First-Line HIV Treatment

Treating newborns with antiretroviral therapy in the hours after birth may help put HIV into remission.

In a busy year buzzing with the flight of potentially revolutionary new HIV medications, evidence of large weight increases accompanying dolutegravir and bictegravir has been a bombshell.

Whether lamivudine/dolutegravir is sufficient to achieve and maintain viral suppression was last year's question. As we move to 2020, a new question could be asked: Are three-drug regimens still necessary?

Nov. 7, 2019: Zoledronic acid to prevent bone loss; bone benefits for older patients switching from TDF to TAF; periperhal artery disease among women; motor dysfunction and cognitive impairment.

The combination of dolutegravir and lamivudine is effective for treatment-naive patients regardless of age, gender, or race, according to a new subgroup analysis of the GEMINI clinical studies.

July 18, 2019: Anal neoplasia risk amidst comorbid HPV and chlamydia; predictive modeling for PrEP outreach; long-term benefits of hepatitis C cure in coinfection; first-line therapy with dolutegravir/lamivudine.

"We're very much putting the patient in the driver's seat," said Heather Alt, deputy director of nursing with Whitman-Walker. "If folks didn't feel ready, we would not push them to start."

May 30, 2019: Myocardial infarction risk among people with HIV; dolutegravir vs. efavirenz; a new way to estimate date of seroconversion; identifying people at imminent risk for disengagement from care.

May 2, 2019: patient-centered care model improves viral suppression; subpar immune responses when baseline CD4 tops 500; when CD4 plummets despite viral suppression; vaccination, immunoglobulin, and hepatitis A exposure.

More than 80 percent of U.S. HIV transmissions in 2016 were from people who were unaware of their status or had been diagnosed but lost to follow-up.