Earlier this year, a controversial report from the Swiss Federal Commission for HIV/AIDS claimed that HIV patients who take effective antiretroviral treatment cannot pass on the virus through unprotected sex. But Australian research published in this week’s issue of The Lancet warns that HIV infection could substantially increase if couples stopped using condoms as a result.

BRIEFING DETAILS:
DATE: Friday 25 July 2008
START TIME: 10am AEST
DURATION: Approx 30 min
VENUE: online

Click here to read The Lancet paper

During the briefing, we hear from Australian HIV experts including the lead author of this new research.
For a copy of the paper and press releases please contact the AusSMC on 08 8207 7415 or email us.

SPEAKERS:

Dr David Wilson - National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of New South Wales. David is the lead author of the Lancet paper

Dr Jonathan Anderson - President of the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine

PRESENTATIONS:

Full Briefing (WebEx):
View here

David Wilson’s Presentation:
View PowerPoint (pdf) | Listen (mp3)

Jonathan Anderson’s Presentation:
View PowerPoint (pdf) | Listen (mp3)

Q & A Session:
Listen (mp3)

For further information, interview requests or queries please contact the AusSMC on 08 8207 7415 or email us.

Below, an expert in the field responds to some of the report’s findings.

The full report is now available online at the NCHECR website.

Feel free to use these quotes, if you would like to speak to an expert in the field, contact us on 08 8207 7415.

Chris Burrell is Head of the Infectious Diseases Laboratories at the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science (IMVS) and professor at the University of Adelaide’s School of Molecular and Biomedical Science.

“Australia has been fortunate to be particularly well served over the past eleven years with the annual presentation of comprehensive surveillance data on HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections. These reports are assembled by a team from the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, and are based on contributions by many organisations and individual collaborators in all state jurisdictions. This information provides a crucial basis for monitoring, understanding and controlling the spread of these infections.

This 148-page document is packed with detailed information. Some key findings include the following

(1) New diagnoses of HIV infection dropped during the 1990s , but since 2000 there has been a small but steady annual increase in numbers of new HIV diagnoses, with some state-to-state variation. The total prevalence of infection in Australia is approximately half that of UK, a quarter of that in USA and substantially less than in selected countries in SE Asia. These findings demonstrate (i) the success of Australia’s programmes in slowing transmission, compared to some other similar countries (ii) the need to re-inforce these efforts in the light of a small but continuing increase. As in past years, a majority of transmissions occurred amongst homosexual men and transmission through intravenous drug use was very small (unlike many other countries). Heterosexual and drug-related transmission was more common in indigenous communities, but overall rates were similar in indigenous and non-indigenous populations. These data are valuable for fine tuning future control programmes

(2) Some encouraging trends were seen for hepatitis C (HCV). The annual rate of total diagnoses of HCV infection has dropped slightly but steadily since 2001 – this may be due to a reduction in the prevalence of injecting drug use and/or to the application of safer injecting practices amongst users. Amongst drug users attending needle and syringe programmes, the proportion who had been injecting for less than three years fell by half, as did the prevalence of HCV infection amongst this group of new users. If these trends can be maintained and re-inforced, we may see a future significant success in slowing spread of this infection.

(3) Other important sexually transmitted infections (Chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhoea) have all continued to rise in recent years.

These figures provide invaluable measures of the extent and distribution of the problems posed by each of these infections, and allow us to evaluate the value of many different control measures being applied.”