LICENTIA COGITATIONIS

Implications of Antiretroviral Drug Use for HIV Prevention Interventions on Elevated Risk for STIs Part I: Problem Statement PrEP is a biomedical interventional strategy in which healthy people routinely take one or more antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to reduce their risk of getting HIV through sex. Three RCTs have studied the effects of PrEP on the acquisition of HIV infection***. The first landmark study, the Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Initiative (iPrEX) looked at the effect of daily use of tenofovir-emtricitabine in 2499 MSM from six countries (Peru, Ecuador, South Africa, Brazil, Thailand, and the USA) and was published in 2010. The PRe-exposure Option for reducing HIV in the UK, immediate or Deferred (PROUD) trial enrolled 544 MSM in the UK and randomly assigned them to immediate or a 1 year delayed start of daily oral tenofoviremtricitabine. In the Intervention Préventive de l’Exposition aux Risques avec et pour les Gays (Ipergay) trial, ** ** MSM were randomly assigned to ...

Update on HIV/STI Prevention Interventions and Treatment in 2019 2019 marks significant developments in the ways of addressing the HIV and STI syndemics, as new technologies for prophylactic treatment, like Truvada and, as of this month, Descovy, are rolled out; while interventional concepts like U=U were validated on New Year’s Day and accepted in the community as part of a combined strategy to end AIDS. These changes signal tectonic shifts at the intersections of culture, health, and sexuality that should inspire a renewed inquisition of the institutions guiding these interventions and their implications for advancing sexual minority health and the political economy of HIV. Released this week:  According to the annual Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report , STDs increased for the fifth consecutive year – with nearly 2.5 million combined cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis. Cases of congenital syphilis – syphilis passed from a mother to her baby d...

2019 Timeline of Reports on New Developments in HIV and STI Health 1.        10 January : Comments on U=U by NIH Director https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/science-clear-hiv-undetectable-equals-untransmittable 2.        9 May Trump Administration secures historic donation of billions of dollars in HIV prevention drugs https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2019/05/09/trump-administration-secures-historic-donation-of-billions-of-dollars-in-hiv-prevention-drugs.html 3.        26 June: Congressional Committee on Oversight and Reform begins investing where Trump administration made a deal with Gilead http://cdn.videos.rollcall.com/author/2019/06/2019-06-26.EEC-AOC-Khanna-Pressley-to-ODay-Gilead-re-PrEP.pdf 4.        26 September: LGBT Life Center reports record high increases in STI and HIV rates https://www.wavy.com/10-on-your-side/lgb...

Sexual Coercion is Associated with Elevated Risks for Illicit Drug Use and Sexually Transmitted Infection in Men who have Sex Men   Clay Porter M.P.H. ;   Cherell Rivers, MPH; Katharine Hawks, MPH; Sophia Wang, M.S., Nicole Holt, Dr. P.H.; Jiangtao Luo, Ph.D. and Hongyun Fu, Ph.D. Introduction •      Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) face Syndemic health disparities associated with their sexual identities, including experiences of sexual coercion and victimization, higher rates of illicit drug use and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). •      Syndemic theory (Singer, 1996) is used to explain the concentration of multiple epidemics in certain populations due to harmful social conditions such that they mutually reinforce each other and synergistically amplify the burden of disease. •      Existing literature on the prevalence and correlates of sexual coercion, substance abuse a...