The most effective way to reduce HIV-related deaths and prevent onward transmission is to diagnose and treat all persons as soon as possible after HIV infection. According to a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, New Yorkers living with HIV are being treated sooner after infection. The time to treatment initiation was reduced in tandem with expanded HIV testing and treatment efforts in New York City.

An analysis of 28,162 New Yorkers diagnosed with HIV found considerable progress in rapid treatment initiation. The time from diagnosis to treatment initiation decreased by 60 percent from 2006 to 2015 and was a median of 0.2 years (~2.4 months) for people diagnosed in 2015. The time from estimated infection to diagnosis decreased by 28 percent to a median of 3.3 years among people diagnosed in 2015.

“The elapsed time from infection to diagnosis or treatment initiation matters because this represents time when an individual misses out on the benefits of treatment,” says Dr. McKaylee Robertson, the study’s lead author and an epidemiologist at the Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health (ISPH) at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH). “If we can continue to reduce diagnosis and treatment delays, we may continue to see declines in HIV incidence and mortality. These results suggest that we need more effective implementation strategies for earlier HIV diagnosis and linkage.”

An overwhelming body of scientific evidence has established that “HIV Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U)” and people living with HIV who receive treatment to stably suppress the virus cannot transmit the virus to sexual partners. To eliminate HIV as a public health threat, the elapsed time between infection and treatment must be minimized.

The study was conducted by a team of investigators at the ISPH in collaboration with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and used population-based HIV surveillance data.

“This study shows that NYC has made significant improvements in quickly getting people on treatment, and these improvements coincide with many citywide testing and treatment campaigns,” says Dr. Sarah Braunstein, the study co-author and director of HIV epidemiology at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “New York’s robust infrastructure for HIV prevention and treatment likely contributed to reductions in diagnosis and treatment delay.”

Dr. Denis Nash, the study’s senior author and distinguished professor of public health at CUNY SPH, says the new metrics developed as part of this study can better target HIV testing services towards those with longer standing undiagnosed HIV infection.

“The biggest potential for impact on public health going forward will be via much-needed gains in earlier HIV diagnosis,” Nash says. “With more than half of people diagnosed with HIV three or more years after infection, there is much room for improvement in the impact of HIV testing services.”

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Scientists at US healthcare major Abbott Laboratories have discovered a new strain of HIV virus, the company has announced.

The new subtype of the human immunodeficiency virus is called HIV-1 Group M, subtype L, the group that led to a global pandemic. A new strain of the HIV virus has been found after 19 years.

“This research marks the first time a new subtype of ‘Group M’ HIV virus has been identified since guidelines for classifying new strains of HIV were established in 2000. Group M viruses are responsible for the global pandemic, which can be traced back to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Abbott in a statement.

The findings, published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (JAIDS), show the role next-generation genome sequencing is playing in helping researchers stay a step ahead of mutating viruses and avoiding pandemics.

Since the beginning of the global AIDS pandemic, 75 million people have been infected with HIV and 37.9 million people today are living with the virus.

Even though the new HIV infections are going down globally, researchers are monitoring new strains to make sure testing and treatments continue to work.

There is no cure for AIDS, the disease caused by the HIV virus, but the viral load is controlled through Antiretroviral (ART) therapy.

Abbott created its Global Viral Surveillance Program 25 years ago to monitor HIV and hepatitis viruses and identify mutations to ensure improved testing mechanisms.

“Identifying new viruses such as this one is like searching for a needle in a haystack,” said Mary Rodgers, principal scientist and head of the Global Viral Surveillance Program, Diagnostics at Abbott, and one of the study authors, in a statement.

“By advancing our techniques and using next generation sequencing technology, we are pulling the needle out with a magnet. This discovery can help us ensure we are stopping new pandemics in their tracks,” she added.

The company is making the new strain accessible to the research community to evaluate its impact to diagnostic testing, treatments and potential vaccines.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – More than $490,000 is being doled out to seven Florida counties as part of a national effort to try to eradicate HIV and AIDS in the next 10 years.

The funding is made possible as part of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, which was announced by the Trump administration this year. Money became available for counties to spend Oct. 1.

“For this plan to succeed, we want to engage the help of every Floridian,” Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, flanked by Department of Health Secretary Scott Rivkees and others, said during an announcement Tuesday in Tallahassee.

Nunez outlined Florida’s four-step plan that includes routine testing for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases and access to pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent the spread of HIV.  

The pre-exposure medicine must be taken daily and is effective for people who are at high risk of exposure to HIV. The post-exposure medicine is to reduce the risk of HIV infection in physicians and other medical professionals. 

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. There is no cure for HIV, which weakens people’s immune systems. HIV is most commonly transmitted through sex or through syringes.

The rate of HIV diagnosis in Florida in 2017 was 22.9 per 100,000 people, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That put Florida behind the District of Columbia and Georgia, which had diagnosis rates of 46.3 and 24.9 per 100,000, respectively.

The new grant funding announcement was made on National Latino HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Event. Nunez said there has been an “incredible increase” in the spread of HIV in the Latino community, noting that Latinos accounted for 34 percent of the new HIV diagnoses in Florida  in 2018.

She encouraged Latinos to know their HIV status, which she said helps reduce the spread of the virus and, if the disease is treated early, lowers mortality rates.

Beyond that, though, Nunez said there needs to be more compassion.

“Treat HIV like other chronic illnesses to help reduce the stigma and shame and the discrimination in the Hispanic and Latino community,” she said.

During his State of the Union address in March, President Donald Trump announced his goal to end the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years. 

The following month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a multi-phase approach to eradicating the disease. Phase one is to diagnose all people with HIV as early as possible.

Phase one includes funding for the 48 counties and seven rural states with the highest HIV incidence. The seven Florida counties are Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Orange, Duval, Hillsborough and Pinellas.

The funding Nunez announced Tuesday all came from federal grant dollars; there are no additional state dollars being targeted at the county health departments as part of the plan.

Nunez gave assurances that state would avail itself of all funding coming its way. The Guardian reported last month that former Gov. Rick Scott’s administration returned $54 million in federal grant funding meant to combat the spread of HIV in the state. Scott became a U.S. senator in January and was replaced by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Joining Nunez at Tuesday’s announcement were Rivkees and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention medical epidemiologist John Brooks, along with directors of some of the county health departments receiving the funds.

“We owe it to those who are no longer with us, and the thousands of people who are fighting every day, to put an end to this disease,” Rivkees said of using the grant dollars.

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