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Positively Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS News Archive - August 2021
Fauci | Official Trailer | National Geographic Documentary Films
August 31, 2021 - Crafted around unprecedented access to Dr. Fauci, National Geographic Documentary Films’ FAUCI is a revealing portrait of the nation’s top infectious disease expert and one of our most dedicated public servants. The film will debut in select theaters on September 10.
Experimental Phase 2b HIV Vaccine Regimen Provides Insufficient Protection in Preventing HIV
Newswise — SEATTLE – (Aug. 31, 2021) - No safety signals of concern for study participants
A primary analysis of an experimental HIV vaccine regimen being studied in a high-incidence population of young women in sub-Saharan Africa found the experimental vaccine did not provide sufficient protection against HIV infection. No significant safety concerns were identified, but because the vaccine regimen failed to meet the study’s primary endpoint, with results falling short of statistical significance, the Imbokodo study, also called HVTN 705/HPX2008, will be discontinued. Further analysis of the Imbokodo study is ongoing, and the study has provided enough data to progress with key immunological correlates research. Participants in this Phase 2b proof-of-concept study will be unblinded and will continue to be referred to high-quality treatment and care.
Could gene therapies be used to cure more people with HIV?
31 August 2021 - Gus Cairns - Medical science is starting to license and use drugs and procedures that change the genetic code inside the body’s cells, and to correct the ‘bad code’ that can give rise to conditions such as cancer and the auto-immune diseases. Since HIV is a disease that results from a virus inserting such a piece of bad code into our genes, such therapies could be used to snip out that code and effect a cure.
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HIV Vaccine Candidate Does Not Sufficiently Protect Women Against HIV Infection
August 31, 2021 - An investigational HIV vaccine tested in the “Imbokodo” clinical trial conducted in sub-Saharan Africa posed no safety concerns but did not provide sufficient protection against HIV infection, according to a primary analysis of the study data. The Phase 2b proof-of-concept study, which began in November 2017, enrolled 2,637 women ages 18 to 35 years from five countries.
Many Folks Who Finally Disclose Their HIV Status Discover New Freedom
Aug 30, 2021 - Tim Murphy - For Bryan Jones of Cleveland, Ohio, everything changed when he told his mother.
Now 61 and a prominent advocate fighting to get his state repeal its law criminalizing people with HIV for not disclosing their status before sex, Jones had been living with HIV in utter secrecy since his 1984 diagnosis.
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NIH Launches Study of Extra COVID-19 Vaccine Dose in People with Autoimmune Disease
August 27, 2021 - Trial Also Will Test Pausing Immunosuppressive Medication to Improve Antibody Response
The National Institutes of Health has begun a clinical trial to assess the antibody response to an extra dose of an authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine in people with autoimmune disease who did not respond to an original COVID-19 vaccine regimen. The trial also will investigate whether pausing immunosuppressive therapy for autoimmune disease improves the antibody response to an extra dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in this population. The Phase 2 trial is sponsored and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH, and is being conducted by the NIAID-funded Autoimmunity Centers of Excellence.
How to speed-up PrEP rollout in sub-Saharan Africa
27 August 2021 - An evidence review has identified the main gaps in health systems in sub-Saharan Africa that need to be addressed to boost PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) scale-up
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa began offering PrEP in 2015 after the World Health Organization recommended it, but scale-up has been slow. As of December 2020, only 18 countries had national PrEP programmes or policies.
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What to Know Right Now About COVID-19 Booster Shots and HIV
Aug 27, 2021 - Juan Michael Porter II - For Black same-gender-loving men, loss of sexual potency is destructive to their sense of masculinity. That’s according to an informal study conducted by TheBody and including five Black queer men living with HIV (MLWH) who survived the early AIDS epidemic but developed erectile dysfunction (ED) due to untreated HIV and debilitating side effects from the early days of highly toxic antiretroviral therapy (ART).
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65 is the new 80 for those of us living with HIV
August 26, 2021 - By Hank Trout, MA - For National HIV/AIDS & Aging Awareness Day (NHAAD), Hank Trout shares the effects of premature aging with HIV, and calls us all to support the aging long-term survivors in our own lives.
Every September 18 since 2008, we have observed National HIV/AIDS & Aging Awareness Day (NHAAD), highlighting the complex issues related to HIV prevention, care, and treatment for aging populations in the United States. The goals of NHAAD are to emphasize the need for prevention, research, and data targeting the aging population and to increase medical understanding of the aging process and its impact on HIV/AIDS, to increase the quality of life for older people living with HIV/AIDS and to reduce stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS among the aging population.
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Half of Americans say they’d avoid an HIV-positive doctor
Aug 26 2021 - By Dan Avery - Four decades into the AIDS epidemic, misinformation is still rampant, according to GLAAD’s “The State of HIV Stigma 2021.”
A gay men's choir member has shared his experience of losing close friends during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.
Singer Nigel Lewis, 63, from Bridgend, recalled how many of those diagnosed endured prejudice, discrimination and even rejection by their families and friends.
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Positively Positive Living with HIV/AIDS - Creating HIV/AIDS Awareness 18 Years
August 26, 2021 - On August 15, 2003, I launched my website: “Bradford McIntyre Positively Positive Living with HIV/AIDS” (www.positivelypositive.ca), designed to create awareness around the many HIV and AIDS issues and promotes messages of positive living with HIV/AIDS. Life affirming and supportive topics, my personal story, HIV/AIDS articles, news, videos, links and more are available.
As a long-term survivor living with HIV since 1984, my first HIV activism to combat stigma was made on national TV.
Researchers Launch Trial of mRNA Vaccines for HIV
August 25, 2021 - By Liz Highleyman - The experimental vaccines use the same technology as the highly effective Moderna COVID-19 shot.
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and Moderna have launched a Phase I study of a pair of HIV vaccines that use the same messenger RNA (mRNA) technology as the highly effective Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines.
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With short course of TB prevention for people living with HIV, completion soars
Aug 24,2021 - Emily Caldwell - Clinical trial in Africa shows effectiveness matches longer regimenPeople who are HIV positive and living in high tuberculosis-transmission regions of the world are much more likely to finish a TB-prevention regimen lasting just three months – half as long as the standard treatment, a large clinical trial in Africa has found.
An added benefit: The protocol involves a total of 12 weekly doses of tuberculosis preventive therapy rather than daily pills for six months.
RESEARCHER RECEIVES NIH DIRECTOR’S AWARD TO HELP END HIV GLOBAL EPIDEMIC
August 24, 2021 - (BRONX, NY) - Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) have been awarded a five-year, $14.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue leading and expand their research on HIV treatment and care in five Central African nations.
The new award builds on previous NIH-funded work by the Central Africa International epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (CA-IeDEA), a large-scale study involving more than forty researchers and tens of thousands of patients living with HIV/AIDS in Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, and Rwanda.
Choir member recalls heartbreak of seeing AIDS claim lives in the 1980s
25 August 2021 - Mike Griffiths - A gay men's choir member has shared his experience of losing close friends during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.
Singer Nigel Lewis, 63, from Bridgend, recalled how many of those diagnosed endured prejudice, discrimination and even rejection by their families and friends.
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Personal essay: What I've learned after living with HIV in secret for years
August 24, 2021 - By Tony Morrison - On the eighth anniversary of his HIV diagnosis, ABC News producer Tony Morrison opens up for the first time about his experience living with HIV in a personal essay.
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Challenges for Aging People with HIV
Aug 23, 2021 - NMAC - NMAC's, 50+ webinar covering "Aging and HIV: The Latest from 2021 vCROI and v2021 International AIDS Conference".
What’s in the pipeline for multidrug-resistant HIV infections?
August 23, 2021 - Therapeutic options for adults with heavily treatment-experienced (HTE) HIV-1 infection and virologic failure are limited.
Barriers to successful therapies include side effects, drug resistance, past intolerance, pill burden and administration difficulties. Two new agents, islatravir and lenacapavir, are in the pipeline and currently being studied for multidrug-resistant (MDR) HIV-1 in HTE patients.
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From animal intestines to fighting HIV: the important history of the humble condom
August 23, 2021 - by Mihai Andrei - The condom is more important and storied than most of us realize.
Condoms have been around for thousands of years, but before the invention of vulcanized rubber in 1839, condoms looked (and felt) very different. From animal intestines, linen, and even tortoise shells, humans have tried many things in their quest for safe sex. Sometimes bizarre, sometimes innovative, condoms have played a significant role in our history. Let’s see what our ancestors worked with.
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National AIDS Memorial Releases Surviving Voices Mini-Documentary "Substance Users, the Recovery Community & AIDS"
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Documentary focuses on the stories of people living with HIV overcoming addiction, fear, stigma and their triumphs, resilience and hopes featuring the voices of both AIDS survivors and advocates; Exclusive screenings at several film festivals, including Frameline45 and SF Queer Film Fest, shine a light on AIDS, now 40 years into the epidemic and the importance of storytelling for future generations
The National AIDS Memorial Surviving Voices storytelling initiative is being recognized for its powerful work in helping tell the story of AIDS through the voices of survivors of the pandemic, now in its 40th year. More than 700,000 U.S. lives have been lost since the first cases of AIDS were first reported in 1981. Today, more than 1.2 million people are living with HIV, with a disproportionate impact in communities of color and in southern U.S. states.
Debunking 6 Myths About HIV/AIDS
22 AUGUST 2021 - BY DR. PHILIP ORIMOLOYE - According to The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), there were 37.6 million people in the world living with HIV in 2020, where 35.9million were adults and 1.7million were children (less than 15 years).
Even with the improvements in HIV awareness, access to testing, and improvements in care, there is still some misinformation about HIV/AIDS as seen in the recent controversy with popular American rapper, Dababy.
Here are a few myths and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS followed by myth busters.
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Surviving Voices Mini-Documentary: Substance Users, Recovery Community and AIDS
Aug 22, 2021 - National AIDS Memorial - The National AIDS Memorial's oral history and video project "Surviving Voices" focuses on Substance Users and the Recovery Community. This short documentary is part of a diverse collection of videos highlighting the experiences of substance users and people in recovery living with HIV & AIDS as well as the contributions of activists from within the community to the fight against the pandemic.
NIH awards Emory and partners $27.6M for pediatric HIV cure research
Aug. 20, 2021 - Emory University and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center will share with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in a five-year, $27.6 million award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to accelerate the search for a cure for HIV in children and adolescents.
The Pediatric Adolescent Virus Elimination (PAVE) Collaboratory is using a multidisciplinary, multicultural and iterative approach to study pediatric HIV. The $5.7 million annual grant is part of the Martin Delaney Collaboratories (MDC) for HIV Cure Research program.
Black Gay Pride and 40 Years of HIV/AIDS
August 20, 2021 - Justin C. Smith - On Labor Day weekend, thousands of Black LGBTQ people travel to Atlanta to participate in Black Gay Pride in what has essentially become a Black LGBTQ national holiday. For many of us, this singular event serves as a kind of homecoming celebration full of possibility, solidarity, intimacy, and joy. In the midst of the myriad challenges we all face in the current moment — a global pandemic, a nationwide reckoning on racial justice, and assaults on the fabric of our democracy — spaces where we can rejuvenate and connect are vital. But there’s another crisis at work here which Black Gay Pride can either exacerbate or help solve, and that’s the crisis of HIV/AIDS. As an opportunity for community building in the face of marginalization, Black Gay Pride can play a critical role in helping to end the HIV epidemic by tackling HIV stigma.
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BIDMC researchers awarded $24.5 million by NIH to find a cure for HIV
19, August 2021 -Newswise — BOSTON - Researchers led by Dan Barouch, MD, PhD, will focus on the viral reservoir
A team led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s (BIDMC) Dan H. Barouch, MD, PhD – who partnered with Johnson & Johnson to develop the single shot COVID-19 vaccine – has been awarded $4.9 million in annual funding over the next five years to find a cure for HIV. Barouch was one of ten primary investigators to receive a 2021 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Martin Delaney Collaboratories for HIV Cure Research award, which aims to expedite human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cure research by bringing together research partners in academia, government, the private sector and the community; coordinating complex research studies, and mentoring the next generation of HIV cure researchers.
Southern AIDS Coalition Partners with White House and Duke University to Release New HIV Research
Birmingham, Ala., (August 19, 2021) - White House Office of National AIDS Policy Director Harold Phillips Highlights Southern HIV Epidemic and Seeks Community Support at SHAAD 2021
The Southern AIDS Coalition (SAC), in partnership with the White House Office of National AIDS Policy and the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research at Duke University is calling attention to the southern HIV epidemic. SAC’s 3rd annual Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (SHAAD), being held Aug. 20, is focusing on the fight to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic that continues amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
White House Office of National AIDS Policy Director Harold Phillips kicks off SHAAD addressing his national commitment to southern solutions. ONAP recognizes that the South experiences the greatest burden of HIV and deaths of any U.S. region, and lags in providing quality HIV prevention services and care.
Human Rights Campaign Announces Launch of First Ever National In-Home HIV Testing Kit Program
Washington - AUG 19, 2021 - Today, The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, in partnership with Us Helping Us, launched the United States’ first national in-home HIV testing program centered around reaching communities disproportionately impacted by HIV—Black and Latinx gay, bisexual men and transgender women of color. Also, for the first time in its history, HRC will be providing a direct-to-door service to the LGBTQ+ community by pledging to administer a minimum of 5,000 free in-home testing kits for HIV over one year.
How Do 50 Global Cities Rate in Key Areas of LGBTQ and HIV Health?
August 18, 2021 - By Trenton Straube - A new study measures HIV and LGBTQ health equity and finds that HIV care providers are key health leaders. [VIDEO]
If you’re a person living with HIV or a member of the LGBTQ community, how would you rate your quality of life on a scale of 1 to 5? How would you rate your city? In essence, that’s what a new global report has tried to measure for 50 cities and municipalities participating in the international HIV initiative called Fast-Track Cities. The report assessed various health factors, including those related to HIV, that affect LGBTQ people in those 50 cities.
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CUNY SPH and NYC Health Department awarded $3.3 million to study new HIV intervention
AUG 18, 2021 - The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has awarded the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC Health Department) a five-year, $3.3 million grant to test a new strategy to help people living with HIV achieve viral suppression.
HIV cure: a global science conversation
18 AUGUST 2021 - STORY NOBHONGO GXOLO - While many resources have been rallied in response to COVID-19, it is essential to not neglect other pandemics that continue to have a deep and lasting effect, and on which equally important and life-saving work is focused. World-renowned researchers working on HIV recently participated in the Life Sciences Across the Globe seminar series, which brings together global experts to discuss life sciences topics of global interest.
On 4 August, the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) hosted the monthly seminar. The series is in partnership with the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and leading research institutes from around the world.
What to Know Right Now About COVID-19 Booster Shots and HIV
August 17, 2021 -
Juan Michael Porter II - On Friday, after learning that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had approved the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to grant authorization for COVID vaccine booster shots to certain immunocompromised individuals, I began thinking about whether or not I should get an additional shot.
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'I get to see the sun every day': Glasgow pilot living his dream after becoming first in Europe to qualify while HIV positive
17th August 2021 - Lillian Roy - A Glasgow-based pilot who becaBy Elsa Maishmanme the first in Europe to qualify commercially while HIV positive has shared his story in a new documentary.
James Bushe, 33, wants to raise awareness about HIV and encourage others with the condition to chase their dreams.
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Revamped Parc de l’Espoir inaugurated in Montreal’s Gay Village
AUGUST 17, 2021 - Montreal Gazette
Weill Cornell Medicine Awarded $28.5 Million NIH Grant to Lead HIV Cure Research
AUGUST 17, 2021 - Weill Cornell Medicine has been awarded a five-year, $28.5 million Martin Delaney Collaboratory grant from the National Institutes of Health to lead a multi-institutional effort aimed at finding a cure for HIV.
Beware the 'molecular parasites' involved in aging and disease
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - August 17, 2021 - Brown researcher John Sedivy, lead author of a sweeping review article about transposons, explains what these mobile genetic elements are, how they are more harmful than benign and where their weaknesses may lie.
If you’ve ever seen a petunia with artfully variegated petals, then you’ve seen transposons at work. The flower’s showy color patterns are due to transposable elements, or DNA sequences that can move locations within a genome. Yet when it comes to transposons’ effects on humans, the results might not be as lovely or desirable.
UNC HIV Cure Center Awarded $26.2 million over the next 5 Years
CHAPEL HILL, NC - August 17, 2021 - The National Institutes of Health will award $53 million annually to 10 research organizations over the next five years to continue working toward curative therapies for HIV. The Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication (CARE), led at the UNC HIV Cure Center by David Margolis, MD, is one of two programs to have received funds for all three five-year grant cycles since 2011.
The National Institutes of Health has awarded approximately $53 million in annual funding over the next five years to 10 research organizations in a continued effort to find a cure for HIV. The new awards for the Martin Delaney Collaboratories for HIV Cure Research program, initiated in 2011, further expand the initiative’s 2016 renewal from six institutions to 10, and represent a funding increase of approximately 75 percent. Additionally, one of the new grants is focused specifically on HIV cure research in infants and children.
Joe Average unveils new mural honouring the fight against Aids in Vancouver
16th August 2021 - HADANI DITMARS - Marking the 40th anniversary of the first reported cases of the disease in the US, the Canadian artist and activist expands his One World, One Hope design to a city-sized work
Acclaimed Canadian artist and activist Joe Average unveiled his latest work celebrating the global fight against Aids for the Vancouver Mural Festival this week. Marking the 40th anniversary of the first reported cases of the disease in the US, One World, One Hope—40 Years Later now adorns the North wall of Helmcken House, a residence in downtown Vancouver that provides affordable housing for those living with HIV/Aids.
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$3.3 Billion Worldwide HIV/AIDS Testing Industry to 2027 - United States is Estimated at $893.3 Million - ResearchAndMarkets.com
August 16, 2021 - DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The "HIV/AIDS Testing - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for HIV/AIDS Testing estimated at US$3.3 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$5.6 Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 7.9% over the analysis period 2020-2027.
Emily Bass on America’s Mission to End AIDS in Africa
August 16, 2021 - By Keen On - In Conversation with Andrew Keen on Keen On
In this episode, Andrew is joined by Emily Bass, author of To End a Plague: America’s Fight to Defeat AIDS in Africa, to tell the story of US engagement in HIV/AIDS control in sub-Saharan Africa.
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'A cenotaph, not a park': updates made to Montreal park honouring the victims of HIV/AIDS
MONTREAL - August 16, 2021 - Lillian Roy -
The updated “parc de l’Espoir” was inaugurated this morning, with changes aimed at fortifying the park’s original purpose: to honour and celebrate the memory of HIV/AIDS victims in Quebec.
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'Horrifying' number of syphilis infections in Alberta reaching pre-antibiotic levels
August 16, 2021 - Liam Harrap - 'Highest rates we've seen since the 1940s, which is, of course, the pre-antibiotic era'
Despite advances in health care, the number of syphilis infections is skyrocketing across Alberta, reaching their highest levels in about 70 years.
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'Nearly half of MSM taking HIV PrEP tested positive for gastrointestinal pathogens
August 15, 2021 - By
Caitlyn Stulpin -
In a small study, researchers detected gastrointestinal pathogens in 45% of men who have sex with men taking HIV PrEP, according to findings published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
“Sexual transmission of gastrointestinal (GI) pathogens is both a historical and emerging phenomenon among men who have sex with men (MSM), with outbreaks of Shigella and Campylobacter reported with increasing frequency worldwide,” Lawrence Purpura, MD, MPH&TM, an infectious diseases fellow at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and colleagues wrote.
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Meet Tori Cooper, the 1st Black trans woman on the presidential HIV council
August 15, 2021 - By Jo Yurcaba - Cooper said one of her priorities as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS is “to be a voice for trans people.”
Tori Cooper said the first time she used her voice as an advocate was about 20 years ago, when she worked on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program called Sister to Sister. She and another transgender advocate adapted the HIV risk-reduction program meet the unique needs of trans women.
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James Hormel, first openly gay U.S. ambassador, dies at 88
SAN FRANCISCO - August 15, 2021 - By ASSOCIATED PRESS - James Hormel, the first openly gay U.S. ambassador and a philanthropist who funded organizations to fight AIDS and promote human rights, has died. He was 88.
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92% of LGBTQ+ adults have received at least one dose for COVID-19
NEW YORK - August 14, 2021 - 59% of LGBTQ+ respondents reported Covid-19 made them feel socially isolated, & 50% reported that it impacted their mental health.
A summary of data collected as part of the annual LGBTQ+ Community Survey by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in partnership and supported by The Rockefeller Foundation in New York City, found that the vast majority – 92% – of LGBTQ+ adults surveyed in the United States had received at least one vaccination for Covid-19.
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Those living with HIV may benefit from COVID-19 booster shot: study
MONTREAL - August 14, 2021 - Daniel J. Rowe - A research team out of the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) says those living with the HIV virus may benefit from a third booster shot after receiving two COVID-19 vaccine jabs.
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HIV infection may be driving drug resistance in tuberculosis
13 AUGUST 2021 - STORY CLAIRE WHITAKER - Results published recently in The Lancet Microbe detail analysis of 10 years’ health data, showing a relationship between HIV infection and acquisition of rifampicin resistance by tuberculosis (TB). Rifampicin is an important first-line anti-TB medication.
HIV infection may be contributing to acquisition of rifampicin-resistance by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) – the bacterium that causes TB – during first-line TB treatment. An international team of researchers lead by the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Associate Professor Helen Cox analysed health data spanning 10 years, from 2008 to 2017, to determine the influence of HIV infection during previous treatment on transmission or acquisition of rifampicin monoresistant (RMR) TB. The team’s paper was published in The Lancet Microbe.
Moderna's HIV Vaccine to Start Human Trials Early As Wednesday, Uses mRNA Like COVID Shot
8/13/21 - BY AILA SLISCO - Biotechnology company Moderna is preparing to begin human trials on HIV vaccines as early as Wednesday, using the same mRNA platform as the firm's COVID-19 vaccine.
An entry posted Wednesday to the National Institutes of Health's registry of clinical trials shows that the trials are estimated to start on August 19 and should be completed by spring 2023.
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Hyderabadi Student in US identifies underlying mechanism of HIV’s neurological symptoms
12th August 2021- By Daneesh Majid - Salahuddin Mohammed M.Sc. ’2010, found the perfect pairing for his interest in Pharmacology to explore drug interactions in biological systems when he enrolled in the BioMolecular Sciences PhD program at the University of Mississippi (also referred to as Ole Miss) School of Pharmacy. Siasat.com delves into his journey where he uncovered one of the underlying mechanisms for neurological problems in HIV infected population.
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In HIV Prevention, Worsening Disparities Among States
August 12, 2021 - States with low initial use of HIV-prevention drugs are continuing to fall behind in usage among people at risk for the disease, a new study finds.
Researchers, clinicians and advocates had hoped that late-adopting states would see a surge in HIV prevention uptake once those states joined the prevention effort, but that’s largely not the case, the new research shows. Instead, there are worsening disparities between states that backed the drugs early on and those that did not.
For a Second Year, COVID Reduces USCHA to a Virtual Event
August 12, 2021 - IN-PERSON USCHA DELAYED FOR 2ND YEAR
Ultimately, the organizers of the United States Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA) ran out of viable options for hosting the largest annual HIV conference in the country as an in-person event. For weeks, as the delta variant of COVID surged and the prospects for any large in-person gatherings this fall diminished, officials at NMAC, which produces the massive event, knew their health-centered event must, above all, protect their attendees and follow the science.
And so, today NMAC announced the 2021 USCHA conference would become a virtual event, as was their 2020 conference (as well as another large conference produced by NMAC, the 2020 Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit).
HIV and condom use down, STIs up: The impact of U=U and PrEP at a clinic in Seattle, Washington
August 12, 2021 - Mariah Wilberg - A large clinic in Seattle, Washington that has been tracking rates of HIV and STIs and the sexual behaviour of gay and bisexual men from 2002 to 2018 has found that anal sex without a condom with HIV-discordant or unknown partners has increased since 2013.
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Another Reason to Get the HPV Vaccine: Possible Reduced HIV Risk
August 12, 2021 - By Liz Highleyman - The vaccine protects against nine types of human papillomavirus, including those that cause cervical cancer.
Women, have you had your human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine yet? New data presented at the 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021) and published in the journal AIDS suggest that getting it could reduce your chance of acquiring HIV.
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Miller School Researcher Publishes Breakthrough Findings on Nanoparticle Delivery of HIV/AIDS Medications to Brain
11-Aug-2021 - Newswise - A University of Miami Miller School of Medicine biochemistry researcher has found that a nanoparticle drug delivery system can reduce HIV/AIDS viral reservoirs in the brain that normally contribute to neurological problems.
“While HIV can be managed as a chronic condition, current drugs cannot cross the blood-brain barrier,” said Shanta Dhar, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and assistant director of technology and innovation at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “Therefore, the ability of nanoparticles to deliver antiretroviral drugs to the brain is a significant breakthrough that could potentially improve the treatment of brain cancers and other diseases.”
CD4 count below 500 or detectable viral load raise the risk of severe COVID-19 for people with HIV
August 11, 2021 - Keith Alcorn - A US study has found that people with HIV who had CD4 counts below 500, or a detectable viral load, had a greatly increased risk of hospitalisation with COVID-19 compared to people with higher CD4 counts or a suppressed viral load.
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New Approaches for HIV Cure Research
August 11, 2021 - By Liz Highleyman - Very early treatment is linked to a smaller viral reservoir, but blocking IL-10 and PD-1 might control the virus even in those with chronic infection.
Starting antiretroviral therapy very early, before extensive immune system damage occurs, improves the prospects for a functional cure, according to research presented at the 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021). But most people with HIV are diagnosed and start treatment later, during chronic infection. Another study found that a combination of antibodies that block interleukin 10 and PD-1 may help control the virus without antiretrovirals even at this later stage.
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Counterfeit HIV Meds Found in the U.S.
AUGUST 10, 2021 - By Marie Rosenthal - Gilead Sciences warned that tampered and counterfeit versions of its HIV medications, Biktarvy and Descovy, are in circulation within U.S. drug distribution networks.
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Danny Pintauro Discusses Life After Revealing He Is HIV+: 'I'm Much Happier as a Person with No Secrets'
AUGUST 10, 2021 - By Topher Gauk-Roger - The Who's the Boss? alumnus opens up about the difficulty of sharing his diagnosis during a 2015 interview with Oprah and how "it feels so good" to now live openly as HIV-positive
Danny Pintauro made headlines when he revealed he is HIV-positive during a 2015 episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now?, but the former Who's the Boss? star reveals he almost didn't go through with it.
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Study: COVID Vax as Effective for People With HIV as Those Without
AUGUST 10, 2021 - By Alex Cooper - Recent studies out of Johns Hopkins University found the vaccines create similar antibody and immune responses in those who live with HIV and those who don't.
Recent studies have concluded that both the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines create a strong enough antibody response in people living with HIV and similar antibody and immune responses to those living without HIV.
The research was published in AIDS and Clinical Infectious Diseases.
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What to know about HIV risk among transgender women
Aug 10, 2021 - HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system and can increase the risk of other infections. Without treatment, HIV can progress to AIDS. Transgender women are at a higher risk of acquiring HIV due to multiple risk factors and may also have difficulty accessing sufficient care.
Evidence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights that transgender women are at a particularly high riskTrusted Source for HIV infection and HIV is prevalentTrusted Source in this population.
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Calgary MP asks health minister to study poppers, potentially opening door for safe supply
Aug 09, 2021 - Sarah Rieger - The drugs, commonly used by men who have sex with men, have been essentially banned in Canada since 2013
A Calgary MP is asking the federal health minister to study the possible benefits or harms of "poppers" — a drug primarily used by men who have sex with men — with the possible outcome of creating a safe supply.
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Acyclovir- Exploring the novelty and versatility of an age-old, time-tested antiviral
9 Aug 2021 - Role of Acyclovir Is Herpes Management
Acyclovir is a broad-spectrum antiviral with applications ranging from various herpes infections, chickenpox, shingles and recently its use in HIV patients has fetched attention. (1) Specifically, its applications for treating various herpes spectrum illnesses has been proven in multiple clinical trials conducted over the last 7 decades. (2)
WHEN AIDS BECAME AN EPIDEMIC: MEMORIES OF FINDING JOY DURING THE STRUGGLE DESPITE ALL OF THE GRIEF AND LOSS
Aug 6, 2021 - Forty years ago the CDC reported the first cases of what would come to be known as AIDS among five previously healthy gay men. I was a teenager at that time, coming to grips with my sexual orientation.
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Adrian Shanker ’09 Joins the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS
AUGUST 5, 2021 - He was appointed by the Biden-Harris Administration and sworn in yesterday.
Adrian Shanker ’09, founder and executive director of Allentown’s Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, is one of eight new members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA).
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This Woman Has Lived With HIV For More Than 30 Years. Listen To Her Experience With The Virus
AUGUST 5, 2021 - DARIAN BENSON - This story is the third in a three-part series focused on HIV infections in Black women.
Sheila Muhammad tested positive for HIV more than 30 years ago and her life quickly changed. But as the years passed, attitudes and treatments of HIV changed.
Muhammad spoke with Side Effects Public Media's Darian Benson about the power in education and understanding of the virus.
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Barbershop HIV education study earns national NMA recognition
August 5, 2021 - A study conducted by Wayne State University School of Medicine students received national recognition from the National Medical Association.
“Assessing Knowledge and Perceptions of HIV and PrEP after Barbershop-Based Interventions in Detroit,” presented by Obinna Onyeukwu, won second place at the Emergency Medicine section of the NMA’s Georges Benjamin Symposium.
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10 clinics across the United States doing amazing work in battling HIV
August 4, 2021 - By David Hudson - Looking for LGBTQ-friendly health providers or access to PrEP? We got you.
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75% of People With HIV Show Good Immune Response to COVID-19 Virus
August 4, 2021 - By Liz Highleyman - Response to natural SARS-CoV-2 infection suggests HIV-positive people can also respond well to COVID-19 vaccines.
HIV-positive people on antiretroviral treatment showed evidence of broad immune responses against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, offering hope that they can also respond well to vaccines, according to studies presented at the recent 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021).
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HIV Organizations Say More Work Needs To Be Done to Reach Black Women
AUGUST 4, 2021 - DARIAN BENSON - This story is the second in a three-part series focused on HIV infections in Black women.
Pamela Goodwin started the Indianapolis based nonprofit Women In Motion after she recognized she was at high risk for HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. She wants to help other women — in particular women of color — in the same situation.
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amfAR Grants Explore Gene Therapy Approaches to HIV Cure
NEW YORK, August 4, 2021 - Research teams deploy powerful CRISPR gene-editing, CAR T cell strategies to home in on HIV reservoir
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, has awarded approximately $600,000 in new funding to researchers pioneering gene therapy approaches to target and eliminate the HIV reservoir—the primary barrier to a cure—with far greater specificity than is currently possible.
Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines produce strong antibody responses in people with HIV after two doses
4 August 2021 - Keith Alcorn - The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 produce strong antibody responses in people with HIV and similar antibody and cellular immune responses in people with and without HIV, two studies published in the journals AIDS and Clinical Infectious Diseases show.
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TWO NEW HIV ‘CURE’ TRIALS TO BEGIN IN MELBOURNE
AUGUST 4, 2021- SHIBU THOMAS - Forty years after the first case of HIV was reported in the United States in 1981, a “cure” has remained elusive so far.
Now, HIV/AIDS researchers across the world are keenly awaiting the results of two new trials that are scheduled to start in Melbourne. Researchers involved with the study say that the outcome of the NIVO-LD and Titan trials at the Alfred hospital in Melbourne could bring us “a step closer” to a “cure” to HIV.
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Ghana LGBT+ bill would threaten fight on HIV/AIDS, says UNAIDS
AUGUST 4, 2021 - NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - By Nita Bhalla - A proposal to criminalise LGBT+ people in Ghana is “a gross violation” of human rights and could set back a decade of progress fighting HIV/AIDS in the West African nation, according to the United Nations.
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Black Women Are Being Diagnosed With HIV At Higher Rates Than Other Groups
AUGUST 3, 2021 - DARIAN BENSON - This story is the first in a three-part series focused on HIV infections in Black women.
Sheila Muhammad tested HIV positive in 1990, when she was just 26 years old and pregnant with her third child.
She was shocked, angry and scared. HIV wasn’t something she thought she was at risk for.
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African trial of novel HIV vaccine candidate starts
3 AUG 2021 - The Globally Relevant AIDS Vaccine Europe-Africa Trials Partnership (GREAT) – of which the University of Oxford is a lead partner – announced today the start of vaccinations in a Phase I clinical trial of a novel HIV vaccine candidate.
With the first dose given at the Center for Family Health Research in Zambia (CFHRZ), in Lusaka, Zambia, the trial will extend to sites in Kenya and Uganda in the coming weeks.
Playwrights Living With HIV Have His Love, and Now Support
AUGUST 3, 2021 - BY JUAN MICHAEL PORTER II - To his HIV-focused ‘Write It Out!’ program, Donja R. Love adds a historic playwrights’ prize and plans a new intergenerational workshop.
On July 15, Donja R. Love (he/him), an Afro-queer playwright living with HIV, announced that he would open up submissions for season two of “Write It Out!,” a writing program he created in 2020 for people who are living with HIV.
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Transatlantic exhibition series honours artists lost to HIV/AIDS
Aug 3, 2021 - BY TF CHAN - 40 years since cases of HIV/AIDS were first identified, David Zwirner gallery in New York and London pays tribute to artists whose lives were cut short by the disease, and the community who endured ostracism and stigma
Marking 40 years since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS crisis, David Zwirner gallery has organised a series of solo exhibitions across its New York and London locations, to honour the memory of artists whose lives were tragically cut short by the disease.
Titled ‘More Life’, the series explores responses to the crisis from the perspective of gay men, a community that disproportionately suffered the devastation of the virus.
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A Change of Pace
August 2, 2021 - By Tim Murphy - Switching HIV treatments from a daily pill to a monthly injectable has given Mike Hellman more freedom outdoors.
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Order of B.C.: Dr. Bonnie Henry, artist Joe Average among 16 British Columbians to receive honour
Aug 02, 2021 - Denise Ryan - Sixteen recipients of the Order of B.C. include artists, Indigenous leaders and community builders and, of course, Dr. Bonnie Henry
Dr. Bonnie Henry is one of 16 British Columbians who will received the Order of British Columbia, the province’s highest honour, given for exceptional service to the community.
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