/ 7 October 2003

HIV/Aids barometer – October 2003

Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 458 889 at noon on Thursday 30 October

Legal protection: Stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/Aids must be eradicated as a critical component of expanding access to treatment and care, according to UNAids and the World Health Organisation.

According to the UNAids global progress report presented to the United Nations General Assembly last month, close to 40% of countries, including half of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, have yet to adopt anti-discrimination legislation to protect people living with HIV/Aids.

‘It is a serious injustice to see that only 1% of the 4,1-million people in sub-Saharan Africa who need antiretroviral therapy have access to it,” said Ben Plumley, CEO of UNAids, speaking at the opening of the 11th International Conference for People Living with HIV/Aids in Kampala, Uganda. ‘As we work together to close this vast treatment gap, we must also tackle the intolerance and fear that prevents people from accessing the services they need.”

Source: Af-aids

Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 357 701 as of Thursday October 23 at 11.10am

New drug: A flexible new anti-Aids drug, Lexiva, has been approved by the United States’s Food and Drug Administration.

Lexiva, launched by GlaxoSmithKline, is part of a class of drugs known as protease inhibitors that have been manufactured to increase compliance with the drugs. It is said to offer more flexible dosing than similar medicines. According to Glaxo, there are no food and water restrictions, and the two-pill dose can be taken once or twice daily. Other drugs are taken up to eight times daily.

‘It’s important for patients to comply with therapy because current treatment is lifelong,” said Professor Jeffrey P Nadler of the University of South Florida College Of Medicine. ‘Patients need something they can tolerate, so they are able to take the medicines as prescribed. Lexiva fits that picture.”

Glaxo says the drug’s safety and effectiveness was demonstrated in clinical trials involving more than 1 200 people.

Source: http://www.healthday.com

Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 257 519 at 12.10pm on Thursday October 16

Cut the risk: Uncircumcised men have an eight-fold higher risk of becoming infected with HIV than circumcised men, according to a study of 2 298 Indian men presented on Thursday at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America by Dr Steven Reynolds of Johns Hopkins University.

The research was part of a larger study investigating risk factors for HIV-1 infection based on men attending one of three STD clinics in Pune, India. Between 1993 and 2000, 2 298 men who tested negative for HIV-1 were enrolled in the study. During subsequent visits two of 191 men who were circumcised and 165 of 2107 who were uncircumcised tested positive for HIV.

Demographics, sexual risk behaviours (including having sex with a prostitute), and condom use were remarkably similar in both groups, said Dr Reynolds.

However, the study did not find circumcision to protect against other sexually transmitted diseases, including syphilis, genital herpes and gonorrhoea.

Source: Aidsmap; Red Ribbon

Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 157 448 as of Thursday October 9 at 1.16pm

Treatment plan: The Cabinet was briefed this week about progress on a report about a national HIV/Aids treatment plan, which includes anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). The report, compiled by a task team, was presented to Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang last week, and was due to be handed to Cabinet for consideration.

First, however, some issues had been identified that needed further fleshing out, government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said. These included the monitoring of patients receiving ARV treatment, human resources available for the execution of the plan, and provincial business plans. ‘It is expected that this work would be completed as soon as possible for Cabinet to finalise the matter.”

Netshitenzhe said the country had a comprehensive HIV/Aids programme in place, of which the final element — the treatment plan — was being put in place. ‘There is hope. That is the message from the government.”

Source: Sapa and Red Ribbon

Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 054 103 on Thursday October 2 at 9.02am

Misdiagnosis: Patients may see a doctor up to three times before primary HIV infection is spotted. A review of 30 patients recruited to a United States study during primary infection found that doctors are routinely failing to diagnose HIV infection on a first clinic visit.

The findings echo previous British research that found many patients with advanced HIV had gone for long periods without diagnosis because their doctors did not connect their symptoms with the virus.

Only five of the people in the study said they were diagnosed with primary HIV infection during their first visit to a health-care provider. In four of these five cases, a diagnosis of primary HIV infection occurred after admission to hospital via emergency room for evaluation of febrile illness.

Only four patients were diagnosed with HIV infection within a week of presenting symptoms, and the median time to diagnosis was 14 days.

Source: www.redribbon.co.za, Aidsmap