure—known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)—public
health officials worry that high-risk groups such as men who have sex
with men (MSM) might abandon condoms and have unprotected sex if the
pill becomes widely available, ABC News reports.
“The important thing to realize is that it’s not just an evening-before
pill that people pop,” said Albert Liu, MD, director of HIV prevention
intervention studies at the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
While recent studies show that few MSM have tried using PreP instead of
a condom—in a Boston study, only one respondent out of 227 admitted to
doing so—experts fear that FDA approval of a PrEP regimen could boost
infection rates.
“The problem with it is the idea of a disinhibitor,” said Sean Strub, founder of POZ Magazine, told ABC News. “I think of it more in terms of Gardasil and
also, even birth control. Virtually every woman who becomes pregnant
and did not want to be knows how to avoid it. It’s applying that
knowledge at the moment of sexual interaction that gets complicated.”
http://www.poz.com
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Prezista’s Potency Enhanced by 2 HIV Mutations
Researchers
have found several new HIV mutations that decrease the effectiveness of
Prezista (darunavir) and two that actually increase its effectiveness,
according to a study published online January 15 in the Journal of
Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
January 16, 2009
Researchers have found several new HIV mutations that decrease the effectiveness of Prezista (darunavir) and two that actually increase its effectiveness, according to a study published online January 15 in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
It is not uncommon for researchers to continue identifying new drug resistance mutations that impact the effectiveness of a drug after it has been
approved. This is why studies to identify these mutations, particularly
in real world settings, are so vital.
To determine the viral
mutations that affected Prezista’s ability to suppress HIV, Diane
Descamps, MD, from the Bichat Claude Bernard Hospital in Paris, and her
colleagues analyzed blood samples from 153 treatment-experienced
HIV-positive patients who started a new regimen including Prezista.
Descamps and her team found eight mutations that people had developed while on other protease inhibitors that ultimately decreased Prezista’s ability to keep virus suppressed.
Four of these mutations had been previously identified: I47V, I54M,
T74P and I84V in the protease gene. Four mutations were new: K14R,
K20I, E34Q and K55R.
Descamps’s team also found two mutations
that appeared to increase the effectiveness of Prezista: E35D and V82A
in the protease gene. The authors write that this may help explain why
Prezista is so potent in people who have developed resistance to other
protease inhibitors.
http://www.poz.com
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Sugar Molecule Can Protect Against HIV, Study Finds
A
sugar molecule called the Pk blood group antigen might provide a
defense against HIV, according to a study published last week in the
journal Blood, Toronto's Globe and Mail reports. Researchers from
Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children and Lund University in Sweden
studied the sugar molecule, which is found on the surfaces of some red
and white blood cells. They found that Pk antigens act as magnets for
HIV, neutralizing the virus once it attaches to the antigen and
stopping its spread to other immune cells.
January 21, 2009
A sugar molecule called the Pk blood group antigen might provide a
defense against HIV, according to a study published last week in the
journal Blood, Toronto's Globe and Mail reports. Researchers from Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children and Lund University in Sweden studied the sugar molecule, which is found on the surfaces of
some red and white blood cells. They found that Pk antigens act as
magnets for HIV, neutralizing the virus once it attaches to the antigen
and stopping its spread to other immune cells, the Globe and Mail
reports.
The study's findings indicate that "the higher the level of [Pk] blood
type you have, the less susceptible you are to HIV," according to
Donald Branch of Canadian Blood Services,
who led the study. Although most people have a certain amount of Pk in
their blood supply, only about one in one million people have very high
levels, making them "very resistant" to HIV, Branch said. The study
"represents a breakthrough," he said, adding that he hopes other people
could acquire the same protection against HIV by artificially boosting
the Pk level in their blood. Researchers already have developed an
artificial version of the antigen for possible use "to sop up the HIV,"
Branch said. Once the approach is tested in animals, Branch said
researchers could move to clinical trials in humans (Taylor, Globe and
Mail, 1/16).
http://www.kaisernetwork.org
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Kidney and Patient Survival Rates High in Positive Transplant Recipients
Historically,
people living with HIV were not considered transplant candidates
because survival rates after transplantation were thought to be greatly
compromised by the disease. That changed with the advent of
antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, which dramatically increased the survival
rate of those with HIV. In addition, ARVs allow for the safe use of
medications needed to suppress the immune system in order to prevent
organ rejection.
January 21, 2009
HIV-positive
people undergoing a kidney transplant are just as likely to survive and
thrive with their new organ as HIV-negative individuals receiving a new
kidney, provided certain risk factors for transplant failure are
recognized and tightly managed. The encouraging report,
based on an analysis of data collected by the United Organ Sharing
Network (UNOS), is published in the January issue of Archives of
Surgery.
Historically, people living with HIV were not
considered transplant candidates because survival rates after
transplantation were thought to be greatly compromised by the disease.
That changed with the advent of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, which
dramatically increased the survival rate of those with HIV. In
addition, ARVs allow for the safe use of medications needed to suppress
the immune system in order to prevent organ rejection.
Although
many hospital centers have begun offering transplant procedures to
HIV-positive people, little is known about post-transplant survival
rates among people living with the virus. Kidney disease accounts for more than 10 percent of HIV-related deaths, and many
HIV-positive people require life-long dialysis or a kidney transplant
to survive.
Jayme Lock, MD, MPH, of Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine in Baltimore and his colleagues evaluated one-year
kidney survival rates and one-year patient survival rates of 36,492
HIV-negative and 100 HIV-positive kidney transplant recipients listed
on the UNOS list who received transplants between January 2004 and June
2006.
The chances of patient survival, Lock's team reports,
were the same in both groups. However, kidney survival rates in these
two groups showed that HIV-negative recipients had a 94.6 percent
survival rate, compared with 87.9 percent in people with HIV.
When
the investigators broke down the results into subgroups, they learned
that some of the kidneys transplanted into HIV-positive recipients were
relatively late getting to full function. This so-called delayed graft
function (DGF) reduced kidney survival by 30 percent. When this group
was removed from the rate comparison, both HIV-positive and
HIV-negative groups had equal kidney and patient survival rates.
According
to the authors, this is significant because DGF can be avoided by
controlling certain negative risk factors such as advanced organ donor
age, deceased-donor kidneys (versus live-donor kidneys) and long cold
ischemic times (the time the kidney is without blood flow before
transplant).
http://www.poz.com
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Panacos sells its first-in-class maturation inhibitor
Maturation
inhibitors block HIV replication by inhibiting a pathway essential for
the assembly of a mature, infectious virus. Instead, non-infectious
viruses are produced, preventing subsequent cycles of HIV infection.
Panacos Pharmaceuticals announced yesterday that it has sold its
first-in-class HIV maturation inhibitor bevirimat to Myriad Genetics, a
biotechnology company that is also developing maturation inhibitors.
Maturation inhibitors block HIV replication by inhibiting a pathway
essential for the assembly of a mature, infectious virus. Instead,
non-infectious viruses are produced, preventing subsequent cycles of
HIV infection.
Panacos will receive $7 million for bevirimat, which may provide a
useful cash injection for the company and allow it to continue work on
second- and third-generation maturation inhibitors that are easier to
formulate and active in a wider population of people with HIV.
Bevirimat has been beset with problems during its long development
history, due both to difficulties with the formulation and also the
discovery that the drug lacks activity in people with polymorphisms
(natural variations) in HIV’s gag gene that may be more common in treatment-experienced patients.
In October 2008 Panacos reported results from a phase II study which showed bevirimat oral solution was effective in treatment-experienced people who lacked gag polymorphisms. However, the company still faced the challenge of developing a tablet formulation.
Panacos’s decision to sell the drug comes as little surprise; treatment
activists have previously expressed doubts about the company’s ability
to bring the drug to market.
What’s more surprising is that the company has found a buyer; as
the Treatment Action Group noted in its 2008 Pipeline report “[the
fact] that no big pharmaceutical partner has appeared to take bevirimat
forward means that most of them had a look at the drug and decided to
pass”.
The buyer, Myriad Genetics, already has experience of bringing
cancer drugs to market and is developing its own maturation inhibitor, MPC-9055 (also known as Vivecon),
which is due to enter a phase IIA dose-ranging study shortly. This
study will identify the dose to be carried forward in development.
Myriad Genetics says that it has another maturation inhibitor in
preclinical development, and is also working on an HIV fusion
inhibitor.
Panacos meanwhile says that it has identified second-generation
maturation inhibitors with better bioavailability and the ability to
overcome gag polymorphisms, which it hopes to test in humans soon. The company has
also identified a third-generation maturation inhibitor that is
chemically distinct from bevirimat, raising the prospect that it will
be active against viruses resistant to bevirimat. Panacos is also
attempting to develop an oral fusion inhibitor. The only fusion
inhibitor so far licensed, enfuvirtide (Fuzeon), must be injected twice
a day.
By Keith Alcorn, www.aidsmap.com
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Topical Treatment Wipes Out Herpes With RNAi
In
order for the herpesvirus to infect the host, two conditions must be
met. First, the virus must be able to enter and take over host cells.
Second, the virus must then reproduce itself. Lieberman's topical
treatment uses RNAi to foil both these events.
January 22, 2009
Whether condoms or abstinence, most efforts to prevent sexually
transmitted diseases have a common logic: keep the pathogen out of your
body altogether. While this approach is certainly reasonable enough, it
doesn't help the countless people worldwide who, for a number of
reasons, are not in a position to control their sexual circumstances.
Now, Harvard Medical School professor of pediatrics Judy
Lieberman, who is also a senior investigator at the Immune Disease
Institute, has overseen the development of a topical treatment that, in
mice, disables key genes necessary for herpesvirus transmission. Using
a laboratory method called RNA interference, or RNAi, the treatment
cripples the virus in a molecular two-punch knockout, simultaneously
disabling its ability to replicate, as well as the host cell's ability
to take up the virus.
What's more, the treatment is just as effective when applied
anywhere from one week prior to a few hours after exposure to the
virus. In that sense, the basic biology of this prophylactic enables a
real-world utility.
"People have been trying to make a topical agent that can
prevent transmission, a microbicide, for many years," says Lieberman.
"But one of the main obstacles for this is compliance. One of the
attractive features of the compound we developed is that it creates in
the tissue a state that's resistant to infection, even if applied up to
a week before sexual exposure. This aspect has a real practicality to
it. If we can reproduce these results in people, this could have a
powerful impact on preventing transmission."
These findings will be published in the January 22 issue of Cell Host and Microbe.
The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 536
million people worldwide are infected with herpes simplex virus type 2
(HSV-2), the most common strain of this sexually transmitted disease.
Women are disproportionately affected. This is especially serious,
since the virus can easily be passed from mother to child during birth,
and untreated infants face risks of brain damage and death. While HSV-2
alone isn't life-threatening in adults, infection does increase a
person's vulnerability to other viruses such as HIV.
In order for the herpesvirus to infect the host, two
conditions must be met. First, the virus must be able to enter and take
over host cells. Second, the virus must then reproduce itself.
Lieberman's topical treatment uses RNAi to foil both these events.
RNAi, a biological process that was identified barely a decade
ago, has transformed the field of biological research. A breakthrough
that earned the Nobel Prize in 2006, RNAi is a natural cellular process
that occurs in all cells of all multicellular organisms to regulate the
translation of genetic information into proteins. This natural process
can be manipulated by researchers to switch off specific genes, and
there is much research and development work to harness RNAi for
therapeutics.
Many in the field think RNAi-based drugs may be the next important new class of drugs.
By introducing tiny RNA molecules into cells, researchers can
target a gene of interest and, in effect, throw a wrench into that
gene's ability to build protein molecules. For all intents and
purposes, that gene is now disabled.
While RNAi has profoundly accelerated the ability of
scientists to probe and interrogate cells in the Petri dish,
therapeutic breakthroughs have proved far more problematic. Researchers
have had a difficult time delivering these tiny RNA molecules and
ensuring that they actually penetrate the desired cells and tissues in
a living organism.
Modifying a delivery technique that Lieberman developed in
2005, she and postdoctoral fellow Yichao Wu and junior researcher
Deborah Palliser (who now heads her own laboratory at Albert Einstein
College of Medicine) treated mice with strands of RNA that were fused
to cholesterol molecules, which made it possible for the molecules to
pass through the cell membranes. When applied in the form of a topical
solution, these RNA molecules could then be fully absorbed into the
vaginal tissue, protecting the mice against a lethal dose of
administered virus.
One RNA molecule in the topical solution targeted a herpes
gene called UL29, which the virus needs to replicate. Knocking out UL29
inactivates the virus.
Another RNA molecule targeted Nectin-1, a surface protein
found on cells in the vaginal tissue. Nectin-1 acts as a kind of host
gatekeeper to which the virus binds to pass into the cell. Without
Nectin-1, the virus simply can't infect cells.
Either RNA molecule delivered by itself would be sufficient to
block the virus, but together in this RNAi cocktail, the host tissue
becomes like a fortress that pulls up the drawbridge to block the
enemy's entrance, and also has a full-fledged battle plan to slaughter
the enemy if they make it through.
"As far as we could tell, the treatment caused no adverse
effects, such as inflammation or any kind of autoimmune response," says
Lieberman. "And while knocking out a host gene can certainly be risky,
we didn't see any indication that temporarily disabling Nectin-1
interfered with normal cellular
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
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