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Do rural and non-rural single, young adults differ in their risk and protective HIV/STD behaviors?

Single young adults living in rural areas are no more inclined to engage in safe sex behaviors than their non-rural peers, according to a new analysis by Indiana University sexual health experts of a nationally representative survey.

27 Nov 2007

New strategic relationship between PAHO and the Canadian government

The Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Mirta Roses, and the Permanent Representative of Canada to the Organization of American States (OAS), Ambassador Graeme C. Clark, have signed a master framework document that represents an important step forward in the strategic relationship between PAHO and the Canadian government Ambassador Graeme C. Clark and Dr. Mirta Roses sign the strategic cooperation framework.

27 Nov 2007

Deeper insights into the workings of the immune system

The first lines of defense in our immune systems are specialized mobile units that check the identity of cells to determine whether they are 'self' or 'foreign.'

27 Nov 2007

Problematic drinking and alcohol dependence linked to high number of sex partners

Previous studies have linked heavy drinking and conduct disorder to high-risk sexual behaviors that can, in turn, lead to unintended pregnancies, infection, and damage to reproductive health.

27 Nov 2007

Washington D.C. a hotbed for AIDS

According to a recently released report Washington, D.C. has the highest rate of AIDS in the United States.

27 Nov 2007

India to provide 2nd-line AIDS treatment to 5,000 patients, bows to activists' pressure

Bowing to an increasing need for more effective AIDS treatments in India and recent high-profile public advocacy from a broad coalition of AIDS activists, India's National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and Health Minister A. Ramadoss will announce the rollout of lifesaving second-line antiretroviral treatment (ART) in India in a ceremony on World AIDS Day, Saturday December, 1st .

22 Nov 2007

First genome sequence of XDR strain of the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis

An international collaboration led by researchers in the US and South Africa today announced the first genome sequence of an extensively drug resistant (XDR) strain of the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, one linked to more than 50 deaths in a recent tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

21 Nov 2007

Measures that are needed to curb humanity's most fatal diseases

Several of the world's most eminent health scientists and organizations today publish a landmark global consensus on the 20 foremost measures needed to curb humanity's most fatal diseases, their study featured in Nature magazine.

21 Nov 2007

Monkeys fend off AIDS-like symptoms with enhanced HIV vaccine

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that using an immune system gene to enhance a vaccine used to study HIV in macaque monkeys provides the animals with greater protection against simian HIV (SHIV) than an unmodified vaccine.

21 Nov 2007

New UNAIDS report offers encouraging news, but most HIV-positive mothers still not getting care

The following statement was released today by Pamela W. Barnes, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation:

21 Nov 2007

AIDS statistics revised by WHO in 2007

New data show global HIV prevalence - the percentage of people living with HIV - has levelled off and that the number of new infections has fallen, in part as a result of the impact of HIV programmes.

21 Nov 2007

Report on new therapies and vaccines for HIV/AIDS

Pharmaceutical researchers are testing 92 medicines and vaccines to treat or prevent HIV/AIDS and related conditions, according to a report released by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

21 Nov 2007

UN revises AIDS estimates but it remains a top killer

The United Nations group which focuses on the AIDS epidemic, UNAIDS, has revised it's original estimate of the number of people infected with the AIDS virus by more than six million.

20 Nov 2007

Housing status and HIV risk

New studies show that there is a demonstrable correlation between a person's housing status and his or her likelihood of transmitting or getting HIV.

20 Nov 2007

HIV-1 vaccines may not be as reliable against superinfection as once thought

Natural HIV-1 infection does not always elicit a protective immune response, according to a new study published November 16 in PLoS Pathogens.

19 Nov 2007

Some AIDS vaccines may damage the immune system

Researchers in the United States say some of the viruses being used in experimental AIDS vaccines may cause damage to the immune system.

19 Nov 2007

Some viral-vector vaccines may cause more harm than good

Leading efforts to create an HIV vaccine have hinged on the use of viruses as carriers for selected elements of the HIV virus. Recently, however, evidence has emerged that some of these so-called viral vector systems may undermine the immune system and should not be used for vaccine development.

16 Nov 2007

Suppressing herpes virus may reduce infectiousness of HIV

A recent study of men co-infected with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) and HIV revealed that drugs used to suppress HSV decrease the levels of HIV in the blood and rectal secretions, which may make patients less likely to transmit the virus.

16 Nov 2007

Poxvirus' ability to hide from the immune system may aid vaccine design

The cowpox virus, a much milder cousin of the deadly smallpox virus, can keep infected host cells from warning the immune system that they have been compromised, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.

16 Nov 2007

Petition aims to stem the flood of dangerous drugs reaching Americans

In a petition filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, an international coalition of scientists and doctors seeks to compel the agency to stem the flood of dangerous drugs reaching American consumers by mandating the use of scientifically superior non-animal testing methods when those alternatives exist.

15 Nov 2007