Signs of STD

By Jennifer Fernandez More North Carolina babies are being born with syphilis, and state health officials are urging women to get tested before they give birth to help catch the sexually transmitted illness early. In December, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services issued a public health alert on the rise of syphilis in women and children. Reported cases among women rose 538 percent between 2012 and 2021, DHHS said in that alert. During that same time period, there was an associated 4,100 percent increase in babies born with congenital syphilis. Health officials say a rise in riskier sexual behaviors, especially among younger adults, coupled with a drop in overall concern or awareness about sexually transmitted infections, has led to increases in STIs such as syphilis. Syphilis is a bacterial infection transmitted by sexual contact. They also stress that syphilis is treatable. The earlier the infection is addressed, the better — e...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] J&J, GSK's ViiV tout switching study showing patients prefer their ...    FiercePharma

July 24, 2023 – People with undetectable or very low HIV levels have zero or "almost zero" risk of transmitting the virus sexually if they are taking suppression medication, according to new guidelines from the World Health Organization. The announcement was made concurrently with the publication over the weekend of definitive new research in  The Lancet . The findings were presented virtually at the 12th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science taking place in Brisbane, Australia. The WHO estimates that 76% of the 39 million people worldwide living with HIV take antiretroviral therapy (ART). "Antiretroviral therapy continues to transform the lives of people living with HIV," a WHO  news release stated. "People living with HIV who are diagnosed and treated early, and take their medication as prescribed, can expect to have the same health and life expectancy as their HIV-negative counterparts." The Lan...

Content From : HIV.gov • Published : July 24, 2023 • 3 min read Topics Cardiovascular Health NIAID National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases NIH National Institutes of Health Prevention Research Treatment HIV Treatment During the first full day of sessions at the International AIDS Society's 12th Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2023), HIV.gov shared conversations on important study findings about reducing cardiovascular disease among people with HIV and the latest developments with long-acting prevention and treatment options that could one day become safe and effective alternatives to daily oral pills. NIH's Carl Dieffenbach Exit Disclaimer findings presented today about the NIH-supported Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV (REPRIEVE) trial, a global study that demonstrated a daily statin medication reduces the increased risk of cardiovascular disease experienced by people living with HIV. (Learn more in this NIH news release published today...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Gilead, Teva prevail in high-stakes trial over HIV drug pay-for-delay ...    FiercePharma

Having dipped somewhat during the pandemic, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise again around the world. In England and Ireland in 2022, rates of chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis exceeded levels recorded before COVID. The number of gonorrhoea diagnoses recorded in England was in fact the highest since annual records began. Untreated STIs can result in serious health complications for both men and women including infertility, increased risk of miscarriage and stillbirth, various cancers and reduced life expectancy, among others. So what do you do if you find out you've got an STI? Disclosing the infection is a double-edged sword. On one hand you are being honest, responsible and respectful to your partner (or partners), and protecting their health. This article is part of Quarter Life , a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties....

July 24, 2023 – People with undetectable or very low HIV levels have zero or "almost zero" risk of transmitting the virus sexually if they are taking suppression medication, according to new guidelines from the World Health Organization. The announcement was made concurrently with the publication over the weekend of definitive new research in  The Lancet . The findings were presented virtually at the 12th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science taking place in Brisbane, Australia. The WHO estimates that 76% of the 39 million people worldwide living with HIV take antiretroviral therapy (ART). "Antiretroviral therapy continues to transform the lives of people living with HIV," a WHO  news release stated. "People living with HIV who are diagnosed and treated early, and take their medication as prescribed, can expect to have the same health and life expectancy as their HIV-negative counterparts." The Lan...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Gonorrhea, chlamydia on the rise among 15-24 year-olds; PA law ...    The Philadelphia Tribune

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Gonorrhea, chlamydia on the rise among 15-24 year-olds; PA law ...    The Philadelphia Tribune

A 4-year-old female Caucasian child was admitted to the emergency department with fever and acute respiratory failure. The personal and familial anamnestic recall brought no elements of suspicion for a past SARS-CoV-2 infection. The chest X-ray and subsequent computed tomography (CT) showed multiple and bilateral ground glass areas and patchy consolidations in the inferior lobes, pneumomediastinum with supraclavicular and cervical bilateral subcutaneous emphysema (Fig. 1). The microbiological assessment on broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) was positive for Pneumocystis jiroveci (PJ) and galactomannan, SARS-CoV-2 proved negative. As her respiratory dynamics progressively deteriorated, she was intubated and assisted through mechanical ventilation. Fig. 1 Chest X-Ray ( A ) and CT ( B ) showing multiple and bilateral ground glass areas and patchy consolidations in the inferior lobes, pneumomediastinum Full size image At the anamnestic recall the parents reported a his...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Pfizer, Gilead, GSK to dominate infectious disease market    FiercePharma

Gilead delayed a new version of a drug, allowing it to extend the patent life of a blockbuster line of medications, internal documents show. In 2004, Gilead Sciences decided to stop pursuing a new H.I.V. drug. The public explanation was that it wasn't sufficiently different from an existing treatment to warrant further development. In private, though, something else was at play. Gilead had devised a plan to delay the new drug's release to maximize profits, even though executives had reason to believe it might turn out to be safer for patients, according to a trove of internal documents made public in litigation against the company. Gilead, one of the world's largest drugmakers, appeared to be embracing a well-worn industry tactic: gaming the U.S. patent system to protect lucrative monopolies on best-selling drugs. At the time, Gilead already had a pair of blockbuster H.I.V. treatments, both of which were underpinned by a version of a drug called tenofovir. The first of thos...

Episodes and patient characteristics In total, 23,537,812 LGUTS episodes (87.4% from women; 12.6% from men) (Additional file 1: Table S4) were analyzed from 12,341,154 patients (Fig. 1). The median age of patients at index was 38 years old (interquartile range 26–51 years), with 46.2% of the cohort aged between 40 and 64 years old. Further patient demographics are shown in Additional file 1: Table S4. Diagnostic testing patterns and trends Over the study period, only 17.6% of all episodes received CT/NG testing (Table 1). However, rates of CT/NG testing generally increased over time in all age groups (Additional file 1: Table S5). Those presenting with LGUTS who were most often tested for CT/NG were the 20–24-year-olds; testing occurred in 44.3% and 31.3% of episodes from men and women, respectively, in this group (Table 1). The 40–64-year age bracket was the least likely age group to receive CT/N...

Content From : HIV.gov • Published : February 22, 2023 • 3 min read Topics CROI Conference on Retroviruses & Opportunistic Infections NIAID National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases Research Vaccine Research The ongoing search for an HIV vaccine was among the topics discussed during the 2023 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). HIV.gov spoke with Dr. Carl Dieffenbach, Director of the Division of AIDS at NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, about some key takeaways from those presentations. Exit Disclaimer with Dr. Dieffenbach below: Mosaico Trial Ends The most recent large-scale HIV vaccine trial was the Mosaico trial. During a CROI special session on HIV vaccine research, Dr. Susan Buchbinder, the co-chair of the Mosaico Study, provided a review of the study, which began in 2019. It involved an investigational HIV vaccine regimen tested among 3,900 men who have sex with men and transgender people in Eur...

Episodes and patient characteristics In total, 23,537,812 LGUTS episodes (87.4% from women; 12.6% from men) (Additional file 1: Table S4) were analyzed from 12,341,154 patients (Fig. 1). The median age of patients at index was 38 years old (interquartile range 26–51 years), with 46.2% of the cohort aged between 40 and 64 years old. Further patient demographics are shown in Additional file 1: Table S4. Diagnostic testing patterns and trends Over the study period, only 17.6% of all episodes received CT/NG testing (Table 1). However, rates of CT/NG testing generally increased over time in all age groups (Additional file 1: Table S5). Those presenting with LGUTS who were most often tested for CT/NG were the 20–24-year-olds; testing occurred in 44.3% and 31.3% of episodes from men and women, respectively, in this group (Table 1). The 40–64-year age bracket was the least likely age group to receive CT/N...

You're trying to listen to your friend in a crowded restaurant or follow a story someone's telling at a party. The problem? You can't make out most of it.  That raises some red flags for your hearing. And since hearing loss and noise pollution are both on the rise, you know you should look into it. So you might schedule a visit to an audiologist to get your hearing tested. The test comes back normal, though. The audiologist happily tells you that your hearing isn't impaired. But then you're back in a noisy setting. This time, you know you're not hearing well. You're not losing your mind. You're probably dealing with hidden hearing loss.  What is hidden hearing loss?  Getting diagnosed with hidden hearing loss -- also called hidden hearing disorder -- means you hear fine in quiet and normal-volume environments but you struggle once background noise is introduced.  Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear -- a research ...