All articles tagged with #hiv
Local agencies are reacting to the Louisiana Department of Health's decision to end condom-distribution contracts, with warnings that reduced access could fuel a rise in HIV infections and undermine ongoing public-health efforts. The piece highlights official and community responses as they weigh potential fallout and mitigation steps.
Massive August 2025 floods in Pakistan displaced about 3 million people and damaged hundreds of thousands of homes, disrupting access to antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV and risking viral rebound and progression to AIDS; stigma, broken follow-up, and reports of unsafe medical practices have worsened the crisis, while NGOs and the NDMA coordinate emergency ART delivery, though thousands remain missing and ground relief coverage is uncertain.
After years with undiagnosed HIV that progressed to AIDS, Cody Pharis survived on antiretroviral therapy and now advocates for HIV testing, disclosure to partners, and awareness of PrEP and undetectable viral load as ways to reduce transmission.
A germline-targeting, adjuvanted HIV vaccine administered to outbred nonhuman primates elicited bnAb-class memory B cells and serum neutralizing activity against diverse HIV isolates. bnAb lineages formed in >50% of animals with up to 67% neutralization breadth, and serum bnAb activity appeared in 44% of subjects, with some titers projected to offer protection. Structural data showed the vaccine-induced antibodies mimic key human bnAb interactions with the HIV envelope, providing proof-of-principle that germline-targeting vaccines can reliably induce prespecified bnAb classes under endogenous conditions and warrant further optimization for HIV vaccines.
In a candid interview, Mara Brock Akil discusses her debut novel The Revelation of Dionne Daphne, detailing how its protagonist—an Essence magazine writer in 1991—navigates an HIV scare, a two-week wait for test results, and a childhood history of sexual abuse drawn from Akil’s own life. Akil explains that she writes to tell hard truths about Black women, healing through fiction, and the tension between ambition and trauma, hoping the novel empowers readers to confront shame and pursue a fuller life.
Activists across generations gathered near Stonewall Inn for a die-in and protest against proposed federal cuts to HIV funding, including Medicaid work requirements, the Ryan White program, and CDC prevention. They warn that interruptions in health coverage and treatment could endanger viral suppression for millions, threaten testing and care, and jeopardize global efforts like Pepfar amid moves to dissolve USAID and tighten NIH HIV research funding. The campaign combines lobbying, legal challenges, and direct action to pressure Congress and states to protect HIV programs and research funding.
Tobago’s Division of Health warns of rising sexually transmitted infections, notably HIV, in the 20–29 age group, with increases in gonorrhoea and syphilis and a drug‑resistant gonorrhoea strain. Private-sector data are not fully accessible, complicating trend analysis. Stigma is identified as a major barrier to testing, and authorities plan a workplace policy to reduce discrimination, expanded sexual education in schools, and a Carnival‑period awareness drive, aiming for evidence-based prevention in collaboration with educators and other stakeholders.
Three brothers in Zambia's Copperbelt, ages 17, 15 and 12, are fending for themselves after their HIV-positive parents died this year as aid cuts shuttered the clinics that kept them on meds; they sell belongings, live in a leaky home, and Joseph works as a part-time security guard to pay rent and cover schooling while trying to keep his brothers on treatment, aided only by a pastor and distant relatives as the broader HIV-care network wanes.
Researchers developed a nanodisc-based platform that places viral surface proteins in a membrane-like environment, revealing antibody interactions that are hidden when proteins are studied in isolation and speeding the design of vaccines against HIV, Ebola, and other viruses.
A U.N. UNAIDS report warns that global HIV prevention progress is at risk due to major aid cuts, with PrEP use down 38% from 2024 to 2025 and condom funding slashed in some countries, threatening hard-won gains even as new infections fall to about 1.2 million in 2025 and AIDS deaths drop; roughly 9 million people remain untreated, and while treatment programs have stayed resilient, reduced prevention funding and weakened community services could undo progress, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
In Bermuda, Health Minister Kim Wilson reported a recent uptick in new HIV cases (four in the last four weeks) alongside HIV Awareness Month; about 306 people were living with HIV as of December 31, 2025. Officials are pushing expanded testing and prevention, noting that an undetectable viral load from antiviral treatment prevents transmission. Free, confidential testing is available at the Hamilton Health Centre, and authorities emphasize reducing stigma and encouraging regular testing to protect health and curb spread.
Gilead and Merck announced topline Phase 3 results for the investigational once-weekly HIV regimen islatravir/lenacapavir (ISL/LEN) from ISLEND-1 and ISLEND-2, showing the Week 48 primary endpoint was met and non‑inferiority to Biktarvy or standard therapy with a comparable safety profile. The companies plan regulatory filings and full data presentations at a future congress, potentially introducing the first weekly oral HIV treatment if approved.
A primate study shows that an integrin-targeting drug used to curb brain inflammation can backfire by increasing HIV/SIV levels in the brain. Blocking alpha-4 integrin reduces killer T cells while helper T cells continue to ferry virus into the brain, sustaining inflammation and promoting brain damage. The findings suggest that therapies must target immune responses with high precision to protect the brain without enhancing viral reservoirs, and there is currently no method to clear HIV from brain or spinal cord.
A tiny subset of HIV-positive people—elite controllers—can suppress the virus without antiretroviral therapy. Case studies like Loreen Willenberg and the Esperanza patient show their immune systems, particularly CD8+ T cells and highly active natural killer cells, may trap HIV in dormant gene deserts, offering a blueprint for a functional cure. The research also highlights post-treatment controllers and a possible female-biased tendency in this response, underscoring how understanding these rare defenses could guide new therapies for millions living with HIV.
In a randomized trial of 108 adults with HIV-associated lipohypertrophy, semaglutide slowed several epigenetic aging clocks—9% on DunedinPACE and reduced PCGrimAge–related aging risk—suggesting GLP-1 drugs may influence aging biology beyond weight loss, though larger studies are needed.