HIV/AIDS News and Research

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

Study finds three-month TB treatment regimen just as effective as standard longer course

"Health officials on Monday celebrated a faster treatment for people who have tuberculosis but aren't infectious, after investigators found a new combination of pills knocks out the disease in three months instead of nine," the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports.

18 May 2011

Thirty years of AIDS

Thirty years ago next month, the CDC released the first report on a mysterious disease among gay men in Los Angeles. The AIDS epidemic had begun. It has since claimed the lives of an estimated 600,000 Americans and is currently ravaging Africa.

18 May 2011

Viewpoints: Gingrich fallout; Sebelius, Matsui on Medicare reform; physicians on their rights

The Republican Presidential campaign is off to a slow start, but judging by the last week not slow enough. First Mitt Romney defends his ObamaCare prototype in Massachusetts, and now Newt Gingrich has decided to run against House Republicans on Medicare. They must be loving this at the White House.

18 May 2011

New research demonstrates how geographic profiling can help combat infectious diseases

Every 30 seconds, infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis kill as many people as Jack the Ripper did in his entire career. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal International Journal of Health Geographics demonstrates how the mathematical model of geographic profiling, used in the hunt for serial killers, can help combat infectious diseases.

18 May 2011

Opinion: Study will unite HIV advocates, add funding pressure to Obama administration

In a post on Foreign Policy's "Passport" blog, assistant managing editor Elizabeth Dickinson looks at the potential ramifications of a recent study, which found that early antiretroviral treatment in HIV-positive people can prevent transmission by 96 percent.

18 May 2011

Bill Gates urges wiser vaccine coverage worldwide to save millions

Tuesday this week, Bill Gates called for strengthened immunization programs against infectious diseases to save 4 million lives by 2015 and 10 million lives by 2020, calling it the best possible investment in global health. He was addressing the annual assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, attended by health ministers from the U.N. agency's 193 member states.

17 May 2011

Uganda launches PEPFAR-supported mobile male circumcision clinic

U.S. Ambassador to Uganda Jerry Lanier on Friday in Kampala launched a Mobile Medical Male Circumcision clinic, a project of the PEPFAR-supported Makerere University Walter Reed Project, New Vision reports.

17 May 2011

Antiretrovirals important to protect HIV-positive children from measles

Scientific American looks at the possible link between HIV prevalence and a recent increase in the number of children dying from measles in sub-Saharan Africa. "Studies show that infants with HIV do not respond well to the measles vaccine even when given a second dose at nine months, as the World Health Organization currently recommends," the article notes.

17 May 2011

Critics say program offering money for contraception to HIV-positive Kenyan women is illegal

IRIN/Plus News reports that "the Kenyan government and rights groups have expressed outrage at a project in western Kenya that is paying HIV-positive women to undergo long-term contraception."

17 May 2011

Novel topically-applied molecular microbicide protects women against HIV infection

Using a technique that silences genes promoting infection, researchers have developed a novel, topically-applied molecular microbicide capable of preventing HIV transmission.

17 May 2011

WHO releases annual World Health Statistics report

The WHO on Friday released its annual World Health Statistics report, which includes data on more than 100 indicators - such as life expectancy, mother and child mortality, disease prevalence and health expenditures - from the agency's 193 member states, the Associated Press reports (5/14).

17 May 2011

Viewpoints: Ryan on 'shared scarcity'; Romney fallout; Baltimore's ambitious health plan

Too many in Washington remain fixated on the next election, at the expense of the next generation. But there is a hidden cost to the shared scarcity mentality — a cost measured in lost prosperity and lost freedom. We face a choice between two futures. We can continue to go down the path toward shared scarcity, or we can choose the path of renewed prosperity.

17 May 2011

Opinion: New HIV infections more expensive than providing antiretroviral drugs to existing patients

In light of study findings released last week showing the risk of HIV transmission can be reduced by 96 percent if HIV-positive patients begin combination antiretroviral therapy as soon as possible, a San Francisco Chronicle editorial asks, "The evidence is clearly starting to show that it's much better to treat patients earlier, but from where will the money come?".

17 May 2011

Study: HIV treatment drugs slash transmission risk

AIDS researchers offered evidence backing up the long-standing idea that people infected with HIV who are being treated are much less likely to transmit the virus than those who are not on drugs. This finding is being hailed as a breakthrough.

16 May 2011

Study reveals role of KLF14 regulatory gene in type 2 diabetes

A team of researchers, led by King's College London and the University of Oxford, have found that a gene linked to type 2 diabetes and cholesterol levels is in fact a 'master regulator' gene, which controls the behaviour of other genes found within fat in the body.

16 May 2011

Global health Product Development Partners consortium select GVK BIO as preferred provider

GVK Biosciences, Asia's leading drug discovery research & development organization announced today that it has been selected as a preferred provider to a consortium of 14 global Product Development Partners (PDPs) for clinical services in Asia. GVK BIO is the only partner that is headquartered in India.

16 May 2011

Early HIV treatment can reduce transmission risk by 96%, preliminary study results show

Preliminary results from a multicountry clinical trial, sponsored by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), show that HIV-positive people who take combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) can reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to their HIV-negative partners by 96 percent, U.S. researchers announced on Thursday " in what is being hailed as a breakthrough in HIV prevention," the Los Angeles Times reports.

16 May 2011

AIDS spread prevention by vaccine and anti HIV drugs

A latest vaccine against HIV/AIDS has shown to be effective in monkeys and has protected macaques the most widespread primate genus, against the monkey equivalent of HIV, Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). This could provide a fresh approach to an HIV vaccine, a study suggests. US researchers say the vaccine offered protection to 13 of 24 Rhesus macaques treated in the experiment. In 12 of the monkeys, the vaccine was still effective 12 months later.

15 May 2011

Early treatment of HIV makes infection transmission less likely: Study

“It's a game-changer,” Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, said. “I am completely amazed.” It was noted that anti-HIV drugs called antiretroviral drugs can suppress HIV in an infected patient and also help to prevent its spread through intercourse, he said. He predicted a rethink of the strategies that have evolved since the first cases of AIDS were recorded in June 1981. “The implications are multiple,” said Mr Sidibe. “However, money will be the major challenge.”

15 May 2011

Scientists 'tinker' with HIV drug chemistry hoping to reduce costs

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, founded by former President Bill Clinton, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.K. government, has hired former pharmaceutical company scientists "to tinker with the chemistry used to synthesize a key [HIV] drug, tenofovir" in an effort to reduce "the cost of manufacturing," the Wall Street Journal reports.

13 May 2011

HIV/AIDS News and Research

Further Reading

Study finds three-month TB treatment regimen just as effective as standard longer course

Thirty years of AIDS

Viewpoints: Gingrich fallout; Sebelius, Matsui on Medicare reform; physicians on their rights

New research demonstrates how geographic profiling can help combat infectious diseases

Opinion: Study will unite HIV advocates, add funding pressure to Obama administration

Bill Gates urges wiser vaccine coverage worldwide to save millions

Uganda launches PEPFAR-supported mobile male circumcision clinic

Antiretrovirals important to protect HIV-positive children from measles

Critics say program offering money for contraception to HIV-positive Kenyan women is illegal

Novel topically-applied molecular microbicide protects women against HIV infection

WHO releases annual World Health Statistics report

Viewpoints: Ryan on 'shared scarcity'; Romney fallout; Baltimore's ambitious health plan

Opinion: New HIV infections more expensive than providing antiretroviral drugs to existing patients

Study: HIV treatment drugs slash transmission risk

Study reveals role of KLF14 regulatory gene in type 2 diabetes

Global health Product Development Partners consortium select GVK BIO as preferred provider

Early HIV treatment can reduce transmission risk by 96%, preliminary study results show

AIDS spread prevention by vaccine and anti HIV drugs

Early treatment of HIV makes infection transmission less likely: Study

Scientists 'tinker' with HIV drug chemistry hoping to reduce costs

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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