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Positively Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS News Archive - January 2025
Government Purge of CDC’s HIV Web Content Alarms Infectious Disease Experts
January 31, 2025 - By Gina Shaw - Infectious Disease Special Edition (IDSE) - Infectious disease experts expressed alarm and outrage after resources related to HIV were purged from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) web site on Friday, Jan. 31, in the aftermath of a Trump administration order that requires federal agencies to eliminate all references to “gender ideology.”
CDC site scrubs HIV content following Trump DEI policies
January 31, 2025 - By Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Benjamin Ryan - NBC News - The federal health agency began removing all content related to gender identity on Friday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday is scrubbing a swath of HIV-related content from the agency’s website as a part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to wipe out diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government.
The CDC’s main HIV page was down temporarily but has been restored. The CDC began removing all content related to gender identity on Friday, according to one government staffer. HIV-related pages were apparently caught up in that action.
Read more...
Fiji’s HIV crisis is a regional challenge that demands a regional response
January 30, 2025 - The Conversation - In the words of UNAIDS Asia Pacific Regional Director Eamonn Murphy, rising HIV infections in Fiji “put the entire Pacific region at risk”.
Fiji’s minister of health declared an official HIV outbreak in January, citing 1,093 new cases from January to September 2024 – triple the number from the same period in 2023.
The World Health Organization defines a disease outbreak based on the number of cases being in excess of normal expectations. Similar to an epidemic, an outbreak typically refers to a more limited geographic area.
Declaring an outbreak enables prompt public health response measures and mobilises domestic and international resources to respond to the crisis.
Detections of poliovirus in sewage samples require enhanced routine and catch-up vaccination and increased surveillance
Stockholm, 30 January 2025 - European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) - Between September and December 2024, four countries in the EU/EEA (Finland, Germany, Poland, Spain) and the United Kingdom reported detections of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) in sewage samples. This is the first time cVDPV2 has been detected in EU/EEA countries from environmental surveillance.
To date, no human polio cases have been reported and the EU/EEA continues to be polio-free, but such findings call for increased vigilance.
Laboratory analyses likely indicate that the virus has been repeatedly introduced from an unknown area where that specific form of the virus is still in circulation. These recent importations may pose a threat to public health in the EU/EEA and should be monitored closely according to a Rapid Risk Assessment published today by ECDC on this topic.
Avian influenza: EU agencies track virus mutations and analyse response strategies
Stockholm/Parma, 29 January 2025 - ECDC/EFSA - Avian influenza viruses pose an increasing threat, with the potential to adapt to humans and trigger future pandemics. Employing a One Health approach, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have issued scientific advice that assesses avian influenza virus mutations and the potential of these viruses to spread to humans, along with recommendations for the animal and public health sectors. The work of the two Agencies draws on extensive data, including genetic analyses, human case studies, and antibody presence to outline current risks and mitigation strategies.
“Global developments demand that we stay alert and make sure Europe is prepared to respond to the threat of avian influenza,” said Pamela Rendi-Wagner, ECDC Director. “ECDC is supporting EU/EEA Member States in preparing, preventing and containing potential future outbreaks in animals and humans. Having strong preparedness plans in place is paramount to protect public health in Europe.”
Gov't's Statement on Supporting HIV/AIDS Patients After Trump's Order
Jan 29, 2025 - By Clinton Nyabuto - Nairobi Leo - The government has disclosed that it is committed to support HIV/AIDS patients after United States President Donald Trump suspended the supply of HIV drugs in countries supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
In a statement on Wednesday, January 29, government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura noted that the government was actively mobilizing local resources and seeking new partnerships to ensure the treatment of the patients is not interrupted.
“In light of the recent halt in funding and support for HIV patients by the Trump administration, the government assures all affected individuals that we are committed to your well-being. The government is actively mobilizing local resources, seeking new partnerships and donors to ensure that your treatment and care continue uninterrupted.
UNAIDS encourages President Donald J. Trump to continue the strong leadership of the United States of America in the global AIDS response
GENEVA, 29 January 2025 - UNAIDS - The United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has approved an “Emergency Humanitarian Waiver”, which will allow people to continue accessing HIV treatment funded by the US across 55 countries worldwide. More than 20 million people living with HIV, representing two-thirds of all people living with HIV receiving treatment globally, are directly supported by the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) - the world’s leading HIV initiative.
“UNAIDS welcomes this waiver from the US government which ensures that millions of people living with HIV can continue to receive life-saving HIV medication during the assessment of US foreign development assistance,” said UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima. “This urgent decision recognizes PEPFAR’s critical role in the AIDS response and restores hope to people living with HIV.”
IAS statement: Restore access to all PEPFAR-supported HIV services immediately
29 January 2025 (Geneva, Switzerland) – IAS - International AIDS Society - IAS – the International AIDS Society – notes the decision to waive the suspension of “life-saving humanitarian assistance”, including “core life-saving medicine.” This should now ensure that HIV treatment disbursed by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) can continue across all PEPFAR-supported countries.
The Trump administration froze foreign aid funding, including to PEPFAR and, unexpectedly on 24 January, it imposed a stop-work order on existing operations. Clinic staff were sent home, distribution of ARVs bought with US funds was halted – cutting off HIV treatment for 20.6 million people. On 28 January, new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a temporary waiver of aspects of this freeze.
CAN Community Health Urges Action To Protect PrEP Access And Safeguard Public Health in The United States
TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- January 28, 2025 - CAN Community Health - The Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case challenging the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) no-cost coverage of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) has sparked urgent discussions about health equity and public safety. CAN Community Health, whose mission is to empower wellness through compassion, community, and equity, underscores the vital importance of preserving PrEP access for all Americans.
Contrary to the plaintiffs’ claims, HIV affects individuals across all demographics. Women account for one in five new HIV diagnoses in the U.S., with the majority resulting from heterosexual transmission. PrEP’s proven efficacy in preventing HIV transcends sexual orientation, gender identity, and socioeconomic status. Denying coverage based on outdated stereotypes undermines decades of public health progress that benefit everyone.
Pediatric AIDS Benefit Concert (PABC) Still Gives Back After 32 Years
January 28, 2025 - By August Ryan - Drexel University College of Medicine - Drexel University College of Medicine students, faculty and professional staff filled Drexel’s Main Building auditorium with music for a worthy cause on Saturday, January 25. The 32nd annual Pediatric AIDS Benefit Concert (PABC) is part of a tradition that has raised more than $765,000 for children living with HIV and AIDS to date.
The student-run concert includes music and dance performances, with ticket sales, donations and an auction all benefiting the Dorothy Mann Center. The center, at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, provides comprehensive care for people with HIV, support to patients’ families and prevention services.
WHO statement on potential global threat to people living with HIV
28 January 2025 - World Health Organization (WHO) - The World Health Organization (WHO) expresses deep concern about the implications of the immediate funding pause for HIV programmes in low- and middle-income countries. These programmes provide access to life-saving HIV therapy to more than 30 million people worldwide. Globally, 39.9 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2023.
A funding halt for HIV programmes can put people living with HIV at immediate increased risk of illness and death and undermine efforts to prevent transmission in communities and countries. Such measures, if prolonged, could lead to rises in new infections and deaths, reversing decades of progress and potentially taking the world back to the 1980s and 1990s when millions died of HIV every year globally, including many in the United States of America.
REVIVE: Large-scale HIV trial set to build capacity in clinical trial management in Africa
28 January 2025 - Story Natalie Simon - UCT News - University of Cape Town - The introduction of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) for HIV infections in Africa has reduced the mortality rate from HIV by about 50% on the continent. Despite this incredible positive impact, HIV remains among the top five causes of mortality in Africa, with an estimated 460,000 deaths annually.
The Reducing Mortality in Adults with Advanced HIV Disease (REVIVE) trial, led by UCT and the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) in Canada, and funded by the Gates Foundation, is a large, randomised controlled trial aimed at testing whether a cost-effective antibiotic intervention can increase survival in this group.
Lenacapavir found highly effective at preventing HIV infection in men and gender-diverse people
January 28, 2025 - Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) - Lenacapavir injections have shown strong efficacy preventing HIV among cisgender women
A new clinical trial included men who have sex with men, trans women and nonbinary people
Fewer infections were seen among those who received the injection than those on oral PrEP
The drug lenacapavir is being studied for its ability to reduce the risk of HIV infection in different populations. It has already proven to be highly effective in a clinical trial with cisgender women and adolescent girls.
Researchers have recently published details from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of lenacapavir in 3,271 participants, the vast majority of whom were cisgender men who identified as gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men (gbMSM). The prevention effects of lenacapavir every six months via injection were compared to those of daily oral Truvada. Use of lenacapavir was associated with a statistically significant reduction in the risk of HIV.
Landmark Study Proves Effectiveness of Kidney Transplants from HIV-positive Donors to HIV-positive Recipients
January 27, 2025 - By Joey Garcia - University of Miami - Miller School of Medicine - Patients living with HIV and in need of kidney transplants now have more donor options, as shown by the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) study.
Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the research, conducted in collaboration with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, demonstrates that kidney transplants from HIV-positive donors to HIV-positive recipients are just as safe and effective as those from HIV-negative donors.
Trump halts foreign aid, including AIDS relief, TB funding
January 27, 2025 - By Stephanie Soucheray, MA - CIDRAP - University of Minnesota - Amid the flurry of executive orders signed on Inauguration Day by President Donald Trump was a 90-day freeze on foreign aid spending.
But late last week, the State Department, led now by former Florida Senator Marco Rubio, issued a memo clarifying that the freeze includes current foreign assistance programs as well, including the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. Also affected is USAID, which will hamper global efforts to combat tuberculosis (TB).
Each year the State Department distributes $6.5 billion US dollars through PEPFAR to fight HIV in 50 countries around the world. PEPFAR pulls together multiple public health agencies and programs, and has been credited with saving upwards of 26 million lives since its launch in 2003 by then-President George W. Bush.
Funding for AIDS relief program to stop after foreign aid pause ordered
January 26, 2025 - By Margaret Brennan - CBS News - The foreign aid pause ordered by Secretary of State Marco Rubio will cause a stoppage of funding for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, as soon as Monday, according to two sources. This could interrupt the provision of anti-viral medications (ARVs) for millions.
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HIV Language Guide (2024)
January 2025 – By National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - This guide includes language suggestions for communicating about HIV and related topics. While it was originally designed to help NIAID staff communicate with empowering rather than stigmatizing language, especially as it relates to HIV, it was quickly recognized that it has value beyond NIAID.
This guide aims to help scientists, administrators, and researchers use fair, accurate, and respectful language and aid funded research networks, sites, centers, investigators, and stakeholders as they draft protocols and develop communications and outreach materials.
The Language Guide describes current thinking and best practices and procedures. NIAID strongly encourages use of person-first, non-stigmatizing language in all communications, including, but not limited to grant applications, contracts, publications, presentations, abstracts, and press materials. Prior to meetings and conferences, and when requests for reports, applications, and other communications are made, NIAID will emphasize its expectation that person-first language be used, and that stigmatizing language not be used (the most used stigmatizing terms will be highlighted and a link to the Language Guide made available). NIAID will actively work to advocate for the use of accurate and appropriate language throughout NIAID as well across the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services.
IAS statement: PEPFAR freeze threatens millions of lives
25 January 2025 (Geneva, Switzerland) – IAS - International AIDS Society - IAS – the International AIDS Society – warns that the reinstatement of the “global gag rule” will have dire consequences for the HIV response, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
The rule, officially called the Mexico City Policy, prohibits foreign organizations that receive US health aid from providing, referring for or advocating for abortion services, regardless of whether non-US funds are used for these services. Within days of being sworn in as US President, Donald Trump signed an executive order that reinstated the policy. His predecessor, Joe Biden, had rescinded President Trump’s previous imposition of the policy.
“The cost of reimposing this rule will be paid in hardship, human lives and a reversal of some of the most important gains in the HIV response,” IAS President Beatriz Grinsztejn said.
IAS statement: IAS warns of dire impact of global gag rule
25 January 2025 (Geneva, Switzerland) – IAS - International AIDS Society - IAS – the International AIDS Society – warns that the immediate halting of funding to the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), including a stop-work order for existing grants and contracts, places millions of lives in jeopardy.
The rule, officially called the Mexico City Policy, prohibits foreign organizations that receive US health aid from providing, referring for or advocating for abortion services, regardless of whether non-US funds are used for these services. Within days of being sworn in as US President, Donald Trump signed an executive order that reinstated the policy. His predecessor, Joe Biden, had rescinded President Trump’s previous imposition of the policy.
“The cost of reimposing this rule will be paid in hardship, human lives and a reversal of some of the most important gains in the HIV response,” IAS President Beatriz Grinsztejn said.
“We know from experience that it will cause severe disruptions to health services, including HIV and reproductive and sexual health, particularly in areas of the world most affected by HIV. We have seen the negative impact of the global gag rule before, as evidenced by restrictions in women’s access to essential healthcare worldwide.”
Vietnam clinical trials help HIV patients
January 24th, 2025 - By Scott Jared - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Carolina public health researchers support people living with HIV and collaborate with the national health ministry.
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health researchers Vivian Go and Dr. Bill Miller are running multiple clinical trials in Vietnam to prevent HIV spread and support people living with the disease.
Go is a professor in the health behavior department, and Miller is a professor in the epidemiology department. Both are members of Carolina’s Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases.
Cancer-fighting compound shows immense potential to eradicate HIV
January 24th, 2025 - Stanford Report - Sanford University - EBC-46 could potentially result in the permanent elimination of HIV in patients – in other words, a cure.
A compound with the unpresuming designation of EBC-46 has made a splash in recent years for its cancer-fighting prowess. Now a new study led by Stanford researchers has revealed that EBC-46 also shows immense potential for eradicating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections.
Compared to similar-acting agents, EBC-46 excels at activating dormant cells where HIV is hiding, the study found. These “kicked” cells can then be targeted (“killed”) by immunotherapies to fully clear the insidious virus from the body. By pursuing this “kick and kill” strategy with EBC-46, researchers think achieving permanent elimination of HIV in patients – in other words, a cure – is possible.
CGD Experts’ Statements on US Foreign Aid Freeze
JANUARY 24th, 2025 - Center for Global Development - On the news that the Trump administration has ordered a pause on US foreign aid funding and a “stop work” order, including for PEPFAR, Javier Guzman, a senior policy fellow and the director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development said:
“We don't know the full extent of the disruptions, but the US is the largest aid provider in the world, with millions of lives depending on its support, making the potential disruptions hugely consequential.
Famed CDC journal goes unpublished amid HHS communications freeze
January 24, 2025 - By Trent Straube - HEALIO - Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is the CDC’s primary medical journal.
The journal went unpublished for the first time amid an HHS communications freeze.
The CDC’s primary medical journal for disseminating public health information went unpublished this week — seemingly for the first time ever — amid a communications freeze issued by HHS to the nation’s various health agencies.
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Trump White House Erases, Silences HIV, LGBTQ and Health Content
January 24, 2025 - By Trent Straube - POZ - Plus: Trump’s attacks on diversity and equity could impair clinical trials and reverse anti-discrimination protections for employees.
President Donald Trump was sworn in Monday, January 20. Within five days, the new administration has purged the White House website and several federal health websites of much LGBTQ and HIV content. For example, advocates noted that the HIV Language Guide, an online resource from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is no longer available.
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New model for the spread of infectious diseases
23-Jan-2025 - Newswise - Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology - Better prediction of epidemics
"Your friends have more friends than you do", wrote the US sociologist Scott Feld in 1991. Feld's so-called friendship paradox states that the friends of any given person have more friends on average than the person themselves. This is based on a simple probability calculation: Well-connected people are more likely to appear in other people's social circles. "If you look at any person's circle of friends, it is very likely that this circle contains very well-connected people with an above-average number of friends," explains Empa researcher Ivan Lunati, head of the Computational Engineering laboratory. A similar principle served Lunati and his team as the basis for a new mathematical model that can be used to more accurately predict the development of case numbers during an epidemic.
But what do social circles and infectious diseases have in common? "The more contacts a person has, the more people they can infect in an epidemic," explains Lunati. Conventional epidemiological models, however, assume that each infectious person infects the same number of other people on average over the course of the epidemic. This number is referred to as the reproduction number (R). If R is greater than one, the number of cases increases exponentially; if R is less than one, it decreases.
T Cells Rise Up to Fight Infections in the Gut
22-Jan-2024- Newswise - By La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) - Scientists show how a special group of T cells travels through the small intestine to combat pathogens
Your gut is a battleground. The cells that line your small intestine have to balance two seemingly contradictory jobs: absorbing nutrients from food, while keeping a wary eye out for pathogens trying to invade your body.
“This is a surface where pathogens can sneak in,” says La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) Assistant Professor Miguel Reina-Campos, Ph.D. “That’s a massive challenge for the immune system.”
So how do immune cells keep the gut safe? New research led by scientists at LJI, UC San Diego, and the Allen Institute for Immunology shows that pathogen-fighting immune cells called tissue-resident memory CD8 T cells (TRM cells) go through a surprising transformation—and relocation—as they fight infections in the small intestine.
In fact, these cells literally rise up higher in the tissue to fight infections before pathogens can spread to deeper, more vulnerable areas.
New Study Finds Social Programs Could Reduce the Spread of HIV by 29%
January 22, 2025 - UMass Amherst - University of Massachusetts Amherst - Although HIV was used as a case study, the UMass Amherst researchers say their assessment tool has applications for other diseases
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have quantified the impacts of a constellation of social factors on the spread of HIV. Their study, published in Health Care Management Science, found that a hypothetical 100% effective intervention addressing barriers to HIV treatment and care from depression, homelessness, individual and neighborhood poverty, education disparities, lack of insurance and unemployment could reduce the national HIV incidence by 29% over 10 years. The mathematical model, a novel integration of machine learning, probability theory and simulation, is positioned to be an important tool for decision-makers to optimize social programs and will have applications for other diseases.
Although 100% suppression of the virus — and consequently a 0% spread of the disease — is feasible through medication, there were still 31,800 new cases in 2022. Furthermore, the lifetime HIV cost per person in America is $420,285.
UNAIDS encourages President Donald J. Trump to continue the strong leadership of the United States of America in the global AIDS response
GENEVA, 22 January 2025 - UNAIDS - UNAIDS congratulates President Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States of America.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States of America has the opportunity to accelerate the global HIV response and end AIDS by 2030,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
During President Trump’s first administration, he demonstrated strong leadership in the fight against AIDS by launching the groundbreaking initiative Ending the HIV Epidemic in the US and reaffirming the United States of America's steadfast commitment to the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (Global Fund), and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
Guest Opinion: Betrayed by our advocates
January 22, 2025 - by Hank Trout - Bay Area Reporter - Mark S. King's January 10 blog post on his award-winning "My Fabulous Disease" site made me aware of a new, and troubling, development in the class action lawsuit against pharmaceutical behemoth Gilead Sciences Inc.
For background: Gilead is one of the primary pharmaceutical companies manufacturing and marketing anti-HIV medications. One of those, Truvada, was very effective at controlling the virus, but it also caused horrible side effects, damaging the liver and attacking bone density. Gilead's own studies confirmed that "an estimated 16,000 people would die, and 150,000 people would suffer kidney and bone injuries over a nine-year period," as King wrote.
Read more...
Pioneering HIV Researcher Donates ‘Important’ Career Collection to UCSF
Jqnuary 21, 2025 - By Eric Brooks - University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) - August 1981 was a transformative month for Jay Levy, MD.
It was then that Levy, now a UCSF Department of Medicine emeritus professor, became inextricably and professionally linked with HIV/AIDS when a colleague called his lab to ask for advice on a patient with a mysterious condition. The call came from Paul Volberding, MD, a young San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center physician who had just finished a post-doctoral fellowship with Levy.
Volberding was treating one of the first of many who would develop the chronic immune system disease AIDS.
Two years later, Levy's lab was one of the first to isolate the virus eventually confirmed as the cause of AIDS in 1983.
New research shows the problem of health misinformation in Canada is growing
January 21, 2025 - Canadian Medical Association (CMA) - More Canadians are encountering health misinformation, according to a new survey, and the trend is having direct consequences on health outcomes.
The 2025 Health and Media Tracking Survey Opens in a new window, commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and delivered by Abacus Data, asked respondents to spot misinformation among several health-related statements. It found that 43% of Canadians are highly susceptible to believing misinformation, while another 35% are moderately susceptible.
The repercussions of misinformation are even more concerning. The survey points to a direct link between misinformation and negative health outcomes – and it’s a growing problem. In this year’s survey, more than one-third of Canadians (35%) say they avoided effective health treatments due to false information, up six percentage points from 2024.
BREAKING: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REMOVES LGBTQ AND HIV RESOURCES FROM WHITE HOUSE AND OTHER GOVERNMENT WEBSITES
(January 21, 2025 — New York, NY) - GLAAD - GLAAD: “President Trump claims to be a strong proponent of freedom of speech, yet he is clearly committed to censorship of any information containing or related to LGBTQ Americans and issues that we face. This action proves the Trump administration’s goal of making it as difficult as possible for LGBTQ Americans to find federal resources or otherwise see ourselves reflected under his presidency. Sadly for him, our community is more visible than ever; and this pathetic attempt to diminish and remove us will again prove unsuccessful.”
Today GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, is breaking news that the Trump administration has eliminated nearly all LGBTQ and HIV focused content and resources from the White House website, as well as eliminated LGBTQ and HIV content from key federal agency webpages.
Mentions of “lesbian,” “bisexual,” “gay,” “transgender,” “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” and related terms are no longer accessible on WhiteHouse.gov, and the search term “LGBTQ” now brings up zero results on the site. In addition, some LGBTQ-specific pages have been taken down from the Centers for Disease Control, Department of State, and more. GLAAD will continue to monitor federal agency websites in the coming days and weeks to track any LGBTQ-related webpage takedowns.
Trump Orders: How America's exit from WHO will affect Kenya's health system
January 21, 2025 - By Mercy Kahenda - ADVOCATE - Brenda has been on HIV treatment since 2003. As she steps out of a Gilgil hospital after her twins have been declared HIV negative, joy paints her face, and grace and confidence define her gait.
“This feels like a dream,” she quips, adding cautiously, “ It has been quite a journey, and I am grateful for the consistent treatment that helped suppress my viral load.”
“Without antiretrovirals (ARVs), I would have infected my children and likely died from Aids. In the early days of acquiring HIV, I saw many people die from the virus, but treatment has saved my life and that of my children,” she adds.
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Why HIV Could Be Poised for a Monumental Comeback
21/01/2025 - By Beatriz Grinsztejn & Birgit Poniatowski - Health Policy Watch - The good news first: HIV science has made remarkable progress. While we still lack a vaccine or cure, a single dose of a new long-acting injectable drug can now offer protection against HIV for up to six months.
This breakthrough could revolutionize efforts to curb a pandemic that still claims a life every minute. However, the rise of populism and regressive governance threatens to unravel many hard-won gains in HIV and public health.
In the United States, the highly successful and bipartisan President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is under attack, and its potential undoing could cut millions off from access to life-saving medication. The program is estimated to have saved some 26 million lives over the past two decades. It was conceived out of concerns that the AIDS pandemic could devastate generations of people in lower- and middle-income countries and fuel political instability.
WHO comments on United States’ announcement of intent to withdraw
Geneva- 21 January 2025 - World Health Organization (WHO) - The World Health Organization regrets the announcement that the United States of America intends to withdraw from the Organization.
WHO plays a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans, by addressing the root causes of disease, building stronger health systems, and detecting, preventing and responding to health emergencies, including disease outbreaks, often in dangerous places where others cannot go.
The United States was a founding member of WHO in 1948 and has participated in shaping and governing WHO’s work ever since, alongside 193 other Member States, including through its active participation in the World Health Assembly and Executive Board. For over seven decades, WHO and the USA have saved countless lives and protected Americans and all people from health threats. Together, we ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio to the brink of eradication. American institutions have contributed to and benefited from membership in WHO.
Trump administration erases mentions of LGBTQ+ & HIV resources from government websites
Republicans are moving forward with a full assault on LGBTQ+ lives.
January 21, 2025 - By Christopher Wiggins - ADVOCATE - Not even 24 hours after President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office and issued an executive order denying the existence of transgender and nonbinary people, his administration has taken another brazen step to erase LGBTQ+ Americans. The Advocate has confirmed that references to LGBTQ+ identities and HIV-related resources have vanished overnight from WhiteHouse.gov and several federal agency websites, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of State, and Department of Labor, based on a report by GLAAD.
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UNAIDS calls on leaders at Davos to commit to rapid global access to revolutionary new long-acting HIV medicines
DAVOS/GENEVA, 21 January 2025 - UNAIDS - UNAIDS urges speed and compassion urging pharmaceutical companies to enable access to new, life-saving medicines
Today, at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has warned that new long-acting HIV prevention – and potentially treatment – medicines can help usher in the end of AIDS if corporate and political leaders move quickly and urgently to prioritise access for all low and middle-income countries.
Lenacapavir, produced by Gilead Sciences, has proved to be more than 95% effective in preventing HIV with just two doses a year and the company is now conducting trials of once-yearly shots. ViiV Healthcare has the injectable medicine Cabotegravir, administered once every two months to prevent HIV, which is already being used in some countries. Month-long vaginal rings are also in use and longer acting pills and vaginal rings are being trialled.
Global HIV Study Finds that Cardiovascular Risk Models Underestimate for Key Populations
Jan | 21 | 2025 - Mass General Brigham - Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally, posing a particularly significant threat to people with HIV (PWH). To address this, CVD prevention plans rely on prediction models like atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk scores to estimate the risk of heart disease.
However, previous studies have called into question whether these commonly used prediction models perform well among people with HIV, and there remains a gap in understanding of what these scores mean for PWH in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, in collaboration with an international team of investigators, conducted a study to evaluate how well existing ASCVD risk estimates could be used to predict cardiovascular outcomes in global populations with HIV. Their findings are published in Lancet HIV.
The importance of telling the story of HIV/AIDS in Ireland
20 January, 2025 - by Tonie Walsh - GCN Magazine - Ireland's HIV/AIDS story is one of an oppressed and marginalised community resourcing our survival as best we could and on our own terms.
The story of HIV and the AIDS pandemic in Ireland has yet to be told. It’s a story of horror and devastation, courage and defiance, compassion and caring, and what seems, even after all this time, as the never-ending fight against ignorance, shame and stigma.
Over 40 years on from the first Irish diagnoses, you’d imagine we’d be familiar with the story, even if it wasn’t documented in all the excruciating detail of the Covid pandemic. You’d imagine that it would be a (taken-for-granted) part of Irish history; I mean our formal historical narrative, up there with the Septic Tiger, the so-called Troubles, the Roman Catholic sex abuse scandals, the Magdalene Laundries and so on.
Tanzania confirms second Marburg outbreak after WHO chief visit
[DAR ES SALAAM] - 20/01/25 - By: Syriacus Buguzi - SciDev.Net - Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has declared an outbreak of Marburg virus, confirming a single case in the northwestern region of Kagera after a meeting with WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The confirmation follows days of speculation about a possible outbreak in the region, after the WHO reported a number of deaths suspected to be linked to the highly infectious disease.
Telemedicine – an experiment begun amid COVID-19 in South Africa – stays on as HIV help
20 January 2024 - Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance - The condom broke. You need a prescription for post-exposure prophylaxis, but the nearest doctor is miles away. What do you do? A pandemic-tested online system is offering South Africans a digital gateway to care.
Amid the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa’s Ministry of Health moved to approve the use of telemedicine as a necessity. Since then, it has stayed on as a tech tool managing another, older pandemic: HIV.
The HIV Clinicians Expert Telemedicine Platform is South Africa’s biggest telemedicine service provider, and deploys videolink tech to reach all corners of the country, wherever people living with HIV are located.
“The HIV Clinicians Expert Telemedicine Platform is a hybrid initiative that bridges private innovation with public health needs,” Rudi de Koker, project manager at Digital Health Cape Town (DHCT), and face of the project, explains. DHCT owns and runs the platform.
New Research Highlights Underestimated Heart Disease Risks in HIV Patients
18th Jan, 2025 - The Munich Eye - Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the primary cause of illness and death worldwide, with individuals living with HIV facing heightened risk. A global study conducted by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and an international team has revealed that existing predictive models for assessing cardiovascular risk may not adequately serve this population.
The study, published in The Lancet HIV, evaluated the effectiveness of current atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk scores among people living with HIV (PWH) from various economic backgrounds. The research utilized data from the Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV (REPRIEVE), encompassing participants from low-, middle-, and high-income countries across multiple continents.
Findings indicate that the current risk models tend to underestimate the incidence of cardiovascular events in women and black men residing in high-income countries while overestimating risks for all PWH in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This discrepancy raises significant concerns about the adequacy of existing prediction tools for this specific population.
A chain reaction: HIV vaccines can lead to antibodies against antibodies
LA JOLLA, CA - January 17, 2025 - Scripps Research - Scripps Research scientists discovered that repetitive HIV vaccinations can lead the body to produce antibodies targeting the immune complexes already bound to the virus—knowledge that could lead to better vaccines.
Many vaccines work by introducing a protein to the body that resembles part of a virus. Ideally, the immune system will produce long-lasting antibodies recognizing that specific virus, thereby providing protection.
But Scripps Research scientists have now discovered that for some HIV vaccines, something else happens: after a few immunizations the immune system begins to produce antibodies against immune complexes already bound to the viral protein alone. They don’t yet know whether this chain reaction, described in hurts or helps the immune system’s ability to fight HIV, but say that understanding it better could lead to improvements in HIV vaccines. The research was published in the journal on January 17, 2025.
DeLauro, Frankel Statement on Misuse of PEPFAR Funds
WASHINGTON - January 17, 2025 - The House Committee on Appropriations - Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the primary cause of illness and death worldwide, with individuals living with HIV facing heightened risk. A global study conducted by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and an international team has revealed that existing predictive models for assessing cardiovascular risk may not adequately serve this population.
House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) and State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Ranking Member Lois Frankel (FL-22) released the following statement on the use of President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funds in violation of United States law:
Decoding HIV’s Tactics
01/16/2025 - Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research - HIRI researchers provide new insights into gene regulation of the virus that causes AIDS
A team of scientists at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg and the University of Regensburg has unveiled insights into how HIV-1, the virus responsible for AIDS, skillfully hijacks cellular machinery for its own survival. By dissecting the molecular interplay between the virus and its host, the researchers identified novel strategies that HIV-1 employs to ensure its replication while suppressing the host’s cellular defenses. The study was published in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.
HIV-1, like other viruses, lacks the machinery to produce its own proteins and must rely on the host cell to translate its genetic instructions. After entering host cells, it seizes control of the translation process, which converts messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) into proteins. “In this study, we combined ribosome profiling, RNA sequencing and RNA structural probing to map the viral and host translational landscape and pausing during replication of the virus in unprecedented detail,” says corresponding author Neva Caliskan. She is a former group leader at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg, a site of the Braunschweig Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in cooperation with the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), and is currently the Director of the Department of Biochemistry III at the University of Regensburg.
Anti-AIDS program in peril after US finds nurses in Mozambique provided abortions
WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Republican Senator Jim Risch demands investigation, threatens funding cut
The flagship U.S. aid program on HIV/AIDS is in jeopardy, a senior Republican warned on Thursday, after U.S. officials said four nurses in Mozambique performed abortions that are banned under the multibillion-dollar program that has saved millions of lives globally.
Service providers that get funding through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) are barred from providing abortion services under rules against U.S. foreign assistance being used for abortion-related activities, but the program has still faced criticism from anti-abortion Republicans.
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People with HBV, HIV coinfection at risk for hepatitis D ‘superinfection’
January 17, 2025 - Healio - Patients with HIV and hepatitis B coinfection are at an increased risk for hepatitis D.
Patients with HIV and hepatitis B coinfection are at an increased risk for hepatitis D, which is associated with an increased risk of liver-related complications and mortality, researchers found.
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Advocates criticize Biden for inaction after judge orders military to accept recruits with HIV
Jan 16, 2025 - NBC NEWS - They’re concerned the Biden administration won’t fully implement a ruling that allows enlistment by healthy HIV-positive people, leaving the matter to Trump.
Several people living with HIV told NBC News they have been turned away from military service or have faced roadblocks to enlistment, despite a federal judge’s ruling in August that found prohibiting healthy HIV-positive recruits is unconstitutional.
Now, as Joe Biden’s presidency reaches its final days, advocates for people with HIV are increasingly concerned that his administration will not fully implement the judge’s ruling, punting it to the incoming Trump administration.
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HIV-positive Palestinians in Gaza have run out of medication: ‘There is nothing left’
Jan 16 - Written by Amelia Hansford - PinkNews - A new report has shed light on the struggles of HIV-positive Palestinians living in Gaza, where medication is running out.
Queer HIV-positive Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip have revealed the problems they have endured since the Israel-Hamas conflict began 15 months ago.
Speaking to journalist Afeef Nessouli as part of a report for The Intercept, on Monday (13 January), 27-year-old E.S., who used a pseudonym to protect his identity, said the blockade of food and medical supplies imposed by the Israeli military had meant that he has run out of preventative medication.
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HIV pioneers are aging faster than normal, prompting new approaches to care
January 15, 2025 - By Kay Lazar - The Boston Globe - Even as medications tamp down a person’s viral load, they rev up the immune system.
For years, health care providers have reported this phenomenon of patients who have long lived with HIV experiencing accelerated aging and with more disease severity. Some have noted the toxicity of early HIV drugs and their potential impact. Today’s medications are milder, but even as they tamp down a person’s viral load, they’re constantly revving up the immune system, and that’s also believed to play a role in this phenomenon of premature aging and disease.
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Statins May Improve Artery Health in People With HIV
January 15, 2025 - By Liz Highleyman - POZ - Pitavastatin was associated with reduced artery plaque volume and changes in its composition.
Taking a statin can help stabilize coronary artery plaque, reducing the risk that it will rupture and cause a heart attack or stroke, according to the latest findings from the REPRIEVE trial, published in JAMA Cardiology.
As people with HIV live longer thanks to effective antiretroviral treatment, cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become a leading cause of illness and death. Studies suggest that HIV-positive people have about a twofold higher risk for CVD compared with their HIV-negative peers, and people with HIV tend to experience cardiovascular complications at younger ages.
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Queer and HIV+ in Gaza: A Young Man’s “Race Against Time” as Israel Blocks Medication
January 15, 2025 - Democracy Now! - We speak with journalists Steven Thrasher and Afeef Nessouli about their new report for The Intercept, which examines how queer, HIV-positive Palestinians are struggling to survive in Gaza with limited access to medication due to Israel’s siege and ongoing attacks on the territory. The report centers on E.S., a young Palestinian man who is HIV-positive and who has been in “a race against time,” says Nessouli. “The genocide is making it impossible to get medication to people like E.S.,” adds Thrasher.
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HIV Vaccine Candidate Activates Crucial Immune Function
DURHAM, N.C. - January 15, 2025 - Duke Health - Researchers at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute successfully created an HIV vaccine candidate that guides key immune cells along an evolutionary pathway to become broadly neutralizing antibodies.
In studies using mice, the immunogen activates diverse precursors of a specific broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) and starts the maturation of these antibodies at high enough levels to be a viable component of an HIV vaccine.
“A successful vaccine will need to induce lot of antibodies that target key regions of the virus, so these results are just one part of that goal, but a promising step,” said Mihai L. Azoitei, Ph.D., associate professor in the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and the Department of Cell Biology at Duke and lead author of a study featured on the cover of the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Elon Cares benefit cabaret to raise money in fight against AIDS
January 14, 2025 - By Michaela Zeno - Today at Elon - Elon University - An annual fundraiser co-hosted by students in the Department of Performing Arts and Elon University’s Gender & LGBTQIA Center will take place Jan. 15.
Students in the Department of Performing Arts will entertain audiences and raffle prizes this week in support of a national nonprofit that helps people secure health care, counseling, and financial assistance in their battles against HIV/AIDS.
In partnership with the university’s Gender & LGBTQIA Center, the Elon Cares benefit cabaret will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 15, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Yeager Recital Hall, in the Center for the Arts.
The performance supports Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations.
How People With HIV Can Get the Best Out of Their Dental Care
Jan 14, 2025 - By Tim Murphy - TheBody - Going to the dentist can be difficult for people of all backgrounds, but it can be especially fraught for people living with HIV—to the point of total avoidance! A major reason why is that some people with HIV have experienced discrimination or stigma at the hands of their dentist. And before effective treatment for HIV became widely available, national surveys indicated that a significant percentage of polled dentists would not be willing to provide services to the community. While times have changed, the perception that they have not remains a barrier to care.
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Syringe-wielding germs could crack antimicrobial resistance crisis
13 January 2025 - The University of Manchester - Friendly germs armed with their own biological syringes and poisons could hold the key to overcoming the antimicrobial resistance crisis, according to a new study by biologists at the Universities of Manchester and Basel.
The study of special bacteria, which have evolved nanoscopic syringes –Type 6 Secretion Systems (T6SSs) – that inject cocktails of deadly toxins into rival microorganisms, is published today in the journal PNAS.
Microbes been fighting their own wars on germs for Millions of years – battling for survival against each other.
Ontario Centre of Innovation and uOttawa boost Ontario’s role as a global hub for life sciences innovation
January 13, 2024 - University of Ottawa - New partnership aims to unlock investment and commercialization opportunities for life sciences and other health innovation technologies, fueling economic growth
A new collaboration between the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) and the Ontario Centre of InnOntario Centre of Innovation (OCI) is set to intensify life sciences innovation in the capital region and beyond, building on Ottawa’s strengths as a premier life sciences research cluster. Through this partnership, uOttawa and OCI will foster the growth of made-in-Ontario life sciences technologies, accelerating the province’s momentum in boosting healthcare competitiveness and economic resilience.
“Ontario has built a thriving life sciences ecosystem that encourages innovation and drives the development and commercialization of Ontario-made technologies,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “This collaboration between the University of Ottawa and the Ontario Center of Innovation is a prime example of how our province is harnessing our world-class STEM expertise and cutting-edge research to bring lifesaving ideas from lab to market.”
Surviving War and HIV
January 13, 2025 - By Afeef Nessouli, Steven W. Thrasher - The Intercept - Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza
Life in Northern Gaza is precarious enough without having to worry about AIDS. Airstrikes and ground raids are a constant threat that keep people from leaving their homes to find food. “We have to conserve,” said E.S., a 27-year-old who lives with his mother and younger brother in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in southwest Gaza City. “People are fighting each other to get the aid boxes.”
And then there’s the issue of medication.
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Supreme Court will decide if insurance companies must cover PrEP for HIV prevention
The case stems from a Texas company that argued covering PrEP violated its religious freedoms, claiming the medication encourages “homosexual behavior.”
January 13 2025 - By Christopher Wiggins - ADVOCATE - The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a pivotal case that could significantly impact access to preventivemhealth care under the Affordable Care Act, including life-saving HIV prevention drugs like pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP. The court granted the petition on Friday. The case, which the federal government petitioned for the court’s intervention, is set to be argued this spring, with a decision expected before the Court’s term ends in June.
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Infectious disease expert Jennifer Jao to help lead AIDS clinical-trials network
January 13, 2025 - By Kristin Samuelson - Northwestern Now - Northwestern University - She will help shape the scientific agenda at the International Maternal Pediatric and Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network
Dr. Jennifer Jao, pediatric infectious disease expert from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, has been selected as co-chair of the International Maternal Pediatric and Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Network funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
With more than 50 clinical-trials sites across the world, IMPAACT is the largest international HIV clinical-trials network addressing pregnant, pediatric and adolescent populations. Jao is the first person from Northwestern to serve as co-chair for the organization.
T cells’ capability to fully prevent acute viral infections opens new avenues for vaccine development
Singapore, 10 January 2025 - Duke-NUS Medical School - T cells can independently prevent acute viral infections to an extent previously thought only possible with neutralising antibodies.
Findings challenge the longstanding reliance on neutralising antibodies for assessing viral immunity, and suggest that development of future vaccines must consider both antibody and T-cell responses for comprehensive protection.
Scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School and the Singapore General Hospital have discovered that T cells—white blood cells that can destroy harmful pathogens—can completely prevent viral infection, to an extent previously thought only possible due to neutralising antibodies. Their findings, shown experimentally for the first time in human studies, reshape our understanding of how our immune system works, paving the way for the design of more effective vaccines.
Is HIV Now Named “Lentivirus Humimdef1”?
January 10, 2025 - By Trent Straube - POZ - Yes. But you can still call it HIV, explains the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses about its updated naming system.
We all know that HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus, which over time can cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. So what the heck is Lentivirus humimdef1?
Lentivirus humimdef1 is the proper taxonomic classification for common HIV, according to an updated naming system devised by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, or ICTV. (Taxonomy is the study of naming organisms.) The change was approved in 2020 but began drawing more attention last month when the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) announced it would be adding about 3,000 new Latinized names to its database in the coming months, according to Science magazine.
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Exposed Document Links HIV Leaders to ‘Betrayal of People with HIV’
Jan 10 2025 - By Mark S. King - My Fabulous Disease - When Jeremiah Johnson was perusing the Gilead Sciences website last November, as one does when tracking one of the most insidious assaults in history against people living with HIV, an item he found buried deep in Gilead’s pulldown menus literally took his breath away.
“My heart sank,” recalled Jeremiah, director of the national HIV advocacy organization PrEP4All. “It felt like I was witnessing some kind of advocacy fraud.”
Iconic HIV treatment activist Peter Staley put an even finer point on the discovery. “The document saddened me,” Peter told me. “It felt like a shocking betrayal of people living with HIV.”
The item Jeremiah discovered was a notice that Gilead would be filing, within days, an amicus brief signed by a list of a half dozen HIV community leaders. The brief would be in support of Gilead and against the plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit that claims Gilead did great harm to people living with HIV.
St. Michael’s research leads to Health Canada approval of dual HIV-Syphilis rapid test
January 09, 2025 - By Andrew Russell - Unity Health Toronto - Federal regulators have approved a new dual HIV-Syphilis rapid test, a critical point-of-care tool to address the public health crises of rising HIV/Syphilis rates in Canada, particularly in the Prairies.
Health Canada granted a medical device licence on Dec. 24, 2024 to Nova Scotia-based MedMira Inc. for its Multiplo® TP/HIV Rapid Test. The device allows healthcare professionals to detect both HIV-1/2 and syphilis antibodies using one blood sample from a single finger prick that delivers results immediately.
Health Canada’s licensure of the device is based on the results of a landmark clinical study in Alberta, co-led by Dr. Sean B. Rourke, director of REACH Nexus and a scientist with the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital (Unity Health Toronto) and Dr. Ameeta Singh at the University of Alberta.
Innovative vaccine design targets HIV’s weak spots
January 9, 2025 - University of Hawaiʻi News - Since HIV was linked to AIDS in 1983, researchers have struggled to develop a vaccine due to the virus’s rapid mutation, which makes it difficult to create an immune response that can prevent infection. Iain MacPherson, assistant professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), is tackling this problem with a promising new approach. He recently received a $410,813 grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a vaccine targeting a stable part of the virus..
“Developing an HIV vaccine is one of the most difficult, complex problems in medicine,” MacPherson said. “We’re aiming to engineer an immunogen better capable of protecting people against diverse strains of HIV so we can help stem the spread of HIV.”
The HIV/AIDS Community Bids Farewell to Fierce Advocate Bryan C. Jones
Jan 9, 2025 - By Tim Murphy - TheBody - Few fighters were as joyously fierce and devoted to the HIV movement as Cleveland-based Bryan C. Jones. Diagnosed with HIV in 1984, Jones threw himself emotionally and physically into empowering the community around a seemingly endless array of issues, including: fighting social stigma; working to modernize outdated laws that criminalize people with HIV for having sex without disclosing their status; securing housing and financial empowerment; and informing the world that people with HIV who are on medications and undetectable are unable to transmit the virus sexually to others (undetectable equals untransmittable, or U=U).
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HIV drug access crisis persists despite trial success
[JOHANNESBURG] - 09/01/25 - By Elna Schütz - SciDev.Net - Promising new drugs to prevent and treat HIV have the potential to transform the response to the disease. But getting these drugs to those who need it most will be critical, says Beatriz Grinsztejn, president of the International AIDS Society.
Grinsztejn is the first Latin American to head the IAS, which has been advocating since the 1980s for science-based HIV policies, free from stigma.
Leading research at the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Rio de Janeiro, Grinsztejn has a long history as a pioneer in the field and says prioritising poorer countries is her key focus.
She spoke to SciDev.Net about addressing inequities, combating stigma and criminalisation, and advocating for key populations to ensure a robust HIV response that is truly universal.
Brown researchers awarded $3.8 million grant to study links between alcohol, gut health and HIV
September 8, 2023 - By Juan Siliezar - School of Public Health | Brown University - The research, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, aims to uncover how alcohol and HIV disrupt gut bacteria and contribute to chronic health issues like heart disease.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has awarded a $3.8 million grant to researchers from the Brown University School of Public Health to investigate the intricate links between microbes that live in the gut, heavy alcohol use and HIV.
The five-year grant, in collaboration with researchers at University of Louisville and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, will investigate how alcohol affects gut bacteria in people living with HIV and how these changes contribute to inflammation and health problems such as heart disease. The ultimate goal is to help develop more targeted interventions for alcohol-related gut dysbiosis for people living with HIV.
STOMP Trial Stomped by DSMB—Tecovirimat Did Not Improve Mpox Resolution or Pain
January 8, 2025 - By IDSE New Staff - Infectious Disease Special Edition (IDSE) - The antiviral drug tecovirimat (Tpoxx, SIGA Technologies) did not reduce the time to lesion resolution or have an effect on pain among adults with mild to moderate clade II mpox and a low risk of developing severe disease, according to an interim data analysis from the international STOMP trial.
Climate change linked with worse HIV prevention and care
January 8, 2025 - By Charles Brockman - University of Toronto - Researchers find that climate change and extreme weather events impact HIV prevention and care through numerous pathways, including increased HIV exposure, reduced testing, and worse health outcomes for people living with HIV
New challenges in HIV prevention and care are emerging due to climate change, according to a review published earlier this month in Current Opinions in Infectious Disease.
Researchers from the University of Toronto analyzed 22 recent studies exploring HIV-related outcomes in the context of climate change and identified several links between extreme weather events and HIV prevention and care.
Climate change-related extreme weather events, such as drought and flooding, were associated with poorer HIV prevention outcomes, including reduced HIV testing. Extreme weather events were also linked to increased practices that elevate HIV risk, such as transactional sex and condomless sex, as well as increases in new HIV infection.
Mask requirements in B.C. health-care settings reintroduced amid respiratory illness season
Jan 7, 2025 - By Mathew Rodriguez - CityNews Vancouver - The provincial health ministry says masks will once again be required in health-care facilities in B.C. after the provincial health officer rescinded the remaining order for COVID-19 in July.
Starting Monday, Jan. 6, the ministry says it’s strengthening infection control measures during the respiratory illness season.
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Beau Brummell Introductions: Navigating Dating with HIV and Overcoming Stigma in the U=U Era
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 7, 2025 / Beau Brummell Introductions - Dating can feel like a complex puzzle, especially in a world where swiping right on a screen has replaced personal connections. For individuals living with HIV, these challenges are amplified by stigma, misinformation, and outdated perceptions. But as times shift and science advances, so does our understanding of human connection. Beau Brummell Introductions, a boutique matchmaking service, is taking revolutionary strides to create meaningful relationships while fostering empathy and acceptance, particularly for those navigating the dating world with HIV.
By combining a personalized approach to matchmaking with a profound emphasis on shared values and understanding, Beau Brummell Introductions is challenging societal norms, helping individuals find love beyond judgment, and introducing a pivotal message supported by modern medical science-Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U).
The “French Patient” May Be the Latest Person Cured of HIV
January 7, 2025 - amfAR - A new case of a possible HIV cure—a woman in her mid-fifties living in France—was presented by Olivia Zaegel-Faucher, MD, of the Public Hospital of Marseille, and colleagues at the recent HIV Drug Therapy Glasgow conference.
Referred to as the “French Patient” as her name has not yet been disclosed, the woman was diagnosed with HIV in 1999. She initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART) early and first achieved an undetectable viral load in 2010. In July 2020, she received a stem cell transplant to treat acute myeloid leukemia, which had been diagnosed in February of that year.
Similar to five other cure cases (Timothy Ray Brown, the City of Hope Patient, Marc Franke, Adam Castillejo, and the New York Patient), the French Patient received donor cells with a double CCR5-delta32 mutation, which renders cells almost impervious to HIV infection.
HIV and Anemia: What You Need To Know
Jan 7, 2025 - By Mathew Rodriguez - TheBody - In the 1990s, most people living with HIV in the U.S. also had anemia. Several studies, as well as many online resources dedicated to the condition, indicate that anemia rates among people living with an AIDS diagnosis used to hover around or above 80%. What caused these higher rates varied. Notable causes at that time included side effects from drugs–such as the early formulations of the HIV medication AZT. Another issue was having lower CD4 counts, which weakened the immune and other bodily systems, creating an environment in which anemia could develop.
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Countering the next phase of antivaccine activism
January 8, 2025 - PLOS Global Public Health - In a recent essay, pediatrician-scientist Peter Hotez proposes a focus on local data, improved benefit-risk communications, actively countering health disinformation, and state-level action to address antivaccine sentiment in the U.S.
Anti-vaccine sentiment isn’t going away any time soon. In a new opinion article published January 8 in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health, Prof. Peter Hotez from Baylor College of Medicine, outlines key actions to stem the momentum of anti-vaccine advocates in the U.S. over the next five years.
Anti-vaccine activities in the U.S. transformed to become a politically charged movement during the COVID-19 pandemic as calls for health freedom characterized partisan political activism. In his recent opinion piece, Hotez argues that, as COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths decline, anti-vaccine attitudes have not decreased but merely shifted—toward childhood vaccinations. Vaccine hesitancy among parents for childhood vaccines is likewise politically divided, and the country has seen re-emergence of multiple preventable childhood illnesses, including whooping cough and measles. Recently, even polio has been detected in wastewater sampling.
Unique VRSA Strain Identified in North Carolina
January 6, 2025 - By Ethan Covey - Infectious Disease Special Edition (IDSE) - “This report identified VRSA in a different strain of S. aureus from previous VRSA cases and in a new geographic location—the southern U.S.,” said Jennifer MacFarquhar, MPH, BSN, RN, CIC, a CDC epidemiologist.
Changing the HIV Narrative
January 6, 2025 - By Alicia Green - POZ - Straight men living with the virus are speaking up.
In July 2024, six straight men served as panelists on a Zoom webinar hosted by The Reunion Project, a nonprofit founded by and for long-term survivors. They shared their journey of living with HIV, specifically as straight men with the virus who have felt forgotten and unheard.
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Loneliness Linked to Frailty in Older People With HIV
January 6, 2025 - By Liz Highleyman - POZ - Frailty was assessed using a metric that includes unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, poor grip strength, slow walking speed and more.
Nearly one in five older people living with HIV showed signs of frailty in a recent Canadian study, and being single or lonely increased the odds. Frailty is a common syndrome among older adults that carries an increased risk for poor health outcomes, including falls, cognitive impairment, disability, hospitalization and death.
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WHO announces the development of new guidelines for lenacapavir and updated HIV testing guidelines
6 January 2025 - World Health Organization (WHO) - WHO is convening a Guideline Development Group (GDG) for the development of new guidelines on the use of injectable lenacapavir as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV, and the optimization of HIV testing services for long-acting prevention products. These updates reflect WHO’s commitment to addressing evolving public health needs, particularly for populations disproportionately affected by HIV, and to improving access to high-quality HIV prevention and testing services globally.
DIRT Brings HIV/AIDS Advocacy Down to Earth for Black Communities in Ohio
January 5, 2025 - By Ilona Westfall - The Buckeye Flame - ‘Black folks are not hard to reach. People just never take the chance or the time to really reach them.’
EDITOR’S NOTE: It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of Bryan C. Jones (1960-2024), HIV/AIDS activist, advocate and educator. Jones was one of Ohio’s most outspoken and fearless leaders.
From his induction to The Bayard Rustin LGBTQ+ Resource Center’s Hall of Fame in October 2024: “Diagnosed with HIV 42 years ago, Jones has spent over two decades fighting for the rights of people living with HIV, becoming a vital voice in the movement to end stigma and discrimination. He transformed his diagnosis into a platform to empower others and raise awareness. Jones has been a leader in multiple national campaigns, including serving on the U.S. People Living with HIV Caucus. As a longtime advocate for the Undetectable Equals Untransmittable (U=U) campaign, he has worked tirelessly to spread critical information about HIV prevention and treatment.”
In addition to his many invaluable contributions, Jones was a founder of the Ohio Health Modernization Movement. We published the piece below on his DIRT model of advocacy in August 2021.
Magic Johnson receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
January 4, 2025 - NBA.com - For his contributions on and off the court, Earvin 'Magic' Johnson was recognized with the nation's highest civilian honor.
Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden during a ceremony on Saturday at the White House.
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2024 brought more troubling news about measles
January 03, 2025 - ByStephen I. Feller - Healio - A surge in measles cases linked to declining vaccination rates could threaten the United States’ measles elimination status, the CDC said in 2024.
Experts have warned about the resurgence of measles for years, and of other vaccine-preventable diseases in the context of rising vaccine hesitancy. Below are 10 stories we reported about measles in 2024, and other diseases that have emerged or reemerged, including pertussis.
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A camp for HIV-positive kids is for sale. Here's why its founder is celebrating
January 02 2025 - by Ryan Adamczeski - www.hivplusmag.com - One Heartland in Minnesota is now hoping to cater more broadly to LGBTQ+ youth and those with other conditions.
A Minnesota camp for children with HIV and AIDs is going up for sale — but not for the reason you may expect.
One Heartland has served HIV-positive youth for over 30 years in Willow River, Minnesota. Today, the rate of HIV infections among youth in the United States has dropped so significantly that the camp is no longer needed. The nonprofit is now looking for another group to take over — one that will cater more broadly to LGBTQ+ youth and those with other conditions, such as diabetes.
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DU Researcher Awarded NIH Grant to Further Investigate How HIV Spreads
January 2, 2025 - By Jordyn Reiland - University of Denver - Schuyler van Engelenburg hopes his work will help others create antiviral treatments that specifically target early stages of HIV.
A University of Denver virologist and biophysicist is one step closer to understanding how HIV spreads once it enters the human body, thanks to a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
More specifically, College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics Associate Professor Schuyler van Engelenburg aims to further develop and utilize specific instruments, like super-resolution and single-molecule tracking tools, to understand the mechanisms of virus transfer.
One key part of this process is the envelope glycoprotein (Env), which attaches HIV to the cells it infects and plays a crucial role in fusing the virus with healthy cells. Scientists don’t fully understand how Env gets incorporated into the virus or how it helps the virus spread from one cell to another.
Chad: protecting children from HIV/AIDS
02 January 2025 - World Health Organization (WHO) - Judith Haltebaye, a midwife with 15 years of experience, has spent the past seven years serving at the Abena-Atetip Health Centre in central N'Djamena. Over the years, she has supported hundreds of women throughout their pregnancies and beyond. For some, her care involves highly specific follow-ups, as in the case of 34-year-old Menodjie, who is living with HIV. "Menodjie came for a consultation in January, and through routine tests, we discovered she was living with HIV. At the time, she was expecting her second child," Judith recounts.
We can end the HIV epidemic, but Canada is falling behind global targets
January 2, 2025 - THE HILL TIMES- Canada has the resources, the expertise, and the infrastructure to end HIV in our lifetime. Every action, big or small, brings us one step closer to a future where HIV no longer plays a role in the health and well-being of Canadians.
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How People Living With HIV Can Put Their Best Foot Forward in 2025
Jan 1, 2025 - TheBody - If you’re living with HIV, you may be facing 2025 with some dread. After all, we have a new White House administration and a Republican-led Congress coming in full of people who have signaled their desire to cut funding and policies from health care and social-services programs relied on by many people with chronic illnesses, including HIV. On top of that,many of us live in regions where the first few months of the year can be depressingly cold, dark, and gray. It’s enough to make anyone want to pull the covers over their head and stay in bed.
But take heart! Here are a number of tips you can take to give the upcoming year a sense of focus, accomplishment, serenity, and even joy amid the world’s uncertainty. These derive from a combination of my own notes as a journalist living with HIV anda conversation I had with Kneeshe Parkinson, an HIV long-term survivor in St. Louis, who is the founder and executive director of RISE Impact. That’s a nonprofit that helps individuals—especially women and young people—overcome the socioeconomic barriers and gain the sexual-health tools they need to live their best lives.
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