Online medical lectures

New online essays

Serial publication of a collection of essays on important clinical issues in the treatment and management of HIV and hepatitis C, from the HIVandHepatitis.com website.

Adherence: the key to successful HAART
Brian Boyle, MD
While there are, of course, many reasons for HAART not being successful, including medication intolerance, prior ineffective antiretroviral therapy and infection with a drug-resistant strain of HIV, non-adherence and non-persistence with antiretroviral therapy is far and away the major reason most patients fail to get any benefit from and develop resistance to HAART.

HCV viral kinetics and the impact of treatment with peginterferon and ribavirin
Peter Ferenci, MD

The ability to predict either a positive or negative therapeutic response is of obvious benefit to clinicians and patients. Positive predictive evidence early in the course of treatment could be used to reinforce the importance of compliance in ensuring a successful outcome.

Conversely, negative predictive capability would allow clinicians to discontinue therapy early during the course of treatment, which would save health care resources and, more importantly, could prevent drug-related adverse events.

Women and HIV/AIDS in the United States: setting an agenda for the future, a policy forum

Watch a documentary, browse through fact sheets and read transcripts of key speeches.