News briefs
Half of the world’s HIV+ are women: UN
For the first time, women now account for 50 percent of global HIV infections, according to a UN report released in December. Releasing the organisation’s biannual report, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot painted a grim picture of the epidemic’s spread through Eastern Europe and Asia, with the total number of people living with HIV rising to 42 million. In some parts of Africa, as many as 70 percent of PLWHAs are women, a figure which the UN says reflects the difficulty women face in negotiating safe sex.
Conservative Bush AIDS appointee withdraws
A fundamentalist Christian appointed to the US Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS has withdrawn his candidacy after AIDS activists drew attention to the man’s extremist views. Jerry Thacker, who became HIV-positive after his wife received a blood transfusion, heads an organisation that claims to “rescue” gays and has called homosexuality a “deathstyle” and HIV/AIDS a “gay plague”. Gay rights group Human Rights Campaign described the appointment as “one more piece of evidence that this administration is focusing on ideology and not science when it comes to AIDS.” — Washington Blade
Gilead expands
US pharmco Gilead Sciences, the manufacturer of tenofovir (Viread), has announced plans to buy Triangle Pharmaceuticals for $US464 million, a move that could substantially increase Gilead’s involvement in HIV. Triangle is developing two antiretrovirals, including emtricitabine (FTC, Coviracil), a nucleoside chemically related to 3TC, which is expected to be approved in the US within a year. If approved by shareholders, the deal raises the prospect of Gilead marketing tenofovir and emtricitabine in a combined single-tablet formulation.
Bug chasers and muckrakers
In a controversial report, the February edition of US magazine Rolling Stone claims that a quarter of newly HIV-infected gay men deliberately sought out the virus. The report, titled “Bug Chasers: the men who long to be HIV+” has been criticised for sensationalising a fringe phenomenon and for possibly misquoting several sources. The source of the 25% claim, San Francisco psychiatrist Bob Cabaj, insists he never made the comments attributed to him. “I never said that. And when the fact checker called me and asked me if I said that, I said no,” he told MSNBC.com.
Johannesburg plans disused mine ‘catacombs’
South Africa’s largest city may convert its disused mineshafts into catacomb-style cemeteries lined with tombs and accessed by lifts, New Scientist reports. With 25 percent of the population infected with HIV, Johannesburg expects to deal with 70,000 deaths a year by 2010, up from 20,000 last year. Bodies are already being stacked several deep in ‘family graves’, but with a widespread aversion to cremation, a novel solution is needed. “If it is designed and developed properly, I think people might not mind,” cemetery official Alan Buff said.
Treatments briefs
Chiron about-face on SILCAAT
US pharmaceutical manufacturer Chiron has agreed to continue funding a clinical trial of the immune stimulating drug interleukin-2 (IL-2), while passing responsibility for the trial to the trial’s international scientific team. As reported in the last edition of PL, Chiron announced in October that it was halting the SILCAAT trial, which has already enrolled 1,950 patients, cost the company over A$100 million and which has several years left to run. “We did not anticipate the amount of support this trial had in the HIV scientific and treatment community,” Chiron President Craig Wheeler told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Tenofovir kidney toxicity
In the first reported case of kidney toxicity related to tenofovir (Viread), a 45-year-old French woman developed acute renal failure and Fanconi’s syndrome five months after adding the drug to her antiretroviral regimen. While it is unlikely that kidney problems will become a common side effect of tenofovir, researchers have long been aware that they are possible, and this case emphasises the importance of regular monitoring. Anyone on tenofovir who experiences extreme thirst, frequent urination, confusion or muscular weakness should seek medical advice. — AIDSmap
Good news for older patients
People with HIV aged 50 or older are equally likely as younger people to benefit from antiretroviral treatment, according to two recently published studies. In a US study published in the 15 January Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers compared survival rates between younger and older patients, and found that older patients were slightly more likely to derive a survival benefit from treatment. In a second study, published in the January edition of AIDS, Italian researchers compared CD4 counts and viral load between older and younger patients, and concluded that both groups had similar rates of response to treatment.
Tea-tree for oral thrush
Researchers in the United States have reported on a study in which people with oral fungal infections (caused by Candida albicans) were treated with mouthwashes containing a weak solution of tea-tree (Melaleuca) oil. Twenty-seven people with oral Candida infection were asked to use one of two tea-tree mouthwashes once a day, not rinsing their mouths for 30 minutes afterwards. After four weeks, 60 percent (15 of the 25 people who completed the trial) had a partial or complete positive response to the treatment, suggesting that tea-tree oil may be an effective treatment for oral thrush. Note: pure tea tree oil can be very irritating and should NOT be used as a mouthwash. — CATIE.ca
