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Global burden of disease shifts from infectious diseases to noncommunicable diseases

The global burden of disease is shifting from infectious diseases to noncommunicable diseases, with chronic conditions such as heart disease and stroke now being the chief causes of death globally, according to a new WHO report published today. The shifting health trends indicate that leading infectious diseases - diarrhoea, HIV, tuberculosis, neonatal infections and malaria - will become less important causes of death globally over the next 20 years.

20 May 2008

Blood-free monitoring as good as blood tests in predicting the course of AIDS

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that monitoring treatment adherence to AIDS therapy is a simple blood-free way to monitor risk of disease progression. The international study was published in the May issue of the journal PLoS Medicine.

20 May 2008

Monitoring whether patients take medicines can help anticipate HIV treatment failure in Africa

Information on how reliably people take their anti-HIV medicines can help identify those whose treatment will succeed or fail. Monitoring this information, which can be obtained directly from pharmacy records, works at least as well as performing blood tests that track the medicine's effect on the immune system, according to research published in PLoS Medicine by Gregory Bisson, Jean Nachega and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the University of Cape Town.

20 May 2008

New York Times profiles support group for HIV-positive women over age 50

The New York Times on Sunday profiled the Divas, a support group for black and Hispanic HIV-positive women over age 50 in Harlem, N.Y. The Divas is organized through Iris House, an HIV/AIDS service center that opened 15 years ago in Harlem.

19 May 2008

Handicap International launches program in Rwanda to address HIV/AIDS among blind people

Efforts to address HIV/AIDS in Rwanda have not included blind people, Jacques Sindayigaya, Handicap International's coordinator of a new program to address the virus in the population, said Monday during a workshop in Rwanda's capital of Kigali, the New Times/AllAfrica.com reports.

19 May 2008

Online game aims to raise HIV/AIDS awareness

The New York Times on Monday examined an Internet game, called Pos or Not, that aims to increase HIV/AIDS education and awareness.

19 May 2008

Health Ministers to discuss issues surrounding drug patents, access at World Health Assembly

Health ministers from countries worldwide next week at the World Health Assembly will discuss issues surrounding patents and access to drugs for diseases such as HIV/AIDS in developing countries, Reuters UK reports.

19 May 2008

Researchers discover 'reservoir' that allows HIV to remain infectious despite treatment

Researchers at Brigham Young University and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered a human cell "reservoir," called follicular dendritic cells, that allows HIV to stay in an infectious state and not respond to antiretroviral drugs, the Deseret Morning News reports.

19 May 2008

Effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy causing 'complacency' among high-risk groups

HIV/AIDS clinicians and scientists have been "witness to a transformation in disease management that is virtually unprecedented in the history of medicine," Mark Wainberg, director of McGill University's AIDS Centre at Jewish General Hospital, and Julio Montaner, director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, write in a National Post opinion piece.

19 May 2008

Second Peace Corps volunteer reports being discharged after testing HIV-positive, Washington Post reports

Washington Post columnist Stephen Barr on Friday examined the case of a second Peace Corps volunteer who said she was discharged from service after testing HIV-positive. Rebecca Coulborn, a former volunteer in Burkina Faso, said she was required to leave her post immediately in 2001 after she tested positive for the virus.

19 May 2008

DNA vaccines boosted by dendritic cells

The concept sounds ideal: vaccines made of DNA that could be taken in by other cells and give instructions for how to fight off different diseases. The reality, however, has fallen short. Although DNA vaccines have been around for about 15 years and shown lots of promise for HIV, SARS and influenza vaccines during preclinical testing in mice, researchers have yet to make them potent enough to be helpful in humans.

18 May 2008

Bird flu pandemic would require multi-drug approach

Scientists have uncovered a change in the H5N1 bird flu virus which makes it resistant to the anti-viral drug Tamiflu. The mutation in the N1 component was found in human cases of the disease and suggests that a single drug approach is likely to be ineffective in case of a bird flu pandemic in humans. The findings by a team at the Medical Research Council's National Institute for Medical Research are published in Nature.

15 May 2008

Cuba increasing HIV prevention efforts targeted at MSM, health official says

Health officials in Cuba this year will focus HIV prevention messages at men who have sex with men, Rosaida Ochoa, director of the National Center for the Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV, said recently, EFE News Service reports.

13 May 2008

Yemen, UNDP sign agreement to strengthen HIV/AIDS control efforts

Officials from Yemen and the United Nations Development Programme on Monday signed a $10.6 million, three-year agreement to strengthen efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in the country, SABA News reports.

13 May 2008

HIV/AIDS hindering Mozambique's efforts to reduce poverty, E.U. delegate says

HIV/AIDS is hindering Mozambique's efforts to alleviate poverty, Glauco Calzuola, head of the European Union delegation in Mozambique, said Sunday, Reuters reports. Calzuola added that corruption and bureaucracy also are obstacles in the country's efforts to eradicate poverty.

13 May 2008

Chicago Tribune magazine examines HIV/AIDS among children, adolescents in U.S.

The Chicago Tribune Magazine on Sunday examined HIV/AIDS among children and adolescents in the U.S. According to the Tribune, there are about 6,000 children and young adults living with HIV/AIDS in the country.

13 May 2008

HIV/AIDS cases increasing among sex workers in Uganda

HIV/AIDS cases are increasing among women and girls involved in commercial sex work in Kampala, Uganda, HIV/AIDS advocates said recently, Uganda's Monitor reports.

13 May 2008

CDC Director Gerberding calls for increase in HIV prevention efforts for black community

CDC Director Julie Gerberding on Friday at a forum in Oakland, Calif., said that more money is needed to fight HIV/AIDS in the black community, particularly among black men who have sex with men, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

13 May 2008

IRIN/PlusNews examines efforts to increase access to safe drinking water among HIV-positive people in Sudan

IRIN/PlusNews on Monday examined efforts to increase access to safe drinking water among HIV-positive people living in Sudan.

13 May 2008

Increased research, determination needed in HIV/AIDS vaccine efforts, HIV vaccine enterprise head says

The disappointment that followed the cancellation of a Merck vaccine trial in September 2007 has been replaced by a renewed determination among the scientific community, Alan Bernstein, executive director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, said ahead of the 25th anniversary of the scientific paper announcing the discovery of HIV, the CP/Yahoo! News reports.

13 May 2008

HIV News and Research

Global burden of disease shifts from infectious diseases to noncommunicable diseases

Blood-free monitoring as good as blood tests in predicting the course of AIDS

Monitoring whether patients take medicines can help anticipate HIV treatment failure in Africa

New York Times profiles support group for HIV-positive women over age 50

Handicap International launches program in Rwanda to address HIV/AIDS among blind people

Online game aims to raise HIV/AIDS awareness

Health Ministers to discuss issues surrounding drug patents, access at World Health Assembly

Researchers discover 'reservoir' that allows HIV to remain infectious despite treatment

Effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy causing 'complacency' among high-risk groups

Second Peace Corps volunteer reports being discharged after testing HIV-positive, Washington Post reports

DNA vaccines boosted by dendritic cells

Bird flu pandemic would require multi-drug approach

Cuba increasing HIV prevention efforts targeted at MSM, health official says

Yemen, UNDP sign agreement to strengthen HIV/AIDS control efforts

HIV/AIDS hindering Mozambique's efforts to reduce poverty, E.U. delegate says

Chicago Tribune magazine examines HIV/AIDS among children, adolescents in U.S.

HIV/AIDS cases increasing among sex workers in Uganda

CDC Director Gerberding calls for increase in HIV prevention efforts for black community

IRIN/PlusNews examines efforts to increase access to safe drinking water among HIV-positive people in Sudan

Increased research, determination needed in HIV/AIDS vaccine efforts, HIV vaccine enterprise head says

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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