an academic medicine weblog
One of the hallmarks of HIV infection is rapid mutation and subsequent “escape” from adaptive immune responses–in particular the CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response, which has been shown to be very important in the control of HIV replication in vivo. Despite the ultimate failure of CTL responses to keep up with the escape mutations, CTL [...]
Today is the 20th World AIDS Day and it is astounding how much and how quickly our clinical knowledge of HIV management has increased since 20 years ago. Treatment guidelines and recommendations are continuously updated as we learn more–this impacts clinical patient care from both the physicians’ side as well as the patients’. Below, I have listed some useful, clinically [...]
December 1 will be the 20th World AIDS Day. Take some time to think about the fact that over 30 million people are infected with HIV worldwide–as well as the tragic extent of the AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 2/3rds of the world’s HIV+ population live and 2/3rds of AIDS-related deaths occur.
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HIV+ individuals have increased susceptibility to becoming infected with tuberculosis. In fact, a second epidemic of tuberculosis has arisen in the last decade due to the increasing number of people who are immunodeficient from HIV infection. In contrast to many opportunistic infections which occur in late-stage HIV infection (or AIDS), increased tuberculosis susceptibility occurs when [...]
