HIV and Hepatitis Co-infection - Impact, Testing and Vaccination

Source: Ric Crawford Clinic

There’s little doubting the tremendous impact HIV drug therapy has had on the lives and futures, of HIV-positive people. Unfortunately, the life-extending benefits of HIV drug treatment have opened up a new set of problems for many HIV-positive people. Thousands of HIV-positive people in the U.S. are also infected – or at risk of being infected – with one of several hepatitis viruses.

Viral hepatitis, which can cause long-term liver problems, liver failure and liver cancer, is considered to be a leading cause of death among HIV-positive people. You can get some forms of viral hepatitis the same way you get HIV – through unprotected sexual contact and injection drug use. Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C are common forms of hepatitis among people who are at risk for, or living with, HIV/AIDS. When someone is infected with both HIV and hepatitis B or C, we say that they are coinfected.

Another common form of hepatitis – Hepatitis A – is an acute liver disease, which is spread through contaminated food, water or contact with the feces of an infected person. HAV does not lead to chronic infection in the way that hepatitis B and C do, but it can cause serious illness that can last for months.

All HIV-positive patients should be screened for viral hepatitis (A, B and C). Those who test positive for hepatitis B and C should seek care from a liver specialist (hepatologist or gastroenterologist) for further evaluation and management. This is because many HIV-positive people are now at a much lower risk of dying from AIDS-related opportunistic infections, but must now face the challenge of having to manage these other viral diseases that pose a threat to their health and lives.

In short, if coinfected, HIV-positive people must fight two infections at once – they must now face the challenge of having to manage these other viral diseases that pose a threat to their health and lives.

Listed below are points to better understand these three hepatitis viruses that are a potential threat to HIV-infected people and their health. Each of the following points discuss the ways these hepatitis viruses are transmitted, cause disease, and are treated, particularly in people living with HIV:

Hepatitis A

• Transmitted through contaminated food, water and feces.
• There is no chronic infection (no long-term liver damage).
• Once you have been infected with hepatitis A, you cannot get it again.
• Good personal hygiene and proper sanitation can help prevent hepatitis A.
• A safe vaccine is available for children 12 months and older, as well as teens and adults.

Hepatitis B

• Transmitted through infected blood, sex, needles and from infected women to their newborns.
• Chronic infections occur in 90% of infants, 30% young children, and 10% in adults.
• Hepatitis B is the leading cause of primary liver cancer worldwide.
• There are promising treatments for chronic HBV, but still no cure.
• A safe vaccine is available for newborns, children, teens and adults.

Hepatitis C

• Transmitted through infected blood, sex and needles.
• Chronic infections occur in 55 – 85% of infected individuals.
• HCV is the leading indication for liver transplants in the U.S.
• There are promising treatments for chronic HCV, but still no cure.
• There is no vaccine to prevent hepatitis C.

Can You Trust Your Toothpaste?

Originally published by Healthy Black Men

Why would there ever be plastic inside your toothpaste?

Toothpaste is supposed to help clean your teeth. But for some Crest toothpaste users, that leftover food is just being replaced with tiny microbeads.Crest says that won’t be the case for long, however, as the maker of Crest toothpastes, Procter & Gamble, announced today that it will cease including the microbeads in their products and that all toothpastes containing the tiny polyethylene plastic balls will be off the shelves within six months.”We currently have products without microbeads for those who would prefer them,” the company wrote in an email to media.

The company began receiving pushback for their toothpastes’ ingredients after a story about the concerns of a Texas dental hygienist, Trish Walraven, grabbed the attention of online readers and got picked up by a range of local news sites. Walraven complained that she was continually finding the microbeads trapped under her patients’ gums.

“Polyethylene plastic is in your toothpaste for decorative purposes only,” Walraven wrote on her personal blog. “This is unacceptable not only to me, but to many, many hygienists nationwide. We are informing our patients.”

Some other smaller brands employ the same types of beads, but Crest toothpastes are the most prominent to use the plastic specks. The beads are approved for use in foods and healthcare products (like toothpaste and face scrubs) by the FDA.

But that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily a good idea.

The American Dental Association (ADA) says they’re not planning on rescinding their seal of approval from Crest products that contain microbeads.

“The Council will continue to monitor and evaluate new scientific information on this issue as it becomes available,” the ADA said in a statement. “In the meantime, the ADA recommends that individuals continue to follow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration‘s (FDA) recommendations on the use of dental health care products.”

HIV Treatment Works

Originally published by Healthy Black Men

It’s time to expand the HIV/AIDS fight from prevention to more about care, and living well. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced it’s first national communication campaign focused exclusively on encouraging treatment and care for people living with HIV.

The HIV Treatment Works campaign encourages people living with HIV to Get in Care, Stay in Care and Live Well. Here is an example.

According to the CDC, to protect your sexual partners, talk about your HIV status and take steps to protect your health and your partners’ health.

The following can reduce your risk of transmitting HIV:

• Use antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART reduces the amount of virus (viral load) in your blood and body fluids. ART can keep you healthy for many years, and greatly reduce your chance of transmitting HIV to sex partners if taken consistently and correctly.
• If you are taking ART, follow your health care provider’s advice. Visit your health care provider regularly and always take your medicine as directed.
• Choose less risky sexual behaviors. Oral sex is much less risky than anal or vaginal sex. Anal sex is the highest-risk sexual activity for HIV transmission. Sexual activities that do not involve the potential exchange of body fluids carry no risk for getting HIV (like touching).
• Use condoms consistently and correctly. When used correctly and consistently, condoms are highly effective in preventing HIV infection. Condoms are also effective at preventing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) transmitted through body fluids, like gonorrhea, chlamydia, and HIV.
• Condoms provide less protection against STDs spread through skin-to-skin contact like human papilloma virus (HPV which cause genital warts), genital herpes, and syphilis.

The campaign features people living with HIV talking about how sticking with care and treatment helps them stay healthy and protect others. They also discuss some of the obstacles they have experienced getting into HIV care and staying on treatment and how they overcame these obstacles, offering valuable advice to others living with HIV.

Project Inform is a National HIV/AIDS Treatment Info-line offering confidential treatment information. Call 1-800-822-7422 toll free, Monday thru Thursday for more information.

Content for this article provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and AIDS.gov.

25 Young Gay Men. 25 Inspiring Stories.

Powerful Personal Videos Reveal the Impact of HIV And Urge Others to #SpeakOutHIV 

Originally published by Kaiser Family Foundation

MENLO PARK, CA – Twenty-five young gay men get real about HIV as part of #SpeakOutHIV, a  campaign from Greater Than AIDS. The group is encouraging people to break the silence around HIV on social media in the two weeks between National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (September 27) and National Coming Out Day (October 11).

Anchored by a series of powerful personal videos recorded by men who are 25 or younger, #SpeakOutHIV challenges people to post their own stories about HIV on YouTube and share through Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms as part of a collective effort to promote more open discussion about the issue.

The campaign comes at a critical time. New HIV infections are rising among young gay men. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a 22 percent increase in new infections among gay men ages 13-24 between 2008 and 2010. Overall, young gay men account for one in five new infections in the United States, a share far greater than their representation in the population.

“Despite the continued impact of HIV, gay and bisexual men are not talking about HIV even with those closest to them,” noted Tina Hoff, Senior Vice President and Director of Health Communication and Media Partnerships, Kaiser Family Foundation – a co-founding partner in Greater Than AIDS.  “#SpeakOutHIV is about promoting a more open dialogue about HIV in all aspects of life, in relationships, with health care providers and within the community generally.”

The young men featured in #SpeakOutHIV offer unfiltered, intimate accounts about how HIV has affected them and what they want others to know about the disease. They come from regions with high rates of HIV, including the South. The majority are men of color. About one third are HIV positive.

They created their videos with cellphones and other personal devices this month at a Speak Out digital storytelling workshop organized by Greater Than AIDS in Washington, DC.  “Once the courageous stories about coming out, HIV-diagnosis, isolation, self-esteem, and the like were shared, I learned from these young men that my story is not so uncommon,” said Jai, an HIV/AIDS educator from Dallas who helped facilitate the workshop and serves as a Greater Than AIDS Speak Out ambassador. “The stories and our shared experience linked us.”

#SpeakOutHIV is part of a broader Speak Out campaign, launched last fall by Greater Than AIDS, to engage the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in response to the silence and stigma surrounding HIV. The cross-platform campaign, which features HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay men, encourages more open communication about the disease in personal relationships, as well as with healthcare providers and within the community.

AIDS United, Black AIDS Institute and the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors helped organize the workshop, along with the Kaiser Family Foundation. Funding was provided by the Ford Foundation and Elton John AIDS Foundation.

To view the #SpeakOutHIV videos, go to: www.youtube.com/greaterthanaids.

For more information about Greater Than AIDS and all the Speak Out elements, including #SpeakOutHIV, visit: www.greaterthan.org/speak-out.

About Greater Than AIDS

Greater Than AIDS is a leading national public information response focused on the U.S. domestic epidemic. Launched in 2009, it is supported by a broad coalition of public and private sector partners, including: major media and other business leaders; federal, state and local health agencies and departments; national leadership groups; AIDS service and other community organizations; and foundations, among others. Through targeted media messages and community outreach, Greater Than AIDS works to increase knowledge, reduce stigma and promote actions to stem the spread of the disease. While national in scope, Greater Than AIDS focuses on communities most affected.

The Kaiser Family Foundation provides strategic direction and day-to-day management, in addition to overseeing the production of the campaigns. The Black AIDS Institute – a think tank exclusively focused on AIDS in Black America – provides leadership and expert guidance and supports community engagement. Additional financial and substantive support is provided by the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Ford Foundation, among others.

Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Menlo Park, California.

Behind the Increase in HIV Infections Among Gay and Bisexual Men

In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman explores why the problem of HIV among gay and bisexual men is urgent–and under the radar.

All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.

Gay and bisexual men represent an estimated 2% of the U.S. population but more than half of all people living with HIV and 66% of new HIV infections. They are the only population group in the United States for which HIV infections are rising. Projections have shown that if current trends continue, half of all gay and bisexual men will be HIV-positive by age 50.

So it’s a major concern that, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey published Thursday, only a third of gay and bisexual men know that infections are increasing among this group. Only a quarter know that if someone who is HIV-positive is taking HIV antiretroviral treatment, his risk of passing on the virus is significantly reduced. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends testing every three to six months for sexually active gay and bisexual men; many state health departments do as well. But almost a third of gay and bisexual men have never been tested for HIV, and another third were tested more than a year ago. More than half don’t know about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)–a pill that HIV-negative men can take to prevent infection that is about 90% effective when taken every day.

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