aidsmap news: Zambian study finds no link between HIV status and COVID-19 severity, but risk quadruples for people with severe HIV infection, 12 July 2021

News from aidsmap

Zambian study finds no link between HIV status and COVID-19 severity, but risk quadruples for people with severe HIV infection

Having HIV is not an independent risk factor for severe COVID-19 and death amongst patients hospitalised with COVID-19, according to a Zambian study published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. However, patients with more severe HIV infection are more likely to develop severe COVID-19 or die of COVID-19 compared to those without complications.

Telemedicine in abortion care: safe, effective, preferred

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland began providing telemedicine services for medical abortion. In this interview, we spoke to Dr John Reynolds-Wright of the Medical Research Council Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh, who worked with a team to assess outcomes and acceptability for people using these services in Edinburgh.

Getting to 95-95-95: global use of HIV generics would result in large reductions in spending, new infections and deaths

Generic HIV combination medications, such as tenofovir/lamivudine/dolutegravir, could be produced for as little as $59 per person per year. Achieving the 95-95-95 targets based on this cost could result each year in $26 billion being saved, 630,000 fewer new HIV infections and 240,000 fewer deaths, according to a recent study published ahead of print in AIDS.

New predictors for peripheral neuropathy found in study of people living with HIV

A study looking at peripheral neuropathy in people living with HIV has found links to both known and new variables including older age, longer duration of HIV infection, exposure to neurotoxic antiretrovirals and other chronic conditions. Dr Wei Tu’s research team at the University of Alberta used machine learning to improve data analysis. They found that the associated factors for peripheral neuropathy in those diagnosed with HIV more than 15 years ago were different to those diagnosed less than 15 years ago.

HIV‐negative gay and bisexual men overestimate the burden of living with HIV

HIV-negative and never-tested gay and bisexual men in the Netherlands were found to overestimate the psychosocial implications of living with HIV. Health-related consequences, the burden of disclosure, the impact on sex and relationships, and practical consequences were also overestimated according to the study, conducted by researchers from the HIV Transmission Elimination Amsterdam Initiative, published in the journal AIDS and Behavior.

Chemsex is top of the list of risk factors for HIV infection in gay and bisexual men in England

A study tracking new cases of HIV among gay and bisexual men in London and Brighton has identified the key risk factors predicting subsequent HIV infection in recent years. By far the most important was injecting drugs, largely in a chemsex context. Although only 3% of the men in the study reported injecting drugs, 16% of those who did subsequently tested HIV positive.

HIV disclosure disrupts the lives of Black gay and bisexual men in Louisiana

A qualitative study among Black gay and bisexual men in Baton Rouge, Louisiana sought to understand how HIV disclosure impacts a person’s life and relationships. The study explored how participants’ intersecting identities and the structural inequities they faced impacted their experiences with HIV disclosure. Men in the study experienced multiple negative consequences from disclosure, including changes to sense of self, strained family and social relationships, and loss of income and housing.

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Editors' picks from other sources

A woman with HIV took over 200 days to clear her COVID infection. Here's why researchers are worried | GroundUp

A South African patient with uncontrolled HIV could not clear the virus that causes COVID-19 from her body for 216 days, researchers have found. Over that time the virus, SARS-CoV-2, mutated a lot.

Continuing declines in HIV diagnoses thanks to successful PrEP roll-out in New South Wales | University of New South Wales

New research from the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney shows that HIV transmissions are at historically low rates among almost 10,000 high-risk gay and bisexual men on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the HIV prevention medication.

‘Invisible to the CDC’: Kevin Moseby, Ph.D., on the whitewashed history of HIV/AIDS research | TheBodyPro

During the first decade of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, epidemiological data collection centered overwhelmingly on cisgender White gay men.

Opinion: US leadership matters in fighting AIDS | Devex

The failure to appoint a leader for the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief sends the message that HIV is no longer a priority for the US administration.

Gilead files long-acting HIV med for patients running out of options | FierceBiotech

As Gilead works with Merck to combine their long-acting HIV drugs, the antiviral giant is hustling its prospect as a single therapy to the FDA. The treatment, lenacapavir, could become a new hope for patients whose infection has evaded current treatments and who have few other options.

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