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CROI 2016: Early Antiretroviral Therapy Has No Impact on Cardiovascular Disease Marker

Starting treatment at a CD4 cell count above 500 cells/mm³ does not lead to improvement in an important early warning sign of cardiovascular disease, and investigators are still unsure whether people who start treatment at high CD4 counts will have the same increased risk of cardiovascular disease as that reported in people with HIV over the past 15 years, according to findings presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2016) in Boston last week.

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CROI 2016: HIV in the Brain -- New Tools and Treatment Options to Keep Your Mind Beautiful

In the future, HIV-related neurocognitive disorder (HAND) may become less common because of the earlier use of antiretroviral therapy (ART), but neurological disease -- caused by a number of different factors -- will remain an important issue as people with HIV live longer, according to several presentations in a symposium called "A beautiful Mind, Keeping It," held at the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2016) in Boston.

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CROI 2016: Study Does Not Support Routine HPV Vaccination to Prevent Anal Cancer in People with HIV

The quadrivalent HPV vaccine Gardasil does not protect older adults with HIV against persistent anal infection with human papillomavirus or the development of high-grade anal lesions (HSIL), but the ACTG A5298 study showed some evidence that it may protect against persistent oral HPV infection, Timothy Wilkin of Weill Cornell Medical College reported at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2016) last week in Boston.

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CROI 2016: Tenofovir HIV Treatment Raises Risk of Broken Bones

Treatment containing tenofovir is associated with a higher risk of bone fractures in people living with HIV, but a single infusion of zoledronic acid -- a drug used in the treatment of osteoporosis -- can protect against bone loss, a pair of studies presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2016) this week in Boston show.

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CROI 2016: Early Antiretroviral Therapy Reduces the Risk of Infection-Related Cancers

People who started antiretroviral therapy at a CD4 cell count above 500 had a significantly lower risk of developing a cancer with an infectious cause when compared to people who started treatment at a CD4 count of 350 or below, an analysis of the START study presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2016) in Boston has shown.

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CROI 2016: Bone Density Recovers Quickly After Stopping Truvada PrEP

Bone mineral density recovers within 6 months after stopping pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) containing tenofovir, Robert Grant from the University of California at San Francisco reported on behalf of the iPrEx study at Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2016) this week in Boston.

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Coverage of the 2016 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections

HIVandHepatitis.com coverage of the 2016 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic infections (CROI 2016), February 22-25, 2016, in Boston.

HIVandHepatitis.com coverage by topic

CROI website

2/26/16

Moderate Alcohol Consumption May Be More Harmful for People with HIV

People with HIV taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) had a higher likelihood of death and physiological harm at a lower level of alcohol consumption than HIV-negative individuals, according to a report published in the January 28 advance edition of Drug and Alcohol Dependence. This study "suggests the threshold for safe alcohol consumption is likely different for people with HIV," said lead author Amy Justice.

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