News END TO AIDS in sight as huge study finds drugs stop HIV transmission

[Bosa]

An end to the Aids epidemic could be in sight after a landmark study found men whose HIV infection was fully suppressed by antiretroviral drugs had no chance of infecting their partner.

The success of the medicine means that if everyone with HIV were fully treated, there would be no further infections.

Among nearly 1,000 male couples across Europe where one partner with HIV was receiving treatment to suppress the virus, there were no cases of transmission of the infection to the HIV-negative partner during sex without a condom. Although 15 men were infected with HIV during the eight-year study, DNA testing proved that was through sex with someone other than their partner who was not on treatment.


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“It’s brilliant – fantastic. This very much puts this issue to bed,” said Prof Alison Rodger from University College London, the co-leader of the paper published in the Lancet medical journal. Earlier studies have also shown the treatment protects heterosexual couples where one partner has HIV.

She added: “Our findings provide conclusive evidence for gay men that the risk of HIV transmission with suppressive ART [antiretroviral therapy] is zero. Our findings support the message of the international U=U campaign that an undetectable viral load makes HIV untransmittable.

“This powerful message can help end the HIV pandemic by preventing HIV transmission, and tackling the stigma and discrimination that many people with HIV face.

“Increased efforts must now focus on wider dissemination of this powerful message and ensuring that all HIV-positive people have access to testing, effective treatment, adherence support and linkage to care to help maintain an undetectable viral load.”

In 2017, there were almost 40 million people worldwide living with HIV, of whom 21.7 million were on antiretroviral treatment. An estimated 101,600 people are living with HIV in the UK, and of these, about 7,800 are undiagnosed, so do not know they are HIV positive.

Myron S Cohen of the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at Chapel Hill in North Carolina, said in a commentary in the Lancet on the study that it should push the world forward on a strategy to test and treat everyone who has HIV. But, he added, maximising the benefits of treatment, particularly for men who have sex with men, has proved difficult.

“It is not always easy for people to get tested for HIV or find access to care; in addition, fear, stigma, homophobia and other adverse social forces continue to compromise HIV treatment,” he said.

“Diagnosis of HIV infection is difficult in the early stages of infection when transmission is very efficient, and this limitation also compromises the treatment as prevention strategy.”


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According to the National Aids Trust, 97% of people on HIV treatment in the UK have an undetectable level of the virus, meaning they cannot pass it on. “Hearing this can be enormously empowering and reassuring to people living with HIV,” said Deborah Gold, the trust’s chief executive.

The latest findings reinforce the importance of people taking HIV tests frequently, which could ultimately end the transmission of the virus altogether in the future. New diagnoses have been declining since their peak in 2005, with figures from 2017 showing a 17% drop on 2016 and a 28% fall compared with 2015.

Late diagnosis remains a major challenge, still accounting for about 43% of new HIV diagnoses. This disproportionately affects certain groups, including black African heterosexual men and people aged 65 and older.

“If we don’t reduce late diagnosis, there will always be those who are not aware of their HIV status and who therefore cannot access treatment,” said Gold. “We think that the findings from this study could be incredibly powerful in breaking down some of the barriers to testing in communities where there is still a lot of stigma around HIV.”

However, she added that government funding cuts to specialist health services would make it more difficult to achieve a goal of eliminating transmission by 2030.

Jens Lundgren, a professor of infectious diseases at Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, and joint-lead for the study, called Partner, said: “We have now provided the conclusive scientific evidence for how treatment effectively prevents further sexual transmission of HIV.”

Dr Michael Brady, the medical director at the Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “It is impossible to overstate the importance of these findings.

“The Partner study has given us the confidence to say, without doubt, that people living with HIV who are on effective treatment cannot pass the virus on to their sexual partners. This has incredible impact on the lives of people living with HIV and is a powerful message to address HIV-related stigma.”


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Bruce Richman, the founding executive director of the Prevention Access Campaign, which launched U=U, said Pac was tremendously grateful to the researchers and participants. He said the study “has for ever changed what it means to live and love with HIV around the world”.

In a linked comment in the journal, Cohen expressed optimism for future treatment of Aids. “During the course of these studies, antiretroviral drugs have become more effective, reliable, durable, easier to take, well tolerated and much less expensive,” he said.

“The results … provide yet one more catalyst for a universal test-and-treat strategy to provide the full benefits of antiretroviral drugs. This and other strategies continue to push us toward the end of Aids.”


https://www.theguardian.com/society/...v-transmission

[pimpmaster9000]

they have found a cure for the gay?

[Bosa]

Originally Posted by crucifissio

they have found a cure for the gay?

Stop it. That's not nice!!

[escorpio]

Originally Posted by Bladewire

That is literally all you think about 24/7 Gay sex it's so bizarre

Shut up and take your medicine.

[pimpmaster9000]

the study was done on gay men I do not know why people object if they cure the gay?!?!

jeeeeez...

[Bosa]

Originally Posted by crucifissio

the study was done on gay men I do not know why people object if they cure the gay?!?!

jeeeeez...

A prominent “conversion therapy” advocate, David Matheson, has come out as gay after spending what he said were decades of his life entrenched in homophobia.

Man who worked as top 'conversion therapist' comes out as gay

David Matheson affirmed his sexuality after a leaked private conversation was reported by the group Truth Wins Out

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Matheson was a practitioner of the practice also known as “ex-gay therapy” or reparative therapy”, which promotes the false idea that being gay is something that should, and can, be “cured”. These therapies have been denounced by major medical bodies including the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association and the UK’s National Health Service.

Matheson said he knew his work had helped some people, but was certain he had hurt some people too.

“Not that I would excuse myself, but any shortcomings I had as a therapist came from too narrow a view of what ‘emotionally healthy’ can look like.” Matheson said on Facebook. “They came from my own homophobia and narrow-mindedness. I am truly sorry for those flaws and the harm they have surely caused some people. And I’m sorry for the confusion and pain my choice may be causing others.”

Matheson, a Mormon, affirmed his sexuality this week after the LGBT advocacy group Truth Wins Out reported on a leaked private conversation between Matheson and “conversion therapy” advocate Rich Wyler.

After the private conversation was made public, Matheson wrote a Facebook post to affirm he was gay. Matheson said in the post he realized last year that he had to make a change in his life and divorced his wife of 34 years, in part because he felt he could no longer ignore his desire to have a relationship with a man.

“What you can take from this is that my time in a straight marriage and in the ‘ex-gay’ world was genuine and sincere and a rich blessing to me,” Matheson wrote. “I remember most of it with fondness and gratitude for the joy and growth it caused in me and many others.’”

Matheson told the Salt Lake Tribune’s podcast Mormon Land that he was exposed to homophobia as a youth in the Mormon church and found solace in therapy he received to deal with his own same-sex attraction. He said the benefits of that therapy, and his desire to help men like himself, drove him to become a therapist.

Conversion therapy usually uses the talk therapy technique, but there have been documented instances of counselors using extreme “aversion treatments” such as electric shock treatment and medication. Matheson has said he never used “aversion treatments”.

“To the men whose internalized homophobia I colluded with or who went away from therapy feeling that really was kind of hurtful to me, I am so sorry,” Matheson said. “I got into this because I really had a sense of compassion and love to this community”

Matheson said the Mormon church has improved its position on LGBT issues since the 1970s, but added that he wasn’t sure it had acknowledged the stress that comes from being a gay Mormon.

The Mormon church has in recent years clarified that it does not consider same-sex attraction a sin, but its policy dictates that people cannot participate in homosexual behavior and also participate in the church.

Matheson said that by the time he began studying therapy, he had become consumed by the ideology that being gay is a sin.

“Even though it was a deep part of me, I had turned against that part of me,” Matheson said. “So, I was buying hook line and sinker this idea that people can change.”