South Africa has received global recognition for achieving a significant reduction in the number of children newly infected with HIV. The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) launched the 2012 Global Epidemic Report yesterday (SUBS: TUES) and praised South Africa for major gains with the number of children newly infected with HIV declining by between 40 and 59 percent from 2009 to 2011. International efforts have focused on ending new infections among children and reducing the number of women living with HIV who die from pregnancy-related causes. According to the report 330 000 children were infected with HIV in 2011, almost halving the rate since 2003 when almost 600 000 children were infected. More than 90% of the children who acquired HIV infection in 2011 live in sub- Saharan Africa, where the number of children newly infected fell by 24% from 2009 to 2011. Sub-Saharan Africa remains most severely

People who struggle to quit smoking may be genetically predisposed to the habit, according to new research published in the American Medical Association journal JAMA-Psychiatry. The international team of researchers reviewed studies that looked at genetic links to smoking and pulled together a “genetic risk profile” for smoking. The researchers applied this to a long-term study of 1000 Australians born in the early 1970s. Information on participants’ smoking behaviour was analysed alongside DNA samples, which identified those who matched the smoking risk profile. Although the genetic risk score was unrelated to starting smoking, having a high-risk genetic profile predicted increased likelihood of heavy smoking and nicotine dependence among those who did try cigarettes. The link was strongest for teenagers who tried cigarettes – those with a high-risk genetic profile were 24 percent more likely to become daily smokers by age 15, and 43 percent more likely to become pack-a-day smokers

PRESS RELEASE: Exposure to tobacco smoke could negatively impact adolescent kidney function, this is according to a new study led by a team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre. They examined the association between exposure to active smoking and kidney function among US adolescents and found the effects of tobacco smoke on kidney function begin in childhood. The results are featured in the journal Pediatrics. “Tobacco use and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke are major health problems for adolescents, resulting in short-term and long-term adverse health effects,” said Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD, senior author of the study and an associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences. “In this nationally representative sample of US adolescents, exposure to tobacco, including secondhand smoke and active smoking, was associated with lower estimated glomerular filtration rates – a common measure

Smokers who light up as soon as they wake up in the morning are more likely to develop lung and oral cancer than other smokers, a new study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention reveals. According to the research, people who had a cigarette immediately after waking up had higher levels of NNAL – a byproduct of a tobacco-specific cancer-causing substance called NNK – in their blood than those who smoked a half hour or more after waking, regardless of how many cigarettes they smoked in a day. Researchers analysed data from nearly 2 000 adult smokers who took part in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The participants provided blood samples and information about their smoking behaviour. The investigators found that about 32 percent of the participants smoked their first cigarette of the day within five minutes of waking. Among the others, 31 percent

Smokers’ broken bones take longer to heal than that of non-smokers, according to new research. “We showed that smokers are at a higher risk of long bone fracture nonunion [not joining], and that there is a trend towards longer fracture healing times in smokers,” said study author Dr Mara L. Schenker from the University of Pennsylvania in a Reuters Health report. The researchers reviewed the literature studying the association between smoking and fracture healing (nonunion and healing time) and post-operative infections. They analysed the risk of nonunion and healing time of tibia fractures and open fractures and found it that smokers had a higher risk of non-union in both cases. (In smokers compared to non-smokers, the adjusted odds ratio for nonunion was 2.3 or p<0.01. Their risk for nonunion was increased only with tibia fractures or 2.42, p<0.01 and open fractures or 2.42, p<0.01.) Smokers also tended to have longer

One in four young people in the United Kingdom who gave up smoking last year said the ban on tobacco product displays in shops helped them to kick the habit, a survey revealed. On April 6 last year supermarkets and other large shops in the UK were prohibited from displaying cigarette packs to the public. The poll of 1 000 ex-smokers and 1 000 current smokers found that just over 25 percent of ex-smokers between the ages of 18 and 24 said that keeping the products hidden had encouraged them to quit. They also found the regulation helped almost one in five (17 percent) of smokers cut down on the amount they smoke. “We know that young people can be influenced to smoke by seeing tobacco on display,” said Emma Wrafter, director of youth smoking prevention charity The Deborah Hutton Campaign. “The results from the poll show that keeping tobacco

In response to the tough economic times, smokers are re-lighting used cigarette butts, a new study found. Although smokers may be saving some money, they are paying with their health and researchers warned that re-lighting cigarettes does not reduce exposure to harmful chemicals. “Smokers who re-light cigarettes may be at higher risk of lung cancer and chronic bronchitis,” said senior study author Michael Steinberg, director of the Tobacco Dependence Programme at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey in the US, in a news release. The study involved about 500 smokers seeking treatment from the Tobacco Dependence Programme. Of these, 46 percent admitted to re-lighting cigarettes. This group smoked 16 cigarettes daily on average, while smokers who did not re-light smoked an average of 20 cigarettes each day. According to the study, women were more likely to re-light cigarettes and higher rates of re-lighting were also found among black people and

The best way of cutting the number of cancer cases worldwide is to fight the tobacco industry’s tactics in developing countries and ensuring the best vaccines get to those most in need, according to a new report published in Science Translational Medicine. Experts reporting from a recent meeting of cancer organisations across the world said smoking and other forms of tobacco use are the main drivers of a growing global burden of cancer. “The number of people diagnosed with cancer across the world is increasing. But there are clear actions that all countries can take which will go a long way to reducing both the numbers diagnosed from cancer and deaths from the disease,” said Harpal Kumar of the charity Cancer Research UK in the report. Those actions included higher taxes on tobacco products, ensuring health workers set an example by not smoking, deglamourising the habit and protecting poor countries

Exposure to second-hand smoke increases a person’s risk of developing early signs a heart disease. According to a new study, signs of coronary artery calcification were found in 26 percent of people who never smoked, but were exposed to varying levels of second-hand smoke as an adult or child, compared to just 18 percent in the general population. The more you’re exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke, the more likely you are to develop early signs of heart disease, the study indicates. And those who reported higher levels of second-hand smoke exposure had the greatest evidence of calcification, a build-up of calcium in the artery walls. After taking other heart risk factors into account, the researchers concluded that people exposed to low, moderate or high levels of second-hand smoke were 50, 60 and 90 percent, respectively, more likely to have evidence of calcification than those who had minimal exposure. “This research

Government’s annual death report has confirmed the trend that fewer South Africans have been dying of HIV/AIDS-related diseases. However, more people are dying of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes. Released in the Free State yesterday morning (THURSDAY), the Statistics SA report Mortality and causes of death in South Africa, 2010: Findings from death notification, records and analyses deaths reported in 2010 as it is written on death certificates completed by doctors and others certified to do so. The findings were released in Thabo Mofutsanyane district in Phuthaditjhaba, which recorded the highest death rate in the country. KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng had the highest overall number of deaths in 2010. In summary, the number of deaths processed by Stats SA in 2010 was 543 856, a 6.2% decline from the year before with the highest number of deaths among those aged 35-39 and 30-34. Overall, there were slightly more male than female

People living with HIV in South Africa, who access antiretroviral therapy (ART) before their immune systems are severely compromised, have life expectancies close to that of the general population, researchers have found. Published this week in the journal PLOS Medicine, the research shows that the life expectancies (additional years of life) are around 80% of that of the general population, provided those with HIV initiate treatment before their CD4 count (a measure of the strength of the immune system at the time of starting treatment) drops below 200. The findings could impact on the cost of life insurance (reducing it) and epidemiological modeling estimates, which typically assume that life expectancy after starting ART is around 10 years. Lead researcher from the University of Cape Town Leigh Johnson and colleagues collected information from six HIV treatment programs in South Africa between 2001 and 2010. The survival model shows that – as

MEDIA RELEASE: As of this month (April), some public sector AIDS patients will start to take simplified ARV treatment of just one pill a day to manage their infection. The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) welcomes this change in treatment protocols by the Department of Health. The Council hopes that this will encourage patients to stay on treatment, thus reducing the incidences of non-compliance and non-adherence. “On behalf of men in South Africa and organisations working with men and boys, we welcome the good news by the Minister of Health that the national Health Department is introducing fixed dose combination (FDC) anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. In the process of rolling out the once a day ARV tablet, which contains a combination of three vital ARVs – Tenofovir, Efavirenz and Emtricitabine – the ARV programme should improve through increased compliance and maintenance of patients on ARVs, including the introduction of new