Reducing the AIDS epidemic; addiction treatment online; drones in emergencies – Morning Medical Update

World report on AIDS

Right now the world is not on trend to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, according to the latest figures from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. There are 39.9 million people living with HIV globally, but an estimated 9.3 million are not receiving life-saving treatment.

Telemedicine and addiction

People with opioid use disorder may be more inclined to seek treatment and use medicine for it when referred through telemedicine instead of an emergency department visit, according to a new study. “Patients with opioid use disorder often seek care in times of crisis in emergency departments. However, the emergency department may not be a good option for all patients. We wanted to see if telemedicine could be used as a gateway to ongoing care,” the study senior author said in an accompanying news release.

Drones to the rescue

Time is critical when people go into cardiac arrest, but up to 90% of people in cardiac arrest outside a hospital die because they don’t get immediate help. Human helpers respond as quickly as they can. Drones may be even faster at delivering automated external defibrillators for heart ailments, or drugs to reverse opioid overdoses, or life preservers to struggling swimmers. Read about how drones could improve response times for medical emergencies.