HIV Edmonton E-Update March 25th, 2008

SMALL E-UPDATE THIS WEEK

Due to the lateness of the last E-Update and the extra long Easter Holiday weekend, there are only a few relevant articles available for today's E-Update. Hope you enjoy the read.

If you have something you would like highlighted in the HIV Edmonton E-Update, please forward it along to me at robert.s@hivedmonton.com and I will include it. Topics should be about HIV/AIDS and related illness or conditions and/or community events that may be relevant to our readers.

The Body Pro March 17, 2008

The Body Pro produces a monthly newsletter about most aspects of HIV Treatment, Treatment Complications and Research. HIV Edmonton will periodically include their full newletter in our regular postings. Included in this edition: HIV Treatment HIV/HAART Related Complications, HIV Transmission, HIV in the U.S. News, and HIV Throughout the World. Enjoy!

Progress in Global Fight To Stop TB Slowing, WHO Report Says

(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report) The pace of progress in detecting new tuberculosis cases worldwide is slowing, according to the 12th annual report on TB control released Monday by the World Health Organization, the New York Times reports. According to the report -- titled "Global Tuberculosis Control 2008 -- Surveillance, Planning, Financing"-- the rate of increase in detecting new TB cases was 3% from 2005 to 2006, compared with the previous average of 6% recorded from 2001 to 2005 (Altman, New York Times, 3/18).. The report found that out of the total 14.4 million people living with TB in 2006, the last year for which statistics are available, 9.2 million were new cases. Global deaths from the disease decreased by 2.6% in 2006 to 1.7 million people when compared with 2005 figures, the report found (Dunham, Reuters, 3/17). TB incidence worldwide decreased by 0.6% in 2006, but the decrease was so modest compared with 2005 that the increase in the world's population meant there were actually more TB cases, the report noted (Reuters, 3/17). Health officials said that they ideally want to see TB incidence decline by 5% to 7% annually (Cheng, AP/Google.com, 3/17).

Alabama Continues Debate on Segregating HIV-Positive Prisoners

AP/Montgomery Advertiser Examines Debate Over Segregating HIV-Positive Inmates From General Prison Population (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report) The AP/Montgomery Advertiser on Monday examined issues surrounding the segregation of HIV-positive inmates from the general prison population. Regulations in two prisons in Alabama previously restricted HIV-positive inmates from participating in some activities -- such as eating, worshiping and visiting family members -- with other inmates. Prison officials in November 2007 announced that they planned to eliminate some of the restrictions. However, space issues at one of the prisons have kept some of the regulations in place, according to Margaret Winter, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project. Winter said that inmates living with HIV/AIDS must visit with their families in a separate visiting area and sit in separate pews during chapel services. Alabama Prisons Commissioner Richard Allen said the segregation is a "security issue," adding, "One thing we don't want to do is put the [HIV-positive inmates] in a situation where other inmates want to retaliate against them."

HIV Among MSM in London Spreading in 'Bursts,' Study Finds

(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report) HIV among men who have sex with men in London is spreading in "bursts," according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh and London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and recently published in PLoS Medicine, BBC News reports (BBC News, 3/18). For the study, Andrew Brown of the university and colleagues compared the sequences of HIV genes of more than 2,000 HIV-positive people, primarily MSM, who received treatment at a London clinic between 1997 and 2003. The study found that 402 sequences closely matched at least one other sequence. In addition, the study found that the participants whose HIV sequence matched other sequences had formed six clusters of 10 or more people, as well as several smaller clusters (United Press International, 3/19).

Genetic Variations Might Be Causing Mutations to HIV, Making It Less Potent

(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report) Genetic variations that might help people newly diagnosed with HIV control their viral loads also could be causing a mutation in the virus that makes it less potent, according to a study published Friday in PLoS Pathogens, Reuters reports. Some people have versions of an immune system gene, called HLA, that are "known to force HIV to tolerate mutations that damage its ability to reproduce," according to Carolyn Williamson of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa and colleagues. The weakened virus also means lower viral loads and slower disease progression in people with beneficial versions of HLA, according to Reuters. The researchers found that the weakened virus might be transmitted to and act in the same way in other people, even if they do not have the HLA variation, Williamson said.