WeeklySA_AdminDIAGNOSIS: Medical attention four weeks after infection may make it possible to control the virus without medication in the long term, according to a French study…
By Own Correspondent
There is a “window of opportunity” in the weeks after someone is infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, where treatment may lead to better control later on, say researchers from five French institutions.
Treatment for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) four weeks after infection may make it possible to control the virus without medication in the long term, a new study has shown.
The finding reinforces the importance of detecting HIV early, according to researchers from the French Institut Pasteur, CEA, Inserm, University of Paris Cité, and the University of Paris-Saclay.
Treatment for HIV is called antiretroviral therapy (ART) and can be taken as a pill or an injection. The goal is to reduce a person’s viral load to an undetectable level so the person has no risk of transmitting HIV.
This therapy is now so effective that it can fully control the virus, with researchers even exploring ways to cure it.
This latest study looked at the impact of early treatment on primates with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), which is closely related to HIV.
The researchers found that very early treatment for two years led to controlling the virus even after treatment was interrupted.
“We show an association between early treatment and control of the infection after treatment is stopped, and our study indicates the existence of a window of opportunity to promote remission of HIV infection,” Asier Sáez-Cirión, head of the Institut Pasteur’s viral reservoirs and immune control unit and co-senior author of the study, said in a statement.
A previous 2013 study in humans had shown a similar possibility, suggesting that early treatment could allow people to stop treatment, with the virus in a “state of remission”.
The latest study also showed that the benefits of early treatment were lost if therapy was started just five months later. The findings were published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
The researchers also looked at the effect of early treatment on the primates’ immune systems and capacity to fight the virus.
“We see that early treatment maintained for two years optimises the development of immune cells,” added Sáez-Cirión.
“They acquire an effective memory against the virus, to eliminate it naturally during viral rebound after stopping treatment”.
Starting treatment six months after infection, a delay that showed worse results in the study for long-term control of the virus, is “already considered very short compared to what happens clinically,” said Roger Le Grand, a co-author of the study from the French public research organisation CEA Most HIV patients, he said, start treatment years after being infected due to late testing.
The number of new HIV infections and AIDS-related mortality rates in Europe continue to decrease, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Yet many countries are not on track to achieve targets for ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
Around 83 per cent of people living with HIV know their status, according to the ECDC, which said that testing and treatment services in Europe need to be scaled up. – Euronews
CASES OF EARLY CANCER ON-SET ON THE RISE
SCALE: Younger generation faces higher risk as prevalence of the disease appeared to on the increase in the 20s age group…
By WSAM Correspondent
There has been a marked increase in early onset cancer, particularly amongst Millennials.
This is according to a pharmaceutical giant Jansen South Africa’s medical affairs head Vanessa Snow, who adds that age-risk factors have lowered from an average age of 50 years, two decades ago, to an alarming and emerging group, 25 to 29-year-olds, where cancer rates have risen faster than other age groups.
“While the risk of contracting cancer remains more prevalent in an older age group, the growth in younger people contracting the condition is telling,” said Snow.
The American Cancer Society predicted that this year, seven percent of deaths and thirteen percent of colorectal cancers, for example, will be detected in persons under 50 years old. It is out of the norm.
Snow said that studies are presently underway to understand the sustained upward movement in incidences of colorectal cancer.
“There has been upward movement, with momentum, and could almost be paralleled with the growing use of plastic in almost every aspect of our lives. In turn, this has caused growth in incidences of micro and nano-plastics in foodstuffs and water as a consequence,” said Snow.
And, while the way these tiny particles were consumed and move through the human body was not understood properly yet, it was important to interrogate, particularly because of the potential links with cancer, she said.
Other cancers afflicting younger victims include breast, kidney, pancreas, and liver, amongst others. Snow believes that the growth in colorectal cancer amongst younger people could be a direct consequence of a bloated western lifestyle.
“We are becoming more sedentary, our diets have moved too far in the direction of processed foods, and in many ways, that is how Millennials have grown up, in the age where fast food and processed products have come into its own, likely to the detriment of collective wellness.”
A sustained and growing upward trend in western obesity had also not helped, said Snow, which were also a consequence of diet, but also excessive consumption.
“Add to that, the pollutants that have permeated across every aspect of the human environment, and the elements conducive to cancer risk factors present themselves in plain sight,” she said.
To this end, lifestyle changes and preventative wellness measures that healthcare professionals have shared through the years remain pertinent. Snow said it should be reinforced among younger people.
“A healthy lifestyle that includes more unprocessed foods, fruit and vegetables, exercise and limited consumption of alcohol, cutting out vices like smoking; these are the simple rules of thumb that can be the difference between a longer, healthier life or contracting cancer,” she said.
Avoidance of risky behaviours like unprotected sex, self-care such as frequent self-examinations and regular visits to healthcare practitioners for screenings remain important weapons in a cancer-free arsenal, noted Snow.
“Managing external factors and impacts of environmental pollutants cannot be undone overnight,” said Snow, “but we are able to manage our wellness through the actions we take as individuals.
From lifestyle and diet through to individual repurposing or recycling of single-use plastics. That, coupled with the significant advances that science is making in combating cancer, could bode well for a healthier future.”
