INTRODUCTION Patient preference to antiretroviral therapy (ART) characteristics should be a key consideration in treatment decisions. ART options exist for people living with HIV (PLWH), however concerns remain related to PLWH satisfaction with current ARTs. The current study examines patient preferences and the strength of preferences for treatment characteristics associated with ART. MATERI...

The role of DCs in primary HIV-1 infection remains uncertain. In this study, we enrolled two different groups of subjects with acute HIV-1 infection. One group progressed to CD4 counts below 200 cells/μl within 2 years of HIV-1 infection (CD4 Low Group), while the other group maintained CD4 counts above 500 cells/μl (CD4 High Group). We did not find statistical difference in the pDC number betw...

BACKGROUND Anaemia is a common clinical finding in HIV infected women and has been associated with advanced disease. The use of antiretroviral drugs such as Zidovudine (ZDV) either for prevention of mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV or used in combination with other antiretrovirals have been implicated in the development or increased severity of anaemia. We report the prevalence, type,...

When to start ART has continuously been debated. Previously it was rarely an urgent matter to initiate ART in asymptomatic patients [8]. Currently there is evidence that the lower the CD4 counts are when treatment is initiated the more increased risk of death [9] while if patients start treatment at the time of diagnosis they live longer [10,11]. This is also reflected in the current guidelines...

Maraviroc is the first CCR5 antagonist approved for the treatment of HIV-1 infection. It specifically inhibits the replication of R5 viruses by blocking viral entry. HIV-1 tropism can be estimated accurately and predict viral response to maraviroc. Genotypic tools are increasingly replacing phenotypic assays in most places. The favorable pharmacokinetic properties and the good safety profile of...

Members of the writing group for the International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT)– Evaluation of Subcutaneous Proleukin in a Randomized International Trial (ESPRIT) Study Group and the Subcutaneous Recombinant, Human Interleukin-2 in HIV-Infected Patients with Low CD4+ Counts under Active Antiretroviral Therapy (SILCAAT) Scientific Committee (D. Abrams, M.D. [c...

results section: There were 45 participants in the pre-intervention period and 138 participants in the post-intervention period with low CD4 count results (46, 49, and 43 in the direct, PIN, and coded groups, respectively). Median time to clinic return was 33 days (IQR 11-49) in the pre-intervention period versus 6 days (IQR 316) in the intervention period (P<0.001); and median time to ART init...

Older adults favor emotionally positive material over emotionally negative material in information processing. Given the potentially harmful consequences of avoiding negative information, this aging positivity effect may provide benefits that offset its costs. To test this possibility, we assessed positivity in recall and blood indicators of immune function among older adults. Greater positivit...

OBJECTIVE To provide estimates of mortality among HIV-infected patients starting combination antiretroviral therapy. METHODS We report on the death rates from 122 925 adult HIV-infected patients aged 15 years or older from East, Southern and West Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America. We use two methods to adjust for biases in mortality estimation resulting from loss from follow-up, based on...

OBJECTIVES We aimed to determine for the first time the prevalence and severity of multidimensional problems in a population newly diagnosed with HIV at outpatient clinics in Africa. METHODS Recently diagnosed patients (within previous 14 days) were consecutively recruited at 11 HIV clinics in Kenya and Uganda. Participants completed a validated questionnaire, the African Palliative Outcome S...