A protein called SAMHD1 has been found to starve HIV in cells so that it cannot do anything, thus making the cell resistant to HIV infection, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center reported in Nature Immunology. The authors explained that their discovery could pave the way for new therapeutic research at halting or slowing the HIV's progression to AIDS. Research co-leader, Nathaniel R. Landau, PhD., said: ... (read more)
Some 15,000 AIDS victims in Congo likely will die waiting for lifesaving drugs in the next three years, Doctors Without Borders warned Wednesday in a report describing “horrific” health care access. About 85 percent of AIDS patients in need of anti-retroviral medication are not getting any, according to the organization known by its French acronym, MSF. Medical... (read more)
The risk for sexual transmission of HIV-1 increases significantly as plasma viral levels of the infected individual rise, according James P. Hughes, PhD, professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues, who studied HIV-1 infectivity among more than 3200 heterosexual couples in sub-Saharan Africa. Each log10 increase in copies per milliliter of plasma HIV-1 RNA was associat... (read more)
A woman from Cameroon has been found to be infected with an AIDS-like virus that came from gorillas, French researchers reported Sunday. The woman, who has no symptoms of HIV infection, is well and was likely infected by another person, not an animal, the researchers said. Their findings suggest this newly discovered gorilla virus is circulating among people, they reported in the journal Nature Medicine. To continue reading, click the link below.
Over the past year, researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and around the world, have been studying a group of potent antibodies that have the ability to neutralize HIV in the lab; their hope is that they may learn how to create a vaccine that makes antibodies with similar properties. Now, biologists at Caltech led by Nobel Laureate David Baltimor... (read more)
Europe's health is suffering, with around 80,000 cases of tuberculosis infection a year and serious problems with measles, HIV and threats from "superbug" infections, an annual health report on the region said Thursday. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which monitors disease in EU, said its 2011 report sends "worrying signals" on epidemics of measles, and... (read more)
Scientists have moved a step closer to understanding how one of our body's own proteins helps stop the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) in its tracks. The study, carried out by researchers at The University of Manchester and the Medical Research Council's National Institute for Medical Research and published in Nature, provides a blueprint for the design of new drugs to treat HIV infection, say the ... (read more)
An innovative delivery method for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) medications has been developed through use of a transdermal patch, the first of its kind to treat HIV. This research is being presented at the 2011 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C., Oct. 23-27. HIV is an ever-growing worldwide epidemic. According to the Wor... (read more)
African-Americans with two copies of the APOL1 gene have about a 4 percent lifetime risk of developing a form of kidney disease, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health. The finding brings scientists closer to understanding why African-Americans are four times more likely to develop kidney failure than whites, as they reported in the Oct. 13 online edition of the Journal... (read more)
PROBLEM: A positive HIV diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. These days, HIV infection is increasingly being likened to a chronic disease that can be managed with a strict antiretroviral regimen. Still, life expectancy for people with HIV is lower than that of the general population, and many continue to live with the virus undiagnosed. METHODOLOGY: Researchers led by Margaret May of the ... (read more)
The percentage of HIV strains resistant to three main classes of AIDS drugs has declined since 2007, according to a study that suggests the introduction of new medicines may be keeping mutated viruses at bay. As of 2010, drug-resistant HIV fell to 11 percent of cases from 29 percent in 2007 among the three types of AIDS medicines, according to a paper presented today at the Intersci... (read more)
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (a member of the retrovirus family) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells. The four major routes of transmission are unsafe sex, contaminated needles, breast milk, and transmission from an infected mother to her baby at birth (perinatal transmission). Screening of blood products for HIV has largely eliminated transmission through blood transfusions or infected blood products in the developed world.
HIV infection in humans is considered pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Nevertheless, complacency about HIV may play a key role in HIV risk. From its discovery in 1981 to 2006, AIDS killed more than 25 million people. HIV infects about 0.6% of the world's population. In 2009, AIDS claimed an estimated 1.8 million lives, down from a global peak of 2.1 million in 2004. Approximately 260,000 children died of AIDS in 2009. A disproportionate number of AIDS deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, retarding economic growth and exacerbating the burden of poverty. In 2005, it was estimated that HIV would infect 90 million people in Africa, resulting in a minimum estimate of 18 million orphans. Treatment with antiretroviral drugs reduces both the mortality and the morbidity of HIV infection. Although antiretroviral medication is still not universally available, expansion of antiretroviral therapy programs since 2004 has helped to turn the tide of AIDS deaths and new infections in many parts of the world. Intensified awareness and preventive measures, as well as the natural course of the epidemic, have also played a role. Nevertheless, an estimated 2.6 million people were newly infected in 2009.
HIV infects vital cells in the human immune system such as helper T cells (specifically CD4+ T cells), macrophages, and dendritic cells. HIV infection leads to low levels of CD4+ T cells through three main mechanisms: First, direct viral killing of infected cells; second, increased rates of apoptosis in infected cells; and third, killing of infected CD4+ T cells by CD8 cytotoxic lymphocytes that recognize infected cells. When CD4+ T cell numbers decline below a critical level, cell-mediated immunity is lost, and the body becomes progressively more susceptible to opportunistic infections.
Most untreated people infected with HIV-1 eventually develop AIDS. These individuals mostly die from opportunistic infections or malignancies associated with the progressive failure of the immune system. HIV progresses to AIDS at a variable rate affected by viral, host, and environmental factors; most will progress to AIDS within 10 years of HIV infection: some will have progressed much sooner, and some will take much longer. Treatment with anti-retrovirals increases the life expectancy of people infected with HIV. Even after HIV has progressed to diagnosable AIDS, the average survival time with antiretroviral therapy was estimated to be more than 5 years as of 2005. Without antiretroviral therapy, someone who has AIDS typically dies within a year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiv
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