Supporters of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez react as they learn that Chavez has died through an announcement by the vice president in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Supporters of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez react as they learn that Chavez has died through an announcement by the vice president in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Supporters of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez react as they learn that Chavez has died through an announcement by the vice president in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
A supporter of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez cries as she learns that Chavez has died through an announcement by the vice president in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Supporters of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez react after the vice president announced Chavez's death in downtown Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Supporters of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez weep as she learn that Chavez has died through an announcement by the vice president in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Hundreds of anguished Venezuelans poured into the streets of downtown Caracas crying, hugging each other and shouting slogans in support of President Hugo Chavez after learning of his death Tuesday.
Clusters of women with tears streaming down their faces clung to each other and wept near the Miraflores presidential palace. Some wore T-shirts with slogans that read "Go forward commander!"
Nearby, men with grim and somber faces pumped their arms in the air while shouting "Long live Chavez! Long live Chavismo!"
People also gathered outside the military hospital where Chavez died. Soldiers in riot gear stood shoulder to shoulder guarding the complex.
"I feel such big pain I can't even speak," said Yamilina Barrios, a 39-year-old office worker weeping at a street corner. "He was the best thing the country had ... I adore him. Let's hope the country calms down and we can continue the tasks he left us."
Many people left work and rushed home as shops and offices began to close early and tension gripped the streets in Caracas, capital of a country deeply divided by the socialist programs pursued by the charismatic Chavez.
Cars and buses clogged streets that were passable only by speeding motorcycles. Dozens of extra police officers arrived downtown to help direct traffic and watch the streets.
"I want to go home," said Maria Lover, a 45-year-old housewife. "People are crazy and get too desperate."
A Caltrans maintenance worker who helped save a toddler?s life along State Route 54 in the San Diego area earlier this week was reunited with the happy, healthy baby boy and his very grateful family on Friday.
On Monday, Caltrans worker Joe Thomas was traveling along SR-54 when he noticed two women in distress on the side of the road, crying and waving for help.
The women, mother Denise Ortiz and grandmother Rebecca Hill, told Thomas their 13-month-old baby, Cesar Ortiz, wasn?t breathing and needed immediate medical attention.
Thomas called 911, grabbed the child from Hill's hands and proceeded to render first aid and CPR on the spot, saving the tot?s life.
Hill says the family was driving on the freeway when baby Cesar suddenly began crying and shaking. After that, the baby?s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he stopped breathing.
By the time Thomas pulled over and got to Cesar, Thomas says the boy was not breathing and had turned blue.
Thomas says he immediately began compressions on the baby?s chest and back and then administered CPR. Eventually, Cesar began gasping for air and was able to breathe on his own again.
Emergency crews arrived shortly thereafter and transported the revived toddler to the hospital. He was released that same day and is now doing well.
Toddler 'functionally cured' of HIV infection, NIH-supported investigators reportPublic release date: 4-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kathy Stover stoverk@niaid.nih.gov 301-402-1663 NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Discovery provides clues for potentially eliminating HIV infection in other children
A two-year-old child born with HIV infection and treated with antiretroviral drugs beginning in the first days of life no longer has detectable levels of virus using conventional testing despite not taking HIV medication for 10 months, according to findings presented today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Atlanta.
This is the first well-documented case of an HIV-infected child who appears to have been functionally cured of HIV infectionthat is, without detectable levels of virus and no signs of disease in the absence of antiretroviral therapy.
Further research is needed to understand whether the experience of the child can be replicated in clinical trials involving other HIV-exposed children, according to the investigators.
The case study was presented at the CROI meeting by Deborah Persaud, M.D., associate professor of infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, and Katherine Luzuriaga, M.D., professor of pediatrics and molecular medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. These two pediatric HIV experts led the analysis of the case. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), both components of the National Institutes of Health, provided funding that supported the work of Drs. Persaud and Luzuriaga and other investigators involved in the analysis of the case.
"Despite the fact that research has given us the tools to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, many infants are unfortunately still born infected. With this case, it appears we may have not only a positive outcome for the particular child, but also a promising lead for additional research toward curing other children," said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
In July 2010, the child was born prematurely in Mississippi at 35 weeks, to an HIV-infected mother who had received neither antiretroviral medication nor prenatal care.
Because of the high risk of exposure to HIV, the infant was started at 30 hours of age on liquid antiretroviral treatment consisting of a combination of three anti-HIV drugs: zidovudine, lamivudine, and nevirapine. The newborn's HIV infection was confirmed through two blood samples obtained on the second day of life and analyzed through highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. PCR tests conducted on separate occasions that indicate the presence of HIV in an exposed infant are considered to have confirmed the diagnosis of infection.
The baby was discharged from the hospital at 1 week of age and placed on liquid antiretroviral therapy consisting of combination zidovudine, lamivudine and co-formulated lopinavir-ritonavir. This drug combination is a standard regimen for treating HIV-infected infants in the United States.
Additional plasma viral load tests performed on blood from the baby over the first three weeks of life again indicated HIV infection. However, by Day 29, the infant's viral load had fallen to less than 50 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood (copies/mL).
The baby remained on the prescribed antiretroviral treatment regimen until 18 months of age (January 2012), when treatment was discontinued for reasons that are unclear. However, when the child was again seen by medical professionals in the fall of 2012, blood samples revealed undetectable HIV levels (less than 20 copies/mL) and no HIV-specific antibodies. Using ultrasensitive viral RNA and DNA tests, the researchers found extremely low viral levels.
Today, the child continues to thrive without antiretroviral therapy and has no identifiable levels of HIV in the body using standard assays. The child is under the medical care of Hannah Gay, M.D., a pediatric HIV specialist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. Researchers will continue to follow the case.
"This case suggests that providing antiretroviral therapy within the very first few days of life to infants infected with HIV through their mothers via pregnancy or delivery may prevent HIV from establishing a reservoir, or hiding place, in their bodies and, therefore, achieve a cure for those children," said Dr. Persaud.
###
NIAID and NICHD provided funding that supported the collaborating investigators involved in the analysis of the HIV-infected child through the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network's (IMPAACT) cooperative agreement grant AI066832. Analysis was also performed by Tae-Wook Chun, Ph.D., a lead investigator in NIAID's Laboratory of Immunoregulation in Bethesda, Md. The Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) also contributed funding.
For more information about NIAID's HIV/AIDS cure research, see the NIAID HIV/AIDS Web portal.
NIAID conducts and supports researchat NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwideto study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Toddler 'functionally cured' of HIV infection, NIH-supported investigators reportPublic release date: 4-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kathy Stover stoverk@niaid.nih.gov 301-402-1663 NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Discovery provides clues for potentially eliminating HIV infection in other children
A two-year-old child born with HIV infection and treated with antiretroviral drugs beginning in the first days of life no longer has detectable levels of virus using conventional testing despite not taking HIV medication for 10 months, according to findings presented today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Atlanta.
This is the first well-documented case of an HIV-infected child who appears to have been functionally cured of HIV infectionthat is, without detectable levels of virus and no signs of disease in the absence of antiretroviral therapy.
Further research is needed to understand whether the experience of the child can be replicated in clinical trials involving other HIV-exposed children, according to the investigators.
The case study was presented at the CROI meeting by Deborah Persaud, M.D., associate professor of infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, and Katherine Luzuriaga, M.D., professor of pediatrics and molecular medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. These two pediatric HIV experts led the analysis of the case. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), both components of the National Institutes of Health, provided funding that supported the work of Drs. Persaud and Luzuriaga and other investigators involved in the analysis of the case.
"Despite the fact that research has given us the tools to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, many infants are unfortunately still born infected. With this case, it appears we may have not only a positive outcome for the particular child, but also a promising lead for additional research toward curing other children," said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
In July 2010, the child was born prematurely in Mississippi at 35 weeks, to an HIV-infected mother who had received neither antiretroviral medication nor prenatal care.
Because of the high risk of exposure to HIV, the infant was started at 30 hours of age on liquid antiretroviral treatment consisting of a combination of three anti-HIV drugs: zidovudine, lamivudine, and nevirapine. The newborn's HIV infection was confirmed through two blood samples obtained on the second day of life and analyzed through highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. PCR tests conducted on separate occasions that indicate the presence of HIV in an exposed infant are considered to have confirmed the diagnosis of infection.
The baby was discharged from the hospital at 1 week of age and placed on liquid antiretroviral therapy consisting of combination zidovudine, lamivudine and co-formulated lopinavir-ritonavir. This drug combination is a standard regimen for treating HIV-infected infants in the United States.
Additional plasma viral load tests performed on blood from the baby over the first three weeks of life again indicated HIV infection. However, by Day 29, the infant's viral load had fallen to less than 50 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood (copies/mL).
The baby remained on the prescribed antiretroviral treatment regimen until 18 months of age (January 2012), when treatment was discontinued for reasons that are unclear. However, when the child was again seen by medical professionals in the fall of 2012, blood samples revealed undetectable HIV levels (less than 20 copies/mL) and no HIV-specific antibodies. Using ultrasensitive viral RNA and DNA tests, the researchers found extremely low viral levels.
Today, the child continues to thrive without antiretroviral therapy and has no identifiable levels of HIV in the body using standard assays. The child is under the medical care of Hannah Gay, M.D., a pediatric HIV specialist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. Researchers will continue to follow the case.
"This case suggests that providing antiretroviral therapy within the very first few days of life to infants infected with HIV through their mothers via pregnancy or delivery may prevent HIV from establishing a reservoir, or hiding place, in their bodies and, therefore, achieve a cure for those children," said Dr. Persaud.
###
NIAID and NICHD provided funding that supported the collaborating investigators involved in the analysis of the HIV-infected child through the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network's (IMPAACT) cooperative agreement grant AI066832. Analysis was also performed by Tae-Wook Chun, Ph.D., a lead investigator in NIAID's Laboratory of Immunoregulation in Bethesda, Md. The Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) also contributed funding.
For more information about NIAID's HIV/AIDS cure research, see the NIAID HIV/AIDS Web portal.
NIAID conducts and supports researchat NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwideto study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 4-Mar-2013
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