HVTN 705 vaccine study passes its "go" criteria: due to start this autumn.

A year ago, one of the biggest pieces of prevention news at the Durban International AIDS Conference was the announcement that a large HIV vaccine efficacy study would start in South Africa. HVTN 702, now running, is only the eighth human vaccine efficacy trial ever run in the history of the HIV epidemic and the first since 2009. Read More...

Tags: HIV Treatment, HIV Transmission, Vaccinations, International AIDS Conference

Everyone diagnosed with HIV should be offered the option to start treatment within seven days of diagnosis and everyone who feels ready should have the option to start treatment on the day of diagnosis, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended. The new guidance was issued on the opening day of the 9th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2017) in Paris.
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Tags: HIV Treatment, Treatment as Prevention, Living with HIV, International AIDS Conference

Body Positive is celebrating the most significant development in the HIV world since the advent of effective combination therapy 20 years ago – people living with HIV who maintain undetectable viral loads through adherence to treatment can confidently declare to their sexual partners “I’m not infectious!”  Read More...

Tags: HIV Transmission, HIV Treatment, Adherence, Treatment as Prevention, Living with HIV

Body Positive is thankful to Pharmac for adding Dolutegravir (Tivicay) to its list of Anti-Retroviral for the treatment of HIV effective November 1st 2016. Dolutegravir is a relatively new drug which was approved by Medsafe in 2014. Read More...

Tags: HIV Treatment, Living with HIV

Participants in the START treatment-timing trial who took antiretroviral regimens containing efavirenz had an increased risk of suicidal and self-injuring behaviour than those not using efavirenz, though the number of events was small and the effect was mainly seen among people with a prior psychiatric diagnosis, according to research presented at the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) last month in Durban, South Africa. Read More...

Tags: Study, HIV Treatment, Living with HIV

Beliefs about possible toxic interactions between antiretroviral therapy (ART) and illicit drugs are causing large numbers of people living with HIV who use drugs to intentionally miss doses of their HIV treatment when planning drug use, US investigators report in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

The prospective study involved 530 people reporting current drug use in Atlanta. All were taking ART and approximately a third reported missing treatment doses because of beliefs about potential interactions with drugs and alcohol. This planned non-adherence was associated with sub-optimal compliance to treatment and poor control of viral load. Read More...

Tags: Adherence, HIV Treatment, Study

Starting at a CD4 count over 500 cells/mm3 is safer than waiting till 350 cells/mm3.

A major international randomised clinical trial has found that people living with HIV have a considerably lower risk of developing AIDS or other serious illnesses if they start taking antiretroviral treatment (ART) sooner, when their CD4 cell count is above 500 cells/mm3, instead of waiting until their CD4 cell count drops below 350 cells/mm3. Read More...

Tags: HIV Treatment, Study, Living with HIV

The latest update of the leading US treatment guidelines, produced by a panel from the Department of Health and Human Sciences (DHHS) was published online on 9 April 2015.

These comprehensive, evidence-based guidelines now run to almost 300 pages including over 30 tables previous. This is the first update since May 2014. Read More...

Tags: HIV Treatment, Living with HIV

Starting HIV treatment at a CD4 cell count above 500 reduced the risk of tuberculosis, other serious illnesses and death by 44% when compared to starting treatment according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

The Temprano study, conducted over seven years in Ivory Coast, was designed to test the safety and efficacy of early treatment initiation compared to standard treatment initiation in a lower-income setting with a high prevalence of tuberculosis and bacterial infections. There may be particular benefits to starting HIV treatment early in settings where such infections cause substantial ill health in people living with HIV. Read More...

Tags: HIV Treatment, Study