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Democrats to seek changes, boosted funding during PEPFAR reauthorization debate

Some Congressional Democrats have proposed removing abstinence program spending requirements and a mandatory pledge against commercial sex work in the upcoming reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the AP/Yahoo! News reports (Abrams, AP/Yahoo! News, 2/2). The lawmakers also are hoping to allow "reproductive health groups to have broader access to U.S. money," according to CQ Today.

4 Feb 2008

PNG Coalition Against HIV/AIDS to implement programs in businesses nationwide

The Papua New Guinea Business Coalition Against HIV/AIDS plans to work with businesses in the country to implement the coalition's policy on HIV/AIDS in the workplace, Rod Mitchell, CEO of the coalition, said recently, the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier reports.

4 Feb 2008

A possible H5N1 vaccine

A vaccine against the most common and deadliest strain of avian flu, H5N1, has been engineered and tested by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Vaccine Research and Novavax Inc.

4 Feb 2008

Number of HIV cases among seniors in Puerto Rico increasing

The number of new HIV cases recorded among people ages 60 and older in Puerto Rico is increasing, the Miami Herald reports.

30 Jan 2008

Bush in State of the Union address calls on Congress to allocate $30 billion for PEPFAR

President Bush on Monday during his last State of the Union address urged Congress to authorize a $30 billion, five-year extension of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the New York Times reports (Stolberg, New York Times, 1/29).

30 Jan 2008

Texas officials studying needle-exchange program

Health officials in Bexar County, Texas, are considering if they should launch the state's first needle-exchange program in an effort to reduce the spread of HIV and other bloodborne diseases, but Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed has said that she will not hesitate to prosecute anyone who distributes needles before the program is approved, the Los Angeles Times reports (Bustillo, Los Angeles Times, 1/28).

30 Jan 2008

Brazil to distribute 19.5 million condoms during carnival

Health officials in Brazil on Sunday began distributing millions of condoms ahead of the country's five-day Carnival in an effort to reduce the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, the AP/San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

30 Jan 2008

Oseltamivir resistance in European Influenza viruses

Preliminary surveillance into antiviral drug susceptibility against seasonal flu viruses currently circulating in Europe has revealed that some of the A (H1N1) viruses (13%) have shown resistance to the antiviral drug, oseltamivir.

29 Jan 2008

Do condoms prevent STD infections other than HIV?

Consistent condom use can reduce the spread of HIV, but are they the answer to rising rates of other sexually transmitted infections?

25 Jan 2008

Few strategies exist to prevent MRSA spread in nursing homes

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureu (MRSA) is making news as a dangerous, sometimes fatal disease for hospital patients, and in recent cases, students.

24 Jan 2008

Most dangerous form of staph infection comes from single strain

Researchers have discovered that the most dangerous form of staph infection now occurring in the United States originates from a single strain of bacteria, not multiple strains as previously believed.

23 Jan 2008

Scientists render Ebola harmless in the laboratory

Scientists in the United States say that they have found a way to make the lethal Ebola virus harmless in the laboratory.

23 Jan 2008

India facing a bird flu disaster

According to a health official in India, the country's latest outbreak of bird flu could be disastrous.

23 Jan 2008

The biopsychosocial model thirty years later

The dominant model of disease today is, as 30 years ago, still biomedical, with molecular biology being the basic scientific discipline.

22 Jan 2008

Studies highlight MRSA evolution and resilience

Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infections are caused primarily by a single strain USA300 of an evolving bacterium that has spread with "extraordinary transmissibility" throughout the United States during the past five years, according to a new study led by National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists.

22 Jan 2008