News 2
posted: 03/03/2008
Transmission Impossible, New Drugs, Resistance, Online Pill Poser, Conferences
Transmission Impossible?
Swiss clinical experts have gone out on a limb and said you can't sexually transmit HIV provided all these are true:- the person’s viral load is undetectable and has been for 6 months, and secondly the person is taking anti-HIV treatments and is being monitored, and thirdly the person has no sexually transmitted infections. They recommend Swiss law-makers repeal the offence of putting someone at risk of HIV by having unprotected sex. As in some other countries, people with HIV in Switzerland are prosecuted simply for having unprotected sex, even where HIV is not passed on. News report from aidsmap: http://tinyurl.com/3c3y6z
Another New Drug Class
Development of new anti-HIV drugs includes some completely fresh types. Raltegravir (Isentress) belongs to a new class of antiretrovirals called integrase inhibitors. It works against HIV’s integrase protein, blocking the virus’s integration into human cells. This is now available in the UK. The drug has no cross-resistance with others, making it useful for people with few treatment choices left.
There are now six classes of anti-HIV drugs, each attacking different parts or stages of the virus. The six classes of anti-HIV drugs are - Nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), Protease inhibitors (PIs), and the newer class kids on the block are Fusion inhibitors, CCR5 inhibitors and Integrase inhibitors.
Resisting Resistance
A UK study shows that ten years after starting anti-HIV treatment, only about 10% of people have become resistant to drugs from all of the three main classes of antiretrovirals (NRTIs, NNRTIs and protease inhibitors). Even when there is resistance to these three classes, doctors are often still able to effectively treat a person’s HIV; an undetectable viral load was obtained at least once in 6 out of 10 people with three drug-class resistance. There are 3 more drug classes.
Taking treatments like clockwork is the habit people with HIV have to practice to minimise developing drug resistance. People need to take all the right drugs at the right dose and time, almost without fail. The target is to be at least 95% adherent, which is the equivalent of missing no more than one dose a week if you take the pills three times a day, or no more than three missed doses a month for people taking tablets twice-daily.
Online HIV Pill Poser
Improve your HIV drug spotting skills and play an online game matching pill pictures and drug names to the right class of HIV drugs. http://www.aidsmap.com/cms1252471.asp
The Three Conferences
Spring Conference season is now upon us with Colin Armstead making a presentation at the annual CHAPS (gay men’s sexual health) conference on our integrated “positive prevention” services, which are winning national recognition. The start of March sees Positive Action 2008, a one day event for people living with HIV, picking up the threads of the cancelled UKC Conference, abandoned when UKC was forced to close down last year. Under the Boabab Tree is the name for the Africans, Gender and HIV Conference organised by the African HIV Policy Network. The baobab is the African tree of life - it's big and old, gives shelter, food, and more for the peoples of Africa. It's a major meeting place for talking over community matters like HIV.
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