In this edition of HIV Weekly you can read about side-effects, HIV/hepatitis C coinfection, and HIV and lung cancer.

Side-effects of anti-HIV treatment

HIV and hepatitis C coinfection

Lung cancer

American researchers have found that people with HIV have an increased risk of dying from lung cancer, and they found that these risk couldn’t be entirely explained by smoking.

Lung cancer is not considered an AIDS-defining cancer, although there is increasing evidence that the cancer is seen more often in people with HIV. It has been suggested that the increased risk of lung cancer seen in people with HIV is largely because people with HIV are much more likely to smoke.

Researchers in Baltimore have now found that HIV-positive injecting drug users were much more likely to die of lung cancer than HIV-negative injecting drug users. Smoking was almost universal in both groups, but smoking alone could not explain the increased risk of lung cancer observed in people with HIV.

People with HIV are more vulnerable to lung disease and the researchers found that those with lung problems such as asthma were more likely to develop lung cancer.

The findings of this study are very similar to those of another American study published earlier this year. It too found that people with HIV had an increased risk of lung cancer and that smoking alone couldn’t explain this. The researchers in that study speculated that chronic lung disease could cause long-term inflammation that could increase the risk of cancer.

Living with HIV – you might be able to help the British Library

From 1995 to 1999 the 'HIV and AIDS Testimonies Project' recorded life history interviews with 30 people infected with the virus living in the UK. These are kept unedited in the Sound Archive at the British Library as both part of a record of our social history and as a research resource for the future (respecting the wishes of those who gave them - some are completely closed for 50 years). All interviewees also received a copy to keep for themselves, their friends and family. 

As part of a 2007 follow-up project, ten new interviews are being conducted with people living with HIV in the UK, who have been infected in the last decade or who were unable to tell their story ten years ago. At the moment, the British Library are looking for people who want to take part who are from African Communities, who are gay men under 25 years of age, or who are young people born with the virus. They would also particularly like to find some people who live outside of London, perhaps in Manchester, Edinburgh, the Midlands or in a rural location. 

Offering to be interviewed involves being visited by a trained oral historian who will record your story in your own words over a number of sessions. Please get in touch with the project (not NAM) if you would like to find out about taking part. The Project is based at London South Bank University. 

For further information, please ring Wendy Rickard on 0207 815 8467 or email rickarwj@lsbu.ac.uk.

copy of New from NAM