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Kaisernetwork.org (Washington, DC)

Africa: Daily HIV/Aids Report

30 April 2008

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Science & Medicine

Suppression of Human Protein Reduces HIV's Ability To Enter T Cells, Replicate, Study Finds

Global Challenges

Global Climate Change To Increase Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS of People in Developing Countries, Panel Says

Number of HIV/AIDS Cases in Singapore Reached Record High Last Year

Philippine Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Bolster HIV/AIDS Prevention, Services

Commercial Sex Industry Booming Along Uganda, Sudan Border; Teachers Increasingly Joining Trade, Study Says

Across The Nation

Salt Lake Tribune Examines Enforcement of Utah Law Requiring Mandatory HIV Tests for Convicted Sex Workers, Solicitors

Recent Releases

GAO Reports Examine PEPFAR Funding Allocation

Science & Medicine

Suppression of Human Protein Reduces HIV's Ability To Enter T Cells, Replicate, Study Finds

[Apr 30, 2008]

Researchers have found that suppressing the human protein ITK in CD4+ T cells reduces HIV's ability to enter the cells and replicate, according to an NIH study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Reuters reports.

For the study, Pamela Schwartzberg of Boston University and colleagues used human cells in a laboratory to test two methods of inactivating ITK. One method stopped ITK from functioning. In the other method, the researchers used a drug to chemically interfere with the protein (Dunham, Reuters, 4/28). "Suppression of the ITK protein caused many of the pathways that HIV uses to be less active, thereby inhibiting or slowing HIV replication," the researchers said (AFP/Google.com, 4/28). Schwartzberg added that the researchers did not "completely block (infection), but we certainly severely impaired it. It has minor effects at multiple stages of HIV life cycle, and together that all adds up to a more profound effect" (Reuters, 4/28).

The researchers said that they were concerned that ITK suppression "might kill or otherwise impair the normal functions of T cells." However, both suppression methods slowed HIV replication but did not interfere "significantly" with T cell survival, according to the study. In addition, the researchers said that mice with ITK deficiencies were able to fight other viral infections (AFP/Google.com, 4/28).

According to the PA/Google.com, ITK suppression could help address the emergence of drug-resistant strains of HIV because it targets a human protein rather than the virus (PA/Google.com, 4/28). Study researcher Andrew Henderson of Boston University added that treatments based on ITK suppression could complement existing antiretroviral drugs. Schwartzberg said that it likely would be several years before a drug that suppresses ITK could enter human clinical trials. She added that more lab experiments are needed to assess other ways of suppressing the protein.

NIH and the researchers have filed for a patent on suppressing ITK to treat HIV with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The protein also is being examined as a possible target to treat asthma and other illnesses involving the immune system, Reuters reports (Reuters, 4/28).

The study is available online (.pdf).

Link to this story.

Global Challenges

Global Climate Change To Increase Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS of People in Developing Countries, Panel Says

[Apr 30, 2008]

Climate change is the newest threat to the increasing HIV/AIDS epidemic worldwide, panelists said Wednesday at an HIV forum at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, the AAP/Age reports (McLean, AAP/Age, 4/30).

The forum, titled "A Future Free of HIV," was moderated by Justice of the High Court Michael Kirby and included several HIV/AIDS researchers, according to a UNSW release. Topics covered at the forum included the social and human rights implications of HIV, the latest scientific perspectives on the disease, and the social and behavioral aspects of the epidemic (UNSW release, 4/30).

Speaking at the forum, Daniel Tarantola, a professor of health and human rights at UNSW, said that global warming will indirectly increase vulnerability to HIV infection for people living in developing countries. Tarantola said, "Climate change will trigger a chain of events which is likely to increase the stress on society and result in higher vulnerability to diseases, including HIV."

David Cooper, director of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research at UNSW, said that environmental change would have a negative impact on people living with HIV/AIDS. "Climate change will lead to food scarcity and poorer nutrition, putting people with perilous immune systems at more risk of dying of [AIDS-related illnesses], as well as contracting and transmitting new and unusual infections," Cooper said.

Cooper said that with 16,000 new HIV cases daily and the failure of research to produce a vaccine or cure, the outlook for fighting the pandemic was "pretty grim." He said, "I don't think we have any idea of how to harness a vaccine for this, and we need a strong basic science breakthrough to get anywhere with it."

Cooper said that it is important to increase preventive measures that work, including condoms and male circumcision, as well as work towards the development of microbicide gels and drugs to block HIV infection (AAP/Age, 4/30). "Science has achieved great strides towards shaping a more effective response to HIV," but "research has not succeeded in producing the hoped for 'magic bullets' of either a cure or a vaccine," Cooper said, adding, "We need to escalate our research efforts while sustaining and expanding what we know works: good prevention and access to life-saving antiretroviral therapy and integrated care" (UNSW release, 4/30).

Link to this story.

Number of HIV/AIDS Cases in Singapore Reached Record High Last Year

[Apr 30, 2008]

The number of reported HIV/AIDS cases in Singapore reached a record high last year, the country's Ministry of Health said Wednesday in a statement on its Web site, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. The ministry reported 422 new cases of HIV in 2007, which was the highest number in a single year since record-keeping began in 1985 (AFP/Yahoo! News, 4/30).

Ninety-three percent of the new reported HIV cases were among males, and 95% were transmitted through sexual intercourse (AP/Google.com, 4/29). Of the new reported cases, 255 were transmitted through heterosexual intercourse, and 130 occurred through same-sex intercourse -- a 38% increase from 2006, Channel NewsAsia/Yahoo! News reports. The number of people reported to have contracted HIV through injection drug use decreased from 14 in 2006 to seven last year. One case occurred through a blood transfusion in another country.

Singapore citizens and permanent residents between ages 30 and 49 accounted for 57% of all new HIV cases reported last year, the ministry said. One in eight cases were between people ages 20 and 29. Ten people under age 20 were diagnosed with HIV, including one case of mother-to-child transmission, the ministry said.

About 29% of the cases reported among men who have sex with men were among people who voluntarily sought HIV testing, compared with 5% of reported cases among heterosexuals (Channel NewsAsia/Yahoo! News, 4/29). More than 50% of the new cases had progressed to late-stage HIV at the time of diagnosis, similar to previous years, the ministry said. "There is ... an urgent need for persons who engage in high-risk behavior ... to go for regular HIV testing," the ministry's Web site said (AP/Google.com, 4/29).

Singapore's Parliament last week approved a bill that would make it a crime for people who have reason to believe that they might be HIV-positive to have sex without informing their partners of the risks. Those who violate the measure could be punished even if they test negative for HIV. Violators could face as much as 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Punishment for those who know they are HIV-positive and decline to tell their partners -- which currently is a crime under a 1992 law -- would be increased to the same level. No one has been prosecuted under the 1992 law. Enforcement of the proposed law would depend on whether the "aggrieved" partner files a complaint and prosecutors can prove that the defendant has a history of risky sexual behavior. United Nations agencies and HIV/AIDS advocates oppose Singapore's proposed measure. According to the government, the measure would encourage people to seek HIV testing and to avoid risky behavior (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/24).

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