Posts tagged HIV treatment
Is Treating a Mother for HIV With a Child in the Womb Safe?
11 years ago
A recent study addressed concerns on the effect that an expectant mother’s HIV treatment may have on her unborn baby. In particular, the study focused on language development. What was the result? By age two, children who had been born to mothers treated for HIV during pregnancy showed no additional delay in learning to speak.
This was an important study to relieve the concerns of many in the medical field. It had been believed that treating pregnant women for HIV would result in the baby’s lessened brain development.
All of the children who were part of the study were exposed to HIV during the pregnancy. While some mothers received a cocktail of drugs to treat the condition; others did not. The results for language development in the resulting children were just about equal. On both sides, about 1 in 4 experienced development difficulties. This shows that it was not the medication’s fault that children born to HIV-infected were having this language problem.
While previous studies suggested that the antiretroviral drugs may cause these delays, this study has clearly debunked that previous concern. One drug in particular is still being monitored, however. While children born of mothers on this particular drug were on equal footing with their peers by age two, they were behind at age one and had to catch up. More research is necessary to discover the reason for this. The drug’s name is Atazanavir.
Almost 800 children were a part of this comprehensive study, so these findings clearly overturn those of previous smaller studies. On the other hand, now research must continue to try and explain why about 25% of children exposed to HIV in the womb end up experiencing some kind of early on language problem.
Study May Result in HIV Treatment for Millions
11 years ago
by ADMIN
in HIV Research
A landmark study has shown that a smaller dose of HIV treatments is just as effective at suppressing HIV as the standard dose currently used. These findings may benefit millions of individuals who have never been able to receive treatment due to the expensive price of the drugs. Knowing that a smaller dose is sufficient may open the way for millions to receive the necessary treatments to control this disease for the first time.
Lower doses equal lower costs. Lower costs mean that current budgets for providing healthcare to HIV patients in developing nations will go further by reaching more patients. The study was conducted using people who are HIV positive from thirteen different countries. Individuals who could never have afforded treatment were able to get a reduced dose or a full dose as a part of the study. Half of the patients were given the standard dose, while the other half only took two-thirds of the standard treatment amount.
Over 600 individuals took part in the study altogether. After a year of treatment and observation, it became clear that reducing the treatment by one-third did not have any detrimental results for the patients. This is a huge revelation for the treatment of HIV in developing nations where the primary issue has always been cost of treatment.
As with many HIV research studies, this study was funded by a foundation set up by Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda. Gates’ donations, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, have been instrumental in continuing research and helping HIV-positive individuals receive the best care possible across the globe.
