AIDS campaigners say pandemic has finally reached tipping point

LONDON - The world has finally reached "the beginning of the end" of the AIDS pandemic that has infected and killed millions in the past 30 years, according to a leading campaign group fighting HIV.

The number of people newly infected with HIV over the last year was lower than the number of HIV-positive people who joined those getting access to the medicines they need to take for life to keep AIDS at bay.

But in a report to mark World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, the ONE campaign, an advocacy group working to end poverty and preventable disease in Africa, warned that reaching this milestone did not mean the end of AIDS was around the corner.

"We've passed the tipping point in the AIDS fight at the global level, but not all countries are there yet, and the gains made can easily stall or unravel," said Erin Hohlfelder, ONE's director of global health policy.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS is spread via blood, semen and breast milk. There is no cure for the infection, but AIDS can be kept at bay for many years with cocktails of antiretroviral drugs.

United Nations data show that in 2013, 35 million people were living with HIV, 2.1 million people were newly infected with the virus and some 1.5 million people died of AIDS. By far the greatest part of the HIV/AIDS burden is in sub-Saharan Africa.

The AIDS pandemic began more than 30 years ago and has killed up to 40 million people worldwide.

The United Nations AIDS agency, UNAIDS, says that, by June 2014, some 13.6 million people globally had access to AIDS drugs, a dramatic improvement on the 5 million who were getting treatment in 2010.

"Despite the good news, we should not take a victory lap yet," said Hohlfelder.

She highlighted several threats to current progress, including a $3 billion shortfall in the funds needed each year to control HIV around the world.

"We want to see bold new funding from a more diversified base, including more from African domestic budgets," she said.

ONE also noted that HIV is increasingly concentrated among hard-to-reach populations such as injecting drug users, gay men and sex workers - groups who are often stigmatised and have trouble accessing treatment and prevention services.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

HIV's infection tactics could guide AIDS vaccine, study finds

WASHINGTON - New research that sheds light on the methods and machinery used by HIV to infect cells provides insight into the tricky virus that potentially could guide the development of a vaccine against the virus that causes AIDS, according to U.S. government and other scientists.

Separate studies published on Wednesday describe in detail the structure and dynamics of the spike on the surface of the human immunodeficiency virus that it employs to fuse with and enter cells.

The researchers expressed hope that the information can provide a road map for a potential vaccine designed to keep the spike in a "closed" state to prevent the virus from successfully infecting cells.

"We can expect a lot of activities being devoted to that goal," Yale University virologist Walther Mothes, one of the researchers, said, calling the new findings "a major step forward for drug and vaccine design."

Another researcher, structural biologist Jason Gorman of the Vaccine Research Center at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, expressed optimism "that this new information will pave the way for a vaccine. Of course, there are always many barriers to overcome."

The research, published in the journals Nature and Science, may point to a way through a vaccine or perhaps new drugs to enable the immune system - the body's natural defense system - to zero in on HIV and block its ability to infect cells.

The research revealed the detailed structure of the spikes on the surface of HIV as well as details on how the spike rearranges itself into three different configurations.

Three sets of a pair of molecules make up each spike, and the spike alters its shape before and during cell binding, the researchers said. The configuration that the spikes most often assume is the "closed" state, which is particularly difficult for the immune system to detect. But in that form the spike also has difficulty infecting a cell.

The spikes need to be in their "open" state in order to fuse with a cell and infect it. But that state exposes parts of the virus that may be more vulnerable to antibodies, the protective proteins produced by the immune system in response to an invader like a virus.

As a result, the spike usually takes its "closed" form and opens for a short time, making it hard for the immune system to find and attack the virus, the researchers said. A class of antibodies called "broadly neutralizing antibodies" are able to keep the spike closed and curb further cell infection by HIV but are rarely found in HIV-infected people.

Scientists have tried for decades to develop a safe and effective vaccine to prevent AIDS, caused by HIV infection. HIV is complex and extremely changeable, thwarting the immune system at nearly every turn.

Gorman said the work provided atomic-level details of the full spike that are critical for allowing scientists to try to deprive it of its flexibility "and lock it into the closed state that elicits and is recognized by broadly neutralizing antibodies."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Counseling important for those testing for AIDS

MANILA -- It is not easy to psyche yourself to get tested for HIV-AIDS.

That's why Dr. Regina Berba and Dr. Ronald Elepano of The Medical City's I-React Clinic stressed the importance of counseling for those who want to be tested for HIV-AIDS.

In celebration of World AIDS Day on Sunday, ABS-CBN's "Salamat Dok" invited experts from I-React Clinic to discuss the disease.

"Hindi madaling lumantad at pumunta sa isang clinic for HIV testing," explained Elepano, noting that there is also a stigma associated with the illness, especially since it is a sexually-transmitted disease.

In the Philippines, 491 new cases of HIV-AIDS were reported in October with majority of the new patients between the ages of 15 and 24.

The two experts noted that hormonal surges are at its peak between these ages, which may be a factor in the increase of HIV-AIDS cases.

They pointed out that it is mandated by law for all HIV-AIDS clinics to conduct pre-test and post-test counseling for patients undergoing AIDS testing, whether they turn out to be HIV negative or positive.

"Mahalagang maintindihan nila na hindi hindrance ang HIV sa pagpapatuloy ng work o studies nila," Berba said, stressing that it is important to remember that not all patients with HIV will end up having AIDS.

The experts advised those who will undergo testing to bring their family with them, as they are an important source of inspiration and hope for the patient.

Elepano, for his part, stressed that acceptance is important for a person with HIV to live a normal life.

"Kinakailangang tanggapin ng isang tao na mayroon siyang ginawa sa kanyang past na naglagay sa kanya at risk of HIV-AIDS," he said.

The two experts said that in order to prevent infection, it is important to avoid multiple partners and to always practice safe sex.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Anxiety over rising HIV, AIDS cases creeps into burgeoning BPO sector

MANILA, Philippines - Some workers applying for jobs at call center companies are being asked to reveal if they have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) – a clear violation of the AIDS law that prohibits discrimination against people living with the virus.

This was one of the issues discussed Friday at the National Dialogue on HIV and Human Rights organized by the United Nations Development Programme, and which focused on the forms of discrimination experienced by people living with HIV (PLHIV).

Edu Razon, president of Pinoy Plus, said some business process outsourcing companies have started asking applicants if they have HIV and requiring them to get tested. “If you’re a PLHIV and you’re applying for a job in the BPO, you’re reluctant to apply because of that,” he said.

UNDP officials at the forum advised the support groups working with PLHIVs to document such instances of discrimination in order to make a case against violators.

The concern about HIV cases in the burgeoning BPO sector is not surprising, given recent pronouncements by government agencies pointing to the galloping increase in HIV/AIDS cases in the country.

The National AIDS Registry shows that from one new HIV case detected every three days in 2006, this has risen to 10 cases per day in the first quarter of 2012.

Law bars mandatory testing

Republic Act 8504 or the country’s AIDS law does not prescribe mandatory HIV testing for employment and prohibits discrimination in the workplace on account of having the virus.

The BPO sector employs about 640,000 workers and has so far contributed $11 billion to the economy. It is expected to grow to a $25-billion dollar industry and employ a total of 1.3 million workers.

Document cases – UNDP

Teresita Marie Bagasao, country coordinator of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said, there is a need to document these cases because they provide a clear picture of the different facets of discrimination experienced by those living with the virus.

“It’s very difficult to support an action if you don’t have evidence. You have to establish that such discrimination really exists,” said Bagasao.

Razon, however, noted that some BPO applicants are afraid to file a complaint because that would mean they have to disclose their HIV status. Participants to the dialogue, among them from the Commission on Human Rights, said PLHIV are faced with a dilemma between accessing services for redress and “coming out” publicly.

Jonas Bagas, executive director of TLF-Share, a non-government organization whose work is focused on the gay community, said most men having sex with men (MSM) do not submit themselves for HIV testing because of discrimination.

He cited a 2011 study of the National Epidemiology Center of the health department which showed that while the rate of MSM submitting themselves for testing has increased to 15 percent, only five percent of them come back for the results.

“They stop accessing results because of fear of being disclosed. They don’t want to know (if they’re infected),” he added.

Bagas said MSM are also afraid to go for testing because of the perception that HIV is a “gay disease.”

According to the UNAIDS, the transmission trend of HIV in the country has shifted from heterosexual to male-to-male sex, with five out of six Filipinos being infected with the virus in the country in 2011 coming from the MSM sector.

source: interaksyon.com

Seafarers urged to avoid commercial sex, be tested, as OFW-linked HIV cases rise

MANILA, Philippines – From modern-day hero to heel: that’s effectively how a legislator describes reckless seafarers who access commercial sex abroad and pass on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to their family back home.

As the official registry of HIV-AIDS cases shows a spike in cases involving migrant workers, the seafarers, according to a party-list congressman, should protect their partners against the dreaded virus that causes full-blown AIDS by having themselves tested against the virus every time they come home to the Philippines.

Rep. Arnel Ty of the LPG Marketers' Association (LPG-MA), author of House Bill 5312 that seeks a P400-million fund to jumpstart a new HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Plan, said seafarers are vulnerable to the virus because they can easily access commercial sex abroad and can pass it on when they return home.

Citing data from the health department's HIV/AIDS Registry, Ty noted that 20 percent of the country's total 9,669 HIV cases are Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). Of the 1,921 HIV-positive OFWs recorded since the registry began in 1984, an estimated 97 percent contracted the virus through sexual contact.

“We have reason to believe many of these HIV-positive OFWs may be sailors,” said Ty.

Manpower consultant Manny Geslani said all land-based and sea-based OFWs are not mandated to have themselves tested for HIV unless their blood tests show they are positive for a sexually transmitted disease.

"What happens is they undergo blood test. If the test showed that they are positive for STD, that's the only time that they are required to test themselves for HIV/AIDS," Geslani said in a telephone interview.

But Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the test for HIV is mandatory for seafarers.

As of May this year a total of 133 HIV positives were OFWs representing 10 percent of new HIV cases. Eighty-nine percent of these cases involve men and 11 percent were women who work abroad.

Majority of HIV-positive OFWs or about 77 percent, are aged 35 and below.

“As a precaution, we would encourage these sexually active sailors to voluntarily undergo HIV-testing every time they come home, for the sake of their partners here. Also, the earlier they get diagnosed, the sooner they can seek treatment,” said Ty.

Filipino seafarers number more than 350,000, manning about one-third of the world's fleet.

They sent home a record $1.532 billion from January to April this year, up $195 million or 14.58 percent from the $1.337 billion they remitted in the same four-month period in 2011.

source: interaksyon.com