J Int Aids Soc
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Intensive care mortality of HIV-positive patients has progressively decreased. However, critically ill HIV-positive patients with sepsis present a worse prognosis. To better understand this condition, we propose a study comparing clinical, etiological and inflammatory data, and the hospital course of HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. ⋯ The course of sepsis was more severe in HIV-positive patients, with distinct clinical, etiological and inflammatory characteristics.
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Attention to the negative effects of structural barriers on HIV efforts is increasing. Reviewing national legal and policy environments with attention to the international human rights commitments of states is a means of assessing and providing focus for addressing these barriers to effective HIV responses. ⋯ Recognition of the harms inherent in laws that constitute structural barriers to effective HIV responses and the potential positive role that a supportive legal environment can play suggests the need for legal reform to ensure an enabling regulatory framework within which HIV services can be effectively delivered and used by the populations who need them. Moving beyond laws and policies, further efforts are required to determine how to capture information on the range of structural barriers. Teasing apart the impact of different barriers, as well as the structural interventions put in place to address them, remains complicated. Capturing the impact of policy and legal interventions can ultimately support governments and civil society to ensure the human rights of key populations are protected in national HIV responses.
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The increasing proportion of women living with HIV has evoked calls for tailored services that respond to women's specific needs. The objective of this investigation was to explore the concept of women-specific HIV/AIDS services to identify and define what key elements underlie this approach to care. ⋯ This review highlights that the concept of women-specific HIV/AIDS services is a complex and multidimensional one that has been shaped by diverse theoretical perspectives. Further research is needed to better understand this emerging concept and ultimately assess the effectiveness of women-specific services on HIV-positive women's health outcomes.
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HIV RNA viral load (VL) has been shown to increase during opportunistic illnesses (OIs), suggesting active HIV replication in response to infection among patients not taking antiretroviral therapy (ART). We assessed the effects of OIs on HIV RNA VL and CD4+ T cell counts among patients on ART with initially suppressed VL. ⋯ NCT00119093.
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Virtually no African country provides HIV prevention services in sex work settings with an adequate scale and intensity. Uncertainty remains about the optimal set of interventions and mode of delivery. ⋯ There is sufficient evidence of effectiveness of targeted interventions with female sex workers in Africa to inform delivery of services for this population. With improved planning and political will, services - including peer interventions, condom promotion and STI screening - would act at multiple levels to reduce HIV exposure and transmission efficiency among sex workers. Initiatives are required to enhance access to HIV testing and ART for sex workers, using current CD4 thresholds, or possibly earlier for prevention. Services implemented at sufficient scale and intensity also serve as a platform for subsequent community mobilization and sex worker empowerment, and alleviate a major source of incident infection sustaining even generalized HIV epidemics. Ultimately, structural and legal changes that align public health and human rights are needed to ensure that sex workers on the continent are adequately protected from HIV.