The impact of human mobility on the spread of HIV is often recognized in the medical literature (http://sti.bmj.com/content/78/suppl_1/i91.abstract?sid=2b7658a8-4f84-4d8a-b2bc-d5104c523180). Does it follow that the existence and development of transport infrastructure may have had its part in the history of the epidemic? Can we go further, and read the whole history of an epidemic like HIV in […]
Category: HIV Epidemiology
Impact on sexual behaviour of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in US navy
Epidemiological research has sometimes addressed the impact on men who have sex with men (MSM) sexual behaviour of being “non-gay identifying” (NGI) (Yun, Wang et al. (http://sti.bmj.com/content/87/7/563.full?sid=a367a77d-f830-46ee-b761-eec8d9e22da2 ); Mercer & Cassell (http://ijsa.rsmjournals.com/content/20/2/87.full) or of belonging to a culture in which openness about sexuality by MSM is sometimes difficult and personally costly (Lane, Kegeles et al. (http://sti.bmj.com/content/84/6/430.full?sid=ab090fad-0769-479b-a7d5-e6ba10da5609). […]
Non-disclosure of HIV sero-status by Indian female sex workers
With the roll-out of the Bill and Melinda Gates initiated Avahan interventions in India over the last decade, a growing body of evidence has accumulated on the contribution of commercial sex-work to the spread of the HIV epidemic, and the effectiveness of behavioural interventions focussed on this sector. With the international effort concentrating elsewhere primarily […]
HPTN 061 trial reports: 6% annual HIV incidence for black MSM in the US
At the 19th International AIDS Conference meeting in Washington DC recently, researchers presented important data from the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 061 study (due to publish November 2012) on incidence and social correlates of HIV in black men who have sex with men (MSM). With a view to investigating the acceptability and feasibility of […]
Female sex workers bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic
A meta-analysis in The Lancet Infectious Diseases offers a global picture of the heightened risks of HIV borne by female sex workers in low- and middle-income countries. The analysis includes 112 papers and national reports, extracted from 19,180 relevant studies, and covers 50 low- and middle-income nations. A table gives, for each of the 50 […]
Just how infectious is HIV?
Can we put a figure on the infectivity of HIV infection per coital act, and on the relative importance of the various determinants of transmission? Estimates are needed in order to plan effective interventions. A recent paper, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases (Hughes, Celum et al.), discussed by an editorial (Gray & Wawer) […]
Non-targeted HIV testing in health settings – worthwhile?
A large, recently published French study, based in metropolitan Paris, places a question mark over the value of non-targeted HIV screening as a strategy to lower the number of undiagnosed infections and improve early detection. Late diagnosis of HIV remains a common problem both in France – where, despite accessible testing, one-third of diagnoses are […]
Bringing to light the HIV epidemiology of “hidden” MSM populations in the Middle East
What evidence is there of HIV epidemiology among MSM populations in the Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)? More than one might suppose, according to the authors of a recent systematic review, which draws on a comprehensive re-examination of all literature containing data points relating to HIV, as well as of […]
HIV incidence in the US
Estimations of HIV incidence in the US from 2006 to 2009, based on data from 16 states extrapolated to the country as a whole, show stability over the period in respect to rates overall yearly incident cases (2006: 48,000; 2009: 48,100) and stability in respect to its ethnic distribution (incidence for Blacks and Hispanics respectively […]
The right way forward for global HIV/AIDS response?
Almost thirty years exactly after the first official AIDS diagnosis on 1st June 1981, and 10 years since the landmark UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, member countries meet once again to review the global response to HIV AIDS at the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on HIV/ AIDS from 8–10 June in New […]