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CD4/CD8 ratio is a reflection of immune system health. The CD4/CD8 ratio is calculated by dividing the CD4 cell count by the CD8 cell count.

The emergence of high-level dolutegravir resistance was extremely rare in people switched to first-line dolutegravir-based treatment in Zambia and Malawi, a large prospective study has found. But the risk of having unsuppressed HIV one and two years after switching was six to seven times higher in people who switched to dolutegravir with detectable HIV. The researchers say their findings emphasise the importance of viral load monitoring before switching. The study findings are reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The majority of people who develop low-level viral load on dolutegravir resuppress viral load without needing to change treatment, a large Nigerian study has found, confirming observations regarding the frequency of viral load resuppression from the ADVANCE study of first-line antiretroviral treatment in South Africa. The findings are published this month in the journal AIDS.

Taking the antibiotic doxycycline after sex works well to prevent syphilis and chlamydia for gay and bisexual men, and trans women.

A mutation that can undermine two-drug treatment with dolutegravir and lamivudine persists for at least 12 years in the ‘archive’ of HIV locked up in the DNA of blood cells in one in three people, French researchers report. Their study tracked disappearance of the mutation in people with suppressed viral load on antiretroviral treatment.