Word: hiv
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...chains and ever lower prices, it's time, as many AIDS researchers and public health officials stressed this week, to deliver more - more medications to more of those in need in the remotest, hardest to reach regions of the world; more health care personnel to administer and care for HIV-AIDS patients; more formulations for children, the youngest victims of HIV; more research dedicated to developing the still elusive vaccine, and, until that happens, more options...
...difference is that in a microbicide, the drugs are being used in healthy people rather than in those infected with HIV. When ARVs are used for treatment, both doctors and patients are willing to tolerate a higher level of side effects - after all, if the choice is between dying from HIV-AIDS and side effects, most patients opt for the latter. If the drugs are to be used to prevent infection, however, everything changes; understandably, healthy people aren't as likely to accept the same level of side effects and toxicities as those already infected...
...That's why clinical trials are so significant. So far, there are 30-40 different microbicide candidates being tested in animals, and five trials in Ghana, Nigeria and other developing nations at the most advanced stages of testing in women. Dr. Gita Ramjee, of the HIV Prevention Research Unit in Durban, South Africa, has worked with all five, and is hopeful that they will prove effective and make an impact on the disease. Because these latest microbicides are reformulated ARVs, however, the problem of the virus becoming resistant to them is a potential drawback. Dr. Peter Piot, of UNAIDS, suggests...
...Even more tantalizing than the microbicides is the idea of taking a pill before intercourse or other high-risk behavior, and thereby becoming protected from HIV. Drugs for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) were born from the success of programs that prevent mother-to- child transmission; since ARVs given to women pre- and post- delivery are effective in reducing the transmission of HIV to the child, some experts believe that using ARVs before exposure to HIV may have the same effect in protecting partners. Five trials, all involving two compounds, Tenofovir or Truvada, are now underway in Thailand, Botswana, Peru, West...
...need a lot of behavioral research, which I think should be initiated as soon as possible," he says. "Particularly when it looks like PrEP will become a reality." Resistance is a key issue with PrEP as well, and if effective PrEP drugs are used widely, the problem of resistant HIV expands exponentially. "We need to be better about looking at what public health strategy we should use for ARVs," says Gayle. "There are a lot of potential pitfalls, but our commitment has to be to make options available, develop options that are safe and effective, so they can be used...