STI Podcast

You will recall a previous podcast about preventing Neisseria gonorrhoea through an effective vaccine. Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a ubiquitous sexually transmitted bacteria that can cause both localised and systemic disease if left untreated. It may be transmitted to neonates. We also reported on a rise of the gonorrhoea incidence, as well as increasing rates of antibiotic resistance. Today we will revisit the implementation of vaccinations against gonorrhoea in the UK. Here is an exciting up-date on the advice provided by UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, JCVI, on using the vaccine 4CMebB OMV against Meningococcus used off-label for the prevention of gonorrhoea infection • in patients at significant risk of infection with bacterial STIs who • attend specialist sexual health services. Host: Dr. Fabiola Martin, Sexual Health HIV, HTLV Specialist, Canberra Sexual Health Services & University of Queensland, Australia Participants: Dr. Suneeta Soni, Consultant in Sexual Health and HIV, University Hospitals Sussex and Chair of the Bacterial special interest group for BASHH *British Association for Sexual health and HIV) Dr. Yen Bui, Consultant in Vaccination and Travel Health, Institut national de santé publique du Québec, Canada A/P. Dr. Kate Seib, NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Associate Director for Research, Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Australia

Today we will focus on the alternative treatments of early Syphilis. Worldwide many of us have experienced a shortage of gold standard treatment benzathine benzylpenicillin injections for syphilis. It is time we look for alternative antibiotic treatments and prevention strategies for syphilis. In conversation with Prof Jeffery Klausner, Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Public Health at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, we will discuss a new study published in the Lancet in 2024. Mitja O. et al compared oral linezolid with benzathine penicillin G for treatment of early syphilis in adults (Trep-AB Study) in Spain, which is a prospective, open-label, non-inferiority, randomised controlled trial. Acknowledgement for his valuable contributions to the content of the podcast: Dr Oriol Mitjà, Skin Neglected Tropical Diseases and Sexually Transmitted Infections Section, Fundació Lluita Contra les Infeccions, Barcelona, Spain. Related link: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(23)00683-7/fulltext

In our final episode in honour of the World AIDS Day we have a conversation with Assistant Prof. Rajasuriar, who coordinates the translational research program in HIV immunology and Ageing at the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Today, thanks to effective HIV antiretroviral therapy, people living with HIV can live long and healthy lives. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2021, of the nearly 1.1 million people living with diagnosed HIV in the United States and dependent areas, over 53% were aged 50 or older. Hosted by: Dr Fabiola Martin, the BMJ STI Podcast editor and Sexual Health Specialist based in Australia and Senior Clinical Lecturer at School of Public Health at University of Queensland. Growing older with HIV in the Treat-All Era Reena Rajasuriar 1 , Heidi M Crane 2 , Aggrey S Semeere 3 PMID: 36176021 PMCID: PMC9522984 DOI: 10.1002/jia2.25997 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jia2.25997 Integrated care for older people (‎ICOPE)‎: guidance for person-centred assessment and pathways in primary care https://www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/WHO-FWC-ALC-19.1

Today we are honouring the World AIDS Day on 1st December in 2023, by focusing on young people who live with HIV. Adolescents and young people represent a significant share of people living with HIV worldwide. In 2022 alone, 255,000-760,000 young people between the ages of 10 to 24 were newly infected with HIV, of whom 35,000-250,000 were adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19. In conversation with Prof Natella Rakhmanina, who is a Professor of Paediatrics at the George Washington University and the Director of the HIV Program at Children's National Hospital, we will discover the pro & cons of long-acting antiretrovirals to mange HIV infection in young people. Hosted by: Dr Fabiola Martin, the BMJ STI Podcast editor and Sexual Health Specialist based in Australia and lecturer at School of Public Health at University of Queensland.

Welcome to the 4th episode of the 2023 BMJ Sexually Transmitted Infections Podcast Series. This year the International AIDS Society Conference was held for the first time in Brisbane Australia in July 2023. It was wonderful to learn about many new research findings, community perspectives and to connect with old friends and make new ones. Today we will provide you with some of the many clinical, vaccine and policy research highlights of this conference and share our subjective perspectives. We were joined by: Dr Ming Lee, a sexual health & HIV physician and UK MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow at Imperial College London, London, UK, Prof Damian Purcell, Head of the Molecular Virology Laboratory in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Peter Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, Dr Meg Doherty, Director of Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infection Programmes at World Health Organization, Heath Quarter. Hosted by: Dr Fabiola Martin, the BMJ STI Podcast editor and Sexual Health Specialist based in Australia and lecturer at School of Public Health at University of Queensland.

In honour of World Hepatitis Day, today we focus on the Hepatitis B virus (HBV), a virus that can be transmitted through contact with infected blood and from mother to child during labour. HBV can also be transmitted sexually. It infects liver cells and causes both acute and chronic infections, which can be severe. Since HBV was discovered in 1965, we have made great progress in reducing the burden of infections and disease through prevention and antiviral treatment, but much is left to do. The World Health Organization has called for enhanced efforts along four main pathways: i) increasing awareness of HBV infection, ii) promoting prevention strategies, iii) expanding access to testing and treatment; and iv) improving surveillance, data collection and research. Today we will discuss these topics with a focus on the European Region with our three guests: - Dr. Erika Duffell, Public Health Physician, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden - Prof. Anna Maria Geretti, Editor in Chief, STI journal; Professor & Consultant in Infectious Diseases & Virology, Fondazione PTV, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy; North Middlesex University Hospital and King’s College London, London, United Kingdom - Prof. Simon de Lusignan, Senior Academic General Practitioner (GP) and Director of the Royal College of GPs Research & Surveillance Centre, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom Hosted by: Dr. Fabiola Martin, Sexual Health, HIV, HTLV specialist, BMJ STI Podcast Editor, Brisbane, Australia Relevant papers: Hepatitis B virus infection in general practice across England: An analysis of the Royal College of General Practitioners Research and Surveillance Centre real-world database https://www.journalofinfection.com/article/S0163-4453(23)00130-5/ Impact of maternal HIV–HBV coinfection on pregnancy outcomes in an underdeveloped rural area of southwest China https://sti.bmj.com/content/96/7/509 Prevalence of hepatitis B immunity and infection in home self-sampling HIV service users https://sti.bmj.com/content/98/4/286 Hepatitis A and B vaccination in gbMSM in Ireland: findings from the European MSM Internet Survey 2017 (EMIS-2017) https://sti.bmj.com/content/99/5/337 Hepatitis A and B vaccine uptake and immunisation among men who have sex with men seeking PrEP: a substudy of the ANRS IPERGAY trial https://sti.bmj.com/content/99/2/140 Hepatitis A, hepatitis B and HPV vaccine needs and coverage in MSM initiating HIV PrEP in a sexual health clinic in Paris https://sti.bmj.com/content/99/5/361

Neisseria gonorrhoeae, in short NG, is a ubiquitous sexually transmitted bacteria that can cause both localised and systemic disease if left untreated. NG may also be transmitted vertically from mother to baby. Over the last years, we have seen a rise in the number of people diagnosed with gonorrhoea, alongside growing rates of antibiotic resistance. New research makes us hopeful that a vaccine may soon become available to provide global, large scale benefits. In this podcast, we explore this possibility with three experts in the field: Prof Kate Seib (1), Dr Claire Dewsnap (2) and Dr Silvia Nozza (3). Would you like to know more about the topic? Please read the paper we recently published in STI: "Prior Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) proctitis does not prevent Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) proctitis among men who have sex with men (MSM)": https://sti.bmj.com/content/99/3/215 (1) NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Associate Director for Research, Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia (2) President of the British HIV Association for HIV & Sexual Health (BASHH) and Consultant in Genitourinary Medicine, Sheffield Teaching Hospital, Sheffield, UK (3) Consultant in Infectious Diseases, Head of Prevention Unit, San Raffaele Hospital (IRCCS), Milan, Italy

Welcome back to the 2023 BMJ STI Podcasts. Today we will focus on the worsening Syphilis epidemic worldwide. Syphilis is a bacteria that infects humans, and is transmitted horizontally through close sexual contact and vertically to unborn babies and neonates. It can cause acute and severe illness in those affected, such as neurosyphilis, and have tragic consequences for mother and baby. With the discovery of penicillin, access to testing, and especially public health interventions such as regular testing of asymptomatic, sexually active people and routine antenatal testing, we thought we could start focusing on eradicating Syphilis one day. Alas, over the last decade we have seen what seems an unstoppable rise of syphilis incidence world-wide. In conversation with Prof Clare Nourse, Prof. James Ward and Dr Angelica Espinosa Miranda we explore the issue at hand focusing on Australia and South America.

Today we talk about transmission, diagnosis and management of MPox. We will also review the UK community and the World Health’s Organization's perspective on this virus. Please note that after the recording of this podcast the WHO implemented a change of the name of the virus to MPox. Dr Fabiola Martin, STI's Podcast editor, interviews Dr Liesbeth Van Gestel, ID physician and clinical researcher at the Tropical Institute of Antwerp, Belgium; Mr Simon Collins, director and co-founder of HIV iBase London, UK; as well as Dr Meg Doherty, the World Health Organisation’s Director of Global HIV, Hepatitis and STIs Programmes. For more information, please read the STI recently published articles: one from Vanhamel and co-authors tracking the transmission of the virus in the early phases of the outbreak in Belgium (https://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2022/11/17/sextrans-2022-055601), and a second from Heskin and colleagues reporting on the rapid response of sexual health services to the outbreak in the UK (https://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2022/12/14/sextrans-2022-055558?rss=1).

In this double-interview podcast, the Editor-in-Chief of the STI journal, Dr Anna Maria Geretti, brings you some of the highlights from the INHSU 2022 conference. In the first interview (starting at 1:00), Dr Geretti interviews Jean-Michel Molina*, who discusses HIV and STI prevention. The second interview (starting at 12:30) is with Professor Miłosz Parczewski**. They discuss the effects of the war in Ukraine on the country’s healthcare system, in particular on the prevalence of STIs....

In this double-interview podcast, the Editor-in-Chief of the STI journal, Dr Anna Maria Geretti, brings you some of the highlights from the INHSU 2022 conference. In the first interview (starting at 1:00), Dr Geretti interviews Jean-Michel Molina*, who discusses HIV and STI prevention. The second interview (starting at 12:30) is with Professor Miłosz Parczewski**. They discuss the effects of the war in Ukraine on the country’s healthcare system, in particular on the prevalence of STIs....

In this double-interview podcast, the Editor-in-Chief of the STI journal, Professor Anna Maria Geretti, brings you some of the highlights from the HIV Glasgow 2022 conference. In the first interview (starting at 1:00), Professor Geretti interviews Jean-Michel Molina*, who discusses HIV and STI prevention. The second interview (starting at 12:30) is with Professor Miłosz Parczewski**. They discuss the effects of the war in Ukraine on the country’s healthcare system, in particular on the prevalence of STIs. *Professor of Infectious Diseases University of Paris, France and Head of the Infectious Diseases Department, Saint-Louis Hospital and Lariboisière Hospital Paris, France. **Clinical specialist and Professor of Infectious Diseases Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland. Associate Editor on STI and newly elected Vice President of the European AIDS Clinical Society. To hear more episodes of the STI Podcast, please subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/sti-podcast/id356342980

Today we talk with the principal investigators of the DoxyPEP trial which was prematurely terminated due to its amazing success: participants receiving a stat dose of Doxycycline 200mg in less than 72 hours after condom-less sex were 63% less likely to develop a bacterial STI compared to participants in the control arm. Prof Annie Leutkemeyer based in San Francisco (UCSF) and Prof Connie Celum, based in Seattle (WA)join Dr Fabiola Martin, STI's Podcast editor, in this short interview. Please listen to a recent podcast on the wider subject of Bacterial STIs: https://soundcloud.com/bmjpodcasts/management-of-bacterial-stis?in=bmjpodcasts/sets/sti Related links: https://www.aidsmap.com/news/jul-2022/taking-antibiotic-after-sex-cuts-stis-two-thirds-doxypep-study-finds academic.oup.com/cid/article/70/6/1247/5557867 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8360665/ To hear more episodes of the STI Podcast, please subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/sti-podcast/id356342980

Today we focus on presumptive and prophylactic management of bacterial STIs, talking with Dr Manoji Gunathilake, Head of sexual health services in Darwin, Australia, and Assistant Prof Will Nutland, the director of the NGO, the Love Tank, in London, UK. Related links: STI Guidelines Australia: https://sti.guidelines.org.au/ The Love Tank: http://thelovetank.info/ GRASP report: data to June 2021 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1033882/GRASP_2020_Report.pdf Taking antibiotic after sex cuts STIs by two-thirds, ‘DoxyPEP’ study finds - www.aidsmap.com/news/jul-2022/tak…xypep-study-finds Doxycycline PEP significantly reduces STIs in people at high risk of infections - i-base.info/htb/43528

In this podcast, we interview Professor Joel Palefsky about the ANCHOR study. Sexually Transmitted Infections' Editorial Fellow, Dr Ming Lee, speaks to the journal Editor in Chief, Professor Anna Maria Geretti, and Professor Palefsky, chief investigator of the randomised controlled trial, about the study which investigated treatment of anal high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) to prevent progression to anal cancer. The study was stopped early following an interim analysis showing a clear benefit in reducing the risk of progression to anal cancer by 57 %, and the findings were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Professor Palefsky also discusses how screening for anal cancer could be improved. Related link about the ANCHOR study: https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2201048?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed

Thank you for joining us for the HTLV2022 Conference review. Dr Fabiola Martin speaks to Joanna Curteis, the Australian patient representative, Dr Carolina Rosadas, researcher associate at National Centre for Human Retrovirology, Imperial College London, who specialises in HTLV-1 vertical transmission and Prof Damian Purcell. Damian's research group investigates the HIV-1 and HTLV-1 human retroviruses that cause AIDS and leukaemia/inflammatory pathogenesis respectively at Doherty Institute, Melbourne. We also discuss the Global Call to Action towards the elimination of HTLV-1 and an important message from the World Health Organisation delivered by Dr Meg Doherty. Related blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/sti/2022/07/06/ichr-2022/ Related links: https://www.htlvnet.com https://www.htlvaware.com HTLV Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI6aLSTtk7chXMeybJ92Fhw Follow @HTLVChannel National Centre for Human Retrovirology http://www.htlv.eu/ WHO HTLV technical report https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/339773

In this podcast, we focus on the bacterial genitourinary pathogen Mycoplasma genitalium (MGEN). We have known this pathogen for a long-time but only in recent years we have been testing and treating more frequently for this bacteria. In this conversation with Dr Fabiola Martin, STI's Podcast editor, Dr Emma Sweeney, Prof Catriona Bradshaw and Prof Nicola Low provide a clinical and research update on MGEN. Dr Emma Sweeney is a Postdoctoral researcher, The University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Brisbane, Australia. Prof Catriona Bradshaw is a Clinician researcher based at Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Melbourne, Australia. Prof Nicola Low is an Infectious disease epidemiologist, leading the Sexual and Reproductive Health Research Group at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland. Read the blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/sti/2022/04/06/mgen/ Some relevant papers published by STI: Adverse pregnancy and perinatal outcomes, 2022, Frenzer C, Egli-Gany D, Vallely L, et al. https://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2022/03/28/sextrans-2021-055352 Prevalence in different populations, 2018, Baumann L, Cina M, Egli-Gany D, et al. https://sti.bmj.com/content/94/4/255 Persistence, concordance, complications in non-pregnant people, 2019, Cina M, Baumann L, Egli-Gany D, et al. https://sti.bmj.com/content/95/5/328

Today we focus on NATSAL and NATSAL COVID. These are Britain’s National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. NATSAL has been undertaken every 10 years since 1990 and is a key data source for sexual and reproductive health policy development. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many aspects of sexual lifestyles, prompting the initiation of the NATSAL-COVID study with the aim of understanding the impact of COVID-19 on sexual behaviour and service use. Professor Cath Mercer and Professor Nigel Field join us to discuss the results of this study. All the findings relate to the first four months of lockdown in Britain, which started in March 2020. Related blog: https://blogs.bmj.com/sti/2022/02/23/natsal-covid-sex-love-and-lockdown/ Relevant Natsal-COVID papers: - STI paper on sexual behaviour during the pandemic: https://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2021/12/14/sextrans-2021-055210 - Paper in Lancet PH on sexual health services: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(21)00253-X - Paper in BMJ Open on sex outside of the household: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/2/e055284 - Natsal-COVID wave 1 method paper: https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/6-209

On the World HTLV Day (10th November), we focus on how the Human T leukaemia virus affects people, and review new developments in HTLV treatment and vaccination medicine. HTLV is a retrovirus similar to HIV which incorporates its DNA indefinitely into the human CD4 T lymphocytes. It is predominantly transmitted through condomless sex, but also from mother-to-child and through contact with HTLV positive blood. Unlike HIV, HTLV causes severe disease only in about 5% of PLHTLV, so it is easy for HTLV transmission to go unnoticed. The two dominant HTLV associated diseases are Adult T cell leukaemia (ATL) and HTLV-1 associated myelopathy (HAM/TSP). Participants: STI's Podcast Editor, Dr Fabiola Martin, interview Ms Kristy Blakeborough, Lived experience and UK patient rep; Prof Yoshihisa Yamano, Neurologist St Marianna University Japan; A/P Keith Chappell, University of Queensland. Read the blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/sti/2021/11/10/world_htlv_day/ Other relevant links: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2818%2930974-7/fulltext https://gvn.org/who/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27965813/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33250897/ https://www.htlvaware.com

In this podcast we discuss the reported impact of HIV infection on people who are hospitalised with COVID-19, by reviewing three publications: 1. Outcomes of COVID-19 Related Hospitalization Among People With HIV in the ISARIC WHO Clinical Characterization Protocol: A Prospective Observational Study. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 23 October 2020 (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-Clinical-HIV-2021). 2.Epidemiology and outcomes of COVID-19 in HIV-infected individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Nature, Scientific Reports, 18 March 2021 (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-85359-3). 3. Clinical features and prognostic factors of COVID-19 in people living with HIV hospitalized with suspected or confirmed SARS has just been released. WHO Global Clinical Platform, 15 July 2021 (https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa1605/5937133). STI's Podcast Editor, Dr Fabiola Martin, interviews Prof Anna Maria Garretti, Diseases at the Policlinico Tor Vergata, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Chair of the British HIV Association Vaccination Guidelines Panel, and Editor in Chief of the STI Journal; and Associated Research Professor Dr Paddy Ssentongo, from the Penn State University, Pennsylvania, USA. Read the blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/sti/2021/09/16/c19-plwh-revisited/