Welcome to HIV Weekly, a new, weekly email bulletin that will provide people with, or affected by, HIV a concise, plain English digest of a selection of the very latest HIV news.
This new digest puts the latest HIV news stories into their context to equip you with the knowledge to understand what the latest research might mean for your HIV treatment and care.
Information on the latest NAM treatment information resources and those produced by other key organisations such as the UK Coalition and THT are also included.
HIV Weekly is edited by Michael Carter, NAM's patient information and news editor.
An HIV Weekly archive will be provided online.HIV "recovery" case
Most newspapers and broadcast news carried stories about a man in London whose HIV antibody test went from being positive to negative.
According to news reports, the man tested HIV-positive in 2002 at which time he also had a very low viral load. However, in 2003 and 2004 he tested HIV-negative and had an undetectable viral load.
The man’s blood samples were not mixed up with those of another patient.
However, further tests and investigations are needed to assess the true significance of this case and it is too early to say if the man was “cured.”
To read more about this story, click here.
Anti-HIV treatment
Lipodystrophy
The supplement, called NucleomaxX seems to have restored modest amounts of fat in the arms and legs of people who had experienced fat loss whilst taking AZT (zidovudine, Retrovir) or d4T (stavudine, Zerit).
Lipodystrophy is a set of side-effects thought to be associated with HIV treatment. It can involve fat accumulation around the middle or back of the neck; fat loss from the face (often called facial wasting); loss of fat from the limbs and buttocks; or a combination of these.
The cause of fat loss is still being examined, but there is a growing consensus that AZT and d4T contribute to it and that their use should be avoided whenever possible.
Switching from these drugs to abacavir (Ziagen) or tenofovir (Viread) can very slowly improve fat loss – but sometimes the improvements are so small that people don’t realise that they have occurred.
NucleomaxX has been shown to help prevent some of the harmful side-effects of nucleoside analogue drugs in cancer patients, and a small study in people with HIV showed that it could raise levels of uridine in the body and block the harmful effects of some HIV drugs on fat cells. German, Finnish and American researchers wanted to see if it had any benefit for HIV-positive people who experienced fat loss whilst taking AZT or d4T.
They designed a small study involving 20 people who were randomly assigned to receive NucleomaxX three times a day for ten days each month for three months; or a dummy treatment. Using body scans, they found out that after three months there had been a significant improvement in the amount of fat in the arms and legs of people receiving NucleomaxX.
A second American study involved 14 people who had developed fat loss and were taking d4T. They were given NucleomaxX three times a day every other day for 16 weeks. They were then monitored for another 16 weeks whilst still taking d4T. Both the people taking NucleomxX and their doctors reported an improvement in the amount of fat in their limbs.
Unpleasant taste appears was the most widely reported side-effect, although the researchers noticed that NucelomaxX appeared to lower levels of HDL – or good – cholesterol.
People who are taking ddI (didanosine, Videx) should not take NucleomaxX because they interact. It is also thought that the supplement may be inappropriate for people who have had treatment to repair facial wasting.
A large US clinical trial is underway into its long-term effectiveness and safety.
Note: NucleomaxX can be bought from internet pharmacies, if you are thinking of taking it MAKE SURE THAT YOU DISCUSS THIS WITH YOUR DOCTOR FIRST.
HIV and hepatitis C virus
Hepatitis C virus is now one of the main causes of illness and death in people with HIV. Hepatitis C is normally transmitted through contact with infected blood, and it had been thought that sexual transmission was rare. However, in recent years sexual transmission of hepatitis C has been reported in HIV-positive gay men in the UK, Switzerland and France.
A study presented to a conference in San Francisco this week involving over 200 HIV-positive gay men who became infected with hepatitis C has provided further evidence that unprotected anal sex, fisting and recreational drug use were risk factors for infection with hepatitis C.