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New HIV/AIDS screening study findings recently were reported by A.R. Wohl and co-researchers.
Researchers detail in 'Factors associated with late HIV testing for Latinos diagnosed with AIDS in Los Angeles,' new data in HIV/AIDS. "Latinos are more likely to test late for HIV infection compared to other racial/ethnic groups in the United States. A population-based interview study was used to examine factors associated with late HIV testing for Latinos diagnosed with AIDS in Los Angeles County (LAC) to develop more effective HIV testing outreach strategies," investigators in the United States report.
"Latinos testing for HIV within one year of an AIDS diagnosis were considered as late testers, while those diagnosed with AIDS more than one year after an HIV diagnosis were defined as non-late testers. After adjusting for age, education, country of birth, and injection drug use in a logistic regression analysis, completion of the interview in Spanish was the main factor associated with late testing (adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR)=2.9, 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs): 1.4, 6.0). Latinos testing late for HIV were also more likely to test due to illness (p <0.0001) and less likely to test as part of a clinical screening (p <0.0001). Late testers were more likely to receive their first positive HIV test as a hospital inpatient (p <0.0001) and less likely to test positive at a community health center or public clinic (p=0.05)," wrote A.R. Wohl and colleagues.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
HIV Treatment & Insurance Challenges - Educational Program
The Friends of AIDS Foundation invites you to attend " HIV Treatment & Insurance Challenges", a free educational dinner presentation with speakers Dr.Jimmy Vesci and Ivy Rooney.
Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2010
Time: 5:30pm
Location: 3909 Centre Street San Diego, CA 92103
Dinner will be provided. Please RSVP by 3/29/10 at: info@friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2010
Time: 5:30pm
Location: 3909 Centre Street San Diego, CA 92103
Dinner will be provided. Please RSVP by 3/29/10 at: info@friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
HIV/AIDS Data Prompt New Warning on Safe Sex in Australia
State Health Officer Dr. Jeannette Young said Queensland logged a record-high number of HIV/AIDS cases in 2009. New data show 178 people were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS last year, up from 166 cases in 2008. That represents a rate of 4.1 per 100,000 people in 2009, compared with 3.9 in 2008.
"The increase may be partly due to an aggressive campaign for testing of gay men carried out by the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities," said Young. "Of all HIV notifications last year in Queensland, 88 percent were in males, and the highest notification rates were in the 25-34 years age group."
According to Young, the figures emphasize the need for people to practice safe sex. Investments in HIV/AIDS prevention and education campaigns must continue at the state and national level, she said.
Queensland is finalizing its HIV Prevention Action Plan, and the state health department has contributed to a new National HIV Strategy to be considered by the Australian Health Ministers' Conference on April 22.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
"The increase may be partly due to an aggressive campaign for testing of gay men carried out by the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities," said Young. "Of all HIV notifications last year in Queensland, 88 percent were in males, and the highest notification rates were in the 25-34 years age group."
According to Young, the figures emphasize the need for people to practice safe sex. Investments in HIV/AIDS prevention and education campaigns must continue at the state and national level, she said.
Queensland is finalizing its HIV Prevention Action Plan, and the state health department has contributed to a new National HIV Strategy to be considered by the Australian Health Ministers' Conference on April 22.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
AIDS a Disease, Not a Disgrace, Delegates Stress
Religious groups from around the globe have pledged to prevent the stigmatization of people living with HIV and AIDS, in a joint statement welcomed by a senior U.N. official as a sea change in attitudes.
Representatives of some 40 religions and faith groups including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism ended a two-day retreat in the Netherlands by signing a "personal commitment to action" in which they vowed to "be clear in my words and actions that stigma and discrimination towards people living with or affected by HIV is unacceptable."
Canon Gideon Byamugisha, an Anglican priest from Uganda, said the way his church treated him after he discovered he had HIV should set an example.
"They reacted with support and understanding," he said. "There were sections who were annoyed and disappointed I was HIV positive, but a big number opted to give me the love, care and support I needed."
Byamugisha lost his first wife to AIDS and has since remarried to a woman with HIV.
He told church officials in 1992 that he had HIV and was one of the first African clerics to reveal he had the disease.
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the U.N. Population Fund's executive director, called Tuesday's statement "a sea change."
"There is no talk about sinning or repentance," she said. "It is more about acceptance of people living with HIV."
The delegates acknowledged that some church and faith groups had played an active role in the stigmatization they now have committed to end.
"With remorse we regret that those living with HIV have at times been at the receiving end of judgment, rejection," they wrote. "We need to make greater efforts to ensure that all people living with HIV find a welcome within faith communities."
The statement came after two days of discussions in which Byamugisha said that delegates sometimes struggled "with how to balance between communicating the religious messages that talk about morality and spirituality [and] public health challenges on the ground."
The use of condoms to fight the spread of HIV infections also was discussed, but only as a side issue, Byamugisha said.
A year ago, Pope Benedict XVI drew unprecedented criticism when he said that distributing condoms was not the answer to Africa's AIDS problem and, indeed, could make it worse.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Representatives of some 40 religions and faith groups including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism ended a two-day retreat in the Netherlands by signing a "personal commitment to action" in which they vowed to "be clear in my words and actions that stigma and discrimination towards people living with or affected by HIV is unacceptable."
Canon Gideon Byamugisha, an Anglican priest from Uganda, said the way his church treated him after he discovered he had HIV should set an example.
"They reacted with support and understanding," he said. "There were sections who were annoyed and disappointed I was HIV positive, but a big number opted to give me the love, care and support I needed."
Byamugisha lost his first wife to AIDS and has since remarried to a woman with HIV.
He told church officials in 1992 that he had HIV and was one of the first African clerics to reveal he had the disease.
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the U.N. Population Fund's executive director, called Tuesday's statement "a sea change."
"There is no talk about sinning or repentance," she said. "It is more about acceptance of people living with HIV."
The delegates acknowledged that some church and faith groups had played an active role in the stigmatization they now have committed to end.
"With remorse we regret that those living with HIV have at times been at the receiving end of judgment, rejection," they wrote. "We need to make greater efforts to ensure that all people living with HIV find a welcome within faith communities."
The statement came after two days of discussions in which Byamugisha said that delegates sometimes struggled "with how to balance between communicating the religious messages that talk about morality and spirituality [and] public health challenges on the ground."
The use of condoms to fight the spread of HIV infections also was discussed, but only as a side issue, Byamugisha said.
A year ago, Pope Benedict XVI drew unprecedented criticism when he said that distributing condoms was not the answer to Africa's AIDS problem and, indeed, could make it worse.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Sony teams up for World Cup anti-AIDS campaign
Thousands of football fans in Africa will see HIV/AIDS awareness messages on giant Sony screens during the World Cup under a collaboration announced Wednesday.
The messages will be broadcast between games shown on 200-inch (five metre) screens before fans in Cameroon and Ghana, according to Sony, the UN Development Programme and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
"Today many African countries are facing social and economic challenges," Sony chief executive Howard Stringer said. "The first World Cup to be held on African soil is also a great opportunity to showcase the power of Africa."
The three partners will set up the giant screens in 12 cities in Cameroon and Ghana, which have both qualified for the World Cup in South Africa, with a total of 13,000 people expected at the viewing sites.
Sony's social responsibility chief Hidemi Tomita said most African children, "even if their national teams play in the games, won't be able to experience the event due to low rates of household TV penetration".
A lack of information and media access are among reasons for the high rates of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, where about 22 million people carry the virus out of the global total of 33.4 million, according to the UNDP.
Project organisers expect at least 1,800 people to take free HIV tests to be offered at the screening sites.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
The messages will be broadcast between games shown on 200-inch (five metre) screens before fans in Cameroon and Ghana, according to Sony, the UN Development Programme and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
"Today many African countries are facing social and economic challenges," Sony chief executive Howard Stringer said. "The first World Cup to be held on African soil is also a great opportunity to showcase the power of Africa."
The three partners will set up the giant screens in 12 cities in Cameroon and Ghana, which have both qualified for the World Cup in South Africa, with a total of 13,000 people expected at the viewing sites.
Sony's social responsibility chief Hidemi Tomita said most African children, "even if their national teams play in the games, won't be able to experience the event due to low rates of household TV penetration".
A lack of information and media access are among reasons for the high rates of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, where about 22 million people carry the virus out of the global total of 33.4 million, according to the UNDP.
Project organisers expect at least 1,800 people to take free HIV tests to be offered at the screening sites.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
LGB/T HUD Housing Discrimination Study - Looking for Public Comment
HUD Launches Website to Gather Public Comment on First-Ever LGBT Housing Discrimination Study.
HUD is looking for public comment from LGBT individuals and families who have been denied housing based on gender identity and/or sexual orientation. To tell your story, and for more information, please go to: http://bit.ly/aF5re2
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today launched a new website at: http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/H...imination_Study to allow citizens to offer comment on the design of an unprecedented national study that will examine housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. While there have been no national assessments of housing discrimination targeting the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) community, there is a body of evidence suggesting this sort of bias exists.
HUD recently hosted town hall meetings in Chicago, San Francisco and New York City to solicit feedback on how it might approach such ground-breaking research. The online suggestion box is intended to offer the public throughout the U.S. an opportunity to comment on HUD's study and may be accessed at: http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/H..._Study/comments
"It is critical that as we embark on this historic discrimination study, that we hear from those who may have been denied housing based on their sexual orientation or gender identity," said Dr. Raphael Bostic, HUD's Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research. "The comments we received in our town hall meetings, and those we will gather from this new website, will help inform how we might test for housing discrimination in the sale or rental of housing based on LBGT status."
While there are no national assessments of LGBT housing discrimination, there are state and local studies that have shown this sort of bias. For example, Michigan's Fair Housing Centers found that nearly 30 percent of same-sex couples were treated differently when attempting to buy or rent a home.
HUD's new LGBT website will seek suggestions on how best to execute the study. For example, how would a ‘tester' signal in a conversation with a landlord that an individual or couple was LGBT? The website is not designed for users to lodge complaints about a particular incident. However, if you believe you have been a victim of housing discrimination, you may file an online complaint at: http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/H..._discrimination, or call HUD's Housing Discrimination Hotline at 1-800-669-9777.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
HUD is looking for public comment from LGBT individuals and families who have been denied housing based on gender identity and/or sexual orientation. To tell your story, and for more information, please go to: http://bit.ly/aF5re2
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today launched a new website at: http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/H...imination_Study to allow citizens to offer comment on the design of an unprecedented national study that will examine housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. While there have been no national assessments of housing discrimination targeting the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) community, there is a body of evidence suggesting this sort of bias exists.
HUD recently hosted town hall meetings in Chicago, San Francisco and New York City to solicit feedback on how it might approach such ground-breaking research. The online suggestion box is intended to offer the public throughout the U.S. an opportunity to comment on HUD's study and may be accessed at: http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/H..._Study/comments
"It is critical that as we embark on this historic discrimination study, that we hear from those who may have been denied housing based on their sexual orientation or gender identity," said Dr. Raphael Bostic, HUD's Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research. "The comments we received in our town hall meetings, and those we will gather from this new website, will help inform how we might test for housing discrimination in the sale or rental of housing based on LBGT status."
While there are no national assessments of LGBT housing discrimination, there are state and local studies that have shown this sort of bias. For example, Michigan's Fair Housing Centers found that nearly 30 percent of same-sex couples were treated differently when attempting to buy or rent a home.
HUD's new LGBT website will seek suggestions on how best to execute the study. For example, how would a ‘tester' signal in a conversation with a landlord that an individual or couple was LGBT? The website is not designed for users to lodge complaints about a particular incident. However, if you believe you have been a victim of housing discrimination, you may file an online complaint at: http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/H..._discrimination, or call HUD's Housing Discrimination Hotline at 1-800-669-9777.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
MEDICARE EXPANDS COVERAGE FOR TREATING FACIAL LIPODYSTROPHY SYNDROME IN PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced its decision to cover facial injections for Medicare beneficiaries who experience symptoms of depression due to the stigmatizing appearance of severely hollowed cheeks resulting from the drug treatment for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Today's decision is effective immediately.
Facial lipodystrophy (LDS) is a localized loss of fat from the face, causing an excessively thin appearance in the cheeks. In some cases, facial LDS may be a side effect of certain kinds of medications (antiretroviral therapies) that individuals receive as part of an HIV infection treatment regimen.
The facial LDS can leave people living with HIV looking gaunt and seriously ill, which may stigmatize them as part of their HIV-infection status. Individuals who take these medications and experience facial LDS side effects may suffer psychological effects related to a negative self-image. These effects may lead people living with HIV to discontinue their antiretroviral therapies. The new decision allows for treatment of individuals who experience symptoms of depression due to the appearance changes from facial LDS.
The injections included in today's coverage decision are "fillers" that have been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to be injected under the skin in the face to help fill out its appearance specifically for treatment of facial LDS. Data show that these injections can improve patient self-image, relieve symptoms of depression, and may lead to improved compliance with anti-HIV treatment.
"Today's decision marks an important milestone in Medicare's coverage for HIV-infection therapies," said Barry M. Straube, M.D., CMS Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Agency's Office of Clinical Standards & Quality. "Helping people living with HIV improve their self-image and comply with anti-HIV treatment can lead to better quality of life and, ultimately, improve the quality of care that beneficiaries receive."
The final decision is posted on the CMS Web site at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/center/coverage.asp.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Facial lipodystrophy (LDS) is a localized loss of fat from the face, causing an excessively thin appearance in the cheeks. In some cases, facial LDS may be a side effect of certain kinds of medications (antiretroviral therapies) that individuals receive as part of an HIV infection treatment regimen.
The facial LDS can leave people living with HIV looking gaunt and seriously ill, which may stigmatize them as part of their HIV-infection status. Individuals who take these medications and experience facial LDS side effects may suffer psychological effects related to a negative self-image. These effects may lead people living with HIV to discontinue their antiretroviral therapies. The new decision allows for treatment of individuals who experience symptoms of depression due to the appearance changes from facial LDS.
The injections included in today's coverage decision are "fillers" that have been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to be injected under the skin in the face to help fill out its appearance specifically for treatment of facial LDS. Data show that these injections can improve patient self-image, relieve symptoms of depression, and may lead to improved compliance with anti-HIV treatment.
"Today's decision marks an important milestone in Medicare's coverage for HIV-infection therapies," said Barry M. Straube, M.D., CMS Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Agency's Office of Clinical Standards & Quality. "Helping people living with HIV improve their self-image and comply with anti-HIV treatment can lead to better quality of life and, ultimately, improve the quality of care that beneficiaries receive."
The final decision is posted on the CMS Web site at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/center/coverage.asp.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
ACTION ALERT - Tell Your Senator to Pass the Health Care Reform Reconciliation Bill!
The U.S. House of Representatives passed sweeping health care reform over the weekend but there is still one last step needed to ensure reform assists as many people living with HIV/AIDS as possible: we need the Senate to pass the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872).
The reconciliation bill addresses budgetary fixes in health care reform, and requires every provision of the health care reform bill to have a budgetary impact. Otherwise, those provisions could be removed from the bill.
We need to make sure the Senate passes the reconciliation bill. We need to make sure health care reform includes provisions that significantly improve access to care for people living with HIV/AIDS, including: closing the “donut hole” in the Medicare prescription drug benefit program (a nearly $3500 per-person gap in drug coverage that the AIDS Drug Assistance Program must now cover); including AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) payments as True Out of Pocket (TrOOP) costs for Part D beneficiaries; and expanding Medicaid eligibility to persons with income under 133% of the federal poverty level, including those living with HIV/AIDS.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Call toll-free to voice your support: 1.800.828.0498. When you reach the Capitol Switchboard, ask to be connected to your Senator. If you have trouble getting through with the toll-free number, you can use the regular switchboard number: 1.202.224.3121.
You can also look up your Senator to find a direct contact number at: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Call your Senator and say, “My name is _____ and I’m a constituent from (city/state). I’m calling to ask you to vote to pass the health care reform reconciliation bill. I believe that reform is critical to the health of all people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States. Access to affordable health care keeps those people living with HIV from progressing to AIDS and is essential for people who have full-blown AIDS. It keeps HIV-positive individuals in the workforce longer and extends the life span of many positive individuals.”
Please Take Action NOW!
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
The reconciliation bill addresses budgetary fixes in health care reform, and requires every provision of the health care reform bill to have a budgetary impact. Otherwise, those provisions could be removed from the bill.
We need to make sure the Senate passes the reconciliation bill. We need to make sure health care reform includes provisions that significantly improve access to care for people living with HIV/AIDS, including: closing the “donut hole” in the Medicare prescription drug benefit program (a nearly $3500 per-person gap in drug coverage that the AIDS Drug Assistance Program must now cover); including AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) payments as True Out of Pocket (TrOOP) costs for Part D beneficiaries; and expanding Medicaid eligibility to persons with income under 133% of the federal poverty level, including those living with HIV/AIDS.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Call toll-free to voice your support: 1.800.828.0498. When you reach the Capitol Switchboard, ask to be connected to your Senator. If you have trouble getting through with the toll-free number, you can use the regular switchboard number: 1.202.224.3121.
You can also look up your Senator to find a direct contact number at: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Call your Senator and say, “My name is _____ and I’m a constituent from (city/state). I’m calling to ask you to vote to pass the health care reform reconciliation bill. I believe that reform is critical to the health of all people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States. Access to affordable health care keeps those people living with HIV from progressing to AIDS and is essential for people who have full-blown AIDS. It keeps HIV-positive individuals in the workforce longer and extends the life span of many positive individuals.”
Please Take Action NOW!
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
HIV Numbers Reveal Impact on MSM Community
For years, CDC data have shown that men who have sex with men (MSM) account for the majority of new HIV and syphilis infections in the United States. Now for the first time, CDC has created an estimate of the size of the US MSM population that allowed it to calculate the prevalence of these diseases among MSM.
By conducting a meta-analysis of nationally representative studies, CDC found that men who have had sex with another man in the previous five years represent 2 percent of the US population age 13 and older, said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. The analysis shows that MSM comprise 4 percent of the US male population.
With this information, CDC researchers were able to estimate the range of new HIV diagnoses as 522-989 cases per 100,000 MSM, more than 44 times the rate for other men (12 diagnoses per 100,000) and more than 40 times the rate for women (13 cases per 100,000). The estimated rate of new primary and secondary syphilis diagnoses is 91-173 cases per 100,000 MSM, more than 46 times that for other men (two per 100,000) and more than 71 times that of women (one per 100,000).
The findings were presented this month in Atlanta at CDC's 2010 National STD Prevention Conference.
The complex factors that contribute to the disparity include high HIV/STD prevalence among MSM, which increases the risk of continued exposure; the role STDs play in facilitating the spread of HIV; the efficiency of anal sex for HIV transmission; MSM's tendency to have more sexual partners than heterosexuals; the prevalence of substance abuse in the MSM community; complacency about risk, particularly among young MSM; difficulty practicing safe sex for every sexual encounter; lack of syphilis awareness; limited access to prevention services; and discrimination that can prevent MSM from seeking prevention, testing, and treatment services.
"We need to provide accurate information to the public, the gay community, and activists, and we all need to start thinking more carefully about how we're concentrating our resources for effective interventions and research that will allow new interventions to specifically help gay and bisexual men," Mermin said.
"Prevention in the HIV epidemic has been led by gay and bisexual men since the beginning of the epidemic, and I'd encourage all gay and bisexual men to stay active in those activities," Mermin said. He called on MSM to limit their number of sex partners, practice safe sex, and be screened at least annually for HIV and STDs.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
By conducting a meta-analysis of nationally representative studies, CDC found that men who have had sex with another man in the previous five years represent 2 percent of the US population age 13 and older, said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. The analysis shows that MSM comprise 4 percent of the US male population.
With this information, CDC researchers were able to estimate the range of new HIV diagnoses as 522-989 cases per 100,000 MSM, more than 44 times the rate for other men (12 diagnoses per 100,000) and more than 40 times the rate for women (13 cases per 100,000). The estimated rate of new primary and secondary syphilis diagnoses is 91-173 cases per 100,000 MSM, more than 46 times that for other men (two per 100,000) and more than 71 times that of women (one per 100,000).
The findings were presented this month in Atlanta at CDC's 2010 National STD Prevention Conference.
The complex factors that contribute to the disparity include high HIV/STD prevalence among MSM, which increases the risk of continued exposure; the role STDs play in facilitating the spread of HIV; the efficiency of anal sex for HIV transmission; MSM's tendency to have more sexual partners than heterosexuals; the prevalence of substance abuse in the MSM community; complacency about risk, particularly among young MSM; difficulty practicing safe sex for every sexual encounter; lack of syphilis awareness; limited access to prevention services; and discrimination that can prevent MSM from seeking prevention, testing, and treatment services.
"We need to provide accurate information to the public, the gay community, and activists, and we all need to start thinking more carefully about how we're concentrating our resources for effective interventions and research that will allow new interventions to specifically help gay and bisexual men," Mermin said.
"Prevention in the HIV epidemic has been led by gay and bisexual men since the beginning of the epidemic, and I'd encourage all gay and bisexual men to stay active in those activities," Mermin said. He called on MSM to limit their number of sex partners, practice safe sex, and be screened at least annually for HIV and STDs.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
AIDS Care Rebounding in Haiti, Though Many Lack Shelter
Though many challenges remain to be addressed, restoring AIDS treatment programs in Haiti has proved easier than providing shelter to the 1.3 million people left homeless by the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Haiti is home to half of all AIDS cases in the Caribbean. In recent years, the country has successfully reduced prevalence of the disease from 10 percent to 2.2 percent as of January.
HIV/AIDS treatment programs resumed work after the disaster, thanks in part to a three-month supply of medicines on the island, said CDC's Dr. Steven Harris. At the GHESKIO clinic, Dr. Serena Koenig reports that all but 5 percent of the 14,000 patients on antiretrovirals before the quake had resumed treatment. Moreover, an electronic database of AIDS patients, a rarity in Haiti's Ministry of Health, allowed for easier tracking of patients after the disaster.
International health groups working in Haiti are particularly concerned about prevention efforts. At Port-au-Prince's largest encampment, where roughly 45,000 Haitians are living on the site of an old military airport, the occasional free condom distribution is inadequate, said Dr. Kobel Dubique, who coordinates a clinic there.
A three-pack of condoms costs around 15 gourdes, or less than US $1, but this is still more than many Haitians can afford. "We need to be distributing more condoms. And free," said Dubique.
Security in the tent cities is also a problem. Dubique said there have been four confirmed rapes at the camp where he works. "Women are being attacked sexually and otherwise, they feel very vulnerable," said Refugee International's Emile Parry.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Haiti is home to half of all AIDS cases in the Caribbean. In recent years, the country has successfully reduced prevalence of the disease from 10 percent to 2.2 percent as of January.
HIV/AIDS treatment programs resumed work after the disaster, thanks in part to a three-month supply of medicines on the island, said CDC's Dr. Steven Harris. At the GHESKIO clinic, Dr. Serena Koenig reports that all but 5 percent of the 14,000 patients on antiretrovirals before the quake had resumed treatment. Moreover, an electronic database of AIDS patients, a rarity in Haiti's Ministry of Health, allowed for easier tracking of patients after the disaster.
International health groups working in Haiti are particularly concerned about prevention efforts. At Port-au-Prince's largest encampment, where roughly 45,000 Haitians are living on the site of an old military airport, the occasional free condom distribution is inadequate, said Dr. Kobel Dubique, who coordinates a clinic there.
A three-pack of condoms costs around 15 gourdes, or less than US $1, but this is still more than many Haitians can afford. "We need to be distributing more condoms. And free," said Dubique.
Security in the tent cities is also a problem. Dubique said there have been four confirmed rapes at the camp where he works. "Women are being attacked sexually and otherwise, they feel very vulnerable," said Refugee International's Emile Parry.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
WHO Backs Government in Condom Clash with Catholic Church
On Monday, World Health Organization officials voiced support for the Philippine government's advocacy of condoms as a part of its HIV/AIDS prevention strategy. Condoms are "extremely effective protection against HIV and other [STDs]," said Soe Nyunt-U, WHO's Philippines representative.
When the Philippines Department of Health distributed free condoms ahead of Valentine's Day, Roman Catholic bishops there condemned the effort as contrary to Catholic teachings and of little help against HIV/AIDS. Bishops and priests in the country, which is up to 80 percent Catholic, advocate abstinence and monogamy in marriage as the most effective way to prevent STDs.
"The correct and consistent use of good quality condoms confers a level of protection as high as 85 to 95 percent against HIV transmission," Soe said. "Male and female condoms, when properly kept, stored, handled, and used, are the only scientifically proven barrier products currently available against HIV and other [STDs]."
"The number of newly reported HIV infections increased from one infection every three days in 2000, to one infection per day in 2007 and two infections per day in 2009," WHO said.
"Countries that have implemented robust 100 percent condom-use programs have been able to contain their fast-growing HIV epidemics first, and reverse the trend within a relatively short period of time," Soe said. He cited the experiences of Cambodia and Thailand as proof that condom use helps prevent infections.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
When the Philippines Department of Health distributed free condoms ahead of Valentine's Day, Roman Catholic bishops there condemned the effort as contrary to Catholic teachings and of little help against HIV/AIDS. Bishops and priests in the country, which is up to 80 percent Catholic, advocate abstinence and monogamy in marriage as the most effective way to prevent STDs.
"The correct and consistent use of good quality condoms confers a level of protection as high as 85 to 95 percent against HIV transmission," Soe said. "Male and female condoms, when properly kept, stored, handled, and used, are the only scientifically proven barrier products currently available against HIV and other [STDs]."
"The number of newly reported HIV infections increased from one infection every three days in 2000, to one infection per day in 2007 and two infections per day in 2009," WHO said.
"Countries that have implemented robust 100 percent condom-use programs have been able to contain their fast-growing HIV epidemics first, and reverse the trend within a relatively short period of time," Soe said. He cited the experiences of Cambodia and Thailand as proof that condom use helps prevent infections.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
'Get Tested' Is Advice as AIDS Infection Rate Rises in Duval
A rise in HIV infection rates among gay men has Jacksonville health officials and social services agencies redoubling prevention efforts aimed at this group. Their message: Get tested, and if you're infected, change your behavior.
The Duval County Health Department is planning an in-depth study to assess just how much faster new HIV cases are increasing among gay men. Since reporting began, more than 8,600 county residents have been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. Of the county's 2,360 HIV cases, more than half have been ages 20 to 40, and nearly 40 percent were men who have sex with men (MSM).
The Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network, which supports gay, bisexual, and transgender youths, says it is trying to reach young black MSM before they become part of a frightening statistic: At least one in every 13 is HIV-positive, according to the Florida Department of Health. As part of that effort, JASMYN is seeking opinion leaders to conduct peer-to-peer HIV prevention training.
JASMYN Executive Director Cindy Watson said many gay youths have been kicked out of their homes, ostracized, and rejected by loved ones. "When you get that message, you might feel like you don't have anything to lose," she said. "I'm bad already. I'm going to be as bad as I can be" is often the mindset, she noted.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
The Duval County Health Department is planning an in-depth study to assess just how much faster new HIV cases are increasing among gay men. Since reporting began, more than 8,600 county residents have been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. Of the county's 2,360 HIV cases, more than half have been ages 20 to 40, and nearly 40 percent were men who have sex with men (MSM).
The Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network, which supports gay, bisexual, and transgender youths, says it is trying to reach young black MSM before they become part of a frightening statistic: At least one in every 13 is HIV-positive, according to the Florida Department of Health. As part of that effort, JASMYN is seeking opinion leaders to conduct peer-to-peer HIV prevention training.
JASMYN Executive Director Cindy Watson said many gay youths have been kicked out of their homes, ostracized, and rejected by loved ones. "When you get that message, you might feel like you don't have anything to lose," she said. "I'm bad already. I'm going to be as bad as I can be" is often the mindset, she noted.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Sexual Problems More Common Among HIV-Positive Women
Women living with HIV are significantly more likely to experience sexual problems compared with those not living with the virus, according to new results from the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) published online ahead of print by the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS).
Research on the topic of women's sexual behavior, as it relates to HIV infection, has primarily focused on the biological and behavioral factors connected with transmission of the virus. While there's no doubting the importance of research analyzing HIV transmission dynamics among women, notably condom use and determinants of sexual risk behavior, other aspects of sexual health, including satisfaction with sexual relationships, have largely been ignored.
Sexual function problems are common among women and include pain and difficulties or limitations in sexual interest, desire, arousal and orgasm during sexual activity. Data from the 1992 National Health and Social Life Survey, the most recent nationally representative study on sexuality among younger adults in the United States, suggest that 40 percent of sexually active women ages 18 to 59 report symptoms indicative of sexual problems over a 12-month period.
There is reason to believe that sexual problems occur even more frequently among HIV-positive women than HIV-negative women. Chronic health conditions and diseases such as diabetes, cancer, vascular disease, arthritis and hypertension have all been associated with impaired sexual functioning, as are certain drugs used to treat these conditions. Yet the study of sexual dysfunction among women living with HIV—a stigmatizing infectious disease that is frequently accompanied by shame, fear and misperceptions—has been limited, at best.
Data on sexual functioning was collected as part of the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), an ongoing cohort of HIV infection among women in the United States. More than 1,800 HIV-positive and HIV-negative women completed a study visit that included taking a brief questionnaire called the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), which was developed to assess sexual functioning in clinical trials.
Women with HIV reported greater sexual problems compared with women not infected with HIV, Tracey Wilson, PhD, of Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, and her WIHS colleagues report. Whereas the average FSFI score was 18 among the HIV-negative women, it was 13.8 among women living with HIV. This difference was highly statistically significant, meaning that it was too large to have occurred by chance. (Click here to learn more about the FSFI questionnaire and its scoring.)
As would be expected from past research on sexual functioning, WIHS participants—both HIV positive and HIV negative—also reported lower sexual function if they were classified as menopausal, had symptoms indicative of depression, if they reported not being in a relationship or were taking medications for mental health problems, seizures, hypertension or heart disease. However, including these factors did not mitigate the influence of HIV infection on impaired sexual function scores.
CD4 counts were also associated with Female Sexual Function Index scores. For example, women with CD4 counts of 199 cells or lower were more likely to report lower sexual functioning compared with those whose cell count was 200 or higher.
Wilson's group noted a high degree of intentional abstinence in the study—about 23 percent of the HIV-negative women and 35 percent of the HIV-positive women hadn't engaged in any vaginal, anal or oral sex since their previous WIHS study visit six months earlier. This finding raises key questions about the true nature of sexual problems among HIV-positive women and, as Wilson's group suggested, should be studied further to better understand sexual function measures in the context of infectious diseases.
Limitations in the data also prevented Wilson's group from concluding, with certainty, that sexual difficulties affected women's quality of life. "However," the researchers wrote, "there seems to be a strong correlation between impaired sexual function and both emotional and physical satisfaction in relationship with indices of general life satisfaction and happiness."
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Research on the topic of women's sexual behavior, as it relates to HIV infection, has primarily focused on the biological and behavioral factors connected with transmission of the virus. While there's no doubting the importance of research analyzing HIV transmission dynamics among women, notably condom use and determinants of sexual risk behavior, other aspects of sexual health, including satisfaction with sexual relationships, have largely been ignored.
Sexual function problems are common among women and include pain and difficulties or limitations in sexual interest, desire, arousal and orgasm during sexual activity. Data from the 1992 National Health and Social Life Survey, the most recent nationally representative study on sexuality among younger adults in the United States, suggest that 40 percent of sexually active women ages 18 to 59 report symptoms indicative of sexual problems over a 12-month period.
There is reason to believe that sexual problems occur even more frequently among HIV-positive women than HIV-negative women. Chronic health conditions and diseases such as diabetes, cancer, vascular disease, arthritis and hypertension have all been associated with impaired sexual functioning, as are certain drugs used to treat these conditions. Yet the study of sexual dysfunction among women living with HIV—a stigmatizing infectious disease that is frequently accompanied by shame, fear and misperceptions—has been limited, at best.
Data on sexual functioning was collected as part of the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), an ongoing cohort of HIV infection among women in the United States. More than 1,800 HIV-positive and HIV-negative women completed a study visit that included taking a brief questionnaire called the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), which was developed to assess sexual functioning in clinical trials.
Women with HIV reported greater sexual problems compared with women not infected with HIV, Tracey Wilson, PhD, of Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, and her WIHS colleagues report. Whereas the average FSFI score was 18 among the HIV-negative women, it was 13.8 among women living with HIV. This difference was highly statistically significant, meaning that it was too large to have occurred by chance. (Click here to learn more about the FSFI questionnaire and its scoring.)
As would be expected from past research on sexual functioning, WIHS participants—both HIV positive and HIV negative—also reported lower sexual function if they were classified as menopausal, had symptoms indicative of depression, if they reported not being in a relationship or were taking medications for mental health problems, seizures, hypertension or heart disease. However, including these factors did not mitigate the influence of HIV infection on impaired sexual function scores.
CD4 counts were also associated with Female Sexual Function Index scores. For example, women with CD4 counts of 199 cells or lower were more likely to report lower sexual functioning compared with those whose cell count was 200 or higher.
Wilson's group noted a high degree of intentional abstinence in the study—about 23 percent of the HIV-negative women and 35 percent of the HIV-positive women hadn't engaged in any vaginal, anal or oral sex since their previous WIHS study visit six months earlier. This finding raises key questions about the true nature of sexual problems among HIV-positive women and, as Wilson's group suggested, should be studied further to better understand sexual function measures in the context of infectious diseases.
Limitations in the data also prevented Wilson's group from concluding, with certainty, that sexual difficulties affected women's quality of life. "However," the researchers wrote, "there seems to be a strong correlation between impaired sexual function and both emotional and physical satisfaction in relationship with indices of general life satisfaction and happiness."
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Acne Drug Prevents HIV Breakout
Johns Hopkins scientists have found that a safe and inexpensive antibiotic in use since the 1970s for treating acne effectively targets infected immune cells in which HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, lies dormant and prevents them from reactivating and replicating.
The drug, minocycline, likely will improve on the current treatment regimens of HIV-infected patients if used in combination with a standard drug cocktail known as HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy), according to research published now online and appearing in print April 15 in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. “The powerful advantage to using minocycline is that the virus appears less able to develop drug resistance because minocycline targets cellular pathways not viral proteins,” says Janice Clements, Ph.D., Mary Wallace Stanton Professor of Faculty Affairs, vice dean for faculty, and professor of molecular and comparative pathobiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
“The big challenge clinicians deal with now in this country when treating HIV patients is keeping the virus locked in a dormant state,” Clements adds. “While HAART is really effective in keeping down active replication, minocycline is another arm of defense against the virus.”
Unlike the drugs used in HAART which target the virus, minocycline homes in on, and adjusts T cells, major immune system agents and targets of HIV infection. According to Clements, minocycline reduces the ability of T cells to activate and proliferate, both steps crucial to HIV production and progression toward full blown AIDS.
If taken daily for life, HAART usually can protect people from becoming ill, but it’s not a cure. The HIV virus is kept at a low level but isn’t ever entirely purged; it stays quietly hidden in some immune cells. If a person stops HAART or misses a dose, the virus can reactivate out of those immune cells and begin to spread.
The idea for using minocycline as an adjunct to HAART resulted when the Hopkins team learned of research by others on rheumatoid arthritis patients showing the anti-inflammatory effects of minocycline on T cells. The Hopkins group connected the dots between that study with previous research of their own showing that minocycline treatment had multiple beneficial effects in monkeys infected with SIV, the primate version of HIV. In monkeys treated with minocycline, the virus load in the cerebrospinal fluid, the viral RNA in the brain and the severity of central nervous system disease were significantly decreased. The drug was also shown to affect T cell activation and proliferation.
“Since minocycline reduced T cell activation, you might think it would have impaired the immune systems in the macaques, which are very similar to humans, but we didn’t see any deleterious effect,” says Gregory Szeto, a graduate student in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine working in the Retrovirus Laboratory at Hopkins.
“This drug strikes a good balance and is ideal for HIV because it targets very specific aspects of immune activation.”
The success with the animal model prompted the team to study in test tubes whether minocycline treatment affected latency in human T cells infected with HIV. Using cells from HIV-infected humans on HAART, the team isolated the “resting” immune cells and treated half of them with minocycline. Then they counted how many virus particles were reactivated, finding completely undetectable levels in the treated cells versus detectable levels in the untreated cells.
“Minocycline reduces the capability of the virus to emerge from resting infected T cells,” Szeto explains. “It prevents the virus from escaping in the one in a million cells in which it lays dormant in a person on HAART, and since it prevents virus activation it should maintain the level of viral latency or even lower it. That’s the goal: Sustaining a latent non-infectious state.”
The team used molecular markers to discover that minocycline very selectively interrupts certain specific signaling pathways critical for T cell activation. However, the antibiotic doesn’t completely obliterate T cells or diminish their ability to respond to other infections or diseases, which is crucial for individuals with HIV.
“HIV requires T cell activation for efficient replication and reactivation of latent virus,” Clement says, “so our new understanding about minocyline’s effects on a T cell could help us to find even more drugs that target its signaling pathways.”
The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.
Authors of the paper, in addition to Clements and Szeto, are Angela K. Brice, Sheila A. Barber and Robert F. Siliciano, all of Johns Hopkins. Also, Hung-Chih Yang of National Taiwan University Hospital.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
The drug, minocycline, likely will improve on the current treatment regimens of HIV-infected patients if used in combination with a standard drug cocktail known as HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy), according to research published now online and appearing in print April 15 in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. “The powerful advantage to using minocycline is that the virus appears less able to develop drug resistance because minocycline targets cellular pathways not viral proteins,” says Janice Clements, Ph.D., Mary Wallace Stanton Professor of Faculty Affairs, vice dean for faculty, and professor of molecular and comparative pathobiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
“The big challenge clinicians deal with now in this country when treating HIV patients is keeping the virus locked in a dormant state,” Clements adds. “While HAART is really effective in keeping down active replication, minocycline is another arm of defense against the virus.”
Unlike the drugs used in HAART which target the virus, minocycline homes in on, and adjusts T cells, major immune system agents and targets of HIV infection. According to Clements, minocycline reduces the ability of T cells to activate and proliferate, both steps crucial to HIV production and progression toward full blown AIDS.
If taken daily for life, HAART usually can protect people from becoming ill, but it’s not a cure. The HIV virus is kept at a low level but isn’t ever entirely purged; it stays quietly hidden in some immune cells. If a person stops HAART or misses a dose, the virus can reactivate out of those immune cells and begin to spread.
The idea for using minocycline as an adjunct to HAART resulted when the Hopkins team learned of research by others on rheumatoid arthritis patients showing the anti-inflammatory effects of minocycline on T cells. The Hopkins group connected the dots between that study with previous research of their own showing that minocycline treatment had multiple beneficial effects in monkeys infected with SIV, the primate version of HIV. In monkeys treated with minocycline, the virus load in the cerebrospinal fluid, the viral RNA in the brain and the severity of central nervous system disease were significantly decreased. The drug was also shown to affect T cell activation and proliferation.
“Since minocycline reduced T cell activation, you might think it would have impaired the immune systems in the macaques, which are very similar to humans, but we didn’t see any deleterious effect,” says Gregory Szeto, a graduate student in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine working in the Retrovirus Laboratory at Hopkins.
“This drug strikes a good balance and is ideal for HIV because it targets very specific aspects of immune activation.”
The success with the animal model prompted the team to study in test tubes whether minocycline treatment affected latency in human T cells infected with HIV. Using cells from HIV-infected humans on HAART, the team isolated the “resting” immune cells and treated half of them with minocycline. Then they counted how many virus particles were reactivated, finding completely undetectable levels in the treated cells versus detectable levels in the untreated cells.
“Minocycline reduces the capability of the virus to emerge from resting infected T cells,” Szeto explains. “It prevents the virus from escaping in the one in a million cells in which it lays dormant in a person on HAART, and since it prevents virus activation it should maintain the level of viral latency or even lower it. That’s the goal: Sustaining a latent non-infectious state.”
The team used molecular markers to discover that minocycline very selectively interrupts certain specific signaling pathways critical for T cell activation. However, the antibiotic doesn’t completely obliterate T cells or diminish their ability to respond to other infections or diseases, which is crucial for individuals with HIV.
“HIV requires T cell activation for efficient replication and reactivation of latent virus,” Clement says, “so our new understanding about minocyline’s effects on a T cell could help us to find even more drugs that target its signaling pathways.”
The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.
Authors of the paper, in addition to Clements and Szeto, are Angela K. Brice, Sheila A. Barber and Robert F. Siliciano, all of Johns Hopkins. Also, Hung-Chih Yang of National Taiwan University Hospital.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Chemical in Bananas May Prevent and Treat HIV
A chemical in bananas has been found to inhibit HIV, according to research findings from a University of Michigan Medical School published in the March 19 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. According to the study authors, this may lead to the development of inexpensive microbicides to prevent HIV transmission and, quite possibly, novel compounds to treat the disease.
Mannose-specific lectins—naturally occurring chemicals in plants that bind to sugars on the surface of disease-causing microorganisms such as viruses—have been of interest to researchers, given their ability to halt the chain of reaction that leads to a variety of infections.
The test tube studies conducted by Michael Swanson, a doctoral student at the University of Michigan, and his colleagues, indicate that a lectin isolated from the common banana binds to the sugar-rich HIV envelop protein gp120. Not only may this prove useful in the development of vaginal and rectal microbicides to prevent HIV transmission, Swanson and his fellow authors speculate, but the HIV-inhibiting lectin—dubbed BanLec—may also have therapeutic potential.
The University of Michigan team discovered that BanLec is similar in potency to Fuzeon (enfuvirtide) and Selzentry (maraviroc), two U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved fusion/entry inhibitors. Swanson’s group argues, however, that BanLec could be cheaper to create than current antiretrovirals, which use synthetically produced components.
BanLec may also provide a wide range of preventive and therapeutic protection against drug-resistant virus. “The problem with some HIV drugs is that the virus can mutate and become resistant, but that’s much harder to do in the presence of lectins,” Swanson said. “Lectins can bind to the sugars found on different spots of the HIV envelope, and presumably it will take multiple mutations for the virus to get around them.”
Swanson pointed out that the clinical use of BanLec is years away. But he is currently developing a process to molecularly alter BanLec to enhance its potential clinical utility.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Mannose-specific lectins—naturally occurring chemicals in plants that bind to sugars on the surface of disease-causing microorganisms such as viruses—have been of interest to researchers, given their ability to halt the chain of reaction that leads to a variety of infections.
The test tube studies conducted by Michael Swanson, a doctoral student at the University of Michigan, and his colleagues, indicate that a lectin isolated from the common banana binds to the sugar-rich HIV envelop protein gp120. Not only may this prove useful in the development of vaginal and rectal microbicides to prevent HIV transmission, Swanson and his fellow authors speculate, but the HIV-inhibiting lectin—dubbed BanLec—may also have therapeutic potential.
The University of Michigan team discovered that BanLec is similar in potency to Fuzeon (enfuvirtide) and Selzentry (maraviroc), two U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved fusion/entry inhibitors. Swanson’s group argues, however, that BanLec could be cheaper to create than current antiretrovirals, which use synthetically produced components.
BanLec may also provide a wide range of preventive and therapeutic protection against drug-resistant virus. “The problem with some HIV drugs is that the virus can mutate and become resistant, but that’s much harder to do in the presence of lectins,” Swanson said. “Lectins can bind to the sugars found on different spots of the HIV envelope, and presumably it will take multiple mutations for the virus to get around them.”
Swanson pointed out that the clinical use of BanLec is years away. But he is currently developing a process to molecularly alter BanLec to enhance its potential clinical utility.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Insurance Company Allegedly Targeted HIV-Positive People and Dropped Coverage
Last September, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld a verdict against the Fortis Insurance company for revoking South Carolinian Jerome Mitchell health coverage after he tested HIV positive. The case, Reuters reports, has helped expose a Fortis—now Assurant Health—policy of targeting policyholders living with HIV and dropping their coverage.
According to the article, previously undisclosed records from Mitchell’s case reveal that a computer program and algorithm tagged policyholders recently diagnosed with HIV for an automatic fraud investigation, and the company allegedly dropped coverage once it discovered any pretext to revoke the policies.
While insurance providers have often investigated policyholders shortly after they’ve been diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses, government regulators and investigators say singling out HIV-positive people is unprecedented.
An unnamed federal investigator told Reuters that the reason behind singling out HIV-positive people is relatively high cost of care.
“We are talking a lifetime of therapy, a lifetime of care…a lot of bills. Nowadays someone with HIV can live a normal life for decades. This was about money.”
In Mitchell’s case, the company dropped coverage because a nurse wrote down the wrong year of his HIV test. While Mitchell tested positive in 2002, the nurse erroneously wrote his diagnosis year as 2001—at one day before his application for insurance. After Fortis revoked his policy, Mitchell hired an attorney to help correct the problem and have his policy reinstated. The company reportedly ignored the attorney’s letters, prompting Mitchell to sue the company for $15 million. Last fall, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Assurant Health must pay Mitchell $10 million in damages.
While the company has said it does not comment on individual customer claims, it issued a statement on Mitchell’s case:
“We disagree with certain of the court’s characterizations of Assurant Health’s policies and procedures in the Mitchell case,” Assurant Health said in a statement. “The case continues to progress through the appellate process.”
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
According to the article, previously undisclosed records from Mitchell’s case reveal that a computer program and algorithm tagged policyholders recently diagnosed with HIV for an automatic fraud investigation, and the company allegedly dropped coverage once it discovered any pretext to revoke the policies.
While insurance providers have often investigated policyholders shortly after they’ve been diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses, government regulators and investigators say singling out HIV-positive people is unprecedented.
An unnamed federal investigator told Reuters that the reason behind singling out HIV-positive people is relatively high cost of care.
“We are talking a lifetime of therapy, a lifetime of care…a lot of bills. Nowadays someone with HIV can live a normal life for decades. This was about money.”
In Mitchell’s case, the company dropped coverage because a nurse wrote down the wrong year of his HIV test. While Mitchell tested positive in 2002, the nurse erroneously wrote his diagnosis year as 2001—at one day before his application for insurance. After Fortis revoked his policy, Mitchell hired an attorney to help correct the problem and have his policy reinstated. The company reportedly ignored the attorney’s letters, prompting Mitchell to sue the company for $15 million. Last fall, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Assurant Health must pay Mitchell $10 million in damages.
While the company has said it does not comment on individual customer claims, it issued a statement on Mitchell’s case:
“We disagree with certain of the court’s characterizations of Assurant Health’s policies and procedures in the Mitchell case,” Assurant Health said in a statement. “The case continues to progress through the appellate process.”
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Air Force Vet Denied Baggage Screening Job Because He Has HIV
This week the ACLU filed an appeal to the decision by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to disqualify Air Force Veteran Michael Lamarre from a baggage screening job because he has HIV.
After living with HIV for 19 years, Michael's viral load is nearly undetectable and he has never had any of the medical conditions associated with AIDS. To stay in shape, Michael bikes 30-70 miles every weekend, and last November he completed a 165 mile bike ride for charity. Even with a letter from his physician, stating unequivocally that Michael's HIV would not interfere with his job performance, Michael was disqualified for the job by the TSA because of his HIV status.
In June, the ACLU filed an initial complaint on Michael's behalf charging that the TSA was violating its own policy barring discrimination against people with disabilities. The TSA responded in July, claiming it was justified in refusing Michael a job as a baggage handler in order to protect his health because his lowered immune system made him vulnerable to infectious diseases at the airport. After TSA denied Michael's initial complaint, the ACLU filed a formal complaint with the TSA this week explaining to the agency that its reasons for refusing to hire Michael are based on incorrect assumptions about the health risks of people with HIV.
For information on this case and the ACLU's HIV/AIDS advocacy work, visit: http://www.aclu.org/hiv/discrim/39827res20090611.html
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
After living with HIV for 19 years, Michael's viral load is nearly undetectable and he has never had any of the medical conditions associated with AIDS. To stay in shape, Michael bikes 30-70 miles every weekend, and last November he completed a 165 mile bike ride for charity. Even with a letter from his physician, stating unequivocally that Michael's HIV would not interfere with his job performance, Michael was disqualified for the job by the TSA because of his HIV status.
In June, the ACLU filed an initial complaint on Michael's behalf charging that the TSA was violating its own policy barring discrimination against people with disabilities. The TSA responded in July, claiming it was justified in refusing Michael a job as a baggage handler in order to protect his health because his lowered immune system made him vulnerable to infectious diseases at the airport. After TSA denied Michael's initial complaint, the ACLU filed a formal complaint with the TSA this week explaining to the agency that its reasons for refusing to hire Michael are based on incorrect assumptions about the health risks of people with HIV.
For information on this case and the ACLU's HIV/AIDS advocacy work, visit: http://www.aclu.org/hiv/discrim/39827res20090611.html
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
FDA Is Easing Way for Drug Cocktails
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is drafting guidelines for a new approval process governing multidrug therapies for life-threatening diseases. The regulations would pertain to diseases for which good treatments do not exist, as well to those for which drug combinations are believed to be necessary. New TB treatments could get a boost from the revised rules.
FDA traditionally has required each new drug to be tested and approved individually. Combination regimes would have to build from that initial work. Under the new system, FDA could for the first time approve drug cocktails whose individual components are all new. The draft rules could be published by this summer. FDA would then solicit public feedback and finalize the guidelines.
A regimen of wholly new TB drugs could help cure even patients whose strain is resistant to every current therapy, experts say. About a third of TB patients globally are infected with strains resistant to at least one first-line treatment. Multidrug-resistant TB strains take two years to treat, have a lower cure rate, and the drugs can cause severe side effects.
At least nine experimental TB drugs are in early-stage human trials, potentially opening a historic opportunity to mix and match the agents and create the best regimens, said Peter Small, head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's TB efforts.
The foundation's "Critical Path to TB Regimens" collaboration, a group of 10 drug companies and several nonprofit organizations convened to develop TB drugs, could benefit from the new system. CPTR partners are set to agree to data sharing and testing new combination treatments early in the drug development process.
Helping launch CPTR were the nonprofit Global Alliance for TB Drug Development and the Critical Path Institute, an FDA-University of Arizona partnership to develop new methods of evaluating drugs. In the past year, FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg has twice met with the foundation, which has asked for her commitment to testing multidrug TB treatments.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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FDA traditionally has required each new drug to be tested and approved individually. Combination regimes would have to build from that initial work. Under the new system, FDA could for the first time approve drug cocktails whose individual components are all new. The draft rules could be published by this summer. FDA would then solicit public feedback and finalize the guidelines.
A regimen of wholly new TB drugs could help cure even patients whose strain is resistant to every current therapy, experts say. About a third of TB patients globally are infected with strains resistant to at least one first-line treatment. Multidrug-resistant TB strains take two years to treat, have a lower cure rate, and the drugs can cause severe side effects.
At least nine experimental TB drugs are in early-stage human trials, potentially opening a historic opportunity to mix and match the agents and create the best regimens, said Peter Small, head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's TB efforts.
The foundation's "Critical Path to TB Regimens" collaboration, a group of 10 drug companies and several nonprofit organizations convened to develop TB drugs, could benefit from the new system. CPTR partners are set to agree to data sharing and testing new combination treatments early in the drug development process.
Helping launch CPTR were the nonprofit Global Alliance for TB Drug Development and the Critical Path Institute, an FDA-University of Arizona partnership to develop new methods of evaluating drugs. In the past year, FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg has twice met with the foundation, which has asked for her commitment to testing multidrug TB treatments.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Gates-Linked Vaccine Group Wants $4.3 Billion
The vaccine advocacy group GAVI Alliance said Thursday that it needs $4.3 billion in new funding to boost global childhood immunization campaigns. Specifically, the group is targeting illnesses like hepatitis B, diarrhea, and pneumonia in the developing world. If governments and donors come up with the money by 2015, the resulting effort could save 4.2 million lives, GAVI said. GAVI was launched a decade ago as a partner to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Two months ago, the pair pledged to donate $10 billion over the next decade to bring vaccines to poor nations.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Regulating the Porn Industry
In a unanimous vote Thursday, the six-member standards board of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health decided to create an advisory panel to consider doing more to regulate the state's pornography industry, including requiring condom use and STD tests.
The vote came in response to a petition filed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Since 2004, when an HIV outbreak rocked the industry, AHF has been advocating for increased protections for porn performers. Its president, Michael Weinstein, called the board's decision a "big step forward."
The board should mandate condom use and require the industry to pay for performers' STD tests, testified Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, director of communicable disease control and prevention for the Los Angeles County Department of Health. As many as one-quarter of porn actors are diagnosed with an STD in any given year, he said, and rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia are seven times higher among adult-film performers than among the general population.
Board member Jonathan Frisch, who is principal risk manager at PG&E Corp., acknowledged that some people are uncomfortable with the topic of pornography but said it is "extremely interesting to hear from members of the industry. It's going to be very, very important that we do have them at the table."
Former porn actor Darren James, who tested HIV-positive during the 2004 outbreak, said the industry's current STD testing policy creates a false "security blanket." "You think you're safe, but you're not," he said.
Countering James' opinion was Angelina Armani, who said she had appeared in many adult films in the past two years, undergone regular testing, and never contracted a disease.
The Free Speech Coalition, an adult-entertainment trade group, will support the new panel provided it includes industry representation, said Diane Duke, its executive director.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
The vote came in response to a petition filed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Since 2004, when an HIV outbreak rocked the industry, AHF has been advocating for increased protections for porn performers. Its president, Michael Weinstein, called the board's decision a "big step forward."
The board should mandate condom use and require the industry to pay for performers' STD tests, testified Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, director of communicable disease control and prevention for the Los Angeles County Department of Health. As many as one-quarter of porn actors are diagnosed with an STD in any given year, he said, and rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia are seven times higher among adult-film performers than among the general population.
Board member Jonathan Frisch, who is principal risk manager at PG&E Corp., acknowledged that some people are uncomfortable with the topic of pornography but said it is "extremely interesting to hear from members of the industry. It's going to be very, very important that we do have them at the table."
Former porn actor Darren James, who tested HIV-positive during the 2004 outbreak, said the industry's current STD testing policy creates a false "security blanket." "You think you're safe, but you're not," he said.
Countering James' opinion was Angelina Armani, who said she had appeared in many adult films in the past two years, undergone regular testing, and never contracted a disease.
The Free Speech Coalition, an adult-entertainment trade group, will support the new panel provided it includes industry representation, said Diane Duke, its executive director.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Bill Clinton, Bill Gates Unite in Foreign Aid Plea
In Washington on Wednesday, former President Bill Clinton and Microsoft founder Bill Gates called on lawmakers to support a budget bill that would direct funds to the Global Health Initiative. GHI was launched by the Davos Forum in 2002 to improve health worldwide and combat HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, and malnutrition.
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Clinton called the bill "the next logical step" in US efforts to boost global health. If approved, the bill would provide $63 billion over six years toward the initiative. Clinton said the proposed contribution was carefully designed for maximum impact. "I think the bill is well-conceived. It focuses on developing systems in the 28-plus [GHI] countries," he said.
"The thing I love best about the [GHI] proposal that the administration has made is that it is designed to work us all out of jobs," Clinton told lawmakers. Both the William J. Clinton Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been heavily involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. "It is designed to break the cycle of AIDS. It is designed to increase the capacity of local government."
Both Clinton and Gates acknowledged the current harsh economic climate. The proposed US contribution "reflects the budget constraints under which Congress labors," said Clinton.
Gates emphasized the amount requested is a tiny percentage of the US budget. "Our [global] health budget would be 1 percent of our military budget," he noted. "I would argue for an even higher percentage, because this is America at its best. Really helping people and putting them on a road to self-sufficiency."
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Clinton called the bill "the next logical step" in US efforts to boost global health. If approved, the bill would provide $63 billion over six years toward the initiative. Clinton said the proposed contribution was carefully designed for maximum impact. "I think the bill is well-conceived. It focuses on developing systems in the 28-plus [GHI] countries," he said.
"The thing I love best about the [GHI] proposal that the administration has made is that it is designed to work us all out of jobs," Clinton told lawmakers. Both the William J. Clinton Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been heavily involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. "It is designed to break the cycle of AIDS. It is designed to increase the capacity of local government."
Both Clinton and Gates acknowledged the current harsh economic climate. The proposed US contribution "reflects the budget constraints under which Congress labors," said Clinton.
Gates emphasized the amount requested is a tiny percentage of the US budget. "Our [global] health budget would be 1 percent of our military budget," he noted. "I would argue for an even higher percentage, because this is America at its best. Really helping people and putting them on a road to self-sufficiency."
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
Britain Sends 42 Million Condoms as HIV Prevention Campaign Is Stepped Up Before World Cup
On Tuesday, Britain's Department for International Development (DfID) announced £1 million (US $1.5 million) in aid to provide South Africa 42 million condoms. South African officials recently requested help in distributing additional condoms during World Cup, which the nation will host in three months.
About 500,000 fans are expected to visit South Africa during the month-long event. In addition, 40,000 sex workers are expected to arrive, according to South Africa's Central Drug Authority. With the massive influx of visitors and high HIV prevalence in South Africa and neighboring countries, officials are concerned over the potential for new infections.
"Obviously, there's a big focus on the World Cup coming up and a huge increase in the number of people coming to South Africa," said Gareth Thomas, DfID's minister. "The South Africans have identified themselves the need to get more condoms in place. South Africa specifically asked for British assistance and we are responding to that request."
The number of condoms distributed annually in South Africa - about 450 million - is inadequate, given that the nation is home to 16 million sexually active males and has the world's highest HIV/AIDS caseload.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
About 500,000 fans are expected to visit South Africa during the month-long event. In addition, 40,000 sex workers are expected to arrive, according to South Africa's Central Drug Authority. With the massive influx of visitors and high HIV prevalence in South Africa and neighboring countries, officials are concerned over the potential for new infections.
"Obviously, there's a big focus on the World Cup coming up and a huge increase in the number of people coming to South Africa," said Gareth Thomas, DfID's minister. "The South Africans have identified themselves the need to get more condoms in place. South Africa specifically asked for British assistance and we are responding to that request."
The number of condoms distributed annually in South Africa - about 450 million - is inadequate, given that the nation is home to 16 million sexually active males and has the world's highest HIV/AIDS caseload.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
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