Paul E. Sax, MD is the Editor-in-Chief, Journal Watch HIV/AIDS Clinical Care, Clinical Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Conspicuously absent from this year’s International AIDS Conference were major studies on prevention of maternal-to-child transmission. It could be that I just missed them, so I emailed a colleague who specializes in the area, and she concurred: Nope, did not see or hear major PMTCT updates at IAS. The thing is, this problem has been [...]
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Big news from Vienna and Science, imminently: The CAPRISA 004 trial assessed effectiveness and safety of a 1% vaginal gel formulation of tenofovir, a nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor, for the prevention of HIV acquisition in women. A double-blind, randomized controlled trial was conducted comparing tenofovir gel (n = 445) with placebo gel (n = 444) in sexually active, HIV-uninfected 18- to 40-year-old [...]
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)From yesterday’s Boston Globe: Existing state law puts up a speed bump, by demanding a special written consent form before doctors can check for the AIDS virus. A bill before the state Senate would bring the rules for HIV screening closer to those for other routine tests. The change is warranted, yet some AIDS activists [...]
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Lots of attention in the news media on the recent papers in Science that elucidate the structure and function of broadly neutralizing antibody to HIV. (Proof: a patient asked me about it today.) For example, here’s the take by the Wall Street Journal: HIV research is undergoing a renaissance that could lead to new ways [...]
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)Some ID/HIV-related items for a sweltering summer day: Are the AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) in trouble? Certainly in some states they are, and this interview gives additional perspective. But I wonder — how much of this is HIV-specific, and how much is just the ongoing lousy economy. In other words, are other government-funded programs comparably stressed? [...]
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Interesting “RFA” (Request for Application, #RFA-AI-10-009) from Bethesda: The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), encourage grant applications from institutions/organizations to address the problem of HIV-1 persistence in HIV-1-infected persons treated with suppressive antiretroviral drug regimens… The goal of this [...]
