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Teacher-student relationships in Kenyan province places girls at increased risk for HIV, education official says

An increasing number of sexual relationships between teachers and students in Kenya's Nyanza province is placing girls at increased risk of HIV/AIDS, Geoffrey Cherongis, Nyanza's provincial director of education, said recently, IRIN/Plus News reports. Cherongis said that some HIV-positive teachers engage in sexual relations with female students and spread the virus to "young girls who hardly know the kind of thing they are getting into."

31 Mar 2009

Somali religious leaders increase efforts to reduce stigma, discrimination for people living with HIV/AIDS

Islamic religious leaders in Somalia are increasing efforts to reduce stigma and discrimination against HIV-positive people in the country, IRIN/Plus News reports. Religious leaders in the predominantly Muslim country are encouraging people to treat HIV-positive people with respect and are becoming involved in HIV prevention efforts, according to IRIN/Plus News.

31 Mar 2009

Health officials in Canadian province develop communications strategy to address increase in HIV cases

Health experts are developing plans to increase HIV/AIDS awareness in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan in response to the virus' rising incidence in the province, Moira McKinnon, Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer, said recently, the Regina Leader-Post reports.

31 Mar 2009

Funding HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria 'smart investment,' U.N. Secretary General Ban says

Funding programs aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria is a "smart investment," United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday in a video message to a meeting in Cacares, Spain, to call on donors to fund United Nations-supported efforts against the three diseases, Xinhuanet reports.

31 Mar 2009

Intestinal parasites significantly reduce immune response to the cholera toxin

Cholera patients also infected with parasitic intestinal worms have a significantly reduced immune response to the cholera toxin, according to a report published March 31st in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

30 Mar 2009

Regular handwashing more important than isolation in controlling MRSA infection

Regular handwashing by hospital staff and visitors did more to prevent the spread of the MRSA superbug than isolating infected patients.

30 Mar 2009

Community spread of trachoma could be stopped by treating all household members

All members of the household need to be treated for trachoma in order to prevent rapid re-infection, according to a new study published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

30 Mar 2009

AHF lauds ‘Lancet’ editorial criticizing Pope on condoms and HIV

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today lauded the respected British medical journal, 'The Lancet,' for its strongly-worded editorial criticizing Pope Benedict XVI for his public remarks early last week suggesting that condoms are fueling the spread of AIDS in Africa.

30 Mar 2009

River blindness under control in Escuintla, Guatemala

An international team of researchers led by Rodrigo Gonzalez of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala reports that the transmission of onchocerciasis or river blindness has been broken in Escuintla, Guatemala, one of the largest endemic areas in the Western Hemisphere to date to stop the transmission of the parasitic disease.

30 Mar 2009

NPR program examines efforts to improve BCG tuberculosis vaccine

NPR's "Morning Edition" last week examined the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation's efforts to improve the existing BCG vaccine to provide increased protection against tuberculosis.

30 Mar 2009

AP/Google.com examines efforts to address drug-resistant tuberculosis in China, other countries

The AP/Google.com on Monday examined efforts to prevent and control the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis in China and other countries.

30 Mar 2009

Tampa Bay religious leaders join effort to address HIV/AIDS among the black community

The New York-based National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS -- which raises HIV/AIDS awareness in cities with high rates of the virus -- on Thursday established an affiliate in Tampa Bay, a "'badly needed'" effort, according to organizers, a St. Petersburg Times editorial states.

30 Mar 2009

Newly created institute 'rare bit of good news' in HIV/AIDS vaccine efforts, editorial says

Although former President George W. Bush "made an ambitious new commitment to the global fight against AIDS," and Congress in 2008 "authorized billions in new spending," lawmakers and philanthropists "will retreat" as the current economic recession continues, a Providence Journal editorial says.

30 Mar 2009

Research may support Pope's comments against condom use in Africa, opinion piece says

Pope Benedict XVI "set off a firestorm of protest" earlier this month when he commented that condom distribution "isn't helping, and may be worsening" the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa, but "in truth, current empirical evidence supports him," Edward Green, a senior research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece.

30 Mar 2009

Cambodian Government plans to use drivers license tests to raise HIV/AIDS awareness

In an effort to increase HIV/AIDS awareness among drivers -- particularly professional truck drivers, many of whom visit commercial sex workers while on the road -- the Cambodian government plans to add questions about the disease to the driver's license exam administered by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, the Phnom Penh Post reports.

30 Mar 2009

Plan to close independent HIV/AIDS xlinics in Mozambique raises concerns, protests

Advocates in Mozambique recently protested outside a hospital in the capital of Maputo against the announcement that specialized care units for HIV/AIDS treatment in the country will be closed, the SAPA/Times reports.

30 Mar 2009

Rhode Island House Committee holds hearing on bill that would eliminate written consent requirement for HIV testing

The Rhode Island House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare last week held a hearing on a proposed amendment to a state requirement that physicians obtain written consent before administering an HIV test, the Providence Journal reports.

30 Mar 2009

The spread of drug resistant HIV-1

Drug-resistant forms of HIV can be spread between individuals who have not received anti-retroviral treatment, according to Professor Deenan Pillay from University College, London and the Health Protection Agency, speaking at the Society for General Microbiology meeting at Harrogate.

30 Mar 2009

Tea tree oil and silver effective in treating skin infections

In the fight against infected skin wounds, mixing tea tree oil and silver or putting them in liposomes, (small spheres made from natural lipids), greatly increases their antimicrobial activity and may minimise any side effects.

30 Mar 2009

War wounded at risk for superbugs

Soldiers who survive severe injuries on battlefields such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan can be at risk from developing infections of their wounds with multidrug resistant bacteria.

30 Mar 2009

Disease/Infection News

Teacher-student relationships in Kenyan province places girls at increased risk for HIV, education official says

Somali religious leaders increase efforts to reduce stigma, discrimination for people living with HIV/AIDS

Health officials in Canadian province develop communications strategy to address increase in HIV cases

Funding HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria 'smart investment,' U.N. Secretary General Ban says

Intestinal parasites significantly reduce immune response to the cholera toxin

Regular handwashing more important than isolation in controlling MRSA infection

Community spread of trachoma could be stopped by treating all household members

AHF lauds ‘Lancet’ editorial criticizing Pope on condoms and HIV

River blindness under control in Escuintla, Guatemala

NPR program examines efforts to improve BCG tuberculosis vaccine

AP/Google.com examines efforts to address drug-resistant tuberculosis in China, other countries

Tampa Bay religious leaders join effort to address HIV/AIDS among the black community

Newly created institute 'rare bit of good news' in HIV/AIDS vaccine efforts, editorial says

Research may support Pope's comments against condom use in Africa, opinion piece says

Cambodian Government plans to use drivers license tests to raise HIV/AIDS awareness

Plan to close independent HIV/AIDS xlinics in Mozambique raises concerns, protests

Rhode Island House Committee holds hearing on bill that would eliminate written consent requirement for HIV testing

The spread of drug resistant HIV-1

Tea tree oil and silver effective in treating skin infections

War wounded at risk for superbugs

Redefining control and consistency in anaerobic microbiome workflows

AI in Healthcare: How generative tools are transforming clinical practice

The future of automation: Machine learning–driven hepatocyte and organoid counting

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