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Bill and Melinda Gates put their money where it's needed

Bill Gates is once again putting his money into helping improve lives in developing countries.

25 Oct 2006

Significant number of teachers dying of AIDS-related complications in Namibia

The Namibian education system since last year has lost a significant number of teachers to AIDS-related illnesses, and more deaths among teachers are expected within the next few years, participants at a Namibia National Teachers Organization meeting said last week, the New Era/AllAfrica.com reports.

24 Oct 2006

Link between antiretrovirals, leprosy probable

Increased access to antiretroviral drugs in developing countries has revealed a "startling and worrisome side effect" by exposing "hidden leprosy infection" in some HIV-positive people receiving antiretrovirals, the New York Times reports.

24 Oct 2006

Zanzibar adopts first HIV/AIDS policy, rejects conservative Muslim recommendations

The Zanzibar parliament on Friday adopted its first HIV/AIDS policy but turned down the request of some conservative Muslim lawmakers to close all bars and outlaw revealing clothing as part of the strategy, AFP/Yahoo! News reports.

24 Oct 2006

Study identifies different species of North American birds that could transmit bird flu

University of Georgia researchers have found that the common wood duck and laughing gull are very susceptible to highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza viruses and have the potential to transmit them.

23 Oct 2006

Southern African Clinicians Society head calls for HIV testing in country to be required, confidential

Confidential HIV testing should be required for all people in South Africa so those who test positive can begin safeguarding their health immediately, Francois Venter, head of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, said at a news conference on Thursday, the Washington Post reports (Timberg, Washington Post, 10/20).

23 Oct 2006

Cleveland Health Department launches HIV prevention campaign aimed at black women

The Cleveland Department of Public Health this week launched a citywide campaign aimed at curbing the spread of HIV among black women, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

23 Oct 2006

18 million children in Africa will have lost one or both parents to AIDS by 2010

More than 18 million children in Africa will have lost one or both parents to AIDS-related illnesses by the end of 2010 without increased action to control the spread of the pandemic among young people on the continent, according to a UNICEF report released after a three-day HIV/AIDS conference in Dakar, Senegal, Reuters reports.

23 Oct 2006

Zambia's use of resources to fight HIV/AIDS model for other countries

Zambia has demonstrated how to use donor funding effectively for HIV prevention and treatment programs at the community and ministerial levels, and the country could serve as a model for other nations, Mark Dybul -- who serves as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator and administers the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- said on Friday during a visit to the country, Zambia's Daily Mail reports.

23 Oct 2006

Statement by Mike Leavitt on WHO global pandemic influenza action plan to increase vaccine supply

The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken a significant step forward in the global effort to prepare for an influenza pandemic by publishing the Global Pandemic Influenza Action Plan to Increase Vaccine Supply.

23 Oct 2006

Urgent action required to increase pandemic influenza vaccine supply

A set of activities identified in the World Health Organization's (WHO's) new Global pandemic influenza action plan to increase vaccine supply requires immediate and sustained action and funding, if the world is to be prepared for an influenza pandemic to which there would be almost universal susceptibility.

23 Oct 2006

Georgia health officials launch initiative to increase HIV/AIDS awareness in Hispanic community

Georgia health officials have launched a new bilingual initiative that aims to increase HIV/AIDS awareness in the state's Hispanic community and educate residents about HIV prevention and testing, the McClatchy-Tribune/Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.

22 Oct 2006

Zimbabwean Government to Delay enrollment of additional HIV-positive people in drug treatment program

The Zimbabwean government has announced that it will postpone enrolling additional HIV-positive people to its antiretroviral treatment program following reports that its drug supply could run out by December, PlusNews reports.

22 Oct 2006

Local Chinese authorities declare HIV/AIDS NGO illegal, close operation

Local authorities on Wednesday declared a Xinjiang, China-based nongovernmental HIV/AIDS organization illegal and shut down its operation, according to Chang Kun, organizer of the project, AFP/Sunday Times reports (AFP/Sunday Times, 10/19).

22 Oct 2006

Clinton Foundation trains HIV-positive people in Lesotho to assist medical workers

The Clinton Foundation's HIV/AIDS Initiative has trained 10 HIV-positive people in Lesotho to help doctors, nurses and pharmacists cope with treating people with HIV/AIDS in a country with a severe shortage of health workers, South Africa's Independent Online reports.

22 Oct 2006

$74 million allocated to study environmental causes of disease

As part of the new Exposure Biology Program, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a component of the National Institutes of Health, today announced $74 million in grant opportunities for the development of new technologies that will improve the measurement of environmental exposures that contribute to human disease.

19 Oct 2006

UN program teaches AIDS orphans farming and life skills

A U.N. program is helping Kenyan children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS-related illnesses learn basic agricultural techniques and other life skills, PlusNews reports.

19 Oct 2006

Antiretroviral drug discounts should be extended for countries classified as 'middle-income'

Pricing antiretroviral drugs and other "lifesaving" medications based on a country's gross national income per capita "seems particularly arbitrary -- and even cruel" -- given that HIV-positive people often have incomes "well below what might be considered a country's 'average' income," Jorge Saavedra Lopez.

19 Oct 2006

Fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa should focus more on blood safety

A renewed focus on unsafe blood transfusions and used syringes is needed to combat the spread of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, Ambassador Mark Dybul -- who serves as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator and administers the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- said on Wednesday during a visit to Zambia, Reuters reports.

19 Oct 2006

Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic could fuel deaths from XDR-TB

Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic could fuel deaths from XDR-TB -- tuberculosis that is resistant to first- and second-line drugs -- which has resulted in the deaths of least 74 people in South Africa since January 2005, World Health Organization officials said on Tuesday, Reuters reports (McGregor, Reuters, 10/17).

19 Oct 2006

Disease/Infection News

Bill and Melinda Gates put their money where it's needed

Significant number of teachers dying of AIDS-related complications in Namibia

Link between antiretrovirals, leprosy probable

Zanzibar adopts first HIV/AIDS policy, rejects conservative Muslim recommendations

Study identifies different species of North American birds that could transmit bird flu

Southern African Clinicians Society head calls for HIV testing in country to be required, confidential

Cleveland Health Department launches HIV prevention campaign aimed at black women

18 million children in Africa will have lost one or both parents to AIDS by 2010

Zambia's use of resources to fight HIV/AIDS model for other countries

Statement by Mike Leavitt on WHO global pandemic influenza action plan to increase vaccine supply

Urgent action required to increase pandemic influenza vaccine supply

Georgia health officials launch initiative to increase HIV/AIDS awareness in Hispanic community

Zimbabwean Government to Delay enrollment of additional HIV-positive people in drug treatment program

Local Chinese authorities declare HIV/AIDS NGO illegal, close operation

Clinton Foundation trains HIV-positive people in Lesotho to assist medical workers

$74 million allocated to study environmental causes of disease

UN program teaches AIDS orphans farming and life skills

Antiretroviral drug discounts should be extended for countries classified as 'middle-income'

Fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa should focus more on blood safety

Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic could fuel deaths from XDR-TB

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging

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