Tag Archives: HIV

Toddler “Functionally Cured” of HIV

March 04, 2013   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.nydailynews.com

A two-year-old has been deemed by doctors “functionally cured” of HIV.

In July 2010, a baby girl was born to a mother who is HIV positive.  She was given three antiretrovial drugs within 30 hours of her birth, and now, two years later, there is no evidence of HIV in her body.

The Mississippi girl is the first person to be “functionally cured” of the virus, and they credit early intervention with the antiretrovial drugs for the outcome.

A “functional cure” is when the presence of a virus is so small, that lifelong treatment isn’t necessary.

The findings were announced at the 2013 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta.

This is only the second known case involving a person cured of HIV.  In 2007, Timothy Brown, also known as the Berlin patient, became cured after undergoing a bone marrow transplant for his leukemia.  This outcome was a rare case however, as the bone marrow he received happened to have a genetic mutation that makes the stem cells in it naturally resistant to the virus.

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FDA Approves Drug as Preventive Treatment for HIV

July 17, 2012   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.healthland.time.com

The FDA has approved Truvada, which is the first drug shown to reduce the risk of HIV.

Truvada, which has been used since 2004 as a treatment for people who are already infected with the virus, was approved on July 16.  The Food and Drug Administration approved the Gilead Sciences’ pill as a preventive measure for people who are at high risk of acquiring HIV through sexual activity.

Public health advocates believe the pill will help slow down the spread of HIV, which infects 50,000 new people a year.

1.2 million Americans have HIV, which develops into AIDS if it’s not treated with antiviral drugs, like Truvada.  Currently, around 240,000 people are unaware of their positive HIV status.

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HIV Drug Endorsed by FDA Advisers

May 14, 2012   Rebecca Welk   No comments

Photo Credit: www.blisstree.com

FDA advisers have officially endorsed a new preventive HIV drug called Truvada after a recent study had positive results. In the study, young gay men without the disease were given Truvada, which protected 44% of the subjects from contracting HIV.

Dr. Daniel Kniest told Fox News, “The preliminary approval by the FDA was for preventative medicine, anti-viral medicine which is the combination of two pills and is called Truvada.  It’s based on a study in which they gave sexually active gay men, who did not have HIV, medicine every day.”

Truvada is the first drug of its kind, but still needs approval from the FDA for use in healthy people.

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HIV Prevention Pill May Soon Be Approved

April 27, 2012   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.articles.latimes.com

A pill called Truvada is being tested by the University of California as a potential HIV prevention.

The UC-based California HIV/AIDS Research Program, or CHRP, has been awarded grants that equal to around $11.8 million to see if the current HIV drug can actually be used to prevent the virus.

Truvada was originally approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 2004 to treat HIV patients.  Since then, an international trial has revealed that it has worked as a preventive measure in a select few gay and bisexual populations.

The trial has revealed that overall, it prevented HIV infection in 44 percent of the population, and those who took the pill more consistently, had a reduction of 73 percent.

The current study being performed will take place in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Long Beach on nearly 700 gay and bisexual men, as well as transgender women, who are at high-risk but not infected.  Another team is also in Oakland, Richmond, Berkeley, and other East Bay locations and will test it on young gay and bisexual men of color.

Truvada’s manufacturer, Gilead Sciences, Inc., has sent in an application to the FDA to be reviewed.  They hope that by summer, the drug will be approved as an HIV prevention pill.

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Link Found Between HIV and Abuse in Women

March 25, 2012   Rebecca Welk   No comments

Dr. Edward Machtinger, who is the director of the Women’s HIV program at UCSF, recently lead a study to determine the relationship between HIV and women who are abused.

Photo Credit: www.ucsf.edu

Dr. Machtinger’s study concluded that women who had HIV were two to six times more likely to have experienced some sort of trauma or abuse than women who were not HIV-positive.

The study also showed that around 30% of women with HIV also have post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. 60% of these women have been abused at some point in their life, while as only 12% of women without HIV have experienced abuse.

The results are based on surveys sent to 113 female patients who are HIV-positive and received treatement at UCSF.

To read more about the study, click here.

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HIV Rates Amongst Black Women Comparable to African Countries

March 21, 2012   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.feroniaproject.org

The HIV infection rates amongst black women in certain cities in the United States actually are comparable to some African countries.

This new study, which was unveiled at the Conference of Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, followed black and Latino women for a year, who had never had a positive HIV test.  After the year, five of the 2,100 women in the study became HIV positive, all which were black women.  This means that the infection rates amongst black women is 24 per 10,000.

This rate is over five times higher than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s estimation of 5 per 10,000 women.

The HIV rate was found to be similar to infection rates in Kenya, which is 28 per 10,000 women and the Democratic Republic of Congo, at 53 per 10,000.

Researchers believe that most black women know their status, but procrastinate on treatment, as women tend not to put their medical conditions first.

According to the CDC, over 65 percent of all new HIV infections are black women.

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Nigerian Anti-Gay Marriage Law Could Put At Risk Funding for HIV and AIDS

December 10, 2011   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.mask.org.za

Nigeria’s proposed bill outlawing gay marriage will likely jeopardize the country from receiving millions of dollars from Western countries geared toward stopping the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Although Nigeria is rich with oil, the country cannot afford to not receive foreign aid on the battle against HIV and AIDS.  Nigeria has the second highest number of people living with the disease in Africa, with more than 3 million people infected.  Many do not know their status.  Currently there are about 400,000 people who receive anti-retrovirals and 95 percent of that is paid for by foreign aid.

Gay sex has been banned in Nigeria since British colonial rule.  Gays and lesbians face discrimination and abuse in their country, which is inhabited by Christians and Muslims, who both oppose homosexuality.

In the proposed law, gay couples who marry would face up to 14 years in prison.  Witnesses and people who help the couples marry could face 10 years in jail and the “public show of same-sex amorous relationships directly or indirectly” also would receive the same punishment.

A new part of the bill would give out a sentence of 10 years in prison for those found guilty of organizing, operating, or supporting gay clubs, organizations, and meetings.  Advocates in Nigeria fear this part of the bill will be used against proving aid for HIV and AIDS outreach programs.

Lawmakers have said donor nations who threaten to cut aid over the bill can keep their money, which would put at risk many lives of people who rely on anti-retroviral drugs.

The bill, which was passed by the Senate this past week, still has to go to Nigeria’s House of Representatives and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan before it can become a law.

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Students Denied into School Due to Connection to HIV Virus

December 07, 2011   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.sanctuaryhome.org

A six year old girl in Indonesia and a 13 year old boy in Philadelphia have both been denied entry into schools because of their connection to the HIV virus.

The Indonesian girl wanted to enroll in a Jarkata elementary school, but was denied because her father is HIV-positive.  The girl’s mother, Leonnie Merinsca, has stated that the school is demanding that her daughter take a blood test to prove she is HIV-negative.  If the results come back negative, the girl is welcome to the school.  Her father, Fajar Jasmin Sugandhi wants the school board to issue an apology to his daughter via the media.

The boy from Philadelphia wanted to enroll in a private boarding school connected to the Hershey chocolate company, but he was denied because he is HIV-positive.  The school said they were just trying to protect the health and safety of the 1,850 others at the institution.

The AIDs Law Project of Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the boy because they claim that the school has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The boy is an honor-roll student and athlete who controls his HIV with medication, which doesn’t affect his schooling.

These two cases show that despite a worldwide campaign to stop the spreading of HIV and AIDs, there is still discrimination against HIV patients and their families.

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U.S. Will Boost AIDS Research Funding

December 05, 2011   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.life-zone.org

President Barack Obama announced on Dec. 1 that he will boost America’s efforts in AIDS research and will set the goal of providing treatment for 6 million people worldwide by 2013.

The announcement was given at a World AIDS event in Washington.

The new goal is higher than the previous 4 million people treated globally goal set beforehand.  According to Reuters, funding for HIV and AIDS programs fell to $15 billion last year.  $22 to $24 billion is needed by 2015.

Obama also stated that funding for treatment in the U.S. will receive a $50 million increase.  The funds will come from existing resources and will not require approval from congress.

The U.S. hopes to give antiretroviral drugs to 1.5 million HIV-positive pregnant women to prevent them from passing HIV to their unborn children.  The U.S. also aims to distribute more than a billion condoms to developing countries and fund 4.7 million male circumcisions in Africa.  Research has shown that circumcisions reduce the risk of women passing along the virus to men by more than 60 percent.

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Church Tells HIV Patients to Stop Taking Medicine

December 04, 2011   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.blogs.sundaymercury.net

Six HIV-positive people died after evangelical churches in Britain told them to stop taking their medications because God would heal them.

Pastors at several churches in England and Scotland told the victims that they could be healed through an exorcism-like process.  The process involved shouting over the patients and spraying water in their faces.

A pastor at the Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN) said that they had a 100% success rate with the process.  He even said that afterwards if some of the symptoms, like vomiting and diarrhea, continued, that it means that the virus was leaving the body.

SCOAN continues to defend and administer the treatment for the HIV virus.

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