aidsmap news: Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines produce strong antibody responses in people with HIV after two doses, 19 August 2021

News from aidsmap

Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines produce strong antibody responses in people with HIV after two doses

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.

Two Thai clinics provide exemplary models of trans-centred care, researchers say

The success of two Thai clinics can be attributed to the active participation of trans women, integrating sexual health and gender-affirming services and a focus on offering destigmatising services in a culturally appropriate manner, a recent qualitative study found.

Intimate partner violence associated with negative outcomes for people living with HIV

A large nationally representative study of people living with HIV in the United States found that 26% of people living with HIV had experienced physical intimate partner violence in their lifetime, with 4% experiencing it in the previous year. Bisexual women and those experiencing homelessness were especially likely to report a lifetime or recent history of violence. Recent experiences of violence were associated with behaviours that can increase the risk of HIV transmission, unmet support needs, mental health problems, and poor HIV health outcomes.

HIV and condom use down, STIs up: the impact of U=U and PrEP at a clinic in Seattle, Washington

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. Despite the recent increase, during the study period the testing positivity rate substantially decreased for HIV (by 85%), though it increased for STIs.

CD4 count below 500 or detectable viral load raise the risk of severe COVID-19 for people with HIV

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.

NAM news & opinion: The hardest outcome of all: HIV and suicide

Occasionally, an apparently orthodox, peer-reviewed scientific study crosses our desks at aidsmap that prompts the reaction “Really??” One such came along back in April, when a paper appeared in the medical journal General Psychiatry. It was the first attempt to do a systematic review and meta-analysis of the rates of suicide, suicide attempts and suicidal ideation (thoughts) in people with HIV. The paper reviewed 40 studies from all continents that between them included 185,199 people with HIV. But we hesitated to report it, and there are two reasons why.

Over a third of HIV cases among migrants in Europe were acquired after migration

A substantial proportion of migrants living in Europe acquire HIV after migration, according to a recent study supported by the European Centre for Disease and Prevention and Control (ECDC) and published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.     

South African children with well-controlled HIV have lower bone mass compared to HIV-negative children

A study published in AIDS compared children with and without HIV and found consistently lower bone growth and bone turnover in children living with HIV. The children were all from similar backgrounds and the children living with HIV in the study had well-controlled HIV, in most cases. Dr Yanhan Shen and her colleagues found that children on ritonavir-boosted lopinavir had lower bone mass and higher inflammatory markers than those taking efavirenz.

Cash transfers result in reduced AIDS cases, hospitalisations and deaths among Brazil’s poorest

Conditional cash transfers in Brazil were associated with a 10 percentage-point reduction in the number of new AIDS diagnoses in poor areas with a high HIV burden. Results were even more impressive among women and children, with 15 and 39 percentage-point reductions, respectively. Dr Gabriel Sampaio Morais from the Federal University of Bahia presented these results from one of the largest national conditional cash transfer programmes to the recent 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021). 

HIV has changed, but public knowledge and attitudes lag behind

A new report reveals patchy knowledge of HIV, low awareness of key developments like U=U and PrEP, and stigmatising perceptions of people living with HIV. The findings reveal “confusing and contradictory” views about HIV among the general public in the UK.

Community-led distribution of HIV self-testing increases uptake of HIV testing and antiretroviral therapy in Malawi

A study from Malawi has found that short-term campaigns of HIV self-testing, whose design and implementation are led by community groups, can rapidly increase the uptake of HIV testing and antiretroviral therapy among underserved populations. Recently published in PLOS Medicine, the study also reported a lower cost for this intervention than for other testing programmes.

Using racial adjustments for Black people living with HIV decreases the accuracy of kidney function tests

A study of African Americans living with HIV has found that the commonly used method for estimating kidney function is overestimating how well their kidneys are working. Their estimated kidney function was less accurate when race was included in the calculations than when their race was omitted. Results were especially inaccurate when the participants had a non-suppressed viral load.

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Editors' picks from other sources

With hook up culture on the rise, San Francisco health officials push to get people back on PrEP | San Francisco Chronicle

Year after year, San Francisco has seen the number of new HIV diagnoses fall. Part of the progress is owed to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). During the height of the COVID pandemic, however, when people were sticking close to home, many LGBTQ patients fell off the daily pill. Now, with bars open and dating apps seeing a crush of new users, local health authorities have been pushing to get patients back onto PrEP.

Victoria to decriminalise sex work | Star Observer

Victoria state, Australia has announced that it will decriminalise sex work between consenting adults, marking a major overhaul of its outdated laws that were characterised as “no longer fit-for-purpose”. 

Moderna's HIV vaccine to start human trials early as Wednesday, uses mRNA like COVID shot | Newsweek

An entry posted last week to the National Institutes of Health's registry of clinical trials shows that the trials are estimated to start on 19 August and should be completed by spring 2023.

Two PrEP medications are now available. Equally safe/effective. The biggest difference? The price tag | Medical Xpress

With a significantly costlier medication for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) approved in 2019, a new study examined reasons patients switched to the new drug. Study results indicate that a minority of those who switched had a documented clinical reason to do so.

Amid continued criminalisation, Uganda endorses LGBT access for HIV treatment | Erasing 76 Crimes

Despite ongoing criminalisation of men who have sex with men and transgender people, the government of Uganda is attempting to include them in national plans for the reduction of HIV and AIDS, a contradiction activists say continues to impede the fight against the epidemic.

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