Hard-won progress in the fight against HIV has stalled and millions of lives are at risk, according to an alarming report released Wednesday on how the COVID-19 pandemic and other global crises are undermining efforts to end AIDS.
Around the world, the decline in new HIV infections that has lasted for years is stabilizing. Worse, cases have begun to rise in parts of Asia and the Pacific where in the past they were declining, according to the U. N. firm leading the global fight against AIDS.
The number of other people with life-saving HIV remedies rose more slowly last year than in a decade. Inequalities are widening. Last year, every two minutes, a teenage or young woman became inflamed again, and in sub-Saharan Africa, they are 3 times more likely to contract HIV than boys and men of the same age. And another 650,000 people died of AIDS-related ailments last year, according to the report.
The UN has set a target of less than 370,000 new HIV infections by 2025. Last year, there were about 1. 5 million, meaning a sea change would be needed to get closer to that goal. However, low- and middle-income countries lack $8 billion for funding, as foreign aid has also declined, according to the report.
Things may be even worse given that HIV testing slowed or even stopped in many places when COVID-19 hit, which could leave even more viruses to spread without counting.
“People are exhausted by epidemics and pandemics,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U. S. government’s most sensible AIDS expert. UU. ” We have to fight twice as hard to get HIV back on the radar screen, where it wants to be. “
— A man who has lived with HIV for about 30 years is in long-term remission and is possibly one of the few people in the world to have been cured, thanks to a special bone marrow type transplant.
This rigorous remedy is only one option for HIV patients who also develop leukemia and want mobile blood stem transplants to fight cancer. It turns out that this man’s donor carried a rare genetic mutation that makes newly transplanted mobiles resistant to HIV.
The man, now 66, underwent the transplant in 2019. Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic began and you should continue to take HIV medication until you can get vaccinated. You have not been taking AIDS medication for 17 months without any symptoms. of HIV, Dr. Jana Dickter of City of Hope, a cancer think tank in California, said Wednesday.
This makes him the oldest HIV-positive user to have undergone this potentially curative transplant. Scientists hope those rare cases will only offer clues that lead to greater attention for more people.
Also on Wednesday, researchers at the University of Barcelona reported that a woman’s own immune formula appears to have kept her HIV at an undetectable point for 15 years. it’s not clear why he’s doing so well.
In Kate and San Francisco, researchers gave study participants (gay men, bisexual men and transgender women) the antibiotic doxycycline with orders to take a single dose within 72 hours each time they had sex without a condom. Those who did saw their risk of infection. fall by more than 60 percent, Dr. Brown said. Annie Luetkemeyer of the University of California, San Francisco.
Before experts come up with this strategy, they’ll want to know if it can worsen antibiotic resistance, making STDs themselves or other bacteria harder to treat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they would examine this carefully, but posted some warnings online for contemplating this use of doxycycline in the meantime.
— The UNAIDS report showed that the fight against public fitness against HIV is becoming increasingly difficult, but there are some positive points. Researchers reported Wednesday that Botswana, which is heavily affected by HIV, has already reached a key target by 2025: 95% of other HIV-infected people know their status, more than 95% of those who do are receiving treatment and more than 95% who seek treatment show symptoms that their virus is suppressed.
Kavanagh praised Botswana for strong policy adjustments that have “helped more and more people get care,” adding loose HIV drugs, selling HIV tests at home and decriminalizing same-sex relationships.
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