People in developed countries like the United States are treated with HIV drugs soon after diagnosis, typically when their immune system shows signs of failing.
Doctors measure this by counting the number of immune cells called CD4 T-cells in the blood. In developed countries, HIV treatment usually begins when CD4 numbers drop below 350.
Many developing countries follow 2006 World Health Organization standards, which call for treatment when CD4 drops below 200 or when people start to develop complications from AIDS.
"While those standards accommodate the limited resources and short supply of medications in many settings, the greater prevalence of tuberculosis and other opportunistic infections in places like South Africa argue for earlier treatment initiation," Dr. Rochelle Walensky of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, whose study appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine, said in a statement.
Walensky used a computer model to calculate the cost of waiting to give HIV drugs over the next five years. She found starting treatment earlier would not only save lives but would be more cost-effective than delaying treatment, saving $1,200 for every year of life saved.
A Canadian study last year found cocktails of HIV drugs can help patients live an average of 13 years longer -- if they are lucky enough to get them.
Nearly 3 million people in the developing world now get HIV drugs -- about 70 percent of those who need them, according to the United Nations.
Makers include GlaxoSmithKline, Gilead Sciences Inc, Roche, Pfizer, Merck Inc, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Abbott Laboratories.
AIDS is caused by the fatal and incurable human immunodeficiency virus and is transmitted mostly through sex. It has killed 25 million people since it was identified in the early 1980s and infects an estimated 33 million.
GAY SEX TRANSMISSION
Most cases are in Africa, and most are transmitted during sex between a man and a woman.
But in some West African countries, HIV infection is 10 times more prevalent among men who have sex with men than in the general male population, British researchers have found.
A study reported in the Lancet medical journal by a team led by Dr. Adrian Smith of the University of Oxford suggests that the role of gay sex in the transmission of the virus that causes AIDS has been overlooked in Africa.
Smith's team found that stigma and prejudice may be keeping men in Africa from seeking treatment. Since many of these men also have sex with women, this may be putting many women at risk as well.
They called for more education and funding to fight HIV infection in this group.
Original Post: yahoo.com
It found that previously improving trends in teens' and young adults' sexual and reproductive health have flattened or may be worsening in some cases.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers analyzed national data from 2002-2007. Among their findings:
- About one-third of adolescents hadn't received instruction on methods of birth control before age 18.
- In 2004, there were about 745,000 pregnancies among females younger than age 20. This included an estimated 16,000 pregnancies among girls aged 10 to 14.
- Syphilis cases among young people aged 15 to 24 have increased in both males and females in recent years.
- In 2006, about one million young people aged 10 to 24 were reported to have chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis. Nearly one-quarter of females aged 15 to 19, and 45 percent of females aged 20 to 24 had a human papillomavirus (HPV) infection during 2003-2004.
- From 1997 to 2006, rates of AIDS cases among males aged 15 to 24 increased.
- In 2006, the majority of new diagnoses of HIV infection among young people occurred among males and those aged 20 to 24.
- From 2004 to 2006, about 100,000 females aged 10 to 24 visited a hospital emergency department for nonfatal sexual assault, including 30,000 females aged 10 to 14.
"This report identifies a number of concerns regarding the sexual and reproductive health of our nation's young people," Janet Collins, director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, said in a news release.
"It is disheartening that after years of improvement with respect to teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, we now see signs that progress is stalling and many of these trends are going in the wrong direction," she said.
The study also identified a number of racial/ethnic disparities in the sexual and reproductive health of young Americans. For example, Hispanic teens aged 15 to 19 are much more likely to become pregnant (132.8 births per 1,000 females) than non-Hispanic blacks (128 per 1,000) and non-Hispanic whites (45.2 per 1,000). The study also found that non-Hispanic black youth in all age groups have the highest rates of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses.
Original Post: yahoo.com