Seeking to prevent life-threatening side effects, the Food and Drug Administration is urging doctors to use a genetic test to screen patients before prescribing a drug widely used for H.I.V. infection and AIDS.
In an advisory it is expected to issue Thursday, the agency says that patients with a particular variation in an immune system gene [...]
F.D.A. Urges Genetic Test Before Giving AIDS Drug
Study shows improvement in AIDS/HIV survival rates
AIDS drugs have so improved the survival prospects of people with HIV that death rates among the recently diagnosed in industrialized countries have become comparable to those never exposed to the virus, according to a newly published European study.
Medical records show that, before 1996 - when combinations of antiviral drugs became available - the death [...]
Rallying Behind HIV Vaccine Research
To commemorate National HIV Vaccine Awareness Day on Sunday, May 18, AIDS groups and experts issued press releases and launched initiatives aimed at sparking a resurgence of interest and commitment to finding a safe and effective vaccine for HIV.
“Basic HIV vaccine research must remain one of the many prevention strategies being pursued at a national [...]
Up to 100 Vietnamese Contract HIV Daily
Each day Vietnam has from 50 to 100 new HIV carriers, according to a report entitled “Considering the AIDS situation in Asia: Sketching an effective response” released by Deputy Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan and Dr. JVR Prasada Rao, Director of UNAIDS’s Asia-Pacific Regional Assistance Office, on May 20.
According to this report, AIDS is [...]
Oral sex isn’t keeping kids virgins
Contrary to popular belief, teens do not appear to commonly engage in oral sex as a way to preserve their virginity, according to the first study to examine the question nationally.
The analysis of a federal survey of more than 2,200 males and females ages 15 to 19, released Monday, found that more than half reported [...]
NYT on Pos Or Not?
mtvU’s anti-stigma campaign, Pos or Not?, was profiled in the New York Times.
Hot or Not, a Web site where people submit photographs of themselves so that strangers can rate how attractive they are on a scale of 1 to 10, has spawned many imitators (plus a fair number of critics who view it as a [...]
Dating While HIV+
Taken from my personal blog.
Dating has been a touchy subject for me ever I tested HIV+ half a year ago.
It was difficult enough meeting people before my diagnosis, and after I found out, I thought it would be next to impossible to find someone who would give me any attention. A lot of this stems [...]
Cuban government backs calls to combat homophobia
Cuba’s gay community celebrated unprecedented openness — and high-ranking political alliances — with a government-backed campaign against homophobia on Saturday.
The meeting at a convention center in Havana’s Vedado district may have been the largest gathering of openly gay activists ever on the communist-run island. President Raul Castro’s daughter Mariela, who has promoted the rights of [...]
UCSF researchers studying cognition in older HIVers
With many people who have HIV and AIDS living longer, thanks to advances in medications, a group of researchers and doctors at the University of California, San Francisco is looking at how having HIV might affect cognitive health in people over 60.
People who have HIV and are over 60 are being sought for the three-year [...]
HIV-positive man gets 35 years for spitting on Dallas police officer
Note: There has NEVER been a documented case of transmitting HIV by spitting on another person.
HIV-positive man with a history of spitting at police officers and biting fellow jail inmates was sentenced to 35 years in prison Wednesday.
Willie Campbell’s sentence came one day after the same Dallas County jury convicted the 42-year-old of harassment of [...]