Here’s your weekly quick take on recent notable news and journal articles related to HIV and AIDS research:
Novel therapy tested. An unboosted HIV-1 integrase strand-transfer inhibitor produced led to rapid declines in HIV-1 RNA after 10 days of monotherapy in a phase 1B study reported in JAIDS. The drug (bictegravir) was well tolerated, and displayed rapid absorption and a half-life supportive of once-daily therapy in HIV-infected subjects.
copyright alexskopje/Thinkstock
New diagnoses declining in black women. Based on three different measures, the disparity in HIV diagnoses in black women decreased in 2014, compared with 2010, according to a CDC report.
Legalizing sex work is linked to lower HIV rates. Rates of HIV infection in female sex workers are lower in European countries that have legalized of some aspects of sex work, according to a study in the Lancet HIV.
Flu vaccine likely safe in HIV-positive women on therapy. H1N1 influenza vaccination in HIV-infected women on effective antiretroviral treatment did not induce measurable antigen-driven proliferation of the HIV-1 proviral reservoir, according to a study in AIDS Research and Therapy.
Could vitamin supplements lower subsequent TB risk? At the start of ART, vitamin A and D deficiencies were more common in adults who went on to develop tuberculosis, according to a study in JAIDS.
Cerebrospinal fluid CD8+ T cells beneficial in acute HIV infection. CD8+ T cells expand in the central nervous system during acute HIV infection and are functional and directed against HIV antigens. If combination antiretroviral therapy is initiated early, the cells could protect against injury seen in chronic HIV infection based on a study in JAIDS.
Opioid use declined with HIV care. Opioid prescription use decreased substantially with longer time in HIV care among both episodic and chronic opioid users infected with HIV, according to a study in JAIDS.
HIV treatment goals need to improve. Meeting the National HIV/AIDS Strategy goals will require more efforts to link and retain black patients to care. Among blacks living with diagnosed HIV at year-end 2013, 53.5% were retained in care and 48.5% achieved viral suppression. The lowest levels of care and viral suppression were among persons with infection attributed to injection drug use and males with infection attributed to heterosexual contact, according to a report in MMWR. The strategy goals are 85% linkage to care, 90% retention in care, and 80% viral load suppression by 2020.
On Twitter @richpizzi