It’s the Truvada conundrum: A drug hailed as a lifesaver for many people infected by HIV is at the heart of a rancorous debate among gay men, AIDS activists and health professionals over its potential for protecting uninfected men who engage in gay sex without using condoms.
An almost entirely unreported study about anal sex and pain shows how little we really know about it
To have a meaningful conversation about HIV status, people should corner intentions and sexual partners in the realm of actuality, by keeping it to-the-point and asking the following questions: “When did you last test for HIV? What was the test result?” Equally important is to open minds to reality by remembering that the time of binary HIV statuses is pretty much over.
I can count five HIV statuses, plus a new one. They entail different responsibilities, possibilities and risks.
When we talk about stigma and PrEP, the question we should be asking is, “Just what is it we are ashamed of?” Is it the sex? The gay sex? Or is it the realization that gay men find pleasure and fulfillment in anal sex and fluid exchange?
A recent study of people with HIV who use recreational drugs isn’t good news for tweakers: those who used crystal meth showed troubling blood test results as compared to those who used other drugs.
A Seattle study has found that about 40 percent of HIV-negative gay men restrict their sexual partners to those they perceive to share their serostatus in an attempt to prevent acquiring the virus, aidsmap reports.
Taking tenofovir/emtricitabine (Truvada) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has little effect on kidney function, according to a study recently published in AIDS. The study, known as IPrEx (Iniciativa Profilaxis Pre-Exposicion), showed a very mild decrease in creatinine clearance (CrCl)—a measure of kidney function—among participants taking Truvada, but the change was reversible, as CrCl returned to baseline levels after the drug was discontinued at the end of the study.
The new technique uses genetic modification of cells — not drugs — to treat HIV.
Lack of health insurance, incarceration and partner choice all implicated as causes
BOSTON — Researchers are reporting that injections of long-lasting AIDS drugs protected monkeys for weeks against infection, a finding that could lead to a major breakthrough in preventing the disease in humans.