aidsmap news: Low CD4 count increased risk of COVID-19 death in US people with HIV, 28 September 2020

News from aidsmap

Low CD4 count increased risk of COVID-19 death in US people with HIV

People with HIV who had a low CD4 cell count or underlying health conditions were more likely to have poor outcomes after admission to hospital with COVID-19, US doctors report in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Diabetes raises the risk of liver damage in people with HIV

Almost half of people with HIV with unexplained liver enzyme elevations or other abnormal liver markers had non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and a third had stage F3 or F4 fibrosis, and advanced liver damage was strongly associated with type 2 diabetes, a four-country study reports in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

NAM news & opinion: Developing a patient-reported outcome measure for HIV

A team of clinicians, researchers and people living with HIV has developed a ‘patient-reported outcome measure’ (PROM) for use in HIV care – the Positive Outcomes HIV PROM. We spoke to Professor Richard Harding at King’s College London about the rigorous process used to develop the tool and how it can support clinical care by helping patients to express their needs.

“Because we all have to grow up”: supporting adolescents in Uganda to manage their HIV more independently

Adolescents born with HIV require deliberate and tailored transitional care to support them to manage their HIV independently, argue Chloe Lanyon of the University of Sydney and colleagues in the Journal of the International AIDS Society. Findings from Uganda show that a quick shift from caregiver-led approaches to young people being expected to manage their HIV exacerbated adherence difficulties.

CD4 count testing has reduced with only a modest increase in viral load monitoring in southern Africa

The proportion of people with HIV in southern Africa who have a CD4 cell count before starting treatment has declined substantially in recent years, according to a six-country study published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society.  This is despite many people still having immune suppression that puts them at risk of serious illness, even death. Moreover, viral load monitoring after starting HIV therapy is patchy and has not increased enough to compensate for the decrease.

How normal has HIV really become for serodifferent gay couples?

Serodifferent couples, in which one partner has HIV and the other does not, are often seen in terms of HIV risk or of psychological pressures. However, thanks to current treatments and the non-infectiousness of a person with an undetectable viral load, many couples can now think of their lives and relationships as safe and ‘normal’. A study from Dr Steven Philpot and colleagues at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia show that life for serodifferent couples is more complex than that.

Increased HIV prevalence in men who buy sex

HIV programmes and research have traditionally focused on female sex workers and less often on their male customers. This is partially redressed by a meta-analysis showing that 5% of men who purchase sex in low- and middle-income countries have HIV, a rate which is roughly double that of other men living in the same communities.

Crystal meth is the single biggest risk factor for HIV seroconversion among gay men in US study

Persistent use of methamphetamine is the single biggest risk factor for HIV seroconversion among gay and bisexual men, according to US research published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Over 12 months of follow-up, 14% of men reporting persistent methamphetamine use were newly infected with HIV. This compared to a 2.5% incidence rate in the study population overall. Moreover, a third of study participants seroconverting for HIV were persistent users of the drug.

Adult doses of dolutegravir can be used by children weighing 20 kg or more

The pharmacokinetics (how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolises and excretes drugs) of adult dolutegravir 50mg tablets given to children living with HIV weighing 20kg or more once daily were safe and similar to the current licensed dolutegravir dosing for children, Dr Pauline Bollen and colleagues report in The Lancet HIV.

---

---

---

Editors' picks from other sources

US: HIV diagnoses decline among gay and bi men, largely driven by white men | POZ

Between 2014 and 2018, the annual HIV diagnosis rate mostly flatlined or declined less among Black and Latino gay men, depending on age.

As Timothy Ray Brown faces death, a great love endures | My Fabulous Disease

“Timothy is not dying from HIV, just to be clear,” his partner Tim says. “HIV has not been found in his blood stream since he was cured. That’s gone. This is from the leukemia. God, I hate cancer.”

Glasgow drug users and MP hail ‘lifesaving’ van that defies UK law | The Guardian

Former addict praised for setting up safe space for injecting in city dubbed Europe’s drug deaths capital.

We Are People, Not Clusters! Why public health surveillance using blood taken for HIV resistance testing risks doing more harm than good | HIV Justice Network

We are concerned about the use of blood taken from people living with HIV during routine testing prior to starting or changing antiretroviral therapy in surveillance databases, without our permission, for public health purposes. 

The San Francisco Principles 2020: Addressing the unmet needs of long-term HIV survivors in San Francisco | San Francisco AIDS Foundation

Five long-term survivors outline the challenges they face and demands for inclusion, resources, and treatment that addresses the specific needs related to ageing with HIV.

---

---