News headlines

A selection of news stories which have appeared since 28 August 2003.

WTO drug deal will create barriers for HIV treatment, say advocates

A deal brokered at the World Trade Organisation on access to medicines is far from perfect, according to advocacy groups, and will continue to create difficulties for countries seeking access to the lowest cost medicines.

Women get more lipodystrophy than men says Italian study

HAART-treated women are at a higher risk than men receiving anti-HIV medication of developing body fat changes, according to an Italian study published in the September 1st edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. This was despite the men in the study receiving anti-HIV drugs for longer and having a higher incidence of severe HIV disease, two risk factors for lipodystrophy observed in other studies.

No CD4 plateau found after 4 years on HAART in those with prior severe immune suppression

CD4 counts can continue to rise after four years in people on continuously successful HAART regardless of CD4 baseline, according to a study published in the September 5th issue of AIDS. Significantly, this is the first study to find no evidence of a plateau in CD4 gains in patients who began therapy with less than 200 CD4 cells/mm3, suggesting that the immune system is able to slowly and continuously restore itself even after advanced immune suppression - as long as HIV replication is kept below 1000 copies/ml.

Treatment response at six months best guide to long-term prognosis

The prognosis of people with HIV can be more accurately determined after six months of treatment rather than at baseline, and very small increases in CD4 cell count appear to confer big benefits in reducing the risk of disease progression or death, according to an analysis of 13 cohorts published this week in The Lancet.

Two rare cases of family HIV transmission between adults reported

Two similarly unusual but unconnected cases of HIV transmission within two Australian families are reported in the September 5th issue of AIDS, providing a sobering reminder that HIV can occasionally be acquired by surprising routes. These also appear to be the first reports of one adult family member infecting another that involve a source patient with unrecognised HIV infection.

Modified vaginal bacteria can inhibit HIV, says lab study

A naturally occurring vaginal microorganism has been modified by investigators at Stanford University to inhibit HIV, and could have the potential to protect women from infection with HIV. The laboratory study is published in the early on-line edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.