Africans are one of the groups most affected by HIV in the UK. On May 18^th – 19^th the National African HIV Conference was held in central London.

This edition of HIV Weekly provides first-hand accounts of African’s experiences with HIV in the UK. The three testimonies included in this bulletin will be reprinted in the second edition of Living with HIV , which will be published in July.

There’s also a detailed look at some of the latest HIV news.

• HIV and sex: Dislike of condoms is the main reason why some HIV-positive UK heterosexuals have unprotected sex; LGV is still overwhelmingly affecting HIV-positive gay men in the UK.
• HIV and children: Many HIV-positive children in the UK received doses of anti-HIV drugs which were too low.
• Anti-HIV treatment: People with very low CD4 cell counts who have had many AIDS-defining illness and who also have low levels of red blood cells have an increased risk of developing an immune reconstitution illness when they start HIV treatment.

Experiences of HIV-positive Africans in the UK

Sexual health

A lot of the news published on aidsmap.com last week focused on sexual health.

Good sexual health is important to everybody, but is especially important to people with HIV as some sexually transmitted infections can cause long-term health problems and others can increase the risks of HIV being passed on to another person during unprotected sex.

HIV and children

HIV-positive children can live a longer, healthier life with potent anti-HIV treatment. But there are fewer antiretroviral drugs available for the treatment of children than adults, and the drugs are often not available in special formulations that would make them easier for children to take. Adherence – taking treatment properly – can also be a real problem for many children and many children taking HIV treatment now have resistance to at least some anti-HIV drugs.

A recent study has found that difficulties calculating what dose of anti-HIV drugs to give to children has resulted in many children receiving doses of anti-HIV drugs that are too low.  

The doctors who conducted the study blamed a lack of special formulations of anti-HIV drugs for children and a failure by doctors to adjust doses as children grew.

Anti-HIV treatment

Potent anti-HIV treatment has lead to a dramatic fall in the amount of illness and death caused by HIV in countries like the UK.

A small number of people with weak immune systems and low CD4 cell counts who start anti-HIV treatment develop what is called an immune reconstitution illness. It is thought that these occur because the recovering immune system recognises infections and attacks them causing illness to develop.

Doctors in America suggested that an immune reconstitution illness could be diagnosed if the following criteria were met:

• New or worsening symptoms of an infection after starting anti-HIV treatment.
• Symptoms that couldn’t be explained by a new infection.
• A substantial fall in viral load after starting HIV treatment.

They found that people who had had more AIDS-defining illnesses before they started anti-HIV drugs and who had low levels of red blood cells (haemoglobin) were much more likely to develop an immune reconstitution illness.