What risk of death would people take to be cured of HIV and why? A survey of people living with HIV.

People living with HIV (PLWHIV) can reasonably expect near-normal longevity, yet many express a willingness to assume significant risks to be cured. We surveyed 200 PLWHIV who were stable on antiretroviral therapy (ART) to quantify associations between the benefits they anticipate from a cure and their risk tolerance for curative treatments. Sixty-five per cent expected their health to improve if cured of HIV, 41% predicted the virus would stop responding to medications over the next 20 years and 54% predicted experiencing serious medication side effects in the next 20 years. Respondents' willingness to risk death for a cure varied widely (median 10%, 75th percentile 50%). In multivariate analyses, willingness to risk death was associated with expected long-term side effects of ART, greater financial resources and being employed (all P < 0.05) but was not associated with perceptions of how their health would improve if cured.

Type III Hypersensitivity Reaction to Subcutaneous Insulin Preparations in a Type 1 Diabetic.

Management of type 1 diabetes in patients who have insulin hypersensitivity is a clinical challenge and places patients at risk for recurrent diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Hypersensitivity reactions can be due to the patient's response to the insulin molecule itself or one of the injection's non-insulin components. It is therefore crucial for clinicians to quickly recognize the type of hypersensitivity reaction that is occurring and identify potentially immunogenic additives for the purpose of directing therapy as various insulin preparations have differing ingredients. We present the case of a 23-year-old diabetic female with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) and autoimmune enteropathy who developed a type III hypersensitivity reaction to multiple formulations of subcutaneous insulin after years of use and the challenges of devising a long-term management strategy.