Sex Lubes Raising HIV Risks?

posted: 24/02/2011

In May we reported news that some sex lubricants raise the risk of passing on HIV. Now more information has appeared from a lab study of 41 lubricants. Four Astroglide lubricants make HIV multiply, and most sex lubes appear to damage the lining of the vagina and rectum, raising the risk of HIV being passed on.

Carraguard, a gel formerly tried as an experimental microbicide, however did not damage the cells.

Safety test all sex lubes

The researchers recommend that sex lubricants should all have rigorous safety testing, including a study to see if they increase the risk of passing on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Using water-based and silicone lubricants along with condoms is recommended to prevent HIV transmission.   

This study was in the laboratory, so they need to check their results in real life with people. “What happens in the laboratory environment does not always happen in the human body. In fact, lubricants generally appear to play an important role in preventing the spread of HIV,” said Dr. José Fernandez-Romero, senior investigator of the study. Intercourse without them can damage cells, which could promote HIV transmission. Condom-safe lubricants also may reduce the likelihood that a condom will break. But we need to know more,” he added.
 

Despite the common use of sexual lubricants, their effects on passing on of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections has never been thoroughly studied.  

41 different sex lubes tested
In this study, researchers at the USA’s Duke University and the Population Council investigated the anti-HIV activity of 41 personal lubricants, in the laboratory.
 

No sex lube harms HIV
None of the lubricants harms or damages HIV.
 

Astroglide lubes multiply HIV
However, four lubes made HIV multiply - at least in the lab

• Astroglide Liquid
• Astroglide Warming Liquid
• Astroglide Glycerin & Paraben-Free Liquid 
• Astroglide Silken Secret.

All are sold in the UK.
 

All four have a common ingredient called polyquaternium. Three of the lubricants had polyquaternium-15. A related polyquaternium compound makes HIV multiply in the lab.
 

Damage to vaginal and rectal linings
These four lubricants and most of the others tested seem to damage the lining of the rectum and vagina in this laboratory-only study. There are special thin surface cells lining the vagina and rectum which are the only natural barrier to HIV infection – and lubricants damage these cells and that gives HIV a way into the body, causing HIV infection.

Condoms prevent HIV from passing through the lining of the vagina and rectum. 

Sex lubes are still strongly advised - perhaps not Astroglide - because sex lubes help prevent HIV by reducing invisible chaffing of the special skin that lines the vagina and rectum.   
 

Source 

There are more details in this aidsmap.com article
 

AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses article (free online)

Young with Freedom to Be

posted: 25/01/2011

If you enjoy the joy of others, read some of the glowing comments from young people with HIV who attended the summer camp for HIV positive teenagers in August.
‘It was the best time of my life, I felt free’. We, and Barnardo’s Gregory’s Place, were keen to see as many young people from NW England enjoy and benefit from this camp as possible.

We did well - a quarter of the young people at the camp travelled from NW England – very many more than from any other region, apart from London.

Camp Freedom2 Be

Freedom to Be (F2B) was the first summer camp for HIV+ teenagers in the UK. It was in mid August, using a school in SE England, for 79 young people aged 13-17.
 

The camp was a mix of

• workshops about living with HIV,
• outdoor and leadership activities designed to develop confidence and overcome fears, and
• social and leisure activities.
   

Take-Away Support

Friendships with others young people with HIV were much encouraged so people would go home with a HIV support network of other teenagers after the camp.
 

We expected big benefits from being able to talk openly with other positive youth about shared experiences of living with HIV. We wanted self esteem to blossom and lead to better self-care, including better treatment taking, better school results, and clearer hopes and plans for the future.
 

Overwhelmingly positive camp
Young people were overwhelmingly positive about the camp and its impact on their lives.  The teenagers at camp were happy to have gained new friends, to have spent time in a welcoming, open and understanding atmosphere, and to have many of their questions about living with HIV answered.
 

At least three quarters attending reported real benefits and life changes. Two-thirds of participants now discuss HIV with family and friends more since being at camp. The overwhelming majority have stayed in contact with other young people they met at camp.
 

A life-changing milestone

• The best days of my life time. (16 year old)
• An amazing time getting to know that there is a lot of people who have HIV not only me, and making friends who have the same illness as me was more fun than anything else. (14 year old)
   

In our own words

• That I can be myself without having to worry what’s wrong. (14 year old)
• I’m more capable of doing something than I thought I was. (16 year old)
• That I don’t have to hide from anyone. (16 year old)
• Yes, I have learned more about my rights which I didn’t know. (17 year old)
• Very good because I got to make new friends and meet new people and adults that have HIV. (17 year old)
• Because when I came back home I felt good that I did because at the camp it was like everyone was just the same as me and basically I had to accept that I have HIV. It actually lifted me up instead of me stay[ing] scared of what was going to happen through my future. (14 year old)
• Fun, I learned things I didn’t know. (13 year old)

The overwhelming impression was that even when people complained about the bedtimes, rules and school buildings, the camp was such a positive and affirming experience.

• ‘I got to meet people with the same thing as me, because where I live it just felt like it was just me’
• ‘I learned that I can be confident and I can do a lot of things I didn’t know I could do

I learnt ....

• Different jobs you can do or not do. (14 year old)
• Your rights during sex. (14 year old)
• How not to pass the virus. (17 year old)
• That I can have children with[out] affecting them. (16 year old)
• Not to worry what others think. (13 year old)
• I feel more positive about my future. (15 year old)
• You can still succeed in life no matter what you have. (16 year old)
• How to tell people – that helped me tell my boyfriend. (15 year old)

Summer Camp 2011?

There are plans (if funding can be raised) for another summer camp this year. CHIVA Summer Camp 2011
 

Evaluation report F2B from Sigma Research

Free Treatment for All Works

posted: 13/01/2011

A French government enquiry shows that free healthcare for all migrants, even those without official papers, works well. By contrast, in England, some migrants with HIV have no right to free HIV treatment and can be charged thousands of pounds.

The Department of Health in London has repeatedly claimed (without evidence) that migrants with HIV abuse the NHS. Treatment of HIV is the only sexually transmitted infection in England which anyone has to pay for.
 

In France, right-wing politicians make similar claims to our own Department of Health, that fraud and abuse infects their system of free healthcare for undocumented migrants.

This French enquiry disproved this and says that adding any new restrictions (like charges) will be harmful. Restrictions would discourage people from testing and treatment at the best time, resulting in worsened health for individuals and the spread of infectious diseases.
 

The English Department of Health could learn useful lessons from this French enquiry.
 

HIV organisations condemn ‘scandalous concealment’
HIV non-governmental organisations AIDES, ARCAT, ActUp Paris, Sida Info Service and Solidarité Sida, are among those condemning the "scandalous concealment" of the French enquiry report from trhe French National Assembly and call for the new charge of €30 to be suspended.
 

The French model
France has an unusual system, with easy rules. The person simply has to show that

• he or she is living in France
• has lived in the country for at least three months, and
• is poor (monthly income below €634, about £530).
   

Then the person (and his or her family members) gets a wide range of free healthcare for one year, after which time he or she must re-apply.

While the French right wing has attacked this system for years, HIV and health non-governmental organisations point out that healthcare is a fundamental and universal right, that the people forced by circumstances to use this system are among the poorest and most socially excluded. They argue that any restrictions undermine HIV testing, boost late diagnosis, worsening individual’s health and the public health.
 

The real problem : migrants avoiding healthcare
The government asked two official bodies (of auditors and of social care inspectors) to see how well the system works. The French government seems to have disliked the message from the enquiry, and suppressed the reports until New Year’s Eve, after the National Assembly had already debated reforms and added a new charge.
 

The auditors found almost no evidence of fraud or abuse. They said that the real problem is that many migrant people avoid healthcare to save money. Most of the people with a right to free healthcare have not joined the scheme. Most only apply when their health gets very poor and when they need urgent treatment.
 

Reforms and charges
The auditors looked into possible reforms to the French system, including making an annual charge of €30. They found this charge would only raise €6 million, about 1% of the annual cost of €500 million, but would deter even more people from seeking healthcare, be costly to administer, and increase total health costs even more (people will put off getting simple early treatment and then need expensive hospital care later). The charge would worsen public health - tuberculosis and other infectious diseases are common among people entitled to the help; these infections will spread.
 

The social inspectors report decided charges are a mistake for the people, administratively complex, and risk harming public health.

Hiding this report meant the National Assembly was kept in the dark and voted for the charges, which will begin in April. HIV protests continue.
 

UK healthcare and migrants rights information
Information about access to healthcare for migrants in the UK is in NAM’s Social and Legal Issues for People with HIV.

Source, with reference

Keep Free Prescription Promise

posted: 07/12/2009

A simple email now to your MP could help Gordon Brown keep his promise. Over a year ago, at the Labour Party 2008 conference, Gordon Brown pledged to scrap prescription charges for all people with long-term medical conditions, including HIV. He didn’t say when he would scrap the prescription charges, leaving us all waiting in the dark. We are still waiting.
 

People with some health problems never have to pay prescription charges. But the list of conditions that passport people to free prescriptions hasn’t been updated since it was written in 1968. HIV is not on the list, simply because HIV was discovered almost twenty years after the list was made.

While HIV medicines themselves come free because they are prescribed by the hospital, other medicines (for depression, anxiety, and everything else) have to be paid for.

Many people with HIV have no right to free prescriptions and these costs rapidly mount up. Some people cannot afford to collect the drugs they need from the chemist.
 

Actions, not words

Please email your MP to ask the Secretary of State for Health for the abolition of prescription charges for people with HIV and other long-term conditions.
 

Easy-peasy

Simply click the link, then add your details and it will write a custom letter from you to your MP – please be patient while it writes your personalised letter.
 

Disunited Kingdom

Each prescription item now costs £7.20 in England. Wales has already abolished prescription charges, Northern Ireland abolishes them in 2010 and Scotland will abolish them by 2011 - meanwhile Scotland is cutting the cost year by year - they are £4 now and will be £3 from April. England? they went up in April again to £7.20.

Free Prescriptions for HIV?

posted: 24/09/2008

Will people living with HIV soon have free prescriptions?

Prime Minister Brown announced to the Labour Party Conference here in Manchester yesterday, that people with cancer would soon qualify for free prescriptions, like people with some other long-term conditions.

What he said was:

"But alongside new patient responsibilities will be new rights. And because we know that almost every British family has been touched by cancer, Alan Johnson and I know we must do more to relieve the financial worry that so often goes alongside the heartache. And so I can announce today for those in our nation battling cancer from next year you will not pay prescription charges. ...... As over the next few years the NHS generates cash savings in its drugs budget we will plough savings back into abolishing charges for all patients with long-term conditions."

drugs for people living with HIV may be exempted

So Brown is offering the prospect that people living with HIV in England might, some time in the future, no longer have to pay prescription charges. While HIV drugs themselves are prescribed at no cost by the hospitals, other drugs, such as those to manage the side effects, for depression, for sexual dysfunction, have prescription charges. Some people diagnosed with HIV are exempt from charges because of the benefits people receive, or because of a low income. Many people living with HIV are not exempt from these charges.

England trails behind Wales and Scotland

No-one in Wales pays prescription charges, and the SNP are phasing them out in Scotland. What Brown might have said was “If you live in England, and we do manage to save money on the NHS drugs budget over the next few years, we may then stop charging you for prescriptions if you are living with HIV. We don't plan to restore free prescriptions to everyone living in England, although you could get these now if you lived in Wales, and soon in Scotland."