Personas con VIH o SIDA

Patients were more likely to take a rapid HIV test when substance abuse treatment programs offered the test onsite rather than referred for offsite testing. Patients were equally likely to accept and learn their HIV status whether the offer of onsite testing was accompanied by 30 minutes of risk reduction counseling or by 5 minutes of brief information on the testing procedure. Onsite testing accompanied by brief information was cost effective, taking into account the projected lifetime costs of treatment and the gains in health and longevity for detected cases.

Despite the advances in treatment and prevention, roughly 50,000 new HIV infections still occur annually in the Nation. Research, in large part supported by NIDA, has produced a strategy to address this circumstance and break the epidemiological impasse: seek out HIV-infected individuals, particularly those in “hard-to-reach” groups that have minimal contact with the health care system; offer them HIV testing and treatment; and provide support to help them stay in treatment.

Announces updates to research reports on MDMA/ecstasy and steroids and a new report on HIV/AIDS that provide the latest available information on drugs and drug-related topics.

Reviews a journal supplement that compiles studies on drug-related HIV transmission, with a focus on injection drug use, in 16 different localities across the globe.

Presents evidence that among men and women with HIV, those who received early initiation of HAART therapy, those with higher CD4+ levels, achieved better immune recovery.

Presents an update on NIDA’s Southern African Initiative, a program that aims to build research capacity and infrastructure in the area of addiction, particularly drug-related HIV transmission.

Reports on a randomized controlled trial of HIV-infected men and women who, as a result of receiving selenium supplements, experienced lower HIV viral load and greater CD4 cell count.

Discusses the work of NIDA’s Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research, organized to track drug use and provide empirically based information for researchers and service providers.

Reports finding from a study showing that access to antiretroviral therapies, HAART in particular, can improve the health of HIV-infected patients who have a history of injection drug use.