December 2003: Medscape HIV/AIDS 2003 Retrospective
December 2003: Medscape HIV/AIDS 2003 Retrospective
Charged with the pleasure of writing a year-end editorial review for Medscape HIV/AIDS, I will state up front that the following is not a review of HIV milestones in 2003. While such a review would be edifying to write, and hopefully also to read, very important papers already exist in this regard, and I urge you to consider the most important of these: the "AIDS Epidemic Update 2003 (UNAIDS/WHO)" details the 3 million deaths and 5 million new HIV infections that occurred in 2003, and gauges the magnitude of the global epidemic -- 40 million people are presently living with HIV infection and 30 million have died. If read alongside another UNAIDS/WHO document, "Treating 3 Million by 2005: Making It Happen," the reader may gain a thorough understanding of the most urgent issues in HIV/AIDS today.
In regard to the year's developments in the treatment and management of persons with HIV infection, I recommend you to another essential document, the "US Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-1-Infected Adults and Adolescents," which was revised not once but twice in the past 6 months to include the latest findings concerning new drugs and treatment approaches. Evidencing just how well this "living document" lives up to its name, the current guidelines reflect virtually all of even the most recent 2003 developments in antiretroviral therapy, including (to name a few): (1) approval of the first HIV fusion inhibitor, enfuvirtide; (2) the relative inferiority of triple-nucleoside regimens in general and the unqualified inferiority of 2 regimens in particular (abacavir + tenofovir + lamivudine and didanosine + tenofovir + lamivudine); (3) the addition of atazanavir as a new protease inhibitor option (information on fosamprenavir, also approved this year, has yet to be added); (4) the addition of emtricitabine as a new nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor option; (5) new insights into the role of drug selection in avoiding/managing short- and long-term adverse effects associated with antiretroviral therapy; and (6) the continuing absence of data to support treatment interruption as a therapeutic strategy.
The object of the present review is to frame the changes and progress made at Medscape HIV/AIDS during the past year. And in the course of doing so, I find the opportunity to share with you not just an editor's essay of key events and accomplishments, but also an overview of our objectives and evolving course of action here at Medscape HIV/AIDS. Because our objectives and plans are "market-driven," as they say (meaning we're supposed to deliver what you're shopping for), I hope that you, in turn, will find the opportunity to let me know what types of information and programs I should be reminiscing about in my 2004 year-in-review column.
Charged with the pleasure of writing a year-end editorial review for Medscape HIV/AIDS, I will state up front that the following is not a review of HIV milestones in 2003. While such a review would be edifying to write, and hopefully also to read, very important papers already exist in this regard, and I urge you to consider the most important of these: the "AIDS Epidemic Update 2003 (UNAIDS/WHO)" details the 3 million deaths and 5 million new HIV infections that occurred in 2003, and gauges the magnitude of the global epidemic -- 40 million people are presently living with HIV infection and 30 million have died. If read alongside another UNAIDS/WHO document, "Treating 3 Million by 2005: Making It Happen," the reader may gain a thorough understanding of the most urgent issues in HIV/AIDS today.
In regard to the year's developments in the treatment and management of persons with HIV infection, I recommend you to another essential document, the "US Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-1-Infected Adults and Adolescents," which was revised not once but twice in the past 6 months to include the latest findings concerning new drugs and treatment approaches. Evidencing just how well this "living document" lives up to its name, the current guidelines reflect virtually all of even the most recent 2003 developments in antiretroviral therapy, including (to name a few): (1) approval of the first HIV fusion inhibitor, enfuvirtide; (2) the relative inferiority of triple-nucleoside regimens in general and the unqualified inferiority of 2 regimens in particular (abacavir + tenofovir + lamivudine and didanosine + tenofovir + lamivudine); (3) the addition of atazanavir as a new protease inhibitor option (information on fosamprenavir, also approved this year, has yet to be added); (4) the addition of emtricitabine as a new nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor option; (5) new insights into the role of drug selection in avoiding/managing short- and long-term adverse effects associated with antiretroviral therapy; and (6) the continuing absence of data to support treatment interruption as a therapeutic strategy.
The object of the present review is to frame the changes and progress made at Medscape HIV/AIDS during the past year. And in the course of doing so, I find the opportunity to share with you not just an editor's essay of key events and accomplishments, but also an overview of our objectives and evolving course of action here at Medscape HIV/AIDS. Because our objectives and plans are "market-driven," as they say (meaning we're supposed to deliver what you're shopping for), I hope that you, in turn, will find the opportunity to let me know what types of information and programs I should be reminiscing about in my 2004 year-in-review column.
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