Update
from PARTNER
PARTNER study has now enrolled 827 couples
and monthly average recruitment is 30 couples.Thanks very much for
maintaining the
enthusiasm to keep on with recruitment for this critical study. So far
35 % of those are MSM couples. We would particularly
like to see recruitment in MSM increase if at all possible. It is
interesting that some sites now have been recruiting for 2 years and
these sites are still able to find and enrol sero-different couples.
Please be reminded to keep your eyes open for new couples.
Entry Criteria
We would like to remind you that couples are not excluded if the
positive person has a viral load > 50 copies/mL. Periods in
which the most recent viral load is not suppressed will not be included
in the primary analysis but we expect that in many couples where the
viral load is currently > 50 it will decline to < 50 in
future. Likewise, a couple should not leave the study if the
viral load goes up above an undetectable level.
The
inclusion criteria for Partner study are:
- Confirmed HIV positive
- On ART – regardless of viral load
- Over 18 years
- Partners have had unprotected penetrative anal or
vaginal intercourse together in the past month
HIV positive
partners stopping ART
The HIV positive partner will have to be on ART when they are enrolled
in The Partner study, however, if an HIV positive partner stops taking
ART after
they
were enrolled in the study, the couple should continue in the
study,
if they are willing, because we anticipate that ART will be
restarted at some point. In these cases we would like the staff
to make particularly sure that the couple knows about the greatly
increased
transmission risk.
Transmission in Partner
Should the HIV negative partner in a partnership seroconvert, this
could either reflect that transmission has occurred within the
couple (a “linked transmission”) but alternatively the
source of the infection maybe a third party outside the couple (an
“unlinked transmission”). In case an HIV negative partner
becomes positive phylogenetic analyses of the genetic data will be
done to establish whether the transmission is linked or unlinked, but
this will only be done after samples have been de-linked and it is not
possible to identify which couple the pair of samples are from.
It is anticipated that some negative partners will seroconvert,
but we are not releasing the numbers in real time. We will release
information on
the number of linked transmissions when we have 1000 couple years
accrued. However, if the rate of linked transmissions is
unexpectedly high this information
will be released as soon as the executive committee becomes aware of
this. The total number of transmissions will only be disclosed when the
study is completed. |
National
Coordinators invited to TC In the coming months the Executive
Committee for the Partner study will
invite all National Coordinators individually to join the Executive
Committee TC to get a better insight and update of each country and
sites in the country.
Investigator
meeting in Glasgow 2012:
Monday 12th November we would like to invite you
to join the Partner
investigator meeting at the 11th Glasgow conference. The meeting will
be held at the conference centre in room Leven from 7:30-8:30 AM.
Breakfast
will be served.
Please reply to Tina Bruun before 1st November 2012 if you would like
to participate.
Tina Bruun
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