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).

alpha-defensin-1, a protein found in immune cells, can control HIV infection

Theresa Chang and colleagues at Mount Sinai School of Medicine analyzed how alpha-defensin-1 inhibits HIV infection in white blood cells (CD4+ T cells). Defensins have been shown to have anti-HIV activity. The body attempts to protect itself from HIV infection via the innate immune system.

1 Mar 2005

Beautiful with HIV

HIV-positive women wearing evening gowns and sparkling jewels entered a beauty pageant in Botswana in an attempt to dispel the stigma that surrounds the deadly virus in this AIDS-ravaged southern African country with one of the world's highest rates of HIV infection. 37 percent of its 1.7 million population has tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS.

1 Mar 2005

Medical Services International signs $25 mil Chinese contract

Medical Services International has announced that it has signed a $25,500,000 US contract to supply the VScan HIV test kit in the People's Republic of China.

1 Mar 2005

OPAL, major discovery in the fight against AIDS

Australian researchers have made a major discovery in the fight against AIDS, with the development of a novel, simple and safe technique for boosting the body’s immune response to deadly viruses like HIV, which is even effective against drug resistant forms of the disease.

1 Mar 2005

Kidney dysfunction in HIV patients can be detected earlier

Tracking the subtle kidney damage that can lead to chronic kidney disease in HIV patients is increasingly important as people survive longer and may have an increased risk of renal dysfunction as a result of their disease, therapy-related damage, or co-morbid conditions such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension.

28 Feb 2005

VIRxSYS novel HIV gene therapy yields exciting results

VIRxSYS Corporation reports unexpected and unprecedented findings in its ongoing Phase I clinical trial of its VRX496 therapy in patients with HIV.

28 Feb 2005

Virologists make major step towards understanding the process of HIV infection

A working group of virologists headed by Professor Hans-Georg Kräusslich at Heidelberg University Hospitals, jointly with Professor Hanswalter Zentgraf, Division of Applied Tumor Virology of the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (German Cancer Research Center, DKFZ), have been the first to label Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV) for visual investigations without inhibiting the functional characteristics of the virus.

28 Feb 2005

New study following 12,574 individuals over the course of three years of HAART

Although clinical progression to AIDS of patients infected with Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has declined since the introduction of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), there is little data on the changes in incidence of AIDS-defining events during the first few years of therapy.

28 Feb 2005

Youth with HIV take more risks after new meds introduced

Teens with HIV are having more risky sex with more partners than their counterparts did in the years before powerful new medications for HIV were introduced in 1996, according to a new report in the American Journal of Health Behavior.

28 Feb 2005

Comprehensive sex education is more effective at stopping the spread of HIV infection

It is estimated that more than half of all new HIV infections occur before the age of 25 and most are acquired through unprotected sexual intercourse.

28 Feb 2005

New compounds for the treatment of HIV/AIDS

Scientists from Tibotec Pharmaceuticals Ltd. presented data on several new compounds for the treatment of HIV/AIDS at the 12th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), held February 22-25 in Boston, MA, USA.

27 Feb 2005

28 percent of injecting drug users acquired their needles from safe sources

Nearly half of injection drug users disposed of their used syringes safely, yet only 28 percent acquired their needles from safe sources, according to a study of injection drug users in Baltimore, Md., conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

27 Feb 2005

New HIV screening method, nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT)

Adding a new HIV screening method, called nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT), to standard HIV testing, researchers were able to uncover six percent more cases of HIV infection in urban STD and drug treatment clinics and HIV testing sites in Atlanta than with standard HIV antibody tests alone.

27 Feb 2005

Scientists identify immune-system mutation

A team of Fox Chase Cancer Center scientists led by immunologist Dietmar J. Kappes, Ph.D., has identified the genetic mutation that keeps a mouse strain from developing white blood cells, or lymphocytes, called helper T cells. The report by Kappes and his colleagues appears in the Feb. 24 issue of Nature.

27 Feb 2005

Gel provides protection from HIV and herpes

Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers demonstrated that a gel applied in the vagina provides protection from both the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the herpes simplex Virus. The study, presented at the 12th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, is the first to show that a gel can retain anti-viral activity within the human vagina.

27 Feb 2005

New York City Health statement on rare strain of HIV in a New York City resident

On February 11, 2005, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) reported a case of HIV infection with a strain that is resistant to many drugs in three classes of HIV medications, and which appears to have progressed to AIDS within 4 to 20 months after infection.

27 Feb 2005

Scientific rationale behind the use of antiretroviral therapy

Johns Hopkins researcher and infectious disease specialist Robert Siliciano, M.D., Ph.D., will provide an update on the scientific rationale behind the use of antiretroviral therapy, focusing on the mechanisms that allow life-long persistence of HIV even in patients on potent medication.

27 Feb 2005