The Ministry of Health reports 68,802 new cases of HIV infections and patients this year December 1, 2012 is the 25th World AIDS Day, and this year’s theme is “Take action to move towards zero”. The Ministry of Health released a report today that, according to the national statutory infectious disease epidemic report, 68,802 new HIV infections were reported from January to October this year, with a total of 492,191 HIV infections and patients reported by the end of November, and 383,285 surviving infections and patients.
Early treatment of HIV-infected patients prolongs life expectancy by 30 years AIDS has always been an indecipherable human problem in the world, and the biggest problem facing domestic HIV prevention and treatment is that HIV-infected patients are not detected early; if antiviral treatment is carried out early, patients’ life expectancy can be extended by more than 30 years.
HIV-infected patients are rarely diagnosed and treated at an early stage. Among the AIDS patients admitted to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center from 1992 to the present, very few of them were diagnosed at an early stage of HIV infection and were followed up and treated, and most of them were referred to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center only when they were found to be HIV-positive during their visits to outside hospitals for various serious opportunistic infections and tumors.
One patient had 12 opportunistic infections and opportunistic tumors, involving the central nervous system, lungs, abdominal organs, eyes and other systemic organs, and the etiology included bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, etc., which posed a huge challenge for clinical management.
The biggest problem in domestic AIDS diagnosis and treatment is that HIV infection is not detected early, so that these “invisible” infected patients are diagnosed only when they enter the advanced stage of AIDS, when the number of CD4+ T-lymphocytes, an important immune cell in their body, is reduced to a few dozens or even a few per microliter of blood. By this time, the number of CD4+ T-lymphocytes, an important immune cell in the body, has dropped to a few dozen or even a few per microliter of blood (the normal value is 750 ± 250 per microliter), and the body’s immune function has almost disappeared.
Experts say that the most effective way to control the source of infection in the absence of a vaccine is to treat the infected person, and starting antiviral treatment at the right time can extend the patient’s life expectancy by another 30 years or more.
General hospitals should also strengthen anti-AIDS testing CD4+ T-lymphocyte counts are still an important basis for determining the stage of AIDS, when to start antiretroviral therapy, and the effectiveness of treatment. According to the latest clinical research data, international experts have reached a consensus recommending that antiretroviral therapy should be initiated when a patient’s count drops to 350 cells per microliter of blood, and that the prognosis and quality of life of HIV-infected patients who start antiretroviral therapy with a count between 351 and 500 cells also improve.
Accordingly, emphasis should be placed on strengthening the early detection and treatment of HIV. It is recommended that while giving full play to the professional core role of sentinel hospitals, general hospitals should also actively participate in the detection and treatment of HIV. To this end, training should be provided to physicians in the infection and dermatology departments of general hospitals on AIDS-related knowledge, diagnostic methods, and the latest treatment advances, and to strengthen AIDS monitoring and prevention through network construction.
Canadian HIV “treatment-as-prevention” strategy shows early results Canadian researchers published a report in the December 27, 2012 issue of the U.S. Public Library of Science? A report published in the December 27, 2012 issue of the Public Library of Science says that the “treatment-as-prevention” strategy for HIV prevention and control in the Canadian province of British Columbia has resulted in a gradual decline in the number of new HIV infections, and researchers are calling for the strategy to be expanded nationwide.
“The “treatment-as-prevention” strategy was developed by the British Columbia Centre of Excellence in AIDS, Canada’s largest HIV research, treatment and education organization. “The Treatment-as-Prevention strategy provides extensive HIV testing and timely access to “cocktail therapy” antiretroviral treatment for all people living with HIV, where medically feasible. The goal of this strategy is to effectively prevent new cases through aggressive treatment.
The Centre studied new HIV infections in Canada between 1995 and 2008, patient mortality rates, and the relationship to “cocktail therapy. The results showed that in the three Canadian provinces with the worst HIV epidemics – British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec – a 10 percent increase in cocktail therapy coverage was associated with an 8 percent reduction in new HIV infections. In other Canadian provinces with limited cocktail coverage, the number of new HIV infections per year has remained relatively constant, and in some provinces and territories has even increased.
The greatest achievement has been in British Columbia, the only Canadian province to offer free “cocktail therapy,” where the number of new HIV infections fell from 682 in 1995 to 348 in 2008 and further to 289 in 2011. The number of new HIV infections in the province dropped from 682 in 1995 to 348 in 2008 and further to 289 in 2011.
The researchers noted that early treatment with “cocktail therapy” not only reduced HIV levels in patients’ blood, but also reduced HIV transmission rates by more than 95 percent. These results confirm that “treatment as prevention” is an effective strategy in the fight against AIDS, and researchers are calling for the expansion of this prevention and control strategy across Canada.
This is the conclusion of the Swiss Federal AIDS Council, which analyzed scientific data and conducted lengthy discussions on 393 heterosexual couples in which one person was infected with HIV.
The Swiss Physicians’ Federation said that three conditions are required for HIV not to be transmitted through sexual transmission: first, that the virus has been eliminated from the bloodstream for at least six months after treatment with antiretroviral drugs and that the virus is no longer detected in the blood; second, that the HIV-infected person has been receiving antiretroviral drugs for a long time and has been regularly checked by a doctor; and third, that the patient is not infected with another infectious sexually transmitted disease.