HIV/AIDS
« Previous Entries Next Entries »Gilead Quad AIDS Pill Safer, Better Than Atripla
Thursday, February 18th, 2010Gilead Sciences Inc.’s four-in-one combination pill for AIDS had fewer side effects and may be more effective than its three-drug treatment Atripla, the world’s best-selling HIV therapy, a study found.
The quad pill reduced the virus to undetectable levels in 90 percent of patients after 24 weeks, compared with 83 percent on Atripla, according to research [...]
Increased adherence to HIV medicinal regimens deemed cost-effective.
Thursday, January 7th, 2010MedPage Today (1/5, Smith) reported that even in economically depressed countries, “programs designed to increase adherence” to HAART are cost-effective. Through their study in South Africa, Harvard researchers discovered that “although medication costs were higher for patients who took their drugs as prescribed, overall average monthly costs for those with [...]
Specific drug combination may be more effective in patient with high HIV viral load.
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009MedPage Today (12/1, Smith) reported, “In patients with a high HIV viral load at the start of initial therapy, regimens based on tenofovir/emtricitabine (Truvada) were more effective than those based on abacavir/lamivudine (Epzicom),” Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers found after evaluating 1,858 patients. “Current guidelines for initial HIV therapy suggest [...]
HIV Drug Therapy May Produce Unwanted Side Effects
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009Source: The AIDS Beacon
The use of antiretroviral medications has greatly increased the longevity of patients with HIV. However, liver failure, heart disease and neurological changes can often result from its use.
Patients taking protease inhibitors or nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors are at a higher risk of body fat redistribution and heart disease, according to an article [...]
Living with HIV / AIDS
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009Most people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) don’t even know they’re infected.
Millions of people are living with the disease worldwide. This epidemic is killing many people, in some cases, because they aren’t getting tested or treated.
“It’s that stigma,” said AIDS Resource Center Ohio’s Prevention and Outreach Team Leader, Jared [...]
Low bone mineral density common in HIV-positive men
Thursday, November 19th, 2009Source: AIDSMap.com
A large proportion of HIV-positive men have low bone mineral density, Australian researchers report in the December 1st edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Treatment with a boosted protease inhibitor was identified as a risk factor, and the investigators suggest that their results point to tenofovir also causing changes in the bone metabolism. The [...]
Feelings Of Stigmatization May Discourage HIV Patients From Proper Care
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009Source: ScienceDaily.com
The feeling of stigmatization that people living with HIV often experience doesn’t only exact a psychological toll — new UCLA research suggests it can also lead to quantifiably negative health outcomes.
In a study published in the October issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, researchers from the division of general internal medicine and health [...]
50mg of ritonavir may be an effective booster for some protease inhibitors
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009Source: AidsMap
The amount of ritonavir needed to boost levels of other protease inhibitors differs between individual drugs, a meta-analysis published in the online edition of AIDS suggests.
Ritonavir (Norvir) doses of between 50 mg and 100 mg were as effective as higher doses of the drug at boosting saquinavir (Invirase), fosamprenavir (Telzir) and darunavir (Prezista).
However, indinavir (Crixivan), [...]
New Approach To Targeting The Hidden Reservoir Of HIV
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009Source: ScienceDaily
The drugs used to treat individuals infected with HIV-1 keep the virus under control and dramatically improve prognosis, but they do not eliminate the virus from the body completely, some remains hidden in immune cells known as resting CD4+ T cells. There are currently no clinically acceptable strategies for eliminating this reservoir of HIV-1.
However, [...]
Study Finds That Certain Cancers Are More Common In HIV-Infected Individuals
Monday, October 5th, 2009Source: The AIDS Beacon
A recent study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) found that the incidence of non-AIDS defining malignancies, such as anal and lung cancer, is increased for HIV-infected individuals.
“Non-AIDS defining illnesses” includes all forms of cancers except skin, lymphoma, cervical carcinoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma and some ill-defined cancers. These are [...]
