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Parasitic worms may fuel AIDS epidemic
"People infected with parasitic worms may be much more susceptible to the AIDS virus, according to a study published on Tuesday that may help explain why HIV has hit sub-Saharan Africa particularly hard.
The study involving monkeys demonstrated how a type of parasitic worm that causes schistosomiasis, which affects 200 million people globally, may make HIV infection more likely.
Much lower amounts of the AIDS virus -- 17 times lower -- were needed to cause infection in monkeys who had the parasitic worms than in the parasite-free monkeys, the researchers said.
"The presence of the worm is like adding fuel to the fire -- it creates more fertile ground for the virus to take hold," Dr. Ruth Ruprecht of Harvard Medical School, one of the researchers, said in a telephone interview." "People infected with parasitic worms may be much more susceptible to the AIDS virus, according to a study published on Tuesday that m... more -
AIDS on the rise in Latino community
According to an aritcle from msnbc.com/ Washington Post, The rates of AIDS is increasing in the Latino community in the United States.
Here's an excerpt-
"SAN YSIDRO, Calif. - AIDS rates in the nation's Latino community are increasing and, with little notice, have reached what experts are calling a simmering public health crisis.
Though Hispanics make up about 14 percent of the U.S. population, they represented 22 percent of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses tallied by federal officials in 2006. According to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Hispanics in the District have the highest rate of new AIDS cases in the country.
So far, the toll of AIDS in the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority population has mostly been overshadowed by the epidemic among African Americans and gay white men. Yet in major U.S. cities, as many as 1 in 4 gay Hispanic men has HIV, a rate on par with sub-Saharan Africa.
Blacks still have the highest HIV rates in the country, but language difficulties, cultural barriers and, in many cases, issues of legal status make the threat in the Hispanic community unique. For those who arrived illegally, in particular, fear of arrest and deportation presents a daunting obstacle to seeking diagnosis and treatment.
"Officials need to stop downplaying or ignoring what's happening among Latinos," said Oscar De La O, president of Bienestar, a Latino service organization. "We are at the center of the storm." "
Please read more at the link
According to an aritcle from msnbc.com/ Washington Post, The rates of AIDS is increasing in the Latino community in the United States.... more -
HIV symptoms not being diagnosed properly, claims charity
People showing the symptoms of early-stage HIV infection are routinely being misdiagnosed by doctors, according to a report by the National AIDS Trust.
NAT, the UK’s leading independent policy and campaigning charity on HIV and AIDS, has found that in one Brighton study, almost half of those who sought medical advice for what eventually turned out to be HIV symptoms were not diagnosed correctly.
Symptoms of early-stage HIV include sore throat, fever and rash and will show within two to six weeks of infection in 70-90 per cent of cases.
But the study found that GPs and other healthcare professionals were commonly dismissing these symptoms as signs of common viral infections, with comments such as: "Probably glandular fever" or "Come back in two weeks if you’re not feeling better."
NAT argues that while these symptoms may seem innocuous, coupled with recent risky behaviour, they should suggest possible HIV infection and the need for a HIV test.
"Diagnosing HIV at an early stage could have a significant impact on reducing HIV infections in the UK," said NAT Chief Executive Deborah Jack.
"Our advice is simple; if you suspect you may have been infected with HIV seek medical advice immediately. Do not wait."
HIV testing has seen great advances in recent years. The majority of cases can now be diagnosed from 12 days after infection.
However, the figures for HIV infection rates in the UK remain high. Over 80,000 people live with HIV.
A third of people with HIV are not diagnosed, and a third of those that are diagnosed are diagnosed late.
Should patients have to specify if they're potentially high-risk for exposure to HIV on a routine visit to the doctor with something like a sore throat, fever and rash, when they could be perfectly benign symptoms? Is it up to the GP to search out this kind of sensitive information, or is it for the patient to volunteer it? Is it possible to have a trusting and sympathetic relationship with your GP (I've rarely seen the same one twice in my local surgery) or does that not even matter?
People showing the symptoms of early-stage HIV infection are routinely being misdiagnosed by doctors, according to a report by the Nat... more -
Tourism, beaches and sex - what could go wrong? A lot.
With its white sand and sunny blue skies, Miramar Beach in the port city of Beira, Mozambique, has all the right ingredients to draw tourists from all over the world. But that is not all this idyllic coastline attracts. "The beach is fertile ground for the spread of... With its white sand and sunny blue skies, Miramar Beach in the port city of Beira, Mozambique, has all the right ingredients to draw t... more
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Two genes may prevent HIV infection
Scientists have isolated two genes which may prevent people from contracting HIV or at least slow the rate at which they develop AIDS, a new study has found.
The genes were isolated by comparing the genetic profiles of people in their first year of HIV infection with those who managed to resist infection despite repeated exposure to the virus.
The "good" versions of the two genes were present in 12.2 percent of those who resisted infection compared with only 2.7 of patients in primary HIV infection.
Researchers are not yet sure how this protection works.
One of the genes codes for a receptor on the surface of the immune system's natural killer cells which destroy infected cells in the body.
The other codes for a protein which binds the first gene and dampens the natural killer cell activity.
The most likely explanation is that HIV prevents the protein that dampens the killer cell activity from being expressed, allowing the killer cells to destroy cells infected with HIV.
Scientists have isolated two genes which may prevent people from contracting HIV or at least slow the rate at which they develop AIDS,... more -
Genetic mutation increases HIV risk in Africans
A genetic mutation that originally protected Africans from a virulent form of malaria now renders them 40% more susceptible to HIV infections, offering a partial explanation for the disproportionate spread of the virus among Africans and African Americans, researchers reported today.
The mutation, however, has an unusual benefit. It also slows progression of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, giving patients an extra two years of life, said Dr. Sunil K. Ahuja of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, lead author of the paper in the journal Cell Host & Microbe.
The genetic variation is the first found to increase susceptibility to HIV and the first linked to people of African descent, said virologist Robin A. Weiss of University College London, a coauthor of the paper.
About 90% of Africans have the mutation, and it could account for as many as 11% of HIV infections on that continent, the researchers said. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for about 75% of the world's 33 million people infected with HIV.
The mutation also affects about 60% of African Americans and could partially explain why HIV is more common among blacks than whites in the United States. Blacks make up 13% of the U.S. population but account for nearly half of all newly diagnosed infections.
The study appears to confirm the theory that the risk of contracting HIV is not solely connected to behavior, said Phill Wilson, chief executive of the Black AIDS Institute, an HIV/AIDS think tank in Los Angeles.
"Black gay men's behavior is no more risky -- and often less risky -- than white gay men, yet their vulnerability is so much greater," Wilson said.
Ahuja cautioned, however, that social factors -- such as poverty, lack of access to healthcare and sexual behavior -- were probably more important contributors to the risk of HIV infection.
(Excerpts / Thomas H. Maugh II and Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times) A genetic mutation that originally protected Africans from a virulent form of malaria now renders them 40% more susceptible to HIV inf... more -
Senate agrees to triple anti-AIDS funding
The Senate voted Wednesday to triple spending for a much-acclaimed program that has treated and protected millions in Africa and elsewhere from the scourges of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
The 80-16 vote committed the United States to spending up to $48 billion over the next five years for the most ambitious foreign public health program ever launched by the United States.
The legislation would replace and expand the current $15 billion act that President Bush championed in a State of the Union address and Congress passed in 2003. That act expires at the end of September.
In a statement, ' said that when the program was launched in 2003, about 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS. Today, the program supports lifesaving anti-retroviral treatment for more than 1.7 million people around the world, he said. It also has supported treatment and prevention programs that have helped HIV-positive women give birth to nearly 200,000 infants who are HIV-free.
The Democratic-led Senate, rarely in agreement with the White House, gave Bush credit for initiating the program. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a chief negotiator in crafting the bill, said the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, is "the single most significant thing the president has done."
The global AIDS program will save tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of lives, Biden said, "and the president deserves our recognition for that."
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, and co-negotiator with Biden, said the program "has helped to prevent instability and societal collapse in a number of at-risk countries." He added that it has "facilitated deep partnerships with a new generation of African leaders, and it has improved attitudes toward the United States in Africa and other regions."
[Credit: Jim Abrams, AP; Photo: hopeinthedark.com] The Senate voted Wednesday to triple spending for a much-acclaimed program that has treated and protected millions in Africa and elsew... more -
Gene which protects against Malaria could promote HIV transmission
"...the new finding, if confirmed, was intriguing because it pointed to the many ways in which the body’s receptors have been shaped by pathogens. Although HIV is too recent an infection to have left an evolutionary mark on the genome, human ancestors would have been exposed to malarial parasites and to SIV, the AIDS virus that infects monkeys, and the genome still bears the marks of these challenges to survival. Better knowledge of these adapations will help understand the biology of HIV infection" "...the new finding, if confirmed, was intriguing because it pointed to the many ways in which the body’s receptors have been shaped b... more
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"Is there a virus in the house?"
Hidden behind the high walls that surround most middle-class suburban homes in South Africa is one of the largest and most marginalised black, female workforces in the country.
Hidden behind the high walls that surround most middle-class suburban homes in South Africa is one of the largest and most marginalise... more -
Post-violence sex work booms in Kenya
Kenya's coast is one of its most popular tourist destinations and there, commercial sex work is one of the main ways many women earn money: "The killing in my village taught me a lesson and prepared me for a tough life, and now I do not fear death any more.I do not fear HIV," said one sex worker. "I believe that you will die when your day arrives, and the disease will not determine, but only God." Kenya's coast is one of its most popular tourist destinations and there, commercial sex work is one of the main ways many women earn m... more
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Red Cross Discrimination?
Follow the link for the full story.
Anyone who actively gives blood knows about the barrage of questions that the Red Cross nurses ask during the screening process. These safety measures are delegated by the Food and Drug Administration. Since safety of our blood supply is paramount, this is a necessary precaution. But, out of these questions, one question in particular stands out: "have you had sexual contact with a male, even once, since 1977?"
If you answer "yes" to this question, you will be refused the opportunity to give blood.
The American Red Cross, on their website (under "donor eligibility guidelines") describes these guidelines as "intended to protect the health and safety of the donor as well as the patient who will receive the transfusion". The guidelines go on to classify men who sleep with men in the same category of intravenous drug users and people who exchange money for sex, under the heading "HIV/AIDS". This representation alludes to the rumor that gay men and men who sleep with men, along with intravenous drug users and prostitutes are the only persons who can become infected with HIV/AIDS. This is false representation of a safety measure, and propagates the rumor that people in this classification are the only individuals who can contract or spread HIV/AIDS.
Follow the link for the full story. ... more -
Red Cross discrimination
The Red Cross, although a humanitarian organization, continues to openly discriminate against homosexuals and men who sleep with men in their effort to keep the blood supply "safe". Although the guidelines tend to appear quite outdated in today's society, there doesn't seem to be any effort to change or update the current system of blood screening.
Anyone who actively gives blood knows about the barrage of questions that the Red Cross nurses ask during the screening process. These safety measures are delegated by the Food and Drug Administration. Since safety of our blood supply is paramount, this is a necessary precaution. But, out of these questions, one question in particular stands out: "have you had sexual contact with a male, even once, since 1977?"
If you answer "yes" to this question, you will be refused the opportunity to give blood.
The American Red Cross, on their website (under "donor eligibility guidelines") describes these guidelines as "intended to protect the health and safety of the donor as well as the patient who will receive the transfusion". The guidelines go on to classify men who sleep with men in the same category of intravenous drug users and people who exchange money for sex, under the heading "HIV/AIDS". This representation alludes to the rumor that gay men and men who sleep with men, along with intravenous drug users and prostitutes are the only persons who can become infected with HIV/AIDS. This is false representation of a safety measure, and propagates the rumor that people in this classification are the only individuals who can contract or spread HIV/AIDS.
These guidelines can be found at: http://www.redcross.org/services/biomed/0,1082,0_557_,0...
It does not matter to the Red Cross if you are a monogamous gay male in a healthy relationship. It doesn't matter to the Red Cross if you've cheated on your spouse (straight or gay), it doesn't even matter if you've contracted syphilis or gonorrhea (as long as you wait 12 months before donating!)...but it does matter if you have "sex with men", or even fooled around with a man, even once in 30 years.
With all of our scientific knowledge about the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, it seems surprising that the Red Cross would continue to perpetrate false information about Homosexuals and the spread of HIV/AIDS in the name of safety. The Red Cross blames the Food and Drug Administration for this policy, and the FDA blames the Red Cross for not being discriminatory enough in protecting the blood supply. So we are left in a bind of open discrimination by our government and a world health organization.
The Red Cross and the FDA also fail to acknowledge that men (and women) who sleep with many partners are also at a high risk of becoming infected with HIV/AIDS. There is no question in the guidelines reflective of persons who have sexual contact with multiple partners, or persons who have unprotected sexual contact with others, or persons who engage in unsafe sexual practices. These persons, as long as they do not use intravenous drugs, charge for sex, or have sexual contact with men can still donate, and be a "hero".
Although our blood supply organizations should continue to carry out the highest standards of blood safety, the current guidelines must be revised to reflect our modern culture if organizations like the Red Cross intend to promote safety and well being. The truth about HIV/AIDS and other diseases must be reflective of scientific fact, and not old rumors. The truth about the safety of our blood supply is, if you look closely, a half truth riddled with discrimination.
The Red Cross, although a humanitarian organization, continues to openly discriminate against homosexuals and men who sleep with men i... more -
High risk and underground in Haiti and abroad
In countries like Haiti, Uganda and Thailand it's not uncommon for people to visit informal medical practitioners for injections of vitamins, antibiotics or traditional serums. In Haiti, those who do the injecting are referred to as "picuristes", or "injectionists", and the practice, which continues among Haitians living in other countries, may be putting people at risk of contracting HIV and other illnesses, new research has found.
In countries like Haiti, Uganda and Thailand it's not uncommon for people to visit informal medical practitioners for injections of vi... more -
Zimbabweans forced to flee country for medical treatment
Although there are no official figures, it is estimated that more than 100 Zimbabweans are getting ARV treatment in the province of Manica, in central Mozambique.
Khuda Mutchato is one of them. She crosses the border to get her medication and then returns to Zimbabwe, where only about 100,000 of the estimated 321,000 people in need of ARVs are receiving them through the public health sector.
Although there are no official figures, it is estimated that more than 100 Zimbabweans are getting ARV treatment in the province of Ma... more -
Sex diseases rocket in over-45 age group
Sexually transmitted diseases have doubled in people over 45 and are now rising faster than in the young. Men are most likely to be affected, with increases in herpes, syphilis, gonorrhoea and genital warts.
A recent Health Protection Agency (HPA) study shows that the number of sexually transmitted infections is rising in both young and old. However, the increase for older people is significantly higher. The overall rate of infections in the over-45 age group more than doubled between 1996 and 2003. Genital warts and herpes were the most commonly diagnosed diseases.
Tragically, the sexual health of men and women of this age group is largely neglected. Dr Babatunde Olowokure, from the HPA's regional surveillance unit in Birmingham, said: "Sexual health strategies have rightly focused on the under-25s but our results indicate that sexual risk-taking behaviour is not confined to young persons but is also an increasing trend in the over-45s. Services are geared towards young people, campaigns are targeted at the under 25s so over-45s think that sexual health has nothing to do with them and don't even know when they're taking risks."
According to the HPA study, internet dating, erectile dysfunction drugs, overlapping sexual networks and international travel were partly to blame. Dr Olowokure points out that "older people are increasingly likely to be single or undergoing relationship changes and are less likely to consistently use condoms, perhaps because the risk of pregnancy no longer exists." Sexually transmitted diseases have doubled in people over 45 and are now rising faster than in the young. Men are most likely to be af... more -
Iran successfully tests HIV medication
A herbal drug made in Iran using plants native to the country has shown to improve the AIDS condition.
The Immuno-Modulator Drug (IMOD) prevents entry into advanced stages of AIDS by increasing the number of CD4 cells which effectively control the multiplication of the HIV virus during a 90 day course.
The drug is said to have no noticable side-effects & can be taken alongside other anti-retroviral drugs. A herbal drug made in Iran using plants native to the country has shown to improve the AIDS condition. ... more -
How corruption is giving babies HIV in Central Asia
i saw this piece on BBC. we are living in world of corruption and tragedy, of all the things that schocked and awed me this one is one of the most tragic once.
Dilfusa wept as she rocked her baby, Bekhruzbek, to sleep.
She had taken her son to hospital near their village in southern Kyrgyzstan because he had heat stroke.
Eight months later he was diagnosed with HIV. "I thought my life was over," she said.
The doctors who treated Bekhruzbek are now on trial, accused of infecting him.
There are 78 other babies who have contracted HIV inside hospitals in Kyrgyzstan. Three of them have died, and new cases continue to emerge.
Most of their parents do not want to talk - so great is the stigma.
"My husband left me, he is in Russia now. The night when we got the test results he slept on the other side of the bed. I accidentally touched him and he kicked me," said Dilfusa.
Dilfusa, in her early twenties, is now also HIV positive. Like 16 other mothers in Kyrgyzstan, she contracted the virus through breastfeeding.
It is rare, but it happens - yet no-one warned her, she says, that she should not have nursed.
Fourteen medical workers in Kyrgyzstan have been accused of negligence, malpractice and corruption.
The prosecution alleges that doctors charged parents for equipment which they had used again and again.....
One year ago, an unprecedented trial took place in the southern city of Shymkent.
Twenty-one medical professionals were found guilty of infecting more than 70 babies with HIV. The number of infected children now stands at 149.
Most of the babies were infected through blood transfusions as doctors made money by prescribing unnecessary transfusions and selling blood to parents.
Court documents show one child received more than 50 transfusions during just one treatment.
It is not clear where the infected blood came from. But the prosecution suggested drug users could be one possible source.
They are the biggest HIV risk group in Central Asia. In Shymkent three drug users said it had been standard practice for them to give blood for money, and that when they did they were not checked for HIV.
The government says this is no longer the case and that all blood donors are now carefully screened, but the problem, some believe, is that the underlying cause of the outbreak still exists......
i saw this piece on BBC. we are living in world of corruption and tragedy, of all the things that schocked and awed me this one is one... more -
HIV spikes in men who have sex with men
Cases climb 12% among group of U.S. boys and men ages 13 to 24.
A new analysis of HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men points to a troubling increase in new cases among young men, U.S. health officials reported Thursday.
Public health experts use the term "men who have sex with men," or MSM, because many of these men are not strictly homosexual or even bisexual.
Between 2001 and 2006, male-to-male sex was the largest HIV transmission category in the U.S., and the only one associated with an increasing number of HIV/AIDS diagnoses, according to a report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report describes trends in diagnoses of HIV/AIDS in 33 states that have confidential, name-based HIV case reporting.
Of 214,379 diagnoses during the study period, 46 percent were among MSM. The rate of new diagnoses declined in all other transmission categories — injection drug use, high-risk heterosexual contact, and other routes of transmission.
Cases climb 12% among group of U.S. boys and men ages 13 to 24. ... more -
Looking for love in Douala: NGO opens dating service
When Clémentine Banzoat, 41, a mother of two, learnt she was HIV positive nine years ago, she not only lost her partner, the father of her second child, but also her job. After several failed relationships with HIV-negative men, she decided to look for an HIV-positive partner to form a family. Like Banzoat, many people living with HIV have trouble finding the perfect partner, prompting the Littoral Province branch of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA) a non-governmental organisation that assists HIV-positive women, to set up a dating service three months ago. When Clémentine Banzoat, 41, a mother of two, learnt she was HIV positive nine years ago, she not only lost her partner, the father of... more
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Male circumcision rolled out in Kenya
IRIN/PlusNews recently visited one mobile circumcision clinic in Kenya where circumcision - and its cultural connotations - has been a hotly contested subject. Watch as two boys go under the knife in a procedure that could be the future of HIV and AIDS prevention.
IRIN/PlusNews recently visited one mobile circumcision clinic in Kenya where circumcision - and its cultural connotations - has been a... more
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