Scientists move closer to HIV vaccine, isolate antibodies
NEW DELHI: Scientists have isolated the most powerful broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) against HIV so far - a major step towards finding an effective vaccine against the deadly virus.
Capable of fighting a broad spectrum of variants of HIV - the virus that causes AIDS - some of the 17 antibodies discovered jointly by The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and The Scripps Research Institute blocked HIV infection of cells as much as 10 to 100 times as potently as the previously discovered bNAbs.
An antibody is an infection-fighting protein produced by our immune system when it detects harmful substances like viruses and bacteria. These HIV neutralizing antibodies are produced naturally by a minority infected with HIV, but who show no symptoms......
Showing posts with label AIDS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AIDS. Show all posts
Friday, August 19, 2011
Saturday, November 13, 2010
All HIV patients to get second-line treatment free
Kounteya Sinha & Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN, Nov 13, 2010, 02.48am IST
NEW DELHI: All HIV patients put on first line antiretroviral therapy (ART) before 2004 but who became resistant to those drugs will now receive the life saving second line treatment free of cost from the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).
This is irrespective of whether the patients were receiving first line ART in a government centre or a private hospital. This major policy shift was finalised by NACO on Thursday night.
Till now, NACO only provided second line treatment to those HIV patients who were part of its ART centres and had become resistant to first line drugs. Those patients on first line treatment in private hospitals or clinics were not eligible.
Second line treatment is tremendously expensive and not affordable for the common man. Also, it was only available in NACO's ART centres. So, patients who did not get first line treatment in NACO's ART centres perished if they became resistant.
Solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam informed a Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia, Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar that the health ministry took this decision on Friday. He informed the SC that details of the decision would be intimated through an affidavit in two weeks.
So what happens to those who were put on first line ART post-2004 but have become resistant to first line drugs? Expert committees in the 10 centres of excellence presently in charge of giving second line treatment will take a call.
ART is the only known treatment that inhibits HIV. The drugs slow down the replication of HIV and immune deterioration is delayed leading to an improvement in the survival and quality of life.
While first line drugs cost NACO Rs 5,000 per patient per year, second line cost them Rs 35,000 per patient per year. Patients, however, get the treatment free of charge.
India is home to an estimated 2.3 million HIV patients of which 6 lakh would require to be on ART. At present, 3.55 lakh HIV patients are receiving first line treatment in 285 NACO ART centres.
Ten centres have rolled out second line ART to 1,701 HIV patients. Five more centres in Nagpur, Pune, Salem, Aurangabad and Surat have been trained to start second line ART while two centres in Vijayawada and Hubli are being prepared.
India rolled out second line ART for the first time on December 1, 2008 in Mumbai's J J Hospital and Chennai's Tambaram ART centre.
Resistance to first line treatment mainly happens because of poor adherence to the treatment regimen. If not put on second line immediately, most of these patients die within a few years.
A CD-4 count test is used to gauge immunity levels of an HIV-infected patient and to assess whether damage caused by the virus requires life-saving ART. The CD-4 count in healthy adults ranges from 500 to 1,500 cells per cubic millimetre of blood. In HIV infected people, it goes down by 60 cells per cubic millimetre of blood per year as HIV progresses. ART is administered when an HIV positive person registers a CD-4 count under 200.
Read more: All HIV patients to get second-line treatment free - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/All-HIV-patients-to-get-second-line-treatment-free/articleshow/6915022.cms#ixzz15AjZ6V00
NEW DELHI: All HIV patients put on first line antiretroviral therapy (ART) before 2004 but who became resistant to those drugs will now receive the life saving second line treatment free of cost from the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).
This is irrespective of whether the patients were receiving first line ART in a government centre or a private hospital. This major policy shift was finalised by NACO on Thursday night.
Till now, NACO only provided second line treatment to those HIV patients who were part of its ART centres and had become resistant to first line drugs. Those patients on first line treatment in private hospitals or clinics were not eligible.
Second line treatment is tremendously expensive and not affordable for the common man. Also, it was only available in NACO's ART centres. So, patients who did not get first line treatment in NACO's ART centres perished if they became resistant.
Solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam informed a Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia, Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar that the health ministry took this decision on Friday. He informed the SC that details of the decision would be intimated through an affidavit in two weeks.
So what happens to those who were put on first line ART post-2004 but have become resistant to first line drugs? Expert committees in the 10 centres of excellence presently in charge of giving second line treatment will take a call.
ART is the only known treatment that inhibits HIV. The drugs slow down the replication of HIV and immune deterioration is delayed leading to an improvement in the survival and quality of life.
While first line drugs cost NACO Rs 5,000 per patient per year, second line cost them Rs 35,000 per patient per year. Patients, however, get the treatment free of charge.
India is home to an estimated 2.3 million HIV patients of which 6 lakh would require to be on ART. At present, 3.55 lakh HIV patients are receiving first line treatment in 285 NACO ART centres.
Ten centres have rolled out second line ART to 1,701 HIV patients. Five more centres in Nagpur, Pune, Salem, Aurangabad and Surat have been trained to start second line ART while two centres in Vijayawada and Hubli are being prepared.
India rolled out second line ART for the first time on December 1, 2008 in Mumbai's J J Hospital and Chennai's Tambaram ART centre.
Resistance to first line treatment mainly happens because of poor adherence to the treatment regimen. If not put on second line immediately, most of these patients die within a few years.
A CD-4 count test is used to gauge immunity levels of an HIV-infected patient and to assess whether damage caused by the virus requires life-saving ART. The CD-4 count in healthy adults ranges from 500 to 1,500 cells per cubic millimetre of blood. In HIV infected people, it goes down by 60 cells per cubic millimetre of blood per year as HIV progresses. ART is administered when an HIV positive person registers a CD-4 count under 200.
Read more: All HIV patients to get second-line treatment free - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/All-HIV-patients-to-get-second-line-treatment-free/articleshow/6915022.cms#ixzz15AjZ6V00
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
AIDS stigma drives HIV in India: World Bank study
IANS, Jul 22, 2010, 01.55pm IST
Article
WASHINGTON: HIV prevalence in India and South Asia is growing among sex workers and other high risk groups due to widespread failure to prevent stigmatising of people living with AIDS, according to a new report.
Despite prevention and other efforts to reduce high-risk behaviours such as unprotected sex, buying and selling of sex, and injecting drug use, HIV vulnerability and risk remain high, says the report by a team from the International Centre for Research on Women and the World Bank.
Stigmatising attitudes in the general population and discriminatory treatment by health providers and local officials, among others, intensify the marginalisation of vulnerable groups at highest risk, driving them further from the reach of health services and desperately needed prevention, treatment, care, and support services, it says.
Daily harassment and abuse also cause health problems and adversely affect mental health, thereby leading to depression, social isolation, and an array of adverse socio-economic outcomes related to HIV, says the report launched at the global AIDS summit in Vienna on Wednesday.
"Discrimination against people in these high-risk, marginalised groups is so strong that they feel their lives aren't worth protecting or prolonging which stops them from reaching out for the prevention, care, and prevention services they need to fight the disease," says Mariam Claeson, co-author and programme coordinator for the World Bank's South Asia region.
"We have been supporting efforts that tackle prejudice about HIV and AIDS at community and national levels and break down the walls of fear and suspicion that poison the lives of people with, or at high risk of acquiring, HIV and AIDS."
Approximately 2.3 million people suffer from HIV/AIDS in India. According to UNAIDS, there were around 33 million HIV positive people globally, while there were 2.7 million new infections and 2.0 million deaths from AIDS in 2007.
As a result of a World Bank led regional competition to find successful 'grass roots' anti-HIV discrimination programmes, 26 programmes in six countries were chosen for the Bank's 2008 South Asia Development Marketplace with grants totalling $1.4 million.
These grants seeded considerable innovation. Project approaches reflected enormous creativity, ranging from beauty pageants to restaurants run by sex workers, the report said.
The grants led to new alliances, such as those between 'panchayat' (local government) leaders and the Indian community organisation Lotus Integrated AIDS Awareness Sangam, it said.
They also led to some unlikely partnerships between sex workers, police, lawyers, and health workers. In Afghanistan, one project partnered with the government to support religious leaders to pass on anti-stigma messaging in their Friday prayers.
Read more: AIDS stigma drives HIV in India: World Bank study - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/AIDS-stigma-drives-HIV-in-India-World-Bank-study/articleshow/6200405.cms#ixzz127aVuq1J
Article
WASHINGTON: HIV prevalence in India and South Asia is growing among sex workers and other high risk groups due to widespread failure to prevent stigmatising of people living with AIDS, according to a new report.
Despite prevention and other efforts to reduce high-risk behaviours such as unprotected sex, buying and selling of sex, and injecting drug use, HIV vulnerability and risk remain high, says the report by a team from the International Centre for Research on Women and the World Bank.
Stigmatising attitudes in the general population and discriminatory treatment by health providers and local officials, among others, intensify the marginalisation of vulnerable groups at highest risk, driving them further from the reach of health services and desperately needed prevention, treatment, care, and support services, it says.
Daily harassment and abuse also cause health problems and adversely affect mental health, thereby leading to depression, social isolation, and an array of adverse socio-economic outcomes related to HIV, says the report launched at the global AIDS summit in Vienna on Wednesday.
"Discrimination against people in these high-risk, marginalised groups is so strong that they feel their lives aren't worth protecting or prolonging which stops them from reaching out for the prevention, care, and prevention services they need to fight the disease," says Mariam Claeson, co-author and programme coordinator for the World Bank's South Asia region.
"We have been supporting efforts that tackle prejudice about HIV and AIDS at community and national levels and break down the walls of fear and suspicion that poison the lives of people with, or at high risk of acquiring, HIV and AIDS."
Approximately 2.3 million people suffer from HIV/AIDS in India. According to UNAIDS, there were around 33 million HIV positive people globally, while there were 2.7 million new infections and 2.0 million deaths from AIDS in 2007.
As a result of a World Bank led regional competition to find successful 'grass roots' anti-HIV discrimination programmes, 26 programmes in six countries were chosen for the Bank's 2008 South Asia Development Marketplace with grants totalling $1.4 million.
These grants seeded considerable innovation. Project approaches reflected enormous creativity, ranging from beauty pageants to restaurants run by sex workers, the report said.
The grants led to new alliances, such as those between 'panchayat' (local government) leaders and the Indian community organisation Lotus Integrated AIDS Awareness Sangam, it said.
They also led to some unlikely partnerships between sex workers, police, lawyers, and health workers. In Afghanistan, one project partnered with the government to support religious leaders to pass on anti-stigma messaging in their Friday prayers.
Read more: AIDS stigma drives HIV in India: World Bank study - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/AIDS-stigma-drives-HIV-in-India-World-Bank-study/articleshow/6200405.cms#ixzz127aVuq1J
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