We will defeat the virus
HIV vaccine will be tested in Moscow
Angelina Zelenkova, Rossiyskaya Gazeta
Next year, a trial of a vaccine for HIV-infected people begins in Moscow – this is the most promising therapeutic vaccine in the world. The tests will be held on the basis of the Moscow City Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS. This was reported to journalists by the director of the center, the chief freelance specialist of the capital on the problems of diagnosis and treatment of HIV infection Alexey Mazus.
According to him, the principle of the vaccine is such that the patient will not need to take medication for a long time. Considering that antiretroviral therapy is lifelong, the use of the vaccine will also reduce the cost of treatment. Her trials will last several years.
"Every year, more than 3 thousand cases of HIV infection are detected in the capital. At the same time, the Russian capital remains one of the least infected capitals in the world," Alexey Mazus stressed and added that the prevalence of HIV infection in Moscow is 40 percent lower than the average in Russia.
Moscow shows an amazing phenomenon of containing the HIV epidemic in a big city, when the number of patients is getting smaller every year. This is due to the fact that 60 percent of them receive antiretroviral therapy. 80 percent of patients already have an undetectable viral load, that is, the treatment has worked and the virus is suppressed. At the same time, there is a significant increase in nonresident citizens with HIV infection in the city - 5.2 thousand residents from other regions were identified for the first time last year, which is 1.7 times more than in 2016. According to Alexey Mazus, this is due to the fact that Moscow has become the center of medical care for the whole country. "Patients from all over Russia come to the capital's hospitals. In addition, about 20 thousand HIV patients from the Moscow region come to work in Moscow every day - this is a pendulum migration, which also cannot be ignored," he explained.
One of the best HIV screening indicators in the world helps doctors detect infection at an early stage and prescribe the necessary treatment on time. The screening rate in Moscow is twice as high as in the USA, and three times higher than in Western European countries. "Moscow is a leader in access to HIV research. In 2017, the coverage of the population with HIV antibody screening was about 37 percent of the city's residents. We are doing a record number of tests – more than 5 million tests were done in Moscow last year. Most of them were carried out free of charge," Mazus noted and added that the Moscow model of countering the spread of HIV infection provides absolute access to free, including anonymous, HIV testing for the population.
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