The apparently greater susceptibility of sub-Saharan African women to HIV infection has led researchers to consider the various potential synergies between HIV and other genital infections (White & Glynn (STIs); Lurie & Matthews (STIs)) or conditions of the vaginal microbiome (The susceptibility of heterosexual sub-Saharan women (STI/blog)). A recent study, Adachi & Nielson-Saines, brings this […]
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The challenges and achievements of conducting a multi-country qualitative study to explore the Bottlenecks to HIV care and treatment in sub-Saharan Africa
Blog post by Joyce Wamoyi1, Dominic Bukenya2, Robert Ssekubugu3, Alison Wringe4 and Jenny Renju4 National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania Medical Research Council, Uganda Rakai health Sciences Programme, Uganda London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK A newly published supplement to Sexually Transmitted Infections on the HIV Bottlenecks study presents the multiple tensions that exist […]
To tweet or not to tweet?
Blog post by Katy Turner (@katymeturner) Who is responsible for tweet etiquette at conferences? Organisers? Presenters? Tweeters? Conference organisers can certainly set the tone for an event with pronouncements like this one: Tweet from Trish Groves (@trished) Clear guide #ICTMC2017 on seeking permission to blog, tweet, take pics (I should’ve read this sooner) This feels […]
Does it ever make sense to target HPV screening at HIV-infected individuals?
A number of recent studies have considered the case for HPV-related cancer prevention interventions that are targeted at specific populations. In the developed world, interventions of cervical screening and teenage vaccination aim to cover the female, or male and female, population (at a certain age) in order to prevent cervical cancer. The question of more […]
Can laboratory-guided treatment of gonorrhoea with ciprofloxacin help to stem the emergence of resistance to ceftiaxone?
With antimicrobial-resistant gonorrhoea now an urgent health threat, requiring improved antibiotic stewardship, one option frequently proposed is laboratory-guided recycling of older antibiotics (Lewis (STI); Ison & Unemo (STI); A new kind of treatment for gonorrhoea? (STI/blogs)). Lewis (STI) alludes to the potential use of floroquinolone therapy – specifically in respect to the oropharyngx, which is […]
HPTN 071 attempts universal home-based HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa: scaling the mountainous challenge of UNAIDS 90-90-90 target
Estimates of 96% for the preventative efficacy of ART against HIV transmission, reported in 2011 by Myron & Cohen (M&C), appeared at last to place long-term containment of the epidemic in our hands. In the wake of this, UNAIDS: 90-90-90 proposed ambitious targets: 90% of those living with HIV to know their status; 90% of […]
Sexually transmitted infections are amongst the fastest spreading high-incidence notifiable diseases in China
Sexually transmitted infections emerge from a recent epidemiological study as a particularly pressing concern for Chinese public health at the present time. Yang & Li (Y&L) assess trends in incidence and mortality in 45 notifiable infectious diseases across China over the decade since the SARS tragedy in 2003 brought important changes in Chinese public health […]
Health vulnerability of peri-natally HIV-infected youth: a growing problem throughout the world
Mother-to-child, or ‘vertical’, transmission of HIV is not just a problem for developing countries; even in countries like the US and the UK, peri-natal transmission has probably not been eliminated. But, with routine ‘opt-out’ ante-natal testing (BHIVA guidelines on HIV testing), cases are increasingly likely to involve births that have taken place overseas or before […]
Bacterial vaginosis-associated bacterium (Gardnerella) may after all have a role in the aetiology of non-gonococcal urethritis
The question of the aetiology of ‘non-gonococcal’ or ‘non-specific’ urethritis (NGU/NSU) has been a hot topic of debate in this journal and its predecessors since before 1951, when it was officially acknowledged in the Chief Medical Officer’s report as an independent category of infection (Oriel (STI)). More recently, a number of infectious agents have been […]
Harms of HSV-2 may include association of latent infection with autism as well as transfer of active infection to the neonate
Mahic & Lipkin (M&L) draw attention to a wholly new health concern in relation to Herpes Simplex Virus 2. The condition is highly contagious, and the symptoms may be very unpleasant especially during the ‘primary outbreak’, the virus is not, in itself, a major public health concern. Indeed, up until the 1980s, it was rarely […]