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Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Gilead’s Long Standing Commitment To Help End The HIV Epidemic

In June 1981, news of a mysterious disease first began making headlines out of San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. People who were impacted developed unusual infections and grew sick as their immune systems failed. Those early days of what we now know as the HIV epidemic were marked by great fear and loss. By the time the first medicine was introduced in the United States in 1987, more than 5,000 people had died and the number of people impacted continued to balloon……..Continue reading….

By: Gilead Sciences

Source: 3BL

Critics:

Many HIV-positive people are unaware that they are infected with the virus. For example, in 2001 less than 1% of the sexually active urban population in Africa had been tested, and this proportion is even lower in rural populations. Furthermore, in 2001 only 0.5% of pregnant women attending urban health facilities were counselled, tested or received their test results. Again, this proportion is even lower in rural health facilities.

Since donors may therefore be unaware of their infection, donor blood and blood products used in medicine and medical research are routinely screened for HIV. HIV-1 testing is initially done using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect antibodies to HIV-1. Specimens with a non-reactive result from the initial ELISA are considered HIV-negative, unless new exposure to an infected partner or partner of unknown HIV status has occurred. Specimens with a reactive ELISA result are retested in duplicate.

If the result of either duplicate test is reactive, the specimen is reported as repeatedly reactive and undergoes confirmatory testing with a more specific supplemental test (e.g., a polymerase chain reaction (PCR), western blot or, less commonly, an immunofluorescence assay (IFA)). Only specimens that are repeatedly reactive by ELISA and positive by IFA or PCR or reactive by western blot are considered HIV-positive and indicative of HIV infection.

Specimens that are repeatedly ELISA-reactive occasionally provide an indeterminate western blot result, which may be either an incomplete antibody response to HIV in an infected person or nonspecific reactions in an uninfected person. Although IFA can be used to confirm infection in these ambiguous cases, this assay is not widely used. In general, a second specimen should be collected more than a month later and retested for persons with indeterminate western blot results.

Although much less commonly available, nucleic acid testing (e.g., viral RNA or proviral DNA amplification method) can also help diagnosis in certain situations. In addition, a few tested specimens might provide inconclusive results because of a low quantity specimen. In these situations, a second specimen is collected and tested for HIV infection. Modern HIV testing is extremely accurate, when the window period is taken into consideration. A single screening test is correct more than 99% of the time.

The chance of a false-positive result in a standard two-step testing protocol is estimated to be about 1 in 250,000 in a low risk population. Testing post-exposure is recommended immediately and then at six weeks, three months, and six months. HIV/AIDS research includes all medical research that attempts to prevent, treat, or cure HIV/AIDS, as well as fundamental research about the nature of HIV as an infectious agent and AIDS as the disease caused by HIV.

Many governments and research institutions participate in HIV/AIDS research. This research includes behavioral health interventions, such as research into sex education, and drug development, such as research into microbicides for sexually transmitted diseases, HIV vaccines, and anti-retroviral drugs. Other medical research areas include the topics of pre-exposure prophylaxis, post-exposure prophylaxis, circumcision, and accelerated aging effects.

The management of HIV/AIDS typically involves the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs. In many parts of the world, HIV has become a chronic condition, with progression to AIDS increasingly rare. HIV latency and the resulting viral reservoir in CD4⁺ T cells, dendritic cells, and macrophages is the main barrier to eradication of the virus. While HIV is highly virulent, transmission through sexual contact does not occur when an HIV-positive individual maintains a consistently undetectable viral load (<50 copies/ml) due to antiretroviral treatment.

This concept was first proposed by the Swiss Federal Commission for AIDS/HIV in 2008 in what is known as the Swiss Statement. Although initially controversial, subsequent studies have confirmed that the risk of transmitting HIV through sex is effectively zero when the HIV-positive person has a consistently undetectable viral load, a concept now widely known as U=U, or “Undetectable = Untransmittable.

In 1983, two separate research groups led by American Robert Gallo and French investigators Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier independently declared that a novel retrovirus may have been infecting AIDS patients, and published their findings in the same issue of the journal Science. Gallo claimed that a virus his group had isolated from a person with AIDS was strikingly similar in shape to other human T-lymphotropic viruses (HTLVs) his group had been the first to isolate.

Gallo admitted in 1987 that the virus he claimed to have discovered in 1984 was in reality a virus sent to him from France the year before.^[170] Gallo’s group called their newly isolated virus HTLV-III. Montagnier’s group isolated a virus from a patient presenting with swelling of the lymph nodes of the neck and physical weakness, two classic symptoms of primary HIV infection. Contradicting the report from Gallo’s group, Montagnier and his colleagues showed that core proteins of this virus were immunologically different from those of HTLV-I.

Montagnier’s group named their isolated virus lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV). As these two viruses turned out to be the same, in 1986 LAV and HTLV-III were renamed HIV. Another group working contemporaneously with the Montagnier and Gallo groups was that of Jay A. Levy at the University of California, San Francisco. He independently discovered the AIDS virus in 1983 and named it the AIDS associated retrovirus (ARV).

This virus was very different from the virus reported by the Montagnier and Gallo groups. The ARV strains indicated, for the first time, the heterogeneity of HIV isolates and several of these remain classic examples of the AIDS virus found in the United States.

Emerging Concepts in the Immunopathogenesis of AIDS”.

Opportunistic Infections in HIV-Infected Patients Differ Strongly in Frequencies and Spectra between Patients with Low CD4+ Cell Counts Examined Postmortem and Compensated Patients Examined Antemortem Irrespective of the HAART Era”. 2007 AIDS epidemic update”

Risk of HIV transmission through condomless sex in serodifferent gay couples with the HIV-positive partner taking suppressive antiretroviral therapy (PARTNER): final results of a multicentre, prospective, observational study”.

HIV-Specific Antibodies Capable of ADCC Are Common in Breastmilk and Are Associated with Reduced Risk of Transmission in Women with High Viral Loads”.

Contaminants in human milk: weighing the risks against the benefits of breastfeeding”. public domain: “

Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV”.

Cell death by pyroptosis drives CD4 T-cell depletion in HIV-1 infection”.

HIV-1 induced bystander apoptosis”.

Robbins Basic Pathology

International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses

HIV latency”.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 2″.

HIV Sequence Compendium 2008 Introduction

Core structure of gp41 from the HIV envelope glycoprotein”

Few and far between: how HIV may be evading antibody avidity”.

Crystal structure of key HIV protein reveals new prevention, treatment targets”

Composition and Antigenic Effects of Individual Glycan Sites of a Trimeric HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein”.

Glycan clustering stabilizes the mannose patch of HIV-1 and preserves vulnerability to broadly neutralizing antibodies”.

Labels:hiv,aids,antibody,protein,medicalnews,gilead,medicine,glycoprotein,commitement,epidemic,infection,disease,immunesystem

Friday, May 16, 2025

Let’s Talk About It: A Sex-Positive Spotlight

If you were one of the lucky few who had sex education in secondary school or had “the talk” with your parents, you probably learned the basics STI transmissions, the male and female anatomy, how to put on a condom, etc. But what you probably didn’t learn is everything else that’s so often stigmatized, like the many, many mental benefits of having sex or how self-pleasure improves self-esteem and confidence. Yes, we’re going there……Continue reading….

By Team Verywell Mind

Source: Very Well Mind

Critics:

Evidence shows that a combination of comprehensive sexuality education and access to birth control appears to decrease the rates of unintended pregnancies among teenagers. A meta-analysis that compared comprehensive sexuality education programs with abstinence-only programs found that abstinence-only programs did not reduce the likelihood of pregnancy, but rather may have increased it.

Numerous studies show that curricula providing accurate information about condoms and contraception can lead to reductions in the risky behaviors reported by young people as well as reductions in unintended pregnancies and STIs. Programs that teach only abstinence have not been shown to be effective.

According to UNFPA, “A 2010 review found that ‘gender-focused’ curricula – meaning curricula that integrate gender equality into the learning material – were substantially more effective in reducing risky behaviors than programs that did not consider gender.” Research has also shown that delay in sexual initiation and the use of condoms and other contraception have been a result of young people adopting egalitarian attitudes towards gender roles.

These individuals were also found to be less likely to engage in violent relationships and to have a lower rate of STIs (including HIV) and unintended pregnancy. By emphasizing rights and gender issues, these programs help reduce gender-based violence and bullying, promote safe schools, empower young people to advocate for their own rights, and advance gender equality.

“Few sexual health interventions are designed with input from adolescents. Adolescents have suggested that sex education should be more positive with less emphasis on anatomy and scare tactics; it should focus on negotiation skills in sexual relationships and communication; and details of sexual health clinics should be advertised in areas that adolescents frequent (for example, school toilets, shopping centers).”

Also, a U.S. review concludes that “the overwhelming weight of evidence shows that sex education that discusses contraception does not increase sexual activity”. The 2007 study found that “No comprehensive program hastened the initiation of sex or increased the frequency of sex, results that many people fear.” Further, the report showed “Comprehensive programs worked for both genders, for all major ethnic groups, for sexually inexperienced and experienced teens, in different settings, and in different communities.

Sex education may be taught informally, such as when someone receives information from a conversation with a parent, friend, religious leader, or through the media. It may also be delivered through sex self-help authors, magazine advice columnists, sex columnists, or sexual education discussion board web sites. Sex education training for parents and educators can also be accessed on the internet through multimedia educational resources, including short videos, created by master sexuality educators.

Adolescents spend a lot of their time on social media, or watching television. Those same adolescents may also have a hard time talking to their families about sexual matters. A study has shown that mass media interventions; for example, use of teaching sexual education through commercials shown on television, or ads on social media, have proven effective and decreased the amount of unprotected sex. Formal sex education occurs when schools or health care providers offer sex education.

Slyer stated that sex education teaches the young person what he or she should know for his or her personal conduct and relationship with others. Gruenberg also stated that sex education is necessary to prepare the young for the task ahead. According to him, officials generally agree that some kind of planned sex education is necessary. There are two opposing sides of the sex education argument among parents.

Sexual liberals see knowledge on sex as equipping individuals to make informed decisions about their personal sexuality, and they are in favor of comprehensive sexual education all throughout schooling, not just in high school. Sexual conservatives see extensive education on sex as encouraging adolescents to have sex, and they believe that sex education should be taught inside the family for morals to be included in the conversation.

Sexual conservatives see the importance of teaching sex education, but only through abstinence-only programs. Some claim that certain sex education curricula break down pre-existing notions of modesty or encourage acceptance of what they consider immoral practices, such as homosexuality or premarital sex. Naturally, those that believe that homosexuality and premarital sex are a normal part of the range of human sexuality disagree with them.

Many religions teach that sexual behavior outside of marriage is immoral and/or psychologically damaging, and many adherents desire this morality to be taught as a part of sex education. They may believe that sexual knowledge is necessary, or simply unavoidable, hence their preference for curricula based on abstinence. Research conducted in the 2010–20 shows the effectiveness of digital sexual health interventions for young adults.

The systematic literature review examined 9881 records and assessed 61 studies, showing that phones are the leading way to deliver cognitive and behavioral results related to sexual health. Tools identified as the most popular mechanisms for sexual health promotion were: interactive websites, text messaging, phone calls, and online education programs. In evaluating the impact of these interventions, the review highlighted the importance of robust research designs, such as randomized controlled trials.

The reliability of the information on Sexual Health remains a concern. A study focusing on websites that adolescents tend to access when seeking online sexual health information revealed the differences in reliability of those online resources. The study focused on websites based in the US such as: Planned Parenthood and WebMD. While Planned Parenthood was found to be the most well-rounded website, concerns about the reliability of some websites remain.

Another study focused on the quality of online sexual health resources accessed by young people. It found that the CDC had the highest reliability score, while Planned Parenthood and WebMD scored higher in usability. Both these studies highlight the importance of online resources promoting sexual health in being easily accessible and trustworthy.

A study examined the accessibility of sex education content online. The research was a keyword search which resulted in identifying 41 relevant web pages. A surprising finding was that 63% of the pages were classified as pornography. This study highlights the difficulties and challenges that surround sexual health website evaluation studies.