AIDS: French scientists urge caution over HIV 'cure' - by Charlotte Boitiaux

US scientists say they have cured a baby born with HIV for the first time, in a case that could lead to significant advancements in treatment for infected children. But the two leading HIV specialists in France are urging caution.

It’s an incredible story, and totally unique,” French doctor and journalist Jean-Daniel Flaysakier wrote on his medical blog on Sunday.

However, the considerable enthusiasm generated by the news is not fully shared by all AIDS specialists.

Professor Luc Montagnier, widely credited for discovering the AIDS virus, has called for “caution,” for two main reasons. One is that the medical profile of the child concerned is rare. “Only one third of babies born from HIV-positive mothers who have not been treated are infected by the virus,” he told FRANCE 24. “70% are healthy at birth.”

Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the virus -- currently dormant but not fully destroyed by the immune system or the treatments -- will not be reactivated at any given moment.

Read more: French scientists urge caution over HIV 'cure' - HEALTH - FRANCE 24

New Scientist: Europe's HIV followed holiday routes - by Ewen Callaway

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Europe's HIV followed holiday routes - by Ewen Callaway

HIV's European tour may have begun in the Mediterranean. A new genetic map plotted from viruses in hundreds of people suggests that many European strains of HIV trace their ancestry to Greece, Portugal, Serbia and Spain. Sun-seeking tourists from northern and central Europe might account for the pattern, the study's authors say. The vast majority of the study's participants said they acquired their infections in their home country, so the patterns could be a vestige of HIV's emergence and early spread through Europe in the early 1980s, probably after arriving from the US.

That's not certain, though, and the patterns could also be a result of more recent transmissions, says Dimitrios Paraskevis, a virologist at the University of Athens, Greece, who led the study of viruses from 16 European countries and Israel. The story is unclear because his team's analysis was not designed to pin a date to the spread of HIV through Europe.

Eurosurveillance: HIV/AIDS in Europe: trends and EU wide priorities

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HIV/AIDS in Europe: trends and EU wide priorities

There are an estimated 740 000 people living with HIV or AIDS in western and central Europe today, and 1.7 million in the neighbouring countries of eastern Europe and Central Asia [1]. The proportion of undiagnosed HIV infections is estimated to be as high as 30% in the European Union (EU), and likely to be higher in neighbouring countries. People who have not yet been diagnosed are unaware that they are infected, and therefore cannot benefit from treatment and care, and may unknowingly transmit HIV to others.

In the EU, major advances in treatment have prolonged and improved the lives of infected people. However, these therapeutic advances have been paralleled by a decreasing emphasis on HIV prevention and a resurgence of high-risk sexual behaviours among gay men in major EU cities. According to the latest epidemiological data from the EuroHIV surveillance network (http://www.eurohiv.org), 23 620 new HIV diagnoses were reported in the EU in 2005. This figure excludes Italy and Spain, where no national HIV reporting systems are in place. The majority of cases are in males (65%), but the proportion in females is increasing, and 12% are in young people aged 15 to 24 years. The highest rates in new HIV diagnoses were reported in Estonia (467 cases per million) and Portugal (251 cases per million), and the lowest rates were reported in the Czech Republic (9 cases per million) and Slovakia (4 cases per million).In western European countries, many HIV infections have been diagnosed in immigrants from countries with generalised HIV epidemics. These people represent an important group, with unique challenges for HIV prevention and care services. There is a need for specific services for immigrant communities with prevention activities tailored to their needs, and communication about immigrant health issues which does not add to existing stigma.

The HIV situation in the EU is increasingly influenced by international travel and migration, which underlines the need for a global and European-wide approach to HIV prevention and control.

Aidsmap: Increasing prevalence of HIV-infected blood donations in eastern Europe

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Increasing prevalence of HIV-infected blood donations in eastern Europe

There is considerable variation in the prevalence of HIV-infected blood donations across Europe and unless action is taken to tighten up screening, some countries in Eastern Europe risk HIV-infected blood donations entering the blood supply, according to a survey published in the May 24th edition of Eurosurveillance Weekly Release

analysis showed that the prevalence of HIV-infected blood donations has fallen steadily in Western Europe since the 1990s, and remained stable in Central Europe. However, in Eastern Europe, the prevalence increased from less than one donation per 100,000 in 1995 to 40.3 per 100,000 in 2004. “This trend is a reflection of the development of the HIV epidemic in those regions, with many countries in the east experiencing high ongoing transmission of HIV, in particular among injecting drug users, and a large pool of newly infected potential blood donors have not yet been diagnosed”.
Earlier this week, the US Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) reaffirmed its blanket ban on gay men ever giving blood.