Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes : JAIDS
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J. Acquir. Immune Defic. Syndr. · Nov 2013
HIV medical providers' perceptions of the use of antiretroviral therapy as nonoccupational postexposure prophylaxis in 2 major metropolitan areas.
In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its recommendation of postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) use in the workplace to include nonoccupational exposures (nPEP). The availability and extensive use of nPEP have not achieved widespread acceptance among health-care providers of high-risk populations, and public health and primary care agencies have been sparse in their implementation of nPEP promotion, protocols, and practices. ⋯ Our findings are consistent with earlier studies showing the underuse of nPEP as a prevention strategy. The significance of having a written nPEP protocol and of patient requests for nPEP speaks to the importance of using targeted strategies to promote widespread awareness of the use of HIV antiretroviral medications as a prevention intervention.
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J. Acquir. Immune Defic. Syndr. · Jul 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialCan combination prevention strategies reduce HIV transmission in generalized epidemic settings in Africa? The HPTN 071 (PopART) study plan in South Africa and Zambia.
The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) is conducting the HPTN 071 (PopART) study in 21 communities in Zambia and South Africa with support from a consortium of funders. HPTN 071 (PopART) is a community-randomized trial of a combination prevention strategy to reduce HIV incidence in the context of the generalized epidemic of southern Africa. The full PopART intervention strategy is anchored in home-based HIV testing and facilitated linkage of HIV-infected persons to care through community health workers and universal antiretroviral therapy for seropositive persons regardless of CD4+ cell count or HIV viral load. ⋯ Processes will be measured to assess the degree of penetration of the interventions into the communities. A randomly sampled population cohort from each community will be used to measure the impact of the PopART strategy on HIV incidence over 3 years. We describe the strategy being tested and progress to date in the HPTN 071 (PopART) study.
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J. Acquir. Immune Defic. Syndr. · Jul 2013
ReviewPreexposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention: where have we been and where are we going?
Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP), in which HIV-uninfected persons with ongoing HIV risk use antiretroviral medications to reduce their risk of acquiring HIV infection, is an efficacious and promising new HIV prevention strategy. The past 2 years have seen significant new advances in knowledge regarding PrEP, including definitive demonstration that PrEP reduces the risk of HIV acquisition, regulatory approval of combination oral emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (FTC/TDF) as the first PrEP agent with a label indication for sexual HIV prevention, and the development of normative guidance for clinical prescribing of PrEP. ⋯ As would be expected for any new HIV prevention approach, questions remain, including how to motivate uptake of and sustain adherence to PrEP for HIV prevention in high-risk populations, how much use is sufficient to achieve HIV protection, and the potential of "next-generation" PrEP agents to improve this effective prevention strategy. At this important transition point-from demonstration of efficacy in clinical trials to thinking about implementation and effectiveness-this review addresses where we have been and where we are going with PrEP for HIV prevention.
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J. Acquir. Immune Defic. Syndr. · Jul 2013
Evaluation of a diagnostic algorithm for sputum smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis in HIV-infected adults.
The Revised National TB Control Program bases diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) on sputum smear examination and response to a course of antibiotics, whereas World Health Organization recommends early chest radiography [chest x-ray (CXR)] for HIV-infected symptomatic patients. We evaluated the utility of initial CXR in the diagnostic algorithm for symptomatic HIV-infected patients with negative sputum smears. ⋯ Although moderately sensitive, basing a diagnosis of TB on initial CXR leads to overdiagnosis. An absence of weight loss had a high NPV, whereas none of the combinations had a good PPV. A rapid and accurate diagnostic test is required for HIV-infected chest symptomatic.
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J. Acquir. Immune Defic. Syndr. · Jun 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialEfficacy of an HIV intervention in reducing high-risk human papillomavirus, nonviral sexually transmitted infections, and concurrency among African American women: a randomized-controlled trial.
This trial evaluated the efficacy of an HIV-intervention condition, relative to a health-promotion condition, in reducing incidence of nonviral sexually transmitted infections (STIs; Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis), oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) subtypes 16 and 18, sexual concurrency, and other HIV-associated behaviors over a 12-month period. ⋯ This is the first trial to demonstrate that an HIV intervention can achieve reductions in nonviral STIs, high-risk HPV, and individual concurrency.