56,350 PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN CROSS RIVERS STATE -SACA

The Director-General of the Cross River State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS (SACA), Mrs. Irene Aniyom, said that 56,350 persons are currently living with the HIV virus in the state.
Aniyom made the disclosure in a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Calabar.
``Today in the state, we have 56,350 people living with the virus; we have to update it on a regular basis since 2005,'' she said.
According to her, the infected persons are receiving anti-retroviral drugs at different centres in the state.
She said that SACA had formed a group known as ``Cross River Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS,’’ to monitor the infected persons.
``And in this network, we have 80 support groups of people living with the virus, with a minimum of 25 persons in each group,’’ she said.
Aniyom said that many people were now aware of the diseases, due to the activities of SACA and other groups involved in the campaign against the spread of the disease.
 ``If you go to various HIV testing and counselling centres across the state, you will find many people coming out to know their status,’’ she said.
The director-general said that SACA had also established Local Action Committees on Control of HIV/AIDS (LACA) in each of the 18 Local Government Areas in the state, headed by the chairmen of the councils.
``This is because we found out that the disease spreads faster in rural areas, ‘’ Aniyom said.

SOURCE:http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/news-update/58524-56-350-living-with-aids-in-cross-river-saca.html

New Drug to Prevent HIV/AIDS Approved by United States FDA

Scientists and pharmacists have continued to research into how humanity can be saved from the killer scourge called HIV/AIDS. Several efforts in the past have not only been partially successful, they have also been profoundly controversial.  But Monday, the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in the United States of America (USA) approved a new drug that could be used by adults to reduce their chances of contacting the dreaded disease.

Such persons who do not already have the infection could reduce their chances of contacting the virus if they take the new drug once a day.  It would be the first time the FDA would be approving a drug for the ailment. The drug is called Truvada, an antiretroviral medication made by Gilead Sciences, Inc., which was already approved by the FDA in 2004 to help control the HIV infection. Truvada is a combination of two HIV medications – emtricitabine (Emtriva) and tenofovir (Viread) – rolled into one pill that is taken once a day. Its efficacy is said to be better enhanced when taken with other HIV drugs, when treating the HIV infection.

In confirming the preventive effect of the drug, the manufacturers proved that pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP can reduce transmission of the virus significantly – up to 96 per cent – when uninfected partners of people infected with HIV took Truvada. But the manufacturers have sounded a note of warning that the drug is no license for reckless sexual life, neither is it a Teflon that can insulate an infection, adding that those who already have the infection must observe sexual discipline as well as combine the new drug with others to achieve greater results.

At the University of Washington, another PrEP study proved very successful in reducing infection rates in couples where one partner is infected and the other is not (called serodiscordant). “The data clearly demonstrate that Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis is effective at reducing the risk of HIV infection acquired through sexual exposure,” said Professor of Global Health and Medicine at the University of Washington and lead investigator of the Partners PrEP trial, Dr. Connie Celum.