Hiv Infection

Blood donations from people on antiretroviral therapy to treat HIV or pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV infection could increase risk for HIV transfusion transmission if tests cannot detect the virus in the donations, study results showed.

A study supported by the National Institutes of Health found similar outcomes for patients with HIV who underwent transplantation with an HIV+ or HIV– kidney, suggesting infected and uninfected organs have comparable safety profiles.

The Coronavirus Under Research Exclusion, or CURE, HIV-COVID registry — www.hivcovid.org — is an institutional review board-approved registry that has been developed by experienced HIV providers from Arizona Liver Health in Chandler, Arizona, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, to capture real-time information from providers all over the United States about patients with HIV who have contracted COVID-19. Our goal is to help elucidate the natural history of COVID-19 in patients with HIV, determine the effects of treatments and analyze the impacts of factors like age, CD4 count and comorbidities on COVID-19 outcomes. Updates are published biweekly and shared with providers around the world to expedite the understanding of COVID-19 in this patient population.

Gitanjali Pai, MD, AAHIVS, has devised a way to shield patients from the stigma of an HIV diagnosis and encourage them to continue to seek care.

PrEP has been available in the U.S. since 2012. Studies have shown that, when taken daily, it is effective at preventing HIV infection. However, stigma remains a major barrier to more widespread use.

The FDA has approved dolutegravir tablets and dolutegravir tablets for oral suspension to treat HIV infection, in combination with other antiretroviral agents, among pediatric patients at least 4 weeks old and weighing 3 kg or more, according to a press release.

Risk-adapted therapy with a dose-adjusted treatment regimen appeared effective and safe for adults with Burkitt lymphoma regardless of age or HIV status, according to results of a prospective study published in Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Medical schools around the country are trying to implement instruction in transgender care into their curriculum. Infectious Diseases in Children asked Katherine L. Margo, MD, emeritus associate professor of family medicine and community health at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, if transgender health education should be required in medical school curricula.

Fewer medical trainees are entering the field of HIV, leaving a shortage in the workforce that is likely to get worse, experts said. The trend coincides with slowed progress in reducing new infections, and likely complicates a lofty new federal plan to end the U.S. epidemic in 10 years.

Initial regimens of antiretroviral therapy for most people living with HIV cost up to $48,000 per year, and prices have risen by an average of 6% each year since 2012, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine.