Only 10% of HIV positive individuals in Pakistan are receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and the dropout rate from HIV treatment is extremely high. This short report attempts to highlight the risk of ART resistance. Pakistan National AIDS Control Programme's website reports 15,390 HIV positive persons receiving ART out of which 4,697 (30.5%) are people who inject drugs (PWIDs) among whom HIV prevalence is reported to be 38.4%. In the two large provinces of the country (Punjab and Sindh) with more than 90% burden of HIV, ART was initiated in 2,807 patients between April and September 2018, out of these 37% were lost to follow up. Many patients have cited issues related to quality of service at the ART centres as one of the reasons to not revisiting the treatment centres. HIV planners in Pakistan urgently need to make a new strategy and improve not only the quality of services but also increase the number of HIV positive persons receiving ART.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.5455/JPMA.30590 | DOI Listing |
JMIR Res Protoc
January 2025
UK Health Security Agency, London, United Kingdom.
Background: Due to advances in treatment, HIV is now a chronic condition with near-normal life expectancy. However, people with HIV continue to have a higher burden of mental and physical health conditions and are impacted by wider socioeconomic issues. Positive Voices is a nationally representative series of surveys of people with HIV in the United Kingdom.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Pathog
January 2025
Department of Experimental Immunology, Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Identifying cellular and molecular mechanisms maintaining HIV-1 latency in the viral reservoir is crucial for devising effective cure strategies. Here we developed an innovative flow cytometry-fluorescent in situ hybridization (flow-FISH) approach for direct ex vivo reservoir detection without the need for reactivation using a combination of probes detecting abortive and elongated HIV-1 transcripts. Our flow-FISH assay distinguished between HIV-1-infected CD4+ T cells expressing abortive or elongated HIV-1 transcripts in PBMC from untreated and ART-treated PWH from the Amsterdam Cohort Studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChaos
January 2025
Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Patna 801103, India.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) manifests multiple infections in CD4+ T cells, by binding its envelope proteins to CD4 receptors. Understanding these biological processes is crucial for effective interventions against HIV/AIDS. Here, we propose a mathematical model that accounts for the multiple infections of CD4+ T cells and an intracellular delay in the dynamics of HIV infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Acquir Immune Defic Syndr
December 2024
Department of Psychiatry and Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY.
Background: We assessed access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and interest in integration of PrEP with gender-affirmative care in a global sample of transmasculine persons.
Methods: Transmasculine persons (N = 590) aged 18 years and above from 57 countries completed a brief online survey from April to July 2022 about sexual behavior, knowledge, and interest in PrEP, current access to PrEP and gender-affirmative care, and preferred context for accessing PrEP. Descriptive analyses were stratified by country income group.
Front Immunol
January 2025
Leiden University Center for Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is the deadliest infectious disease worldwide and novel vaccines are urgently needed. HLA-E is a virtually monomorphic antigen presentation molecule and is not downregulated upon HIV co-infection. HLA-E restricted specific CD8 T cells are present in the circulation of individuals with active TB (aTB) and infection (TBI) with or without HIV co-infection, making HLA-E restricted T cells interesting vaccination targets for TB.
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