Hiv Infection

Some decisions in life are quite difficult and complex; others come more easily and naturally. For me, the latter was the case with my decision to pursue a career in infectious diseases. From early first year pharmacology classes, to learning at the feet of ID giants like Harold Neu, Glenda Garvey, Mark Goldberger and many others in my 3rd and 4th years, going into ID was an easy choice.

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.

Individuals who use illicitly manufactured opioids or pharmaceutical opioids outside the bounds of a medical prescription experience significant yet preventable excess mortality, according to results of a systematic review and meta-analysis published in JAMA Psychiatry.

The CDC’s announcement that reductions in HIV infections in the United States have stalled in recent years was the top story in infectious diseases last week.

Progress in reducing new HIV infections in the United States has stalled in recent years, according to newly published CDC data. Experts said accelerated efforts to diagnose, treat and prevent HIV infection are needed to achieve a 90% reduction in new diagnoses by 2030 — one of the goals of a federal HIV plan announced earlier this year.

PHILADELPHIA — Among patients with ACS, patients with symptomatic HIV appear to be less aggressively treated with diagnostic catheterization, PCI and CABG compared with patients with no or asymptomatic HIV, according to findings presented at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions.

WASHINGTON — Ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitors do not significantly impact creatinine-based GFR estimates compared with measured GFR for HIV-positive patients, according to data presented at ASN Kidney Week.

NEW ORLEANS — A center with typically low HIV testing rates achieved a 15-fold increase in the number of adolescents screened for infection at well visits and a fourfold increase in screening at visits for both preventive and illness concerns.

The injectable hormone tesamorelin reduces liver fat and prevents liver fibrosis in patients living with HIV, suggesting it may provide significant clinical benefits in this population, according to study results published in The Lancet HIV.

The latent HIV reservoir is mostly formed soon after the initiation of treatment, suggesting that ART indirectly affects the host environment to favor the establishment of latently infected long-lived cells, researchers reported in Science Translational Medicine.