Shot To Prevent HIV Works Better Than Daily Pill in Women (nytimes.com) 45
A single shot given every two months has proved to be more effective than a daily pill at preventing H.I.V. in women, researchers reported on Monday, an advance that medical experts hailed as groundbreaking in the fight against the deadly virus that causes AIDS. From a report: The finding that the long-acting drug would prevent H.I.V. in six doses taken over a year instead of the 365 required for the prevention pill currently on the market was so convincing the researchers decided to end their clinical trial of the drug early. "It's a game changer for women," said Dr. Sigal Yawetz, an expert on women with H.I.V. at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston who was not involved in the trial. Women and girls accounted for about half of all new H.I.V. infections in 2019, according to Unaids, a United Nations organization that leads the global fight against H.I.V. and AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa, five in six new infections among adolescents ages 15 to 19 are among girls. "If we're going to get to the end of the epidemic, we have to do something to stem the tide of infection in those women," said Dr. Kimberly Smith, head of research and development at ViiV Healthcare, which manufactures the injection. "That is why this study is so important. It gives a new, incredibly effective option for women." Women have had only one approved option for pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a course of drugs taken to prevent contracting H.I.V.: the daily pill Truvada, made by Gilead Sciences. (A second pill also made by Gilead, called Descovy, was approved in October 2019, but only for men and transgender women.)
Two in one day (Score:3, Insightful)
Great news, two medical advances in one day against really nasty diseases.
Re:Two in one day (Score:4, Interesting)
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This is very significant for Africa because a major problem with current AIDs treatments is that they're so toxic that women stop taking them because of all the side-effects, which means they're nowhere near as effective as they should be. Having a treatment with few if any side-effects is a huge step forward in solving this problem.
That comment is from someone who worked in AIDs treatment in Africa, the biggest problem was getting women to continue the treatment despite the awful side-effects.
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Well, it would just been just the HIV shot as I suspect Pfizer hates Trump so they likely held out their good news until now otherwise it might have pushed Trump over the edge to win the election
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I guess now you know how Clinton felt with that dodgy FBI investigation a week before polling day.
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Not really... They are Genetically Male, however Genetics isn't everything. If they are taking hormones, or had surgery which rearrange their parts around. Some treatments that would work for Men wouldn't work on a Transgender Woman.
Re:LOL (Score:4, Interesting)
Not really... They are Genetically Male, however Genetics isn't everything. If they are taking hormones, or had surgery which rearrange their parts around. Some treatments that would work for Men wouldn't work on a Transgender Woman.
And what is "genetically male" anyway? XY? What about XXY? Or hormone insensitivity/hyperactivity? A genetically XY person with androgen insensitivty could outwardly present as an XX female. It's not a simple, binary male/female.
And then of course there's gender, which is a social construct. Many societies throughout history, and even into today, have genders beyond the normal male/female, often playing very important roles in society (for example India and the roles they play in formal ceremonies).
Re:LOL (Score:5, Insightful)
A genetically XY person with androgen insensitivty could outwardly present as an XX female. It's not a simple, binary male/female.
As someone smarter than me said, and I wish I could recall who, sex is not binary but it is bimodal.
We can place everyone on this male/female spectrum and all but a very very small number is going to fall on one side or the other. Those that fall in the middle that are ambiguous enough where they can logically decide to be either should have to choose. Why make people choose? Because we can't upend the bimodal sex model in our lives for such a small percentage of the population that do not want to choose a side.
And then of course there's gender, which is a social construct.
All words are a social construct. We need to agree on what words mean or we lose our ability to communicate.
I recall a story of a transgender man showing up in an emergency department complaining of abdominal pain. It turns out that this "man" was pregnant and lost the baby because "he" checked the box for male on the entrance form. Words mean things and if people cannot agree what male and female mean then we are going to see more unfortunate situations like this. Abdominal pain for an overweight male is likely a bit of indigestion. Abdominal pain for a pregnant woman is potentially a life threatening emergency.
Gender is a construct that we place on words and objects, as a means to reflect the male and female divide in our lives. What is not a construct is the male and female divide. We construct words to describe this biological reality, not create it. Failure to recognize this biological divide is a failure to recognize long understood matters of biology.
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"Because we can't upend the bimodal sex model in our lives for such a small percentage of the population that do not want to choose a side."
Well, we could, clothes and bathrooms for everyone, and physical jobs based on physical merit.
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"Because we can't upend the bimodal sex model in our lives for such a small percentage of the population that do not want to choose a side."
Well, we could, clothes and bathrooms for everyone, and physical jobs based on physical merit.
Sure, let's just put an end to all women's sports.
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Why not? Nothing of value would be lost.
Re:LOL (Score:5, Informative)
Well Transgender have interesting set of medical issue. They are often given hormones which will help them feel and look like their desired gender. This hormone treatment for many types of medicines may mean that some drugs will work better if it is based on their birth gender, and some other drugs after hormones and other procedures would work better that matches their desired gender.
It is an oversimplification to think when someone is transgender, and especially after they have had some degrees of treatments to think that what will work on their birth gender will work just as well after they have transitioned as their body now has a different set of chemical soup going on. Which may make some drugs work better or worse.
Despite you views on Transgendered people, the medial field, for proper treatment of all people, will need to consider the ramifications of transgendered people with the set of treatments, and what illnesses that may happen.
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birth gender
That juxtaposition makes no sense...did you mean "sex"?
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"but only for men and transgender women" What a world we live in.
It gets better:
Women and girls accounted for about half of all new H.I.V. infections in 2019
I mean, what did they expect? That one half of the population wouldn't account for one half of the new infections?
Next, from these useless reporters: Planet-destroying asteroid on collision course with earth; women and girls at risk....
Re: Yes the jolly queens on television (Score:3)
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"average gay man / homo sleeps with 10 to 30 people a day"
"we are living in a time of make-believe statistics"
yup.
Good news for the developing world (Score:2, Insightful)
Primitives cannot afford the inconvenience and expense (your time is money when you're abysmally poor and must eke out a living) of daily prophylaxis but an annual injection can be practical for governments to administer.
Third world governments tend even more dysfunctional than those in the civilized world and need simple tools and simple systems, but this is also good news for the "civilized" world where sex workers also operate under third world conditions. Practical measures for those who will never leav
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Can anyone explain why it only works in women?
I didn't think HIV acted in any way different between sexes.
And it cannot be that hard to make it work for men too, no?
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Education is the best medicine (Score:5, Interesting)
It appears they left out why the most infections are among young women. The reason is because there is a widespread superstition in African developing nations that having sex with a virgin woman is a cure for AIDS. So men with the disease will rape young women until they are cured, which of course doesn't happen because that's not how cures for disease work.
Then comes poor education on the use of condoms. These are inexpensive items, and many health agencies in these places offer them freely. They are often ignored and when used they are often not used correctly.
Then there is just generally poor hygiene, even in hospitals. There's many cases of nurses reusing syringes. This is not because they don't have enough clean ones to use, it's because they are ignorant of the potential to spread disease. Then comes the reuse of syringes by drug addicts. They are not aware of the dangers of sharing needles. It's possible that they don't care enough about their own health or that of others, but then that tells me this is a matter of being ignorant of the longstanding issues of their actions. They don't care because they don't know. If they know and still don't care then they are acting criminally.
This is not about poverty because there's enough people around the world willing to give them what they need to stop the spread of HIV. The problem is a lack of education. One problem with educating these people is that there are others in the world that feel some need to "preserve their culture". Well, it's their culture that is killing them. They will have to learn this lesson one way or another or they will continue to fail to stop the spread of disease. They demand help in solving this but when help conflicts with "culture" then, unfortunately, culture wins.
Part of their culture takes me back to my original point, that raping young women is believed to be a cure for AIDS. They need to end this cultural practice or they will not stop the spread of disease.
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Assistant crack whore.
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The irony of a comment made by someone as COVID-19 rages through their country thanks to willful ignorance and a culture that worships selfishness is not lost on me.
Tiger blood (Score:2)
What about a shot of tiger blood? It seems to have worked for Charlie Sheen.
Gender equality in action! (Score:1)
Women and girls accounted for about half of all new H.I.V. infections
Ok...I feel a little guilty for pointing it out...
Avoiding "shots" works better (Score:2)
Please excuse me, it was too easy.
Good news for retirement homes (Score:2)