Researchers discover new HIV antibody

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BY Unknown Monday, March 05, 2018 0

Researchers discover new HIV antibody

Researchers said they have discovered an HIV antibody that can suppress the virus for nearly six months without additional treatment.

The new study involved about half of a group of monkeys, infused with a broadly neutralising antibody to HIV combined with an immune stimulatory compound.

The findings, released at the 25th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston, lend a

clue to strategies that attempt to achieve sustained, drug-free viral remission in people living with HIV.

Being supported in part by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the study may have targeted the viral reservoir, populations of long-lived, latently infected cells that harbour the virus and that lead to resurgent viral replication when suppressive therapy was stopped.

“HIV excels at evading the immune system by hiding out in certain immune cells,” said NIAID Director Anthony Fauci.

“The virus can be suppressed to very low levels with antiretroviral therapy, but quickly rebounds to high levels if a person stops taking medications as prescribed.”

“The findings from this early stage research offer further evidence that achieving sustained viral remission without daily medication might be possible,” he added.

In the study, scientists from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center infected 44 rhesus macaques with simian human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV), an HIV-like virus commonly used in nonhuman primate studies.

They then initiated daily antiretroviral therapy (ART) during acute infection to suppress the virus to below detectable levels in the monkey’s blood.

After a 96-week treatment, researchers divided the monkeys into four equal groups and continued to administer ART for 16 additional weeks, with an aim to determine whether the combination of HIV antibody and immune stimulant could reduce the viral reservoir while virus replication was well controlled by the ART.

After discontinuation of ART, the virus rebounded in the blood of all 11 monkeys that neither received HIV antibodies or immune stimulant after a median of 21 days.

The experts also said six of 11 monkeys that received the therapy combination showed a delayed viral rebound after a median of 112 days, and five others of the 11 did not rebound for at least 168 days.

“Our findings suggest that the development of interventions to activate and eliminate a fraction of the viral reservoir might be possible,” said Dan Barouch, principal investigator of the study.

The researchers said compared with the antiretroviral therapy which needs to be taken daily, antibodies to HIV tend to last longer in the body and have shown promise for longer-acting HIV therapeutics and prevention modalities.

54 babies born HIV positive in Nasarawa-official

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BY Unknown Thursday, November 30, 2017 0

54 babies born HIV positive in Nasarawa-official

Dr Zakari Umar, the Executive Director of Nasarawa State Aids Control Agency (NASACA), said 54 babies delivered between January and September in the state tested positive to HIV.

Umar made this known on Thursday in Lafia in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Umar said out of the 1,194 pregnant women who keyed into the Prevention of Mother- to- Child Transmission (PMTCT) HIV programme in 2017, 54 of them transmitted the virus to their babies.

He explained that cases of transmission recorded were due to lack of adherence to medical advice and refusal to take prescribed drugs.

“Science has proven that it is possible to totally eradicate mother to child transmission of HIV if pregnant women adhere to medical advice and take their drugs regularly.

“Those women whose babies tested positive must have refused to comply with their drug regimen during pregnancy,” Umar added.
According to him, the case of mother to child transmission of HIV in the state has reduced over the years due to sensitisation and other preventive measures taken by stakeholders.

He said available records from 2016 indicated that 66 babies were born with HIV.

Umar attributed reduction in transmission of the disease to babies in 2017 to sensitisation and adoption of the PMTCT programme.

He also advised members of the public to avoid acts that would make them vulnerable to the virus, adding “the virus is not yet over hence the need for people to take preventive measures.”

The executive director urged people to get tested to enable them know their status in order to curtail spread of the disease.

He said the state had domesticated the anti stigmatisation law aimed at protecting those living with the virus.

 Umar, therefore, advised those being stigmatised on the account of the disease to always seek redress at the appropriate quarter. (NAN)