International AIDS Conference Marked By Two Notable Announcements
Headlines highlight a possible case of long-term remission from the virus as well as study findings that injection of a certain drug may be more effective than daily pills at preventing HIV. Also in the news, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is recommending that more people should be screened for lung cancer every year.
CNN:
AIDS 2020: Researchers Describe A Possible Case Of HIV Remission And A New Method To Prevent Infection
There were two notable announcements in the fight against HIV this week at AIDS 2020, the 23rd International AIDS Conference -- a possible case of long-term remission from the virus, and research that found an injection can prevent HIV. Scientists presenting at the conference said a Brazilian man might be the first person to experience long-term HIV remission after being treated with only an antiviral drug regimen -- not stem cell transplantation. (Howard, Thomas and Christensen, 7/7)
AP:
Doctors Say Experimental Treatment May Have Rid Man Of HIV
A Brazilian man infected with the AIDS virus has shown no sign of it for more than a year since he stopped HIV medicines after an intense experimental drug therapy aimed at purging hidden, dormant virus from his body, doctors reported Tuesday. The case needs independent verification and it’s way too soon to speculate about a possible cure, scientists cautioned. (Marchione, 7/7)
AP:
Health Panel May Open Lung Cancer Screening To More Smokers
A U.S. health panel wants to widen the number of Americans offered yearly scans for lung cancer by opening the screening to less-heavy smokers. Lung cancer is the nation’s top cancer killer, causing more than 135,000 deaths each year. Smoking is the chief cause and quitting the best protection. Usually, lung cancer is diagnosed too late for a good chance at survival. But research shows that annual low-dose CT scans, a type of X-ray, can reduce the risk of death when offered to certain people. (Neergaard, 7/7)
Stat:
Lung Cancer Screening Guidance Would See More Black Patients Tested
A prominent panel of physicians and other medical experts recommended Tuesday that a wider swath of people in the U.S. be screened for lung cancer every year — a suggestion that would see more Black patients and women eligible for potentially lifesaving scans. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which advises the federal government on preventive care, released a draft recommendation that would nearly double the number of people eligible for annual CT scans to check for lung cancer. (Spinelli, 7/7)
Here's a roundup of other medical developments -
CNN:
Less Dream-Stage REM Sleep Linked To Higher Risk Of Death, Study Says
Spending less time in REM sleep is linked to a greater overall risk of death from any cause as well as from cardiovascular disease and other diseases except for cancer, a new study finds. "The effect of short REM time on mortality has not been previously shown," said Dr. Vsevolod Polotsky, who directs Sleep Basic Research in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and was not involved in the study. REM, which stands for rapid eye movement, is the stage of sleep in which we dream and information and experiences are consolidated and stored in memory. (LaMotte, 7/6)
AP:
Twins Joined At Head Separated At Vatican Pediatric Hospital
Doctors at the Vatican’s pediatric hospital said Tuesday they have successfully separated conjoined twins whose skulls were fused back-to-back, an exceedingly rare surgery for an equally rare congenital defect. The twins, Ervina and Prefina Bangalo, were born June 29, 2018 in Mbaiki, Central African Republic with their heads attached and sharing critical blood vessels around their brains. Such cases of conjoined twins occur once in every 2 million births or so. (Winfield, 7/7)
Stat:
With A Clinical Hold, Off-The-Shelf CAR-T Hits A New Safety Concern
The Food and Drug Administration has placed a clinical hold on one of Cellectis’s off-the-shelf CAR-T trials after one patient died of cardiac arrest, a worrying development for a technology thought to be safer than the approved alternative. Cellectis’s treatment, UCARTCS1A, is derived from T cells provided by healthy donors, more practical and potentially less dangerous than traditional CAR-T therapies made from patients’ own immune cells. But the patient death, which emerged in a multiple myeloma study, suggests off-the-shelf CAR-T could carry risks of its own. (Garde, 7/7)
