Welcome to HIV Weekly, a weekly email bulletin that provides 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.

This week’s edition is devoted to news from the Thirteenth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) which was held in Denver last week. It is one of the major HIV conferences of the year.

The news is divided into five sections:

• New drugs: integrase inhibitors, a new class of anti-HIV drugs are progressing in clinical trials and updates on two were presented to CROI.
• Treatment strategies: atazanavir/ritonavir (Reyataz) may be an effective “maintenance” therapy; and more on why the SMART CD4-guided treatment interruption trial was stopped.
• Lipodystrophy: protease inhibitors, but not NNRTIs are associated with an increased risk of heart attack; a combination of fish oils and fibrates can lower levels of triglycerides; and disappointing results for treatments for body fat changes.
• Side-effects: a patch containing an extract from chilli peppers can help reduce the pain associated with peripheral neuropathy; and various studies look at how common kidney side-effects caused by tenofovir (Viread) are and what the potential causes might be.
• HIV treatment in children: a once-daily combination shows promise, as does an NRTI “maintenance” regimen; but insulin resistance is common in children taking HIV treatment.

There will be even more news from CROI posted on http://www.aidsmap.com/ throughout the week and there’s a chance to hear NAM’s senior editor, Keith Alcorn, who attended the conference discuss his highlights at the next NAM information forum on 27^th February.

Treatment strategies

Lipodystrophy

People taking anti-HIV treatment are at risk of developing a set of side-effects called lipodystrophy.  This can involve body fat changes and/or increased levels of blood fats that can increase the long-term risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes.

There has been a lot of research into how to prevent or treat lipodystrophy and there were several presentations to CROI on the subject.

Side-effects

All medicines have unwanted side-effects and side-effects caused by anti-HIV drugs are a common cause of illness and discomfort in HIV-positive people.

HIV and children