Immediate ART Initiation Improves Time to Viral Suppression
The availability of ART immediately after the diagnosis of HIV offers many possible benefits, including earlier engagement in care and earlier HIV suppression, which may result in personal and public health benefits. 
Based on randomized clinical trials done in developing-world settings, the World Health Organization now recommends starting ART within 7 days of HIV diagnosis.
Darunavir/Cobicistat/FTC/TAF Single-Pill Combination in Treatment-Experienced Patients: EMERALD Study
The EMERALD Study is a Phase III, open-label, noninferiority study in which 1,141 patients with stable HIV suppression on a regimen comprising a boosted protease inhibitor plus TDF/FTC were
Naltrexone Improves Virologic Suppression
Release from correctional settings is a high-stakes time for persons with HIV, as it is for those with other health issues. People with substance use disorders often relapse, and those with HIV often
Ibalizumab Approved for Persons with Multidrug Resistant HIV
Ibalizumab (TNX-355), an entry inhibitor, has been approved by the FDA for use in persons with an extensive ARV treatment history and multidrug resistant HIV who are on a failing ARV regimen.
Short Bites: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Update
HPV oral and oropharyngeal cancers are more difficult to detect than tobacco-related cancers because the symptoms are not always obvious to an individual, and health professionals may lack the education and background to diagnose HPV-related lesions. Although there are many adjunctive oral cancer screening devices and tests, none of them can currently detect early-stage HPV-positive oral and oropharyngeal cancers. My rule of thumb: Any lesion that persists for 2 weeks should be referred to an oral medicine specialist or oral surgeon to evaluate and biopsy, if indicated.
Transitioning Your HIV Practice to a New Doctor
The AIDS epidemic raged around me like a wildfire in the late '80s and early '90s while I trained in medicine in San Francisco. During that storm, I began working with people with HIV. In 1995, ready to start a primary medical practice, I landed at a community clinic in Berkeley, California, overseeing an emerging Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program site. Now, 22 years later, I have retired.
Forever Grateful: My Experience as a Rutgers HIV Care Specialization Student
While enrolled in graduate school at the Rutgers University School of Nursing, I continued to work as registered nurse on a labor and delivery unit at an increasingly busy community hospital in central New Jersey. Though my unit boasts delivery rates exceeding 2,000 births per year, most of our patients are middle-class, low-risk women in their 30's giving birth to planned pregnancies carried to term. Though not a new nurse, at the time I was new to the labor unit, and happened to be on my final days of orientation when I received report on a primigravida in her early 20's in active labor.
Non-Occupational Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (nPEP) in Rural Areas – Does It Exist?
Nurses are on the front-lines of increasing access to health care. As a nurse, my first priority is always the patient. A recent case demonstrates the importance of the role of nursing in providing needed services for patients. In this case, a young person was a victim of sexual assault resulting in HIV exposure. The MidAtlantic AETC had conducted training on post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and one of our participants in that training was responsible for making sure that the patient received nPEP.
Short Bites: What Is a Dental Emergency?
What is a dental emergency?
I often get this question from non-dental personnel including case managers, physician assistants, nurses, and nurse practitioners. The following is a short list of questions you can ask patients to guide dental referrals for emergency care:
Undetectable = Untransmittable: Effective HIV Treatment Prevents HIV Transmission
In September 2017, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially recognized that suppressing HIV through antiretroviral therapy (ART) prevents sexual transmission of HIV. In a "Dear Colleague" letter, CDC officials said, "people who take ART daily as prescribed and achieve and maintain an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting the virus to an HIV-negative partner."