HIV/AIDS News and Research RSS Feed - HIV/AIDS News and Research Twitter

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

This condition progressively reduces the effectiveness of the immune system and leaves individuals susceptible to opportunistic infections and tumors. HIV is transmitted through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid containing HIV, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid, and breast milk.
Blog examines independent evaluation of PMI

Blog examines independent evaluation of PMI

While the giant PEPFAR program to fight HIV/AIDS in developing countries gets a lot of attention in U.S. foreign policy discussions, a lesser known initiative to address malaria is achieving sustained, impressive results. [More]
Three steps to eliminating NTDs

Three steps to eliminating NTDs

In a post on the PLoS "Speaking of Medicine" blog, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) editor-in-chief Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, reviews progress being made toward the elimination of NTDs through mass drug administration and other efforts. [More]

Fighting schistosomiasis would help reduce HIV incidence, researchers say

"The transmission of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa could be slashed if efforts are made to combat the spread of the waterborne disease schistosomiasis by providing clean water, sanitation and health education, a study reports," SciDev.Net writes. [More]

LINCC Initiative to provide charitable contribution to 16 organizations to support individuals with HIV/AIDS

Janssen Therapeutics, Division of Janssen Products, LP, today announced the 16 organizations that will receive a charitable contribution from its Linking In-Need Communities to Care Initiative. [More]
Supreme Court justices hear arguments in case challenging anti-prostitution pledge

Supreme Court justices hear arguments in case challenging anti-prostitution pledge

"Supreme Court justices appeared divided on Monday as they considered a challenge to a law requiring non-profit organizations to adopt an anti-prostitution policy in order to obtain federal funding for HIV/AIDS programs abroad," Reuters reports (Hurley, 4/22). [More]
Editorial, opinion piece respond to Supreme Court case challenging anti-prostitution pledge

Editorial, opinion piece respond to Supreme Court case challenging anti-prostitution pledge

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard a case -- AOSI v. USAID -- challenging a 2003 federal statute that requires non-profit organizations to adopt an "anti-prostitution policy" in order to receive federal funding for HIV/AIDS programs abroad, on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment. [More]
First Edition: April 23, 2013

First Edition: April 23, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about immigrant patients' health care as well as the coverage limits that some victims of the Boston Marathon bombings might face. [More]

U.S. Supreme Court to hear oral arguments to decide fate of anti-prostitution pledge

"On Monday, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case that will decide if recipients of government aid can be forced to oppose prostitution -- or potentially any other issue as a contingency of receiving U.S. funds," The Nation reports. [More]
Highly active ART does not appear to impair heart function, study suggests

Highly active ART does not appear to impair heart function, study suggests

Long-term use of highly active antiretroviral therapies does not appear to be associated with impaired heart function in children and adolescents in a study that sought to determine the cardiac effects of prolonged exposure to HAART on children infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication. [More]

State Department hosts online discussions on foreign aid, HIV/AIDS

Richard Buangan, director of digital engagement at the U.S. State Department, notes in the agency's "DipNote" blog that Secretary of State John Kerry will participate in a Google+ hangout on Friday, April 19, at 1:15 pm EDT. [More]
Study: Primary medication nonadherence can lead to increased risk of bone fractures

Study: Primary medication nonadherence can lead to increased risk of bone fractures

Nearly 30 percent of women failed to pick up their bisphosphonate prescriptions, a medication that is most commonly used to treat osteoporosis and similar bone diseases, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published this week in the journal Osteoporosis International. [More]
SCCA pioneers new transplant procedures to reduce need for matching bone marrow donors

SCCA pioneers new transplant procedures to reduce need for matching bone marrow donors

Patients from ethnic minority and mixed-racial backgrounds are less likely to receive a lifesaving bone marrow transplant than Caucasian patients with the same disease due to lack of matching donors, according to the National Marrow Donor Program. [More]
Study shows association between physical activity, reduced mortality among breast cancer survivors

Study shows association between physical activity, reduced mortality among breast cancer survivors

Breast cancer survivors are among the women who could most benefit from regular physical activity, yet few meet national exercise recommendations during the 10 years after being diagnosed, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. [More]
Tacere Therapeutics submits TT-034 clinical trial application to Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee

Tacere Therapeutics submits TT-034 clinical trial application to Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee

RNAi-based therapeutics company Benitec Biopharma Limited today announced that the company's wholly owned US subsidiary, Tacere Therapeutics Inc., has submitted an application to the US National Institutes of Health's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. [More]
Global Fund has achieved impressive results, but more work remains

Global Fund has achieved impressive results, but more work remains

"This week I had the pleasure to host a preparatory meeting between donors of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria," European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog. [More]
Benitec to conduct phase I/II clinical trial of TT-034 in patients with HCV in UCSD site

Benitec to conduct phase I/II clinical trial of TT-034 in patients with HCV in UCSD site

RNAi-based therapeutics company Benitec Biopharma Limited today announced the selection of the University of California, San Diego, Health Sciences as the second site for its upcoming phase I/II first-in-man trial for TT-034 in Hepatitis C infections. [More]

Study shows mathematical models can help assess effectiveness of HIV intervention combinations

South Africa is home to the largest HIV epidemic in the world with a total of 5.6 million people living with HIV. Large-scale clinical trials evaluating combination methods of prevention and treatment are often prohibitively expensive and take years to complete. [More]

Malaria control strategies must adapt to rapidly changing patterns of infection

Malaria control strategies must keep up with the rapidly changing patterns of malaria infection in low transmission settings, according to the authors of a new Review, published in The Lancet. Whereas women and young children suffer from the greatest burden of malaria in high transmission areas, an increasing proportion of malaria cases in low transmission settings are occurring in adult men, sometimes concentrated in small geographic areas and sharing certain occupations or behaviours. [More]

Global Fund concludes 2-day conference in Brussels

In Brussels on Wednesday, "the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria concluded a two-day conference where it tried to make the case for the $15 billion it aims to raise in a replenishment meeting late 2013," Devex reports. [More]

Blogs, press releases respond to Obama administration's FY14 budget request

The Obama administration on Wednesday released its FY 2014 budget request, including funding for U.S. global health activities and proposed changes to the U.S. food aid program. [More]