Skip to main content

Treatment as Prevention of HIV Transmission


July 27, 2012 (Washington, DC) — "The paradigm for use of antiretroviral therapy has shifted; treatment and prevention have converged," a panel from the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC) announced here at AIDS 2012: XIX International AIDS Conference.
The foundation of the approach requires treatment as soon as HIV-positivity is established and the use of preexposure prophylaxis, said José M. Zuniga, PhD, MPH, a member of the IAPAC from Washington, DC.
"Successful treatment as prevention will require higher levels of HIV testing, enhanced linkage to and retention in care, access to quality treatment, adherence support, and new ways to monitor coverage and treatment," reports the IAPAC panel in its consensus statement.
Julio Montaner, MD, director of the British Columbia Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, chair in AIDS research and head of division of AIDS at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and past-president of the International AIDS Society, told meeting attendees that this should put to rest any discussion: "Treating the individual helps them but also helps reduce transmission of the virus.... Early treatment reduces morbidity, mortality, and transmission."
"It is no longer a matter of whether we want to treat or if we can; now we know we have to," Dr. Montaner explained.
"I think we can curb the AIDS epidemic," copanelist Kenneth Brayer, MD, professor of medicine and of epidemiology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, told Medscape Medical News. "There are compelling data that these efforts work."
"We need to decriminalize treatment," Dr. Montaner added. Efforts at HIV detection and treatment directed at prison populations and sex workers are well underway in Canada, he said. Convincing politicians that early access to affordable treatment decreases morbidity and mortality and reduces HIV transmission is something that needs to be tackled, he noted.
"Our challenge is how to convey hope...that ending AIDS is more than a cliché," Dr. Zuniga said.
The speakers have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Contact Precautions May Have Unintended Consequences

Contact precautions, including gloves, gowns, and isolated rooms, have helped stem the transmission of hospital pathogens but have also had some negative consequences, according to findings from a new study. Healthcare worker (HCWs) visited patients on contact precautions less frequently than other patients and spent less time with those patients when they did visit, report Daniel J. Morgan, MD, from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Maryland Health Care System, Baltimore, and colleagues. Moreover, patients on contact precautions also received fewer outside visitors. "Less contact with HCWs suggests that other unintended consequences of contact precautions still exist," Dr. Morgan and coauthors write. "The resulting decrease in HCW contact may lead to increased adverse events and a lower quality of patient care due to less consistent patient monitoring and poorer adherence to standard adverse event prevention methods (such...
Post a Comment
Read more

CareFusion Issues Update on Infant Breathing Product Recall

July 5, 2012 — Medical device maker CareFusion has issued an update reminding healthcare providers of its voluntary recall of its Air Life ™ Infant Breathing Circuit, initiated back in May. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified this action as a class 1 recall, meaning there is a reasonable probability of serious adverse health consequences or death associated with use of the defective units. The update was posted July 2 on the FDA  Website. On May 29, 2012, CareFusion sent an  Urgent Recall Notice  to customers and distributors stating that the company had identified potential risks associated with the Air Life  Infant Breathing Circuit. The action was initiated after the company received complaints of the Y adapter within the breathing circuit developing cracks during patient use. "If a crack develops in the Y adapter, this could potentially result in a leak in the closed ventilation system, leading to a loss in the intended tidal volum...
Post a Comment
Read more

FDA Approves Tapentadol ER for Diabetic Neuropathy

August 29, 2012 — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved tapentadol extended-release (ER) ( Nucynta , Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc) for the management of neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in adults for whom a continuous opioid analgesic is required over an extended time. It is the first opioid to receive this indication, the company notes in a statement today. DPN, the most common type of neuropathy, affects an estimated 16% of the more than 25 million Americans who have diabetes. The condition is often unreported and untreated, with an estimated 2 out of 5 cases not receiving care. Tapentadol ER is already approved for the treatment of moderate to severe chronic pain in adults requiring a continuous opioid analgesic for an extended period. It is a centrally acting synthetic analgesic, although the exact mechanism of action is unknown, the release states. "Although the clinical relevance is unclear," the company n...
4 comments
Read more