Recent news

[Guest guest]

Item one: "Food cannot replace medicine for HIV/AIDS and TB, South African experts say"Absolutely!! And the reverse is true. Medicine cannot replace food. Duh.It's a horror that this may come as a surprise to certain idiots in South Africa like Manto and that Rath jerk.Item two: "Start treatment at 500 or 350? UK cohort data show clear difference in risk of death"The issue that is NOT resolved in the study is whether starting earlier is associated with long term toxicities. However, with the variety of ARVs available, and perhaps higher CD4 counts protecting some against side effects, resistance may be less of an issue.Also, it's not entirely clear that the difference over 350 are all that clinically relevant (even if statistically significant) and the study is retrospective. Still, it does certainly urge that people find out their HIV status ASAP and consider treatment at no less than 350 CD4.But the PRICE of these drugs means most people will never ever see them at any CD4 count, from ADAP waiting lists to Malawi and Nepal. Let alone at higher CD4 counts. M. **http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/0ABDF068-9ABB-4D73-8577-FC46D2207B45.asp Although the highest incidence of death and AIDS-defining events occurred at CD4 counts below 200, analysis of the rate of death per 100 person-years of follow-up showed that the rate of AIDS or death fell from 4.91 per 100 person-years (confidence interval 4.39–5.43) in those with CD4 counts between 200-349 to 2.49 per 100 person-years (CI (2.16–2.82) in those in the 350-500 band and 1.54 per 100 person-years (CI 1.22–1.86) in the 500-650 band. andUnsurprisingly, patients with a CD4 cell count between 50 – 199 cells/mm3 had a much higher rate ratio of AIDS or death at 20.81 (95% CI, 18.8 - 22.8), with individuals with a CD4 cell count below 50 cells/mm3 having a rate ratio of 102.71 (95% CI, 92.2 - 113.3) .