HIV treatment

Side-effects

One of the reasons why many doctors now favour earlier HIV treatment is because anti-HIV drugs are much safer than they used to be.

However, like all medicines, they can cause side-effects. New research has cast further light on the likelihood of developing two longer-term side-effects: kidney and heart disease.

HIV in the UK

Updates about the UK’s HIV epidemic have been published to coincide with World AIDS Day.

They show that around 7300 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in 2008. That’s more or less the same as in 2007.

Gay men and Africans remain the focus of the epidemic.

Doctors are concerned that around a third of diagnoses are made late, when a person’s CD4 cell count is around 200 cells/mm³ and they have a very real risk of developing an AIDS-defining illness.

Indeed, many of the 525 HIV-related deaths recorded in 2008 will have been amongst patients diagnosed late.

A report has also been issued that calls for changes in the UK’s HIV services.

It notes that HIV treatment means that many patients will now live into old age. This means that they will need both medical and social services that meet their needs as they age.

HIV and gay men in Europe

A series of recent articles looked in detail at the ongoing HIV epidemic amongst gay men in Europe.

These showed that levels of new infections remain high.

Moreover, there’s a lot of evidence showing that HIV-positive gay men have high levels of sexually transmitted infections.

If you’re sexually active, it’s a good idea to have regular sexual health check-ups. These are free and confidential and may be available as part of your routine HIV care. Condoms, when properly used, provide a very high level of protection against most sexually transmitted infections.