Teens suffering from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can receive a new, first-of-its-kind treatment in Canada, offered at the Pediatric Unit at CHU Sainte-Justine.
According to UNAIDS data, more than 86 million people have been infected with HIV and 40 million people have died of AIDS since the early 1980s.
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Since October, the CHU Sainte-Justine Mother-Child Infectious Diseases Center has treated more than 40 adolescents and adolescents under the age of twelve infected with the HIV virus. This new treatment, given as an injection every two months, could “change the lives” of these young people.
Adolescents with HIV must receive two intramuscular injections on each side of the gluteal muscles. This treatment prevents transmission of the disease. “Adolescents who receive regular treatment do not transmit HIV,” explains Dr. Fatima Kakkar, infectious disease specialist and researcher at CHU Sainte-Justine, in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.
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Previously, these young people had to take one tablet once a day, every day. “The teenagers were scared, they didn't want people to find out they had the disease. So they forgot about it and stopped taking the medicine. They didn’t go about their normal activities out of fear,” comments Dr. Fatima Kakkar.
At that time, medical resources were insufficient to treat HIV. These infected young people contracted the disease “during pregnancy” from their mother. “The pregnant woman who had HIV and did not receive treatment transmitted it to her babies,” she notes.
Currently, the risk of infection for pregnant women infected with the HIV virus who receive proper treatment in Canada is less than 1%.
According to UNAIDS data, 30 million people have access to antiretroviral therapy.