HIV & ME My attempt at Poetry bu james jc gough

This WAR on HIV must be won by education & awareness!HIV & Me,My Attemp At Poetry!!!by james jc gough
ITS ALMOST IMPOSSABLE I WOULD VENTURE TO SAY,when will love come my way?I been poz since 2001,let me tell you it hasn't been fun!!At first i was angry,then depressed,i didnt know if i would regress,about HIV,i knew even less!!!So i read and researched on this Virus callede HIV,i wanted to know what was killing me,slowly but surely it killed my desire,but now i was off of that cokecaine highwire,and my head slowly cleared from its deep quagemire.I lost so many friends and loved ones too,HPV,HIV & hep-abc just to name a few,diseases and drugs go hand in hand like a spreading evil across this great land,Drs and scientists searching for cures,while pain and suffering are what we endure,money pours in from all kinds of places,the guilt and greed on rich mens faces,money money money,its all i hear,how shortfalls and cutbacks are always near,and of course its always the poor,that are hit that hardest and yet they endure and have no fear,could it be their faith and hope?thats brought them through the slippery slopes?of life and trials and tribulations,of the joy and love & constelations,of dreams unfulfilled & desires unmet,so many gone never to see the sunset,lost to us early ,no more to rise,Untill the end of days ,no more blue skies,this isnt the way,kindness and love are what we need,to practice and promote,love and not greed,Jesus & Bhudda & Alah too,all knew love would see them through,For isnt this what each one preached?So why the Wars,i cryed,i beseached,to stop this stigma & discrimination that has engulfed so many a nation,So wars & fighting are not the right way,to love our naybers now this we may,hope to win this end to fighting,Then this poem would need no writing,to try and change Mans love of War,into a war of love,why isnt this what He said from HIM above,that man should practice alot more LOVE,so this it it i got to go,i 'm off,I have HIV and my name is joe!JOE GOUGH!!!!typed today by james "joey"gough,sudbury ontario canada GODBLESS ALL MY FELLOW HIV-AIDS WARRIORS WITH PEACE,LOVE,AND HAPPINESS 4 EVER!

TEN THINGS U SHOULD KNOW ABOUT HIV-AIDS

This WAR on HIV must be won by education & AWARENESS!


HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the virus that causes AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). AIDS is a collection of specific illnesses and conditions which occur because the body’s immune system has been damaged by HIV.
1 Having a test to find out if you have HIV could save your life.
If you’re HIV-positive, the sooner you find out, the sooner you can receive medical care. Every year in the UK 200 people die because they found out they were HIV-positive so late that treatment couldn’t work. HIV tests are free to everyone via the National Health Service (NHS).
2 HIV testing and treatment is confidential.
Your HIV clinic won’t tell anybody that you have HIV without your permission.

3 The best HIV care will be at a specialist NHS HIV clinic.
HIV doctors at specialist clinics will regularly check your health to see how HIV is affecting your immune system and explain what treatment you need to take.
4 Taking HIV treatment can mean a longer, healthier life.
Even though there’s no cure for HIV, doctors are now hopeful that you can live a more or less normal lifespan if you take a combination of anti-HIV drugs.

5 You need to take all your anti-HIV drugs as instructed.
If you don’t, there’s a risk that the drugs you are currently taking, and any similar drugs,won’t work.
6 HIV treatment is there to protect and improve your health.
However anti-HIV drugs can cause side-effects. Make sure you tell your doctor, as there’s a good chance you’ll be able to do something about them.

7 HIV treatment is free.
If you are entitled to free NHS care, then all your HIV treatment and care will be free. If you are not entitled to free NHS care you may have to pay for your treatment and care.
8 You may still be able to pass on HIV to somebody else even if you are taking anti-HIV treatment.
Condoms effectively prevent the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Clean needles and syringes are available if you inject drugs - never share needles or other injecting equipment.

9 Mother to baby transmission of HIV can be prevented in nearly all cases.
The use of anti-HIV treatment, having a caesarean delivery, and not breastfeeding can reduce the risk of a mother passing on HIV to her baby to less than 1%.
10 There’s a lot you can do to look after your own health.
You can help yourself by eating well, reducing stress, not smoking, and exercising. Make sure you get good quality, impartial information about HIV to help you make good decisions regarding your health and treatment.

Researchers Study HIV Transmission

CATIE News – Montreal researchers study HIV transmission

In an attempt to reduce the spread of HIV, safer-sex techniques were developed by community groups in the mid-to-late 1980s. The diffusion of knowledge about safer sex around the world should, in theory, have helped stop the spread of HIV. However, HIV continues to be transmitted at a relatively high rate in many parts of the globe, particularly in low- and middle-income regions, where there are tens of millions of people with HIV/AIDS. By contrast, in the high-income regions of North America, Western Europe and Australia, HIV is spreading at lower rates and fewer people are becoming infected.

The Public Health Agency of Canada estimates that there are about 58,000 HIV positive people living in Canada. It also estimates that there are at least 2,500 new HIV infections in this country every year. If this trend remains unchecked, that would mean that in 10 years there would be 25,000 additional people living with HIV in Canada.

Studying and engaging with populations at high risk for HIV infection is a first step toward reaching the goal of slowing the spread of this epidemic. The underlying factors that drive the continuing transmission of HIV in Canada in 2007 are not completely clear and are likely to be different in key populations affected by HIV, as follows:

* men who have sex with men (MSM)
* injection drug users
* Aboriginal people
* women
* immigrants from regions where HIV is common
* prisoners
* young people

To try to get a better understanding of HIV transmission, a research team in Montreal focused on the sexual behaviours of MSM in a project called the Omega Study Cohort. The team enrolled more than 1,800 HIV negative men and monitored them for up to seven years. Regular interviews and blood tests were part of this monitoring. They found that participating in unprotected receptive anal sex was the behaviour most associated with becoming HIV positive. Further details about other behaviours and transmission risks appear later in this article.

Study details
Between October 1996 and July 2003, researchers enrolled 1,846 HIV negative men who identified themselves as MSM. Their average profile was as follows:

* age – 30 years
* 75% were single
* 20% were unemployed
* 67% had continued their education beyond high school
* 50% had an annual income less than $20,000
* a history of sexually transmitted infections was common

Results—focus on behaviours
During the first six months of the study, about 40% of participants had more than two regular sex partners and one-third reported more than five sex partners.

About 40% of participants engaged in unprotected anal sex during the first six months of the study. This practice was most common among men who had sex with other HIV negative men.

HIV transmission
A total of 32 men became HIV positive (seroconverted) during the course of the study.

Based on information collected during interviews, the study team found that different practices were associated with a different risk for becoming HIV positive. Below are some of these practices as well as the risks of seroconversion associated with them.

Number of partners
Having unsafe sex with multiple sexual partners increases the risk that a person will be exposed to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. So, determining the number of sex partners is sometimes useful in calculating risks for acquiring HIV infection. The study team found the following:

* Having between six and 49 sexual partners in the six months prior to seroconversion doubled the risk of becoming HIV positive.
* Having 50 or more sex partners in the six months prior to seroconversion was associated with a five-fold risk of seroconversion.

Focus on anal sex
In the Montreal study, the main risk factor for HIV transmission was unprotected anal sex between men—one who was HIV negative and the other who was either HIV positive or whose HIV status was not known. Below are the risks associated with practicing anal receptive and anal insertive sex:

* The men at greatest risk for HIV infection were those who practiced receptive anal intercourse. Their risk for seroconversion was 12 times greater than that of men who did not practice anal sex at all or men who did not have anal sex with an HIV positive person.
* Men who engaged in both unprotected insertive and receptive anal sex were 8 times more likely to get HIV than men who did not practice anal sex with an HIV positive partner.
* Men who only practiced unprotected insertive anal sex had a five-fold risk of becoming HIV positive.

Hidden behaviour?
An interesting finding from the Montreal study: Some HIV negative men who claimed to always practice protected anal sex with partners who were HIV positive or whose serostatus was unknown eventually became HIV positive. The study team suggested several possibilities to explain this seemingly contradictory information:

* Condoms can break. Even among people who regularly use condoms, the risk of what the Montreal team called “condom failure” ranges between 5% and 10%.
* Condoms may not work at blocking HIV infection if they are used only to prevent exposure to ejaculation after first having brief, unprotected intercourse.
* Because of the stigma of engaging in unprotected intercourse, some study participants may not have correctly disclosed their sexual behaviours.

Oral sex
Based on a review of data from other studies, the Montreal team noted that HIV can be transmitted through oral sex but the risk of this is very low. In the Omega Study, engaging in unprotected oral receptive sex with an HIV positive partner doubled the risk of becoming HIV positive. However, the study team cautioned that some of the men who claimed to have been infected as a result of oral sex could have been infected because of unprotected anal sex that they neglected to disclose. Another point to consider is that because a relatively small number of seroconversions occurred in the Omega Study, the reliability of conclusions drawn about oral sex and HIV transmission is very limited.

Key points
In this study, researchers confirmed that “unprotected receptive anal sex was the most important risk factor” for transmitting HIV infection.

In general, researchers also noted that condoms are of “significant value in reducing HIV transmission.” However, the use of condoms for sex between serodiscordant partners (one is HIV negative and the other HIV positive) does not, according to their study results, provide complete protection against HIV infection.

The practice of having sex with people of the same HIV serostatus is called serosorting. The Montreal study team suggested that serosorting appears to be an “acceptable compromise between obtaining sexual fulfillment and the adoption of effective HIV prevention practices.”

Although the number of men who seroconverted in the Omega Study is relatively low, the study team stated that “this rate translates into several hundred new HIV infections each year.” This is outcome is disquieting.

Perhaps a useful outcome of the Omega Study might be to conduct further research that can strengthen HIV prevention programs, enable greater use of condoms and reduce “condom failure,” at least among MSM. Such efforts would be appreciated not just in Canada but in other high-income countries where HIV continues to spread.

The funding for the Omega Study Cohort was provided by the following agencies:

* Health Canada
* CIHR—Canadian Institutes of Health Research
* FRSQ—Fonds de la recherché en santé du Québec

—Sean R. Hosein

REFERENCES:

1. Public Health Agency of Canada. HIV/AIDS Epi Updates, August 2006, Surveillance and Risk Assessment Division, Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada, 2006.

2. Lavoie E, Alary M, Remis R, et al. Determinants of HIV seroconversion among men who have sex with men living in a low HIV incidence population in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapies. Sexually Transmitted Diseases 2007; in press.

3. Buchbinder SP, Vittinghoff E, Heagerty PJ, et al. Sexual risk, nitrite inhalant use, and lack of circumcision associated with HIV seroconversion in men who have sex with men in the United States. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes 2005 May 1;39(1):82-9.

4. Monno L, Carbonara S, Ciracì E, et al. Twenty years later: the recent trends of HIV-infection—evidence from an Italian region. Infection 2007; in press.





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CATIE News - Montreal researchers study HIV transmission‏
From: maiser@mercury.catie.ca on behalf of CATIE Info (info@catie.ca)
You may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as unsafe
Sent: November 12, 2007 4:41:06 PM
To: catie-news (catie-news@mercury.catie.ca)

CATIE News – Montreal researchers study HIV transmission

In an attempt to reduce the spread of HIV, safer-sex techniques were developed by community groups in the mid-to-late 1980s. The diffusion of knowledge about safer sex around the world should, in theory, have helped stop the spread of HIV. However, HIV continues to be transmitted at a relatively high rate in many parts of the globe, particularly in low- and middle-income regions, where there are tens of millions of people with HIV/AIDS. By contrast, in the high-income regions of North America, Western Europe and Australia, HIV is spreading at lower rates and fewer people are becoming infected.

The Public Health Agency of Canada estimates that there are about 58,000 HIV positive people living in Canada. It also estimates that there are at least 2,500 new HIV infections in this country every year. If this trend remains unchecked, that would mean that in 10 years there would be 25,000 additional people living with HIV in Canada.

Studying and engaging with populations at high risk for HIV infection is a first step toward reaching the goal of slowing the spread of this epidemic. The underlying factors that drive the continuing transmission of HIV in Canada in 2007 are not completely clear and are likely to be different in key populations affected by HIV, as follows:

* men who have sex with men (MSM)
* injection drug users
* Aboriginal people
* women
* immigrants from regions where HIV is common
* prisoners
* young people

To try to get a better understanding of HIV transmission, a research team in Montreal focused on the sexual behaviours of MSM in a project called the Omega Study Cohort. The team enrolled more than 1,800 HIV negative men and monitored them for up to seven years. Regular interviews and blood tests were part of this monitoring. They found that participating in unprotected receptive anal sex was the behaviour most associated with becoming HIV positive. Further details about other behaviours and transmission risks appear later in this article.

Study details
Between October 1996 and July 2003, researchers enrolled 1,846 HIV negative men who identified themselves as MSM. Their average profile was as follows:

* age – 30 years
* 75% were single
* 20% were unemployed
* 67% had continued their education beyond high school
* 50% had an annual income less than $20,000
* a history of sexually transmitted infections was common

Results—focus on behaviours
During the first six months of the study, about 40% of participants had more than two regular sex partners and one-third reported more than five sex partners.

About 40% of participants engaged in unprotected anal sex during the first six months of the study. This practice was most common among men who had sex with other HIV negative men.

HIV transmission
A total of 32 men became HIV positive (seroconverted) during the course of the study.

Based on information collected during interviews, the study team found that different practices were associated with a different risk for becoming HIV positive. Below are some of these practices as well as the risks of seroconversion associated with them.

Number of partners
Having unsafe sex with multiple sexual partners increases the risk that a person will be exposed to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. So, determining the number of sex partners is sometimes useful in calculating risks for acquiring HIV infection. The study team found the following:

* Having between six and 49 sexual partners in the six months prior to seroconversion doubled the risk of becoming HIV positive.
* Having 50 or more sex partners in the six months prior to seroconversion was associated with a five-fold risk of seroconversion.

Focus on anal sex
In the Montreal study, the main risk factor for HIV transmission was unprotected anal sex between men—one who was HIV negative and the other who was either HIV positive or whose HIV status was not known. Below are the risks associated with practicing anal receptive and anal insertive sex:

* The men at greatest risk for HIV infection were those who practiced receptive anal intercourse. Their risk for seroconversion was 12 times greater than that of men who did not practice anal sex at all or men who did not have anal sex with an HIV positive person.
* Men who engaged in both unprotected insertive and receptive anal sex were 8 times more likely to get HIV than men who did not practice anal sex with an HIV positive partner.
* Men who only practiced unprotected insertive anal sex had a five-fold risk of becoming HIV positive.

Hidden behaviour?
An interesting finding from the Montreal study: Some HIV negative men who claimed to always practice protected anal sex with partners who were HIV positive or whose serostatus was unknown eventually became HIV positive. The study team suggested several possibilities to explain this seemingly contradictory information:

* Condoms can break. Even among people who regularly use condoms, the risk of what the Montreal team called “condom failure” ranges between 5% and 10%.
* Condoms may not work at blocking HIV infection if they are used only to prevent exposure to ejaculation after first having brief, unprotected intercourse.
* Because of the stigma of engaging in unprotected intercourse, some study participants may not have correctly disclosed their sexual behaviours.

Oral sex
Based on a review of data from other studies, the Montreal team noted that HIV can be transmitted through oral sex but the risk of this is very low. In the Omega Study, engaging in unprotected oral receptive sex with an HIV positive partner doubled the risk of becoming HIV positive. However, the study team cautioned that some of the men who claimed to have been infected as a result of oral sex could have been infected because of unprotected anal sex that they neglected to disclose. Another point to consider is that because a relatively small number of seroconversions occurred in the Omega Study, the reliability of conclusions drawn about oral sex and HIV transmission is very limited.

Key points
In this study, researchers confirmed that “unprotected receptive anal sex was the most important risk factor” for transmitting HIV infection.

In general, researchers also noted that condoms are of “significant value in reducing HIV transmission.” However, the use of condoms for sex between serodiscordant partners (one is HIV negative and the other HIV positive) does not, according to their study results, provide complete protection against HIV infection.

The practice of having sex with people of the same HIV serostatus is called serosorting. The Montreal study team suggested that serosorting appears to be an “acceptable compromise between obtaining sexual fulfillment and the adoption of effective HIV prevention practices.”

Although the number of men who seroconverted in the Omega Study is relatively low, the study team stated that “this rate translates into several hundred new HIV infections each year.” This is outcome is disquieting.

Perhaps a useful outcome of the Omega Study might be to conduct further research that can strengthen HIV prevention programs, enable greater use of condoms and reduce “condom failure,” at least among MSM. Such efforts would be appreciated not just in Canada but in other high-income countries where HIV continues to spread.

The funding for the Omega Study Cohort was provided by the following agencies:

* Health Canada
* CIHR—Canadian Institutes of Health Research
* FRSQ—Fonds de la recherché en santé du Québec

—Sean R. Hosein

REFERENCES:

1. Public Health Agency of Canada. HIV/AIDS Epi Updates, August 2006, Surveillance and Risk Assessment Division, Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada, 2006.

2. Lavoie E, Alary M, Remis R, et al. Determinants of HIV seroconversion among men who have sex with men living in a low HIV incidence population in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapies. Sexually Transmitted Diseases 2007; in press.

3. Buchbinder SP, Vittinghoff E, Heagerty PJ, et al. Sexual risk, nitrite inhalant use, and lack of circumcision associated with HIV seroconversion in men who have sex with men in the United States. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes 2005 May 1;39(1):82-9.

4. Monno L, Carbonara S, Ciracì E, et al. Twenty years later: the recent trends of HIV-infection—evidence from an Italian region. Infection 2007; in press.

To see a directory of archived messages, visit CATIE's Web site at http://www.catie.ca/catienews.nsf

CATIE-News is written by Sean Hosein, with the collaboration of other members of the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange, in Toronto. Your comments are welcome.

Permission to Reproduce:
This document is copyrighted by the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE). All CATIE materials may be reprinted and/or distributed without prior permission. However, reprints may not be edited and must include the following text:

From Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE). For more information visit CATIE's Information Network at http://www.catie.ca

This WAR on HIV must be won by education & awareness!HIV Replication 3D Animation copy and paste this code into your browser & it should take you to the site where it will show you exactly what hiv looks like & how it replicates

Computer Model of HOW HIV INFECTS Cells

This WAR on HIV must be won by education & awareness!HIV Replication 3D Animation

MOM NOT DOING WELL

This WAR on HIV must be won by education & awareness!YA SHE WAS BROUGHT INTO THE HOSP LAST NIGHT.i COULD TELL SHE WAS REALLY SICK RIGHT AWAY AS HER FACE HAD A ASHEN TONE TO IT.fROMN WHAT I HEAR SHE IS IN ISOLATION WITH SOME KIND OF BUG.ITS ALMOST 7 AM AND I AM STILL AWAKE!GUESS I SHPULD HEAD TO BED EH FOLKS?CANT BE WORRYING ALL THE TIME RIGHT?I PRAY THAT GOD BLESSES U ALL WITH PEACE,HAPPINESS & LOVE all of your long daYS & MAY GODS WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!AMEN !!

JACK LEIGHTON SAYS HE WANTS TO LEGALIZE WEED,I SAY I AM VOTING NDP~JOIN ME & VOTE NDP

This WAR on HIV must be won by education & awareness!AS A PHA SPEAKER THAT GOES OUT INTO LOCAL SCHOOLS & PLACES OF LEARNING I AM ALWAYS ASKED IF POT LEAD TOO MY COKE ADDDICTION.I WAS 27 WHEN I TOOK MY FIRST HIT, SO NO,IT DID NOT.NOW THAT I AM HIV+ I SMOKE WEED TO HELP WITH MY EATING,NASEA,& TO RELAX ME.IT WORKS FOR ME.I THINK SUDBURY NEEDS A COMPASSION CLUB BIGTIME~!WE DO HAVE THE HIGHEST RATE OF CANCER AS WELL AS THE CANMCER CENTRE NOT TO MENTION THE NUMEROUS OTHER AILMENTS THAT WEED HELPS.JAC LEIGHTON WAS THE ONLY PO;LITICIAN TO ANSWER MY LETTERS & GETS MY VOTE THIS YEAR,HE WROTE THAT HE WANTS TO LEGALIZE WEED HERE IN CANADA~ SO JOIN ME IF YOUR HIV,CANCER+ OR CANCER FREE,JOIN ME & VOTE NDP & LETS GET THIS STUFF LEGALIZED ONCE & FOR ALL EH FOLKS!PEACE N LOVE EH!THINK GREEN & VOTE NDP=THINGS THAT ARE COOL IN 07!!

HIV+ PERSONS SHOULD BE INVOLVED

This WAR on HIV must be won by education & awareness!Namibian (Windhoek)

5 November 2007
Posted to the web 5 November 2007

Christof Maletsky
Windhoek

People living with HIV and AIDS have called on Government to review the effectiveness of its prevention from mother to child treatment (PMTCT) programme through involving those infected by the disease.

In that way, Government will be able to identify the gaps where women may be missing out on the programme, a treatment survey released on Friday said.


The survey was conducted among HIV-positive Lironga Eparu members, healthcare workers and HIV-positive members of the Rainbow Project - an organisation for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Katima Mulilo, Grootfontein, Tsumeb, Ondangwa, Oshakati, Khorixas, Keetmanshoop, Luederitz and Windhoek were visited in November 2005 for the survey. The study found that there was a need to assess the user-friendliness of healthcare facilities to people living with the disease.

It called on the Ministry of Health and non-governmental organisations to pilot the training and use of infected people as "expert patients" as part of the anti-retroviral treatment (ART) treatment team. Such people could provide counselling, ART support and information, help patients to overcome adherence problems and act as a bridge between healthcare workers and patients. A significant number (21 per cent) of Lironga Eparu members interviewed said they had been "treated badly or unfairly" by hospital staff or healthcare workers.

"A third of those who felt they had been maltreated by a health worker linked this with stigma-related behaviour and specified that a healthcare worker was afraid to touch them," the report said. It said the findings where based on the perceptions of people living with the disease.

"Nonetheless, perceptions are powerful, and shape behaviour and rumours," it said. The report said people living with the disease must be involved in the review of the country's prevention and treatment guidelines, as a way of moving towards a more proactive and holistic approach. It suggested that the Ministry of Health consider offering viral load tests - which checks the CD4 count of infected people - after six months of ART treatment and then annually, for everyone while health workers need to be trained in interpersonal communication.

Launching the report, Dr Marcus !Goraseb of the Ministry of Health said the recommendations were excellent



"This is testimony that Namibians have taken a firm stand alongside the Government's efforts," he said.

!Goraseb said the country's national development agenda was in jeopardy because of the impact of HIV-AIDS. He said thorough planning with evidence-based information, dedication to challenges, sharing of experience and accountability were among the most important elements for a strategy to overcome the disease.

"Our destiny is no longer a matter of chance, it is something to be achieved. We have to strive for greater heights for the sake of our nation," he said.

STRESS CAN KILL FASTER IF YOUR HIV+!

This WAR on HIV must be won by education & awareness!Chapel Hill, N.C. -- Evidence indicates psychological factors play a role in disease progression of HIV, say researchers led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Lead author Jane Leserman, a professor of psychiatry and medicine, says traumatic life events, such as physical or sexual abuse, are associated with faster mortality.

"Trauma and depression are common among people with HIV, and trauma and depression seem to have an effect on disease progression and mortality in HIV," Leserman said in a statement. "Given that, it is critical that clinicians treating people infected with HIV recognize depression and trauma as risk factors for poor health outcomes, and thus screen and refer patients for psychological and psychiatric treatment when these problems are present."

The researchers interviewed a group of 490 HIV infected patients and those who reported a greater number of categories of traumatic life events had faster death from all causes and from AIDS.

The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, found more than half of the patients in the study experienced three or more lifetime traumas, and half had experienced physical or sexual abuse.

© 2007 United Press International.

HIV & FISH-OIL?RESEARCHERS CHECKING OUT MEDICAL BENEFITS

This WAR on HIV must be won by education & awareness!Buyers’ Club Blog

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fish oil, inflammation and metabolic complications in HIV: a clinical trial and related research
November 2, 2007

We noticed with interest that Dr. Todd T Brown, a Johns Hopkins researcher who has studied body fat changes in people with HIV, has recently started a wide-ranging investigation of fish oil / omega-3 fatty acid supplementation as a way of preventing/treating metabolic complications associated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Metabolic complications, including fat wasting, central body fat build-up, insulin resistance, high cholesterol and triglycerides, and bone loss, have been some of the major side effects experienced by people with HIV on medication, so it’s quite interesting to see research that may “connect the dots” and find links between these various problems.

Furthermore, this is a study that focuses on fish oil / omega-3 fatty acids, which have quite recently gained more respect in US medical circles, especially as a means of preventing/treating cardiovascular disease, but also for a surprising effect on depression. (You can read more about this aspect of fish oil supplementation in the “depression” category on this blog.)

Here’s the description of Dr. Brown’s research, as provided on the website of NCCAM/NIH, one of the major sponsors of the study:

Abstract: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this proposal is to understand the role of inflammatory cytokines in the metabolic and skeletal abnormalities in HIV disease and to determine whether omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, in the form of fish oil, will alter the pathophysiology of these clinical disorders. Complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) are used widely among HIV-infected patients, often with the hope of preventing or treating complications associated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Metabolic abnormalities, including peripheral fat wasting, central adiposity, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia, and skeletal abnormalities (reduced bone mineral density and high bone turnover), are common in HIV-infected patients on HAART, yet their relationship is unclear. We hypothesize that these metabolic and skeletal abnormalities are related by abnormal inflammatory cytokine expression and that these conditions can be improved with fish oil, a widely-used CAM agent with anti-inflammatory properties. We have the following specific aims: 1) To understand the association between the metabolic and skeletal abnormalities in HIV-infected subjects and their relationship to inflammation, 2) To determine whether treatment with omega-3 fatty acids will have hypotriglyeridemic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-bone resorptive effects in a randomized trial of HIV-infected patients, and 3) To clarify the mechanisms of action of omega-3 fatty acids, namely the effect on lipolysis and bone turnover using stable isotope infusion techniques. To accomplish our specific aims, I intend to do a secondary analysis of data from two cohorts of HIV-infected subjects, and to then perform a randomized trial using a standardized fish oil product. These results will help to define the pathophysiology of the metabolic and skeletal abnormalities in HIV and evaluate the efficacy and potential mechanisms of action of an important complementary treatment […]

(According to the published information, the clinical trial of fish oil is scheduled to run from 2006-2010.)

Note: An interview with Dr. Brown on body fat changes in people with HIV can be found on the website of our friends at www.thebody.com.

Entry Filed under: cholesterol, diabetes, hiv, insulin resistance. Tags: cholesterol, fish oil, HAART, HAART side effects, hiv, lipodystrophy, lipodystrophy and HIV, metabolic syndrome, Omega-3 fatty acids, triglycerides.