Pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention during pregnancy and lactation: forget not the women and children.

Pregnancy is known to be a time of increased susceptibility to acquiring to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and this increased maternal risk places the unborn child at risk of vertical transmission. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) involves the provision of antiretroviral therapy to an HIV-negative individual with ongoing risk of HIV exposure to limit the likelihood of HIV transmission. The inclusion of PrEP as part of a comprehensive strategy is recognised as an effective and safe means of reducing HIV infection in serodiscordant couples, thereby reducing the risk of vertical transmission of HIV.

Use of alcohol, nicotine and other drugs in the Western Australian HIV Cohort study.

Self-report questionnaires on alcohol, nicotine and other drugs were administered to assess the current prevalence of alcohol, drug and nicotine use in our tertiary HIV service and inform the establishment of effective interventions. Many respondents reported use of alcohol over the preceding month (111 out of 152, 73%), and recent drug use (48 out of 137, 35%) and frequently both. Sessional alcohol consumption was prevalent among drinkers (52 out of 111, 47%), and correlated with both early treatment phase (P=0.

Clinical and immunogenetic correlates of abacavir hypersensitivity.

A patch test (PT) may be useful in defining true abacavir hypersensitivity syndrome (AHS). Seven previously PT-positive patients remote from the original AHS were shown to have robust 24 h responses, supporting PT durability. HLA-B*5701 was present in all seven PT-positive versus one of 11 controls tolerating abacavir (P < 0.

Mitochondrial proliferation, DNA depletion and adipocyte differentiation in subcutaneous adipose tissue of HIV-positive HAART recipients.

Objectives: To examine the in vivo effects of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens on adipose tissue mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) depletion, mitochondrial organellar proliferation, and markers of adipocyte differentiation and phenotype.

Design And Methods: DNA and mRNA quantification using real-time PCR methods was performed on adipose tissue samples from 31 HIV-infected individuals, of whom 11 were treatment-naive and 20 were receiving HAART. mtDNA depletion was measured as mtDNA copies/cell, and mitochondrial proliferation by quantification of mitochondrial protein mass.

Randomized, controlled, 48-week study of switching stavudine and/or protease inhibitors to combivir/abacavir to prevent or reverse lipoatrophy in HIV-infected patients.

Objective: HIV-1 protease inhibitors (versus no protease inhibitors) and stavudine (versus zidovudine) are independently associated with a higher risk of lipoatrophy in HIV-infected patients. We sought to determine whether the revision of stavudine and/or protease inhibitor-containing regimens to combivir/abacavir would result in prevention and/or reversibility of lipoatrophy in HIV-1-infected patients.

Design: The investigation was a prospective, randomized, controlled, open-label study.