Private MD News - HIV monitoring/Treatment/Testing/Post Diagnos

Home | News | HIV monitoring/Treatment/Testing/Post Diagnos

View Articles by Date

Year: 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009

Month: JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Those living in Africa who have screened positive for AIDS through STD testing are at risk for a mutated and potentially fatal form of salmonella. These findings have been released as part of the journal Nature Genetics.

The infection, which scientists call invasive non-typhoidal salmonella (iNTS), ends the lives of at least 22 percent of the African people it infects, and could be killing as many as 45 percent.

"Our findings suggest the current epidemic of iNTS and its transmission across sub-Saharan Africa may have been potentiated by an increase in the critical population of susceptible immune-compromised people," said Robert Kingsley, an associate of study co-author Chinyere Okoro, linking the prevalence of fatal salmonella to the African AIDS epidemic.

The scientists note that this particular strain of salmonella may have developed immunity to the normally applied first set of antibiotics, which allows it to survive for far longer than it would without this trait. In addition to an affirmative screening for AIDS through STD testing, malnourishment and malaria could also be contributing to the reason why the mortality rate of salmonella is substantially higher in sub-Saharan Africa than it is in the rest of the world.

A drug prescribed for pain and to help individuals who are addicted to more dangerous opiates could also help people whose STD tests detected the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) avoid transferring the illness.

Although Methadone has helped some people end heroin habits, and is now said to help contain the spread of HIV, it can be dangerous itself. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that one-third of the more than 15,500 prescription overdose-related deaths that occur in the U.S. every year can be attributed to Methadone.

In the meta-study published in the British Medical Journal, an international team of researchers examined nine prior studies from several countries. The information gathered showed a more than 50 percent reduced chance of receiving an STD test result showing a new HIV infection among users of intravenous drugs undergoing opiate substitution therapies, often involving Methadone.

"These results are important given that increases in HIV incidence have been reported among people who inject drugs in a number of countries in recent years, where opiate substitution therapies are illegal or severely restricted," said the study's lead author, Matthew Hickman, from the University of Bristol.

Individuals who have undergone blood tests that detected biomarkers indicating the presence of breast cancer tumors could have a new treatment option related to drugs originally designed for people whose STD tests came out positive for HIV, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Previous studies have shown the drug, Nelfinavir, which inhibits a type of protein in patients who have taken HIV-confirming STD tests, can help reduce the expansion of some types of cancers. However, researchers say their experiments on mice are the first to demonstrate its implications for patients whose blood tests for breast cancer brought up unfortunate results.

"With a relatively low toxicity profile and much available information on its drug-drug interactions and on pharmacokinetics, Nelfinavir is ready for clinical testing in HER2 breast cancer patients," wrote the study authors, before noting that their findings have "important implications in the development of Nelfinavir and its analogs as new anticancer agents."

This is not the only recent study showing that medications for HIV could also be used to treat breast cancer. In July, scientists at Thomas Jefferson University said HIV drugs helped treat patients with triple negative breast cancer, which is particularly difficult to survive, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.