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• Rapid HIV test performance poorer with oral fluid than blood, especially when prevalence is low

  Types of tests
  Roger Pebody | 25 January 2012

  The performance of OraQuick, a widely used rapid point-of-care test for HIV diagnosis, is slightly poorer when testing oral fluid samples than when testing blood samples, according to a meta-analysis, published in the ...

• Vitamin D supplements benefit bone metabolism of younger patients taking tenofovir

  Bone problems
  Michael Carter | 25 January 2012

  Vitamin D supplementation is associated with an improvement in a key marker of bone health in HIV-positive young adults treated with tenofovir, US research published in Clinical Infectious Diseases shows. Treatment with vitamin D3 ...

• Smoking cessation counselling and treatment during routine HIV care helps patients to quit

  Smoking
  Michael Carter | 24 January 2012

  The provision of smoking cessation counselling and therapy during routine HIV care increases the chances that patients will quit smoking and stay stopped, according to Swiss research published in HIV Medicine. Physicians at the Zurich ...

• English public health indicators to include late HIV diagnosis

  Promoting HIV testing
  Roger Pebody | 24 January 2012

  The Department of Health this week announced the 66 ‘indicators’ with which the performance of the new public health system will be measured. To the relief of HIV campaigners, these include a ...

• Studies from US and Spain show that hepatitis vaccination programmes not reaching target populations

  Hepatitis B
  Michael Carter | 23 January 2012

  The majority of US adults at risk of hepatitis B remain unvaccinated against this potentially life-threatening infection, according to research published in advance of print in the online edition of Infection. The research ...

• Can speeding up nevirapine clearance reduce the risk of resistance after PMTCT use?

  Prevention of mother-to-child transmission
  Carole Leach-Lemens | 20 January 2012

  In a bid to reduce the risk of nevirapine resistance after the use of single-dose nevirapine to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, several research groups are now experimenting with the use of drugs that ...

• Common side-effects of hepatitis C protease inhibitors: clinical management advice published

  New and experimental hepatitis C treatment
  Michael Carter | 20 January 2012

  The addition of the protease inhibitors telaprevir or boceprevir to hepatitis C treatment regimens increases the risk of anaemia, according to a review article published in Liver International. The author also found that ...