HIV/AIDS News

Janssen, a pharmaceutical company of Johnson & Johnson, recently announced that it is donating HIV drugs to children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa who are undergoing second- and third-line treatment for the disease, according to a company press release.

Partner communication about HIV and being in a committed relationship influenced inner-city adolescents to get tested for the disease, according to new study results published in the journal AIDS Patient Care and STDs.

The US Senate unanimously passed legislation to extend the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, for 5 more years.

In a high-risk population, incidence of perinatal mother-to-child transmission of HIV is three times higher than the current standard of care, according to study findings published in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

Guidelines for the prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections among children exposed to HIV and children with HIV have recently been updated for the first time since 2009. They were released as a joint effort by the NIH, CDC, HIV Medicine Association of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and the AAP. The guidelines are aimed at providing physicians and health care workers with information for treating opportunistic pathogens that occur in the United States and ones that can be acquired during international travel in children with HIV and children exposed to HIV. Each section includes epidemiology; clinical presentation; diagnosis of the infection in children; prevention of exposure; prevention of first episode of the disease; discontinuation of primary prophylaxis after immune reconstitution; treatment of disease; monitoring for adverse effects during treatment; management of treatment failure; prevention of disease recurrence; and discontinuation of secondary prophylaxis after immune reconstitution.

Researchers and clinicians from six continents met recently at a conference hosted by the journals Cell and The Lancet to discuss steps to eliminate AIDS globally.

BRUSSELS — Undetectable HIV viral loads in children have increased over the years; however, there is a low mortality rate in the Netherlands compared with other industrialized countries, according to new data presented at EACS 2013.

Mortality in South African children younger than 5 years has decreased an estimated 6% to 10% since 2006, with declines in AIDS-related mortality driving the downward trend, according to researchers.

BRUSSELS — The dual CCR5/CCR2 inhibitor cenicriviroc was associated with higher rates of virologic success and fewer adverse events vs. efavirenz for treatment-naive patients with HIV, according to a phase 2 clinical trial presented at EACS 2013.

Two investigational HIV vaccines strengthen a critical immune response in infants born to mothers with HIV, a new analysis of two previously completed trials suggests.