The Fort Lauderdale based Campbell Foundation has awarded a $48,900 grant to Dr. Sahera Dirajlal-Fargo, a physician in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Rheumatology at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, to study the impact of inflammation in the lining of blood vessels on young patients with HIV.

 

Thanks to antiretroviral therapy (ART) more people infected with HIV are living longer. However, with longevity comes other health-related problems including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, when compared to the general population.

 

There are many factors contributing to these complications, however ongoing inflammation in particular has been associated with these health-related problems. It is unclear how this relates to children and adolescents infected with HIV. This is particularly important as many have been treated with powerful antiretroviral drugs - some in utero - for a long period of time.

 

"Considering that older children and adolescents make up the largest percentage of HIV-positive children cared for at pediatric HIV clinics in the U.S., and that cardio and metabolic diseases are the leading cause of death in HIV-positive individuals, it is imperative that we evaluate children and adolescents' risk of developing these diseases," said Dr. Dirajlal-Fargo.

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