A new cure for aids.

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Ban doin' all he can to Ending HIV/AIDS...

UN Backs Accelerated Response to Ending HIV/AIDS
June 08, 2016 — When Loyce Maturu was 10, she lost her mother and brother to AIDS and tuberculosis in the same week. Two years later, she was diagnosed with both illnesses.

The young Zimbabwean experienced harsh emotional and verbal abuse from a family member because of the stigma attached to her health status, and in 2010 she attempted suicide. But today, she is a thriving 24-year-old who is working to empower girls and adolescents who are HIV-positive. “Now every day that I live, I am thankful that I am one of the 17 million people that mark the success of HIV treatment over the past years, and it shows that together we have the greatest strength of saving more lives,” she told the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday during a high-level meeting on ending HIV/AIDS by 2030.

HIV/AIDS has greatly affected young people. About 14 million children have been orphaned by the epidemic. Young people also have a high infection rate — about 2,000 new ones each day. This has led to an increase in AIDS-related deaths among the young. It is now the second-leading cause of death in adolescents globally. “We need to equip them, we need to bring skills, we need to make sure sex education becomes a reality everywhere, so they can really be able to avoid risky behavior,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. He said it also was vital that young people be at the center of what he called a “prevention revolution.”

On the fast track

In the past 15 years, substantial progress has been made in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, and the U.N. is trying to consolidate that success to end the epidemic by 2030. “We have halted and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the meeting. “New HIV infections have declined by 35 percent since 2000. AIDS-related deaths have gone down by 43 percent since 2003.” He said this was due in part to cheaper anti-retroviral drugs, new funding and leadership from those within the HIV/AIDS community and civil society. Ban urged donors to meet the annual funding target of $26 billion, saying the next five years offered a unique opportunity to change the direction of the epidemic and end AIDS forever.

“If we do not act,” he warned, “there is a danger the epidemic will rebound in low- and middle-income countries.” Currently, 36.7 million people are living with HIV/AIDS around the world. Each year, another 2.1 million people will become infected, and half that number will die. The U.N. says if the global response can be fast-tracked, millions of new infections can be avoided. One area in which there has been welcome news is in reducing mother-to-child transmission. Four countries — Armenia, Belarus, Cuba and Thailand — have eliminated transmission of the disease from pregnant mothers to their infants, and 80 more countries are getting close, with fewer than 50 babies born each year with HIV.

Challenges

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Young women in sub-Saharan Africa are particularly at risk...

New HIV Infections on Rise in Some Regions
July 12, 2016 — Progress in reducing new HIV infections in adults has stalled, and is even on the rise in some regions of the world, the United Nations AIDS agency warns.

In a report on the epidemic, UNAIDS notes that infections among adults and children globally have been reduced by 40 percent since the peak of 3 million in 1997. And, while significant progress in stopping new cases among children is continuing — with a drop of more than 70 percent since 2001 — the decline in new cases among adults has stalled since 2010, remaining steady at an estimated 1.9 million for five years. "We have a five-year window of opportunity,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe, in pressing the world to scale up prevention efforts. “If we miss this next five years, we will have a rebound in this epidemic. We will have resistance, and we will not be able to control the epidemic and make sure that we end it by 2030."

A man talks on a mobile phone as he walks past World AIDS Day banners in Johannesburg, South Africa

The report finds Eastern Europe and central Asia have seen a 57 percent increase annually in new HIV infections between 2010 and 2015; more than 80 percent of the region's new HIV infections in 2015 were in Russia. While these numbers are dramatic, most of the new cases are in sub-Saharan Africa, says UNAIDS chief of prevention Karl Dehne. "About half of all infections are in eastern and southern Africa alone,” Dehne said. “So, even if there is a small decline there, that does not mean that we have already won the battle. We need to do much more there."

The report says young women in sub-Saharan Africa are particularly at risk of HIV-AIDS, with 75 percent of new infections among adolescent girls between the ages of 10 and 19. Other vulnerable groups, it says, include gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers and their clients, transgender people, injecting drug users and prisoners.

http://www.voanews.com/content/new-h...s/3415387.html

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2.5 Million People Infected with HIV Each Year...

Study: 2.5 Million People Infected with HIV Each Year
July 19, 2016 - About 2.5 million people are infected with HIV every year, according to a recent analysis of a global AIDS study.

During the past decade the rate of new infections have "stayed relatively constant" since its peak in 1997 of 3.3 million new infections per year. While the rate of annual death from HIV/AIDS has been in a steady decline from a peak of 1.8 million in 2005 to 1.2 million in 2015. "Although scale-up of antiretroviral therapy and measures to prevent mother-to-child transmission have had a huge impact on saving lives, our new findings present a worrying picture of slow progress in reducing new HIV infections over the past 10 years," said lead author Haidong Wang. The report, which analyzes findings of the Global Burden of Disease 2015 study, was published in the Lancet HIV Journal to coincide with the launch of the International AIDS meeting in Durban, South Africa.

An early clinical trial shows that passive immunization with an HIV-1 neutralizing antibody can help lower the amount of virus in the blood of an HIV-1-infected subject.

According to the GBD 2015 study, 75 percent of the new HIV infections occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, while south Asia accounted for 8.5 percent and southeast Asia for 4.7 percent. It says that in southern Africa, more than one percent of the populations of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland were becoming infected with HIV. In Europe, Russia and Ukraine had the highest rates, while Cambodia had the highest rates in Asia. Between 2005 and 2015 the use of antiretrovirals has increased from 6.4 percent to 38.6 percent for men and from 3.3 percent to 42.4 percent for women.

Despite those increases, the study says most countries fall short of the UNAIDS target calling for countries to ensure that 81 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS are receiving ART by 2020. Although, according to report, no country has met that goal, Sweden, the United States, Netherlands and Argentina are all close at about 70 percent.

http://www.voanews.com/content/study...r/3424684.html

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Tests, compassion and faith in the fight against AIDS...

New HIV Tests Emphasize Rapid Results
July 21, 2016 — As the global fight against AIDS intensifies, activists have placed increasing importance on getting people to know their HIV status.

For decades, learning one’s HIV status involved going to a clinic, taking a test, and then waiting for days or even weeks for the laboratory results to come back. But simpler, faster and more private testing methods are being developed, with promising signs of success. Some were on display at the International AIDS Conference here. The Advanced Quality Anti-HIV Rapid Test, approved by the World Health Organization, is being used by many conference attendees. "It is very quick and so you can pick up whether the person is HIV positive or not," said Dr. Thandeka Khoza, senior medical officer for North Star Alliance’s southern Africa region. The nongovernmental organization has used the method in targeting truck drivers and sex workers in more than 10 African countries. "You just take the patient’s blood and put it in the machine, and in 15 to 20 minutes the person knows their CD4 count," Khoza said.

Robin Reese, 41, of Washington, uses an oral test for HIV.

The laboratory test measures the strength of a person’s immune system, looking at the number of CD4 T lymphocytes, or CD4 cells, in a blood sample, as the AIDS.gov website explains. The white blood cells help fight infection.

Speedy results

Kits like the Western blot and Ebon can quickly analyze blood samples, meaning patients no longer have to wait for days for laboratory test results. The new technologies accommodate patients who do not even want a doctor to know their status. The OraQuick In-Home Oral HIV Test kit, still under trial, allows people to test privately at home. "The advantages of self-testing are that it is confidential and more convenient than facility-based testing, and allows a lot more privacy and convenience to the user," said Yilu (Lulu) Qin, a fellow with the University of North Carolina’s Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases. Its UNC Project-China conducted an at-home testing trial that she said was well-received.

Sensitivity stressed

Alere, a global diagnostic device and service provider, is seeking the WHO’s approval for its Alere HIV Combo. The kit purportedly is sensitive enough to detect the HIV virus in blood samples even during the first three to four weeks after exposure – the so-called window period – and in newborn infants. If approved, the Alere HIV Combo would be administered by professionals at a health facility, as is the case with the Advanced Quality Anti-HIV Rapid Test. Those seeking approval of the OraQuick In-Home Oral HIV Test kit hope to make it available in drugstores.

New HIV Tests Emphasize Rapid Results

See also:

HIV-positive Teens Demand More Support
July 21, 2016 — Nompumelelo Simelane sees herself as an average teenager. She loves to cook, and spend time with her family and girlfriend. She also has HIV. The virus makes her a part of a growing demographic in Africa, where the United Nations says AIDS is now the top killer of teenagers.

The 19-year-old Soweto resident — who was diagnosed with HIV at 13, and believes she was born with the virus — says adolescence and AIDS are a double whammy. But, she adds, people of her generation know more about the virus than their elders did, thanks to aggressive educational programs. However, she says, knowing the importance of anti-retroviral drugs did not stop her from rebelling. "At first, it was just something that I didn't know would hurt me or anything,” she said. “I was just like, ‘It's HIV, I'm gonna live, I'm gonna to live on ARVs and I'm gonna be fine.’ But as time went by, things started to change, and I do not know why. Maybe because I was growing up and starting to feel different now that I have the virus."

Teens at the International AIDS Conference in Durban say they need their own space in discussions about the virus. During the conference, they operated a radio station in which they talked about their experiences. Disc jockey Beatrice Phiri says teens are eager to talk to each other about AIDS — through both new and old media. "We have a lot of feedback, especially from people that are fans of Twitter,” Phiri said. “People are tweeting to us, people are coming through our booth, people are listening in, saying, 'I want to be on radio now, I want to voice out.’ "

Simelane's mother, Lindiwe — who is also HIV-positive — says parents need help and support in working with their HIV-positive children, especially when they lash out. "Nompumelelo took it like she understood everything, but she didn't,” Lindiwe Simelane said. The younger Simelane attends a teen support group, which she says helps. But, she says, her mother gave her the most important tool in fighting the disease: her unconditional love and support, so she does not have to fight alone.

HIV-positive Teens Demand More Support

Related:

Faith Is Friend in AIDS Battle, Some Clergy Say
July 21, 2016 — The Reverend Amin Sandewa says his faith has been repeatedly tested. It was pushed to the limit when his wife and two daughters died, one after another, the youngest daughter at just a month old. Sandewa looked to his Lutheran faith for solace and answers.

The harshest challenge came from his very church, when he told leaders in 1999 that he was HIV positive. "I know what it is like to be stigmatized," he said on the sidelines of the International AIDS Conference in Durban. His status may have prevented him from getting a parish, Sandewa says. But when he was shunned, he looked to his faith and turned the other cheek. "The teaching of Jesus Christ is about love," he said. "So when I see others stigmatizing me, I know they are not walking the talk, because they are preaching the love, but then they are not implementing the love. So that's how I gathered confidence and said, I have to teach them, I decided to teach them about that. When they stigmatized me, I said no, I have to help them."

Pressing for tolerance, compassion

Sandewa is one of several dozen religious leaders who took an unlikely spot here at the 21st annual conference, saying there is room for faith in the fight against the virus. Clergy held regular interfaith sessions. The journey to reconcile faith and HIV hasn't been easy. For example, critics say the Roman Catholic Church has marginalized millions of people who need help and acceptance. In doing so, critics argue, the Church has denied vulnerable people the social and material support they need to fight HIV.

Civil rights activists march at the start of the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, July 18, 2016. Some clerics seek a less judgmental approach in battling the epidemic, which often afflicts people who are gay.

Caroline Jaff, a medical doctor and Catholic nun in Cameroon, summed up the Church's position on two controversial topics in the fight against AIDS. "We preach fidelity, which is 100 percent HIV prevention," she said. "About homosexuality, you know, actually, it's not a matter of judgement, but since the Church goes along with what the Scripture says, let me just say, it has created man and woman." Other Christian leaders say such attitudes are not helpful. The Reverend J.P. Mokgethi-Heath, who toted around a bag full of condoms and spoke lovingly about his husband, said religious institutions need to be more accepting of people and of sex.

A policy adviser on HIV and theology for the Church of Sweden, he said houses of worship need to be involved in the fight against HIV. "Faith is integral to all our lives, and what faith gives each of us is the knowledge that we are beautifully and divinely created, that each of us is not only a creation, but a celebration of God," he said. "And so our main role, I would say, is not only to link people to God in relationship, but to give people the self-esteem they need to believe themselves worthy of protection, believe themselves worthy of treatment, believe themselves worthy of care."

Faith and science compatible

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Vaccine to re-train the body's immune system to attack HIV...

Scientists Take Lesson From Immune System in Hunt for HIV Vaccine
September 09, 2016 - Scientists are one step closer to success in the battle against HIV with an experimental vaccine designed to retrain the body's immune system to attack the virus that causes AIDS.

A vaccine has been elusive in part because the AIDS virus mutates rapidly, making it a moving target for researchers. However, in a small fraction of people who have been infected for a couple of years, their immune systems learn to recognize the viral mutations, cranking out “broadly neutralizing antibodies” that naturally block HIV in its many disguises. Scientists have tried to harness the potential of these antibodies and translate that knowledge into a vaccine that could induce antibodies in humans to fight the ever-changing virus. Now, researchers in a large-scale collaboration at a number of institutions say they have taken a major — though early — step toward such a vaccine development.

A doctor draws blood from a man to check for HIV/AIDS at a mobile testing unit in Ndeeba, a suburb in Uganda's capital Kampala.

Experiments with the vaccine were successful in a mouse model that mimicked the human immune system. The achievement was described in five papers published simultaneously in the journals Cell, Immunity and Science. Frederick Alt, director of the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital, led researchers in creating the humanized mouse model. Alt says the approach, referred to as "sequential vaccination," retrains the immune system's B-cells to recognize the HIV virus in all its forms and kill it by producing highly specific antibodies.

Seek and destroy

Scientists worked with non-infectious, genetically modified HIV proteins. These stimulated young immune system cells, called precursor B-cells, to produce oddly shaped antibodies. The antibodies — which can recognize mutated versions of the AIDS virus — attach themselves to other components of the immune system that then seek out and destroy the virus. So far, scientists have engineered two proteins to prime the immune system, which were shown in the mouse model to produce antibodies with many of the same genetic features as naturally produced broadly neutralizing antibodies.

Because there are millions of varieties of HIV, vaccination would require more than one shot, according to researcher Bill Schief, a vaccine designer for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. "Basically, what we are trying to do … is devise vaccines that will teach the human immune system to produce broadly neutralizing antibodies so that after you get the vaccine … if you are ever exposed to the virus, you'll be protected no matter which of the tens of the millions of strains that are circulating now that you're exposed to — hopefully, it won't matter, if we do our job perfectly well," Schief said. Researchers plan to test one of the stimulating proteins in a clinical trial next year, to see if it activates B-cells as intended. It is work that scientists hope will rewrite the rules of vaccine development, and vanquish a formidable foe — the AIDS virus — for good.

http://www.voanews.com/a/scientists-...e/3501010.html

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Kick and Kill protocol shows promise for AIDS cure...

Clinical Results Show Promise in Search for HIV Cure
October 03, 2016 - A promising multi-disciplinary approach to fighting HIV has led to an encouraging first set of results from clinical trials. The new treatment — called Kick and Kill — comes out of a collaboration between five leading U.K. research establishments.

Waking up sleeping HIV cells

The therapy targets people diagnosed with HIV who are taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs. ART drugs reduce the amount of HIV in the bloodstream to such small levels that patients can't pass along the virus and their immune system is able to fight it. The problem is that HIV is incredibly sneaky, and ART alone can't "cure" it. A news release from the U.K. National Institute of Health Research (NHS) explains it this way: ART "only works on HIV infected cells that are active, and most cells infected with HIV in the human body contain resting or sleeping virus."

Ruth Munyao, a pharmacist, dispenses antiretroviral drugs at the Mater Hospital in Kenya's capital of Nairobi

And that's where the idea of Kick and Kill comes in. The treatment consisted of giving HIV patients a drug called an HDAC inhibitor, which is commonly used to fight cancer. In HIV-positive people, HDAC is the enzyme that allows these dormant HIV cells to rest. Tamping down HDAC "kicks" the virus awake. Once awake, the ART therapy can kill even more of the virus, and could ultimately lead to a cure.

More results ahead

Researchers plan to try the new therapy on 50 HIV study participants. "This first participant has now completed the intervention and we have found it to be safe and well tolerated," said Sarah Fidler, professor of HIV and Communicable Diseases at Imperial College London and co-principal investigator on the study. "Only when all 50 study participants have completed the whole study, by 2018, will we be able to tell if there has been an effect on curing HIV."

In a news release Monday, the NHS urged caution on reporting the study, saying "all participants involved in the study will be expected to have no HIV in their blood because they are receiving antiretroviral therapy — these are the standard drugs we use to treat HIV."

http://www.voanews.com/a/clinical-re...e/3535330.html

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Hopes for a functional cure for HIV...

Experiment in Monkeys Raises Hopes of 'Functional Cure' for HIV
October 13, 2016 — A new drug combination helped stave off a monkey version of HIV for nearly two years after stopping all treatments, raising hopes for a functional cure for HIV, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

The treatment involved standard HIV drugs, known as antiretroviral therapy or ART, plus an experimental antibody that hits the same target as Takeda Pharmaceutical's Entyvio, a drug approved in more than 50 countries for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. The findings, published Thursday in the journal Science, are promising enough that scientists at the National Institutes of Health, which funded the research, have already begun testing the Takeda drug, known generically as vedolizumab, in people newly infected with HIV. “The experimental treatment regimen appears to have given the immune systems of the monkeys the necessary boost to put the virus into sustained remission," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases, part of the NIH, who co-led the study. Sustained remission - known as a "functional cure" - could have sweeping implications for people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV, which attacks the immune system.

Healthy monkeys at the California National Primate Research Center in Davis, California. A new drug combination helped stave off a monkey version of HIV for nearly two years after stopping all treatments, raising hopes for a functional cure for HIV, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

Highly effective treatments known as antiretroviral therapy push the virus down to undetectable levels in the blood, but they must be taken every day over a person's lifetime to remain effective, said Aftab Ansari of Emory University School of Medicine who co-lead the study. Ansari said the study was based on the understanding that in the early days of infection, HIV attacks a specific class of immune cells that congregate in large quantities in the gut. They theorized that if they could protect these immune cells, they could buy the immune system enough time to mount an effective response. To do this, the team tested an antibody that blocks a protein called alpha-4/beta-7 integrin that HIV uses to attack immune cells in the gut. For the study, they infected 18 monkeys with simian immunodeficiency virus or SIV, the monkey version of HIV. They then treated all of the animals with ART for 90 days, and, as it does in humans, the ART controlled the virus, reducing it to undetectable levels.

Antiretroviral drugs used in this stage of the experiment included Gilead's tenofovir and emtricitabine, sold in a combination drug for people as Truvada, and a Merck integrase inhibitor known as L-870812. In 11 monkeys, the scientists then gave infusions of the antibody for 23 weeks, and seven monkeys got a placebo. Three of the 11 monkeys developed a reaction to the treatment and had to stop the therapy. In the eight monkeys that got the treatment, six initially showed signs that SIV was rebounding, but eventually their immune systems were able to control the virus. In two others, the virus never rebounded. All eight have continued to suppress SIV to undetectable levels for up to 23 months after all treatment stopped. In the control group, SIV rebounded and all seven animals died. The study did not look at whether the monkeys were still able to transmit the virus, but studies in people have shown that reducing HIV to undetectable levels cuts transmission rates by nearly 100 percent.

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Tryin' it out on Mikey first...

New HIV vaccine trial to start in South Africa
Nov 27,`16) -- A new vaccine against HIV, to be tested in a trial to be launched in South Africa Wednesday, could be "the final nail in the coffin" for the disease if it is successful, scientists say.

The study, called HVTN 702, aims to enroll 5,400 sexually active men and women aged between 18 and 35 at 15 sites across South Africa. It will be the largest and most advanced HIV vaccine clinical trial to take place in South Africa, where more than 1,000 people a day are infected with HIV. "If deployed alongside our current armory of proven HIV prevention tools, a safe and effective vaccine could be the final nail in the coffin for HIV," Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. government's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said in a statement released ahead of the trial. "Even a moderately effective vaccine would significantly decrease the burden of HIV disease over time in countries and populations with high rates of HIV infection, such as South Africa," he said.

The vaccine being tested in HVTN 702 is based on a 2009 trial in Thailand, that was found to be 31.2 percent effective at preventing HIV infection over the 3.5 years of follow-up after the vaccination. The new vaccine aims to provide greater and more sustained protection and has been adapted to the HIV subtype that predominates in southern Africa. "HIV has taken a devastating toll in South Africa, but now we begin a scientific exploration that could hold great promise for our country,"said Glenda Gray, chief executive officer of the South African Medical Research Council. "If an HIV vaccine were found to work in South Africa, it could dramatically alter the course of the pandemic."

Volunteers for the study, funded by NIAID, are being randomly assigned to receive either the vaccine regimen or a placebo. All participants will receive five injections over a year. Participants who become infected with HIV in the community will be referred to local medical providers for care and treatment and will be counselled on how to reduce their risk of transmitting the virus. South Africa has more than 6.8 million people living with HIV, but the country has had remarkable success in rolling out an HIV drug treatment program, which the government says is the largest in the world. Life expectancy, which sank as the epidemic grew, has rebounded from 57.1 years in 2009 to 62.9 years in 2014. Results of the vaccine study are expected in late 2020.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...11-27-10-49-23

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Experimental Vaccine Against HIV Looks Hopeful...

Experimental Vaccine Against HIV has Promising Results
Tuesday 25th July, 2017 - A study on a HIV vaccine, which is still at an early stage, has given encouraging results. It was presented at an international conference on AIDS research in Paris. Reports ChronicleBG.

After being tested on 393 volunteers from 5 countries - the United States, Rwanda, Uganda, South Korea and Thailand, the vaccine prototype caused an immune response - antibody production in all participants. "These promising results, as well as the success of other scientists in the same field, encourage us to be optimistic about the development of the HIV vaccine," said Dan Baruh of the research team.

Experts believe that the vaccine remains the best way to put an end to an epidemic that infected 76 million people and caused 35 million deaths since its appearance in the early 1980s. According to the United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS, despite the prevention methods, 1.8 million new infections were registered in 2016. "So far, only four vaccine projects have tested their clinical efficacy," reminded the virologist Dan Baruh of Harvard University.

The experimental vaccine first excites the immune system with the help of a rhinovirus before it stimulates it with a protein found on the HIV structure, triggering a stronger response from the body. "In a previous phase of the monkey study, this strategy prevented the spread of the infection among two-thirds of the animals," Baruh said. "Of course, we still do not know if the vaccine will protect people, but the results obtained justify carrying out larger-scale research."

http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/2...mising-results

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US HIV Diagnoses Improving, But Progress Varies...


CDC: US HIV Diagnoses Improving, But Progress Varies
November 28, 2017 — Delays in the time between becoming infected with HIV and getting a diagnosis are shortening, helped by efforts to increase testing for the virus that causes AIDS, U.S. health officials said.

The report, released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that 50 percent of the 39,720 people diagnosed with HIV in 2015 had been infected for at least three years, a seven-month improvement compared with 2011. Nevertheless, 25 percent of people diagnosed with HIV in 2015 were infected for seven years or more before being diagnosed. CDC Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald said the report shows the nation is making progress in the fight against HIV, but the gains are uneven, and challenges remain. "Too many people have HIV infections that go undiagnosed for far too long," Fitzgerald said in a conference call with reporters.


Shortening the time between HIV infection and diagnosis is key to prevention. The CDC estimates that about 40 percent of new HIV infections are caused by people who did not know they were infected. Although testing rates increased overall, an estimated 15 percent of people living with HIV in 2015 did not know they were infected, and half of people who were unaware of their infection in 2015 lived in the South. The report found many other disparities, with delays in diagnosis varying significantly by race/ethnicity and gender.

A nurse takes blood for a free HIV test during an HIV prevention campaign marking the World AIDS Day in Lima, Peru

For example, the estimated time from HIV infection to diagnosis was a median of five years for heterosexual men, twice as long as heterosexual women. The median was three years for gay and bisexual men. "The report tells us some groups, particularly heterosexual men and racial and ethnic minorities, live with HIV longer than other groups before they are diagnosed," Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, told the briefing.


Among high-risk individuals, many reported not being tested in the prior year, including 29 percent of gay and bisexual men, 42 percent of people who inject drugs and 59 percent of heterosexuals at increased risk for HIV. Two-thirds of those who had not been tested for HIV in the prior year had seen a health care provider, which Mermin considered a missed opportunity for testing. People who are diagnosed and take medications to control HIV are significantly less likely to spread the disease.


https://www.voanews.com/a/us-hiv-dia...c/4140834.html