Revision as of 20:48, 10 July 2015

Anti-AIDS gel

From the archives of The Times of India: 2008

Anti-AIDS gel may help men too

A gel designed to protect women from the AIDS virus made using Gilead Sciences’ drug Viread could protect men from infection during anal sex, British researchers reported. Tests on monkeys showed that a gel made using the drug, known generically as tenofovir, may prevent AIDS transmission when applied rectally. The macaques pre-treated with rectal tenofovir gel up to two hours before being given a monkey version of HIV were partly or totally protected from infection, also rectally, Dr Martin Cranage of St George’s University of London and colleagues reported.

2013: Undivided Andhra Pradesh: most pregnant HIV women

Andhra Pradesh has highest No. of pregnant HIV women

Rohit Pillandi,TNN | Aug 19, 2014 The Times of India

HYDERABAD: Undivided Andhra Pradesh reported the highest number of pregnant mothers testing positive for HIV in 2013.

According to recent data from the Union ministry of health and family welfare, 1,330 pregnant women of the nearly seven lakh carrying mothers screened in AP last year, tested HIV positive. The ministry data shows that in neighbouring states like Maharashtra and Karnataka, where a larger number of women were screened, the percentage of women testing positive was significantly lower. It has been estimated that a mother has 30 per cent chance of transmitting the virus to her baby during pregnancy. The mortality rate among children with HIV is much higher compared to adults owing to their under-developed immune systems.

However AP fared better or equally well in treating mothers to prevent transmission to children, as evinced by the data which shows that 1,142 HIV positive pregnant women were put on treatment.

To reduce the numbers of baby transmissions, AP government in a first launched a new regimen of medication and treatment modality in 2012. The new treatment modality requires mothers to start treatment 14 weeks into pregnancy as against earlier practice of taking medication at the time of delivery. The medication now comprises a combination of three drugs as against one compound that was given earlier. Babies now are also given the same medication after birth. Additionally, under the new treatment practice, babies are screened every six months after birth until 18 months of age, when a concluding diagnosis is made about their infection.

According to P L Jayachandra Reddy, additional project director of AP State Aids Control Society, more than 90 per cent of the first batch of pregnant women in undivided AP, who were put on the new treatment modality in 2012, delivered babies without infecting them.

"The transmission rate has come down to about five per cent. It has not been eliminated completely owing to drug resistance some of the women developed during treatment or due to delay in starting the treatment," Reddy said.

A team comprising members of World Health Organisation (WHO) and National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) established this during a study of AP's implementation of the new treatment modality in March this year, 18 months after the first batch of women mentioned by Reddy, gave birth. Buoyed by AP's success, the WHO-NACO team has recommended that the new treatment modality be taken up in other states.

The data was released by Union ministry of health

1,330 pregnant women of the nearly seven lakh carrying mothers screened in undivided Andhra Pradesh last year, tested HIV positive, which is much higher than in other states

2014

4 states in south make up 50% of HIV cases Adarsh Jain The Times of India Dec 01 2014 Coimbatore:

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu account for 3.6 lakh HIV patients -around 50% of the country's 7.7 lakh cases reported as of May 2014. Around 1.7 lakh patients hail from Andhra and Telangana alone.

Karnataka has a little over one lakh HIV patients, and Tamil Nadu, 80,685.

Maharashtra follows Andhra Pradesh, with 1.43 lakh patients. Andhra, Te langana, Maharashtra and Karnataka are the only states with HIV-infected population exceeding 1 lakh, according to the Union health ministry .

Health experts said the rising numbers in the south were due to increasingly efficient screening over the past few years. Besides, while cumulative numbers are high, the number of fresh cases reported every year has plunged since 2010. According to the health ministry , the number of new HIV cases reduced by almost 50% across the country in three years -from 3.1 lakh fresh cases in 2010-11 to 1.5 lakh cases in 2013-14.

Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka saw a sharp fall in the number of fresh cases reported every year.

The drop in fresh cases is due to increasing awareness among the public, especially the risk-prone communities of sex workers, homosexuals and transgenders, said Bakthavatchalam A, deputy director of Association for Rural Mass India.

After Tamil Nadu's 80,000-odd cases, Gujarat is listed with 40,121 cases.States such as UP, Rajasthan and MP, which are larger in area and population, have not recorded many cases, according to data from the Union health ministry .