Category: HIV

Categories : HIV PoliticsTags :

UNAIDS Calls for Renewed Action and Sets 2025 Targets

On By ModernMedia

In a press release, UNAIDS reflects on the current state of the fight against HIV and AIDS, and notes that while there are numerous setbacks, it is possible to renew the fight.

It notes that the global response to HIV was already flagging before the advent of the COVID pandemic, and this has only pushed back the effort further. According to the agency, projections show 123 000 to 293 000 additional new HIV infections, along with 69 000 to 148 000 additional AIDS-related deaths between 2020 and 2022.

The agency strongly criticised the lack of political commitment which has led to this combined blow.  Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS  said, “The collective failure to invest sufficiently in comprehensive, rights-based, people-centred HIV responses has come at a terrible price. Implementing just the most politically palatable programmes will not turn the tide against COVID-19 or end AIDS. To get the global response back on track will require putting people first and tackling the inequalities on which epidemics thrive.” 

By proposing bold new targets for 2025, UNAIDS believes that the world can successfully meet its goal of ending HIV as a public health threat by 2030. The goals include reducing discrimination against HIV sufferers, removing punitive laws and combating gender inequality and gender-based violence. However, not all is negative: countries such as Botswana and eSwatini have already exceeded their 2020 targets. There are other positive spots, such as the infrastructure used to fight HIV/AIDS being leveraged in the fight against COVID.

Source: UNAIDS

Categories : HIV Immune SystemTags :

HIV Vaccine Search is a Marathon

On By ModernMedia

While COVID vaccines have appeared in a record-breaking short time, an HIV vaccine is still yet to arrive – though not without good reasons, as The Daily Maverick reports.

Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, a US-based HIV advocacy organisation explained: “There is still no conclusive research on what type of immune response an HIV vaccine should be trying to trigger.”

“With HIV, you’re trying to do better than nature,” continued Warren. “With a Covid-19 vaccine, the jab merely has to do what nature is doing already — in the form of an immune response — just faster. But with HIV, you’re trying to do better than nature because your body isn’t able to successfully fight off the virus.”

HIV mutates quite rapidly, to the point where there are now two distinct strains, HIV-1 and HIV-1, complicating the process. SARS-CoV-2 on the other hand uses a process called proofreading when it replicates, ensuring a lower rate of mutations.

There are currently three vaccines in development; HPX2008/HVTN 705: Imbokodo and HPX3002/HVTN 706: Mosaico both use adenoviruses to deliver protein fragments of the HIV virus to train the immune system to respond to it. The “Imbokodo” is being trialled with young women, and “Mosaico” is being trialled with transgender men and men who have sex with men, and expected to end in 2022 and 2024 respectively. 

The PrEPVacc vaccine uses DNA inserted into plasmids, which induce the body to produce the virus’ proteins, but not the virus itself. The two shots contain a cocktail of proteins and the plasmids to train the immune system. The trial is expected to end in 2023

Categories : Genetics HIV T-cellsTags :

Long-term HIV Immunisation in Mice with Gene Technology

On By ModernMedia

While some COVID vaccines are entering the final phases of approval less than a year before the disease was first identified, HIV still has no vaccine after decades of research.

Now, engineered immune cells have elicited a response against HIV in mice, presenting an important first step forward in the quest for a vaccine. These broadly neutralising antibodies (bnabs) are effective against a variety of viruses and neutralise the glycan protecting HIV’s proteins.

Previous research had engineered B cells that produced the same antibodies as seen in rare HIV patients who are able to produce bnabs against HIV after many years. Now, this research has shown that it was possible to mature these into memory and plasma cells, conferring long-lasting protection and even showing improved antibodies can be produced, as in the immunisation process.

Principal investigator James Voss, PhD, of Scripps Research said, “This is the first time it has been shown that modified B cells can create a durable engineered antibody response in a relevant animal model.”

Currently it appears it would be an expensive therapy and a great barrier to many of the 38 million living with HIV around the world. A blood draw would be taken to the lab to engineer a vaccine for the patient, but Voss says that his team is looking to make the procedure inexpensive.

“People think of cell therapies as being very expensive,” Voss said. “We’re doing a lot of work towards trying to make the technology affordable as a preventative HIV vaccine or functional cure that would replace daily antiviral therapy.”

Source: Science Daily

Categories : HIV T-cellsTags :

T-cells can detect HIV-1

On By ModernMedia

A new study reported by News 24 shows that T-cells can detect HIV-1 in patients years after commencing antiretroviral therapy (ART): 

In the HIV-1 proteome (the entire set of proteins expressed by the virus) for each participant, the team identified T-cell epitopes (regions of proteins that trigger an immune response). They sequenced HIV-1 ‘outgrowth’ viruses from resting CD4+ T cells and tested mutations in T-cell epitopes for their effect on the size of the T-cell response.

These strategies revealed that the majority (68%) of T-cell epitopes did not harbour any detectable escape mutations, meaning they could be recognised by circulating T cells.

“Our findings show that the majority of HIV-1-specific T cells in people on ART can detect HIV viruses that have the capacity to rebound following treatment interruption,” concludes senior author Nilu Goonetilleke, a faculty member at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Categories : HIVTags :

HIV Death Rates in Men Far Exceed Women in SA

On By ModernMedia

At a virtual conference on Tuesday, the South African National AIDS Council (Sanac) showcased their updated Thembisa model, which is the definitive model for HIV prevalence and incidence in the country.

Between 2000 and 2019, there was a 57% drop in incidence, or new infections, which falls short of the UN target of 75% reduction.  Antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage is 71% of those infected with HIV.

About 13% of South Africans are currently living with HIV, which is partly a result of longer life expectancy thanks to ART. Among female sex workers, the prevalence is 55%. Due to biological and social factors, the prevalence rate is higher among women but the death rate from HIV is higher in men, due to less ART coverage than in women.

The new Thembisa model also showed the country’s progress towards UNAIDS 90-90-90 model (90% knowing their HIV status, 90% on ART, 90% viral suppression). Although 94% of women and 91% of men knew their statuses, only 74% of women and 71% of men were on ART. Fortunately, 92% of both sexes achieved viral suppression. 

SA’s National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs is due to be renewed in 2022.

Source: Daily Maverick

Categories : COVID HIVTags :

Many HIV Deaths in Africa Due to Interrupted Care

On By ModernMedia

An article written for The Conversation explores the reasons why, in an era of antiretroviral therapy (ART), so many people around the world are still dying of HIV.

Despite fierce resistance under Thabo Mbeku’s leadership, ART became widely available in South Africa. Yet in 2019, despite the world’s largest ART programme with 71% coverage, there were still 72 000 HIV-related deaths in South Africa. 

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) supports hospitals across Africa in treating people with HIV, but because patients present with advanced HIV up to a third die during their hospital stay.

HIV is a lifelong disease, and requires lifelong treatment. Some struggle to take tablets on a daily basis, risking drug resistance.

People with advanced HIV now typically have interrupted or failing treatment. MSF-funded studies in Kenya and the DRC showed that only 20-35% of patients with advanced HIV had never received ART.

The “Welcome Back Services” provided by Medecins Sans Frontieres in Khayelitsha, Cape Town are an example of getting patients who have lapsed back into care.

In deprived settings, TB is the leading cause of death for people with HIV, along with cryptococcal meningitis and bacterial infection. These are all treatable if caught in time; cryptococcal meningitis effectively has a zero survival rate but mortality can be reduced by 40% when treated with flucytosine and amphotericin B. By testing patients before they reach the stage where hospitalisation is necessary, survival rates can be greatly improved.

Categories : HIVTags :

Eradication of Polio in Africa Boosted Public Health

On By ModernMedia

A story in Medical Xpress discusses the eradication of polio in Africa – officially declared polio-free on August 2020 – and how the campaign for its elimination reaped many other side benefits for public healthcare on the continent.

Polio, alongside smallpox which has now been eradicated worldwide, is one of the great success stories of vaccination: 350 000 people were paralysed by polio in 1988, and in 2019 only 175 people were.

The current effort started in 1996, when African heads of state resolved to eliminate polio on the African continent, and Nelson Mandela launched the “Kick Polio out of Africa” campaign. Collaborations between all sectors of civil society came together to achieve the goal. Vaccination is followed up with surveillance – 3 consecutive disease-free years are needed to certify eradication in an area. Polio was close to eradication 20 years ago, but vaccine hesitancy – a key concern for future COVID vaccination – was spread by misinformation and undermined the efforts.

Africa now has stronger public health systems thanks to the investments made, and developments such as new innovations to deliver vaccines and a renewed demand for vaccine services.