Current HIV research
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Current HIV research · Nov 2009
ReviewTreatment and outcome of pulmonary arterial hypertension in HIV-infected patients: a review of the literature.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a life-threatening complication of HIV infection. The prevalence of HIV-associated PAH (HIV-PAH) seems not to be changed over time, regardless of the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). HIV-PAH treatment is similar to that for all PAH conditions and includes lifestyle modifications, general treatments, and disease-specific treatments. ⋯ Survival rates were 69% and 38% among patients treated or not with ART and PAH-ST, respectively (p = 0.02). Specific therapy for PAH should be strongly recommended in patients with HIV-PAH. The role of the HAART in influencing the outcome of HIV-PAH is controversial, even if some evidences seem to indicate a beneficial effect in the clinical course of the disease.
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Current HIV research · Nov 2009
ReviewCaring for HIV-infected patients in the ICU in the highly active antiretroviral therapy era.
The use of intensive care units (ICU) resources for HIV-Infected patients has been controversial since the first reported cases, raising practical ethical and economic issues about aggressive treatment. The aim of this review of the literature is to provide current information on the epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients admitted to ICU during the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and to highlight issues related to HAART that are relevant to the intensivist. ⋯ More HIV-infected patients surviving ICU admission are more likely to need critical care for problems unrelated to HIV infection or for conditions related to HAART toxicity. Intensivists need to be familiar with HAART (i) to recognize life-threatening toxicities unique to these drugs; (ii) to avoid drug interactions, which are extremely common and potentially life-threatening; (iii) to avoid enhancing HIV drug resistance, an occurrence that could have devastating consequences for the patient following ICU discharge.
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Current HIV research · Jan 2006
ReviewAffordable antiretroviral drugs for the under-served markets: how to expand equitable access against the backdrop of challenging scenarios?
Threats by enforced Intellectual Property (IP) rights to equitable HIV treatment access by poor populations are impending. India and China's policy directions in the field will be crucial in ultimately affecting the affordability and accessibility of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in the under-served markets. These directions, together with the exploitation level of IP-bound flexibilities and the evolutionary modelling in partnerships and trade agreements between research-based and generic pharmaceutical industry, will also affect the outcomes of self-sufficiency efforts now at their beginning in the developing world as far as domestic manufacturing of generic ARV drugs is concerned. ⋯ Overall insights in this paper would mean that, while research-based corporations are to be praised whenever waiving, on humanitarian purposes, part of their profits, the trade and profit rules cannot basically be given up if long-term sustainable results are the goal to look for. Only negotiated agreements securing all contracting parties lasting advantages may ensure shifting of such a goal from mere vision to a really sustainable attainment.
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Current HIV research · Apr 2005
ReviewInpatient care of the HIV infected patient in the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era.
The inpatient presentation of the HIV infected patient has changed over the years. From the early years when patients presented with accumulating opportunistic infections that led to an early demise to the HAART era with reports of dramatic decreases in opportunistic infections and improvements in life expectancy, the evolution of inpatient HIV care has been a challenge to the clinician. In the HAART era the presentation of the HIV inpatient has diversified and in many ways is more challenging than the management of the HIV inpatient in the pre-HAART era. We will discuss the changing dynamics of HIV inpatient care from socioeconomic changes to changes in the presentation and reasons for hospitalization.