HIV Treatment Leads to a Stronger Immune System and Better Prognosis
Healthcare providers want the best possible outcome for each patient. Careful consideration is given to treatment plans when it comes to HIV-positive patients. This diligence increases the potential for a good prognosis and a long and relatively healthy life. Management of such therapies is crucial. However, it is noted that nearly half of HIV-positive patients fail to show up for their scheduled HIV treatment. Instead, the tendency is to put it off. When they do arrive, they are usually immunocompromised. This term describes the drastically reduced number of key immune cells within the body. Fewer immune cells means fewer possibilities for survival.
What this Trend Means
Researchers worry that this trend of delaying treatment is greatly increasing morbidity rates among those with HIV. HIV therapy does more than just attempt to reduce the viral load within the body. Treatment is also crucial to rebuilding the immune system. Because HIV attacks CD 4 T-cells, the number of those cells usually found in an HIV-positive patient is dangerously low before treatment. Once a regimen has been started, adhering to the schedule can help the immune cells mount a comeback. Without this, disease progression, AIDS, and death rates begin to rise.
The Importance of the Immune System
When the immune system is restored, and the viral count kept low, life expectancy increases dramatically. Repairing the immune system is the greater concern, because patients can live with a higher viral load if immunological levels are increased. This emphasizes the need for regular treatment and testing. When immune response numbers increase, patients fare better. Of course, lowering the viral load is still important, but newer research is proving that the immune recovery is most critical.
Prompt diagnosis for HIV treatment is vital when it comes to this voracious virus. The good news is, disease progression can now be halted, even in severe cases, when the proper action is taken. For patients undergoing treatment, don’t skip your appointments! Boosting your immune system gives you the fighting chance you need to combat and slow down HIV. The only way to see those results is to honor your treatment schedule.
Finding Safer HIV Treatments for Children
8 years ago
HIV treatments for children is different from treating adults – particularly, for those under three years of age. Doctors have little in the way of guidelines for such treatment. Studies focus on determining which treatments are the most beneficial, with the least long term damage.
Often HIV positive women who are pregnant are given the pharmaceutical drug nevirapine to protect the fetus from transmission. Unfortunately, the drug prevents HIV transmission by only 50%. However, in the event the child does contract HIV, research indicates that, once born, these children can transition from the common treatment for infants to the drug used to treat adults. The drug used for adults is efavirenz, and is not usually administered to persons under the age of three. For infants, a completely different class of drug is used as HIV therapy. Lopinavir/ritonavir is the recommended choice, thus far, for HIV-positive children under three. However, when little ones– those who had exposure to nevirapine in the womb– were given efavirenz, research yielded favorable results.
Researchers were pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness that the changeover brought about. Viral rebound was similar as with the use of the lopinavir/ritonavir. More promising than those results were the CD 4 T-cell counts. These are immune cells that are targeted by the virus. This deadly attack greatly reduces the number of these important immune cells. In children treated with efavirenz, the CD 4 T-cell count was higher than in children provided with the recommended drugs for their age group. In under a year’s time, liver function also proved better than those on the traditionally used medications.
In conclusion, so far, as long as an infant has their infection under control, HIV treatments for children using nevirapine can safely be transitioned to efavirenz. From the studies completed and research gathered, researchers still need further studies to show more results. At this time, the results appear promising though. Experts also plan to investigate long-term effects. In the meantime, finding gentler and more effective ways to treat little ones is high on the priority list.
Why Millions of HIV-Positive Individuals Go Undiagnosed
8 years ago
As HIV prevention, testing and treatment continue to advance, HIV positive patients on a treatment plan remain healthier, living longer lives. As new information pours in, researchers scramble to further progress their understanding and approach to the disease. Methods used to slow disease progression and curb mortality rates are proving more and more successful. Yet, in spite of such advances, the struggle with HIV is still a slow, tragic war. Why might you ask?
What Is Holding Us Back from Defeating HIV?
More cases are reported every year, and it is estimated that millions have the infection without knowing it. Herein lies the danger. Those unaware HIV carriers often infect others. Spreading of the virus is one of the major roadblocks to its eradication.
Why Individuals Avoid Testing
Studies on why so many people with HIV refuse testing or treatment have come to a simple conclusion: fear. Fear is helping HIV survive the war. Whether it’s fear of the disease or the associated social stigmas, it remains the number one reason people do not get tested.
The psychology behind the behavior needs to change. Any chronic condition carries with it a strong measure of fear. HIV is no exception. However, those advances mentioned earlier are reason for hope. Hope supported by reality. Today, HIV testing can be performed at home. If the result is positive, treatments are available. What once arrived with a death sentence is now a treatable condition. Slowing the progression from HIV to AIDS is now a regular occurrence. HIV positive people can enjoy a long life and enjoy a full and happy one too. And more than every the public needs to understand this new chapter in the war on HIV.
Courage Reaps Benefits
Fear of a diagnosis is no reason to put off testing. Hope lives. Fear kills. Early detection leads to more positive outcomes, like HIV prevention, and management of the viral infection. This is the message healthcare professionals encourage. Educating the public on the facts, rather than the fears of HIV, saves lives, prevents future infections, and will help us to one day eliminate the virus for good.
Hospitals in Europe Test Positive for Poor HIV Screening Practices
Treatment for HIV depends first on an HIV test. Curbing the growing number of patients with HIV requires the aid of healthcare institutions. The European guidelines for HIV testing are clear and ensure that each patient presenting with certain symptoms and diseases must be offered an HIV test. Patient screening is a good way to test and provide early treatment for those who are HIV positive.
To HIV Test or Not
Willingly most patients offered the test will take it. One study puts the acceptance rate at 99%. That is encouraging to health experts. However, when looking into the number of patients who were offered an HIV exam, European hospitals came up short. It was found that in Europe less than half of the patients who qualify were actually offered the test. Hospitals that had the lowest rates were in Northern Europe. Researchers are concerned that the number of those infected with HIV may be much higher than what is being reported.
Certain areas within the hospitals studied were more prone to recommend HIV testing. These wards are generally the ones regularly dealing with certain communicable ailments (like TB and Hepatitis). Therefore, HIV testing makes sense and is routinely offered. Another group of patients regularly asked are pregnant women, because careful testing can prove vital for the fetus as well. While very few fetuses actually test positive for HIV, the screening is offered and frequently accepted.
Why Is the Test so Frequently Not Offered?
One reason tests are sometimes not offered is medical staff discomfort in the area of HIV. Experts are researching other possible reasons for the sporadic or lack of effort to encourage testing in more patients – especially those in high risk categories. The correlation between the hospital ward and the amount of screening performed provides insight on the matter. Certain cases that present in different wards of the hospital may simply not relate to HIV in the minds of the healthcare providers. Changing this view, and encouraging these European hospitals to step up patient screening, could go a long way in helping to slow the scourge of HIV in Europe.
HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder
8 years ago
How HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder Affects the Mind as a Person Ages
Year after year, advancements made in the treatment of HIV are helping many to lead longer and healthier lives. As individuals enter their later years, it is important to know what to expect when living with HIV.
Current Standards for Testing
For example, at least one-third of HIV-positive patients will develop what is termed HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder. The medical community knows of this disorder, and very often tests older adults who are HIV-positive. New information on the cognitive functions of those living with an HIV infection may change how physicians test for the disorder.
Normally, doctors will administer a standard neuropsychology exam. If a patient scores well on this test, he is usually deemed cognitively normal. This standard test seemed to be doing the job—until the matter was further investigated. Researchers examined a group of patients who had passed this test, but then subjected them to different types of testing. The surprising results exposed the need for further probing when looking to diagnose HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder.
What the Research Revealed
Older, HIV-positive adults were asked to perform certain mental tasks on cue. At times, the tasks were changed from one to another. This is where physicians began to notice a lag between healthy participants and those with HIV. This response to switching tasks was significantly slower in the HIV group.
To delve a bit deeper, brain scans were ordered. The scans revealed that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex was reacting differently in the control group than the HIV-positive one. This area of the human brain is linked to both executive and apathetic deficits. These cognitive impairments may come in under the radar with standard testing.
The Latest Developments
At this time, we have no way to treat the disorder. Efficient testing, however, is still vital to patients, as well as their families and caregivers. Understanding that some functions might come a little slower to HIV-positive individuals during their later years is important for those who interact with them daily. Effective testing and education are the keys.
These studies are recent. More study and research are underway.
