Larry Buhl

4 days ago | lapublicpress.org | Larry Buhl

More than three dozen community-based health providers in Los Angeles County are scrambling to replace tens of millions in federal funding after the Trump administration eliminated longstanding federal grants for HIV and STD prevention. Without the funding, health officials warn that HIV infection rates could rise dramatically, potentially reversing decades of progress.

3 weeks ago | lapublicpress.org | Larry Buhl

Angelica Fuentes lost 60% of her vision after she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2019 that could be managed through radiation, but not removed. Then an administrative assistant in an importing business, Fuentes found it impossible to work in front of a computer. The screen looked “all a jumble,” she said. After undergoing treatment, Fuentes said she was able to secure Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, for her disability, as well as health benefits through MediCal.

Feb 5, 2025 | positivelyaware.com | Larry Buhl

Studies have reported that one in six patients gain significant weight—at least 10% of their body weight—within two years after starting HIV treatment. This weight gain is more common in women, Black people, and people who had poorer health when starting treatment, but the reasons for weight gain are still unclear. Weight gain is strongly correlated with integrase inhibitors (INSTIs) and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF), particularly second-generation integrase inhibitors dolutegravir and bictegravir.

Feb 5, 2025 | positivelyaware.com | Larry Buhl

A study published in October in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (JAIDS) had an unexpected finding: that being single and lonely—and, in contrast to other studies, not nadir CD4 count or multi-morbidity—correlated with frailty in older people with HIV (PWH). The cross-sectional analysis included 439 participants over age 65 (with a median age of 69) from the Correlates of Healthy Aging in Geriatric HIV (CHANGE HIV) study.

Feb 4, 2025 | positivelyaware.com | Larry Buhl

Even if the association between loneliness, social isolation and frailty (and comorbidities) for older PWH is complex and not fully understood, there’s evidence, for people with or without HIV, that loneliness is detrimental to physical health, and is estimated to do as much harm to the body as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. “We’re a species that developed to be dependent on other people,” Sean Cahill, of Fenway Institute, said.