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Positively Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS News Archive - October 2016
New biologic medication shows promise in treating multi-drug resistant HIV patients
October 31, 2016 - A new biologic medication - the first for HIV - is showing promise in treating patients with multidrug resistance, according to phase 3 research being presented at IDWeek 2016™.
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Howard Dental Center provides life-changing dental work to patients with HIV or AIDS
October 31, 2016 - The nonprofit helps promote overall health by providing dental care.
During the height of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. in the early 1990s, Dr. John Howard noticed that people were being turned away from dentist offices because they were HIV positive.
So, in 1994, he started Howard Dental Clinic with a group of dentists, to provide a place where patients living with HIV or AIDS could be treated without judgment, said Lili Carrillo, director of oral health care services at Howard Dental.
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30,000 J’cans must receive HIV/AIDS treatment to meet WHO guidelines
October 31, 2016 - KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaica needs to increase the number of people known to be infected with HIV and AIDS who are receiving antiretroviral medication from approximately 9,000 to just over 30,000 – more than triple the current number – in order to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines of “Test and Treat”.
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The HIV prevention revolution, Linda-Gail Bekker at HIV Glasgow 2016
Published on Oct 31, 2016 - “We need a revolution, and that revolution needs to be a primary HIV prevention revolution.” Linda-Gail Bekker, President of the International AIDS Society, delivered a keynote address at HIV Glasgow, outlining key gaps in the global HIV response and the ingredients necessary for a prevention revolution in low- and middle-income countries.
DMPA contraceptives linked to increased HIV risk
October 31, 2016 - Evidence observed in an updated systematic review published in AIDS suggests that use of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) contraception may be associated with an increased risk of HIV acquisition in women.
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HIV vaccine: Historic trial begins
October 30th 2016 - History will be made this week, when the first participant in a large-scale HIV vaccine trial receives a shot of the vaccine, designed to prevent a strain of HIV prevalent in southern Africa.
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HIV patients abandon drugs in painful wait for fate as biting drought ravages families
October 30th 2016 - The life of about 13,000 HIV/Aids victims is at risk with majority of them are going without food due to drought in Migori County. The situation is so bad that some patients have opted to stop taking anti-retroviral (ARVs) drugs on an empty stomach.
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VIDEO: PrEP, HIV infection associated with bacterial STIs
OCTOBER 29, 2016 - NEW ORLEANS -Douglas S. Krakower, MD, a staff physician in the division infectious diseases at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, adjunct faculty member at the Fenway Institute, and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, discusses his presentation at IDWeek 2016 on the role of HIV infection and pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, in the acquisition of bacterial sexually transmitted infections.
In a study that included almost 20,000 men, Krakower and colleagues found that PrEP use and HIV infection were independently associated with increasing rates of bacterial STIs.
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First prison anti-AIDS outreach in Nagaland starts at Dimapur
DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 29 - The first prison HIV-intervention program in Nagaland has been introduced on Saturday at the Dimapur Central Jail. The intervention project is an initiative of the Community Awareness and Development (CAD) Foundation,
in collaboration with the Nagaland State AIDS Control Society (NSACS) and the fhi360 (formerly Family Health International).
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Automated analysis of EHR data could identify candidates for PrEP
October 29, 2016 - NEW ORLEANS - Using EHR data from a large group of ambulatory practices in Massachusetts, researchers developed an automated algorithm to identify patients at an increased risk for acquiring HIV. Their research raised the question of whether this type of analysis could be used to identify potential candidates for pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.
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32 years after death, Gaetan Dugas aka 'Patient Zero' cleared of charges of triggering AIDS in US
October 28, 2016 - Though Dugas passed away in 1984, he continued to be recognised as 'Patient Zero'.
Gaetan Dugas, who was named 'Patient Zero' after being accused to be the first one to spread HIV/AIDS in the United States, has now been cleared of the charges by scientists. Dugas, a homosexual flight attendant working with Air Canada, died in 1984.
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Protected from HIV, ‘elite controllers’ still fight for a cure
October 28, 2016 - Scientists are still trying to work out exactly how the immune system of an elite controller operates. Their understanding is that, in these patients, a certain immune cell is powerfully attuned to controlling HIV: It kills most of the virus and prevents what remains from replicating out of control and causing harm.
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Omega-3s decreased median triglycerides and CRP in HIV patients on ART
October 28, 2016 - NEW ORLEANS - A high daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids decreased median triglycerides and C-reactive protein more than placebo in HIV-infected patients on stable ART, according to findings presented at IDWeek 2016.
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AIDS memorial could go up in front of Ottawa City Hall
October 27, 2016 - Coun. David Chernushenko introduced a notice of motion to seek city support to have the memorial placed in Marion Dewar Plaza in front of City Hall.
A new memorial could be in place outside city hall next year to mark both those who have died from AIDS and the dark history of the disease.
After celebrating their 30th anniversary last year, the AIDS committee of Ottawa is hoping to install a new memorial for those who have died.
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NYC AIDS Memorial Park at St. Vincent's Triangle Nears Completion
October 27, 2016 - New York - Memorial Board of Directors & Barneys New York Thank Supporters & Donors; Public Dedication to be Held on World AIDS Day 2016
Supporters of the New York City AIDS Memorial Park at St. Vincent's Triangle celebrated the monument’s imminent completion at a reception last evening hosted by the Memorial’s Board of
Directors and Barneys New York. The Memorial, located at the intersection of ?West 12th Street and Greenwich Avenue in the West Village, is the first significant public space dedicated to the AIDS epidemic in
New York City. The public dedication for the Memorial will take place on World AIDS Day (?December 1), 2016, co-hosted by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and a coalition of leading AIDS advocacy organizations.
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Researchers use new gene-editing system to hasten quest to cure HIV+ patients
October 26, 2016 - Researchers at UC San Francisco and the academically affiliated Gladstone Institutes have used a newly developed gene-editing system to find gene mutations that make human immune cells resistant to HIV infection.
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Clearest-ever study of HIV’s North American origins exonerates Canada’s ‘patient zero’
Oct. 26, 2016 - Flight attendant Gaetan Dugas had long been vilified for spreading AIDS in the 1970s, but new genetic research shows the virus was circulating for years before he was infected.
The patient zero myth has been widely debunked, but it has managed to persist over the years. So in their study, Worobey manages to finally sequence an HIV genome from Dugas — and “found no evidence that Patient 0 was the first person infected by this lineage,” according to the paper.
Increased HIV Suppression Needed in MSM Community
October 26, 2016 - Reducing the amount of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) is dependent on increasing the amount of HIV-positive MSM who have achieved viral suppression, a recent study found.
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'Patient zero' Gaëtan Dugas not source of HIV/Aids outbreak, study confirms
October 26, 2016 - New technique allows reconstruction of route by which HIV/Aids arrived in North America, confirming Dugas was not the source of subsequent pandemic
The research also confirms that Gaëtan Dugas, a Canadian flight attendant named in 1987 by author Randy Shilts, was not the first person in the US to be infected, despite being dubbed “Patient zero” by a study of homosexual men with Aids in 1984.
Analysis of his HIV genome shows that it was typical of strains of the virus within the US at the time and was not the root from which the virus diversified in North America.
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Sequencing of Archival HIV Genomes from Patient Samples Elucidates Origin of Virus in the US
Oct 26, 2016 - NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Looking at the diversity of the genomes, the researchers were able to determine with a probability of around 99 percent that HIV set foot in the US initially in New York City before spreading to San Francisco and other cities in California and the US.
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GAFFI: Access to rapid diagnostics, antifungals could prevent over a million AIDS-related deaths by 2020
October 25, 2016– Looking at the diversity of the genomes, the researchers were able to determine with a probability of around 99 percent that HIV set foot in the US initially in New York City before spreading to San Francisco and other cities in California and the US.
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Dolutegravir and central nervous system side-effects: abacavir, older age increase the risk
25 October 2016 - Insomnia, dizziness, headache and other central nervous system side-effects are occurring more frequently with everyday use of dolutegravir than clinical trials had suggested, and are most likely to occur in women, people over 60 and people starting abacavir at the same time, a German research group told the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow) on Tuesday.
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HIV is growing so fast among Chinese youth that a university is selling testing kits in vending machines
October 24, 2016 - As a growing number of young people (link in Chinese) become infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in China, a Chinese university in a high-risk area has started selling HIV testing kits in vending machines.
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A Call To End HIV/AIDS In America
October 24, 2016 - Education and testing are key to managing and preventing HIV infection. This country needs a program that can teach people about prevention and early detection.
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amfAR announces recipients of 2016 Mathilde Krim Fellowships for innovative HIV/AIDS research
October 24, 2016 - Latest round of Mathilde Krim Fellowships continues tradition of nurturing promising talent with breakthrough potential.
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, on TKTK announced the 2016 recipients of the Mathilde Krim Fellowships in Basic Biomedical Research, an annual research initiative created to support bright young scientists seeking innovative solutions to HIV/AIDS.
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At gathering of HIV/AIDS pioneers, raw memories mix with current conflicts
October 24, 2016 - COLD SPRING HARBOR, NEW YORK - When I walked into the dining hall of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) here at dusk on 13 October, I immediately noticed
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi having dinner with Robert Gallo at a long table that otherwise was empty. They had plates of food on brown plastic cafeteria trays, and were smiling about this and that, two old friends reminiscing
in what could have been the mess hall of a summer camp set on the picturesque Long Island Sound. A most unusual conference on the history and future of HIV/AIDS research would begin later that evening, and these two
scientists would be the stars for the central roles their laboratories played in discovering this peculiar retrovirus and proving that it caused the devastating disease.
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Dozens of community organizations lose funding as Public Health Agency shifts focus to prevention
Oct 24, 2016 -42 service organizations shut out of latest funding round as agency leaves treatment services to provinces
Ghana has recorded a total of about 11,000 HIV AIDS deaths with 12,635 new HIV infections in 2015, the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has stated.
According to the Commission, there are 274,562 persons living with HIV in the country, out of which 89,113 are on Anti Retroviral (ART) drug.
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AIDS killed 11,000 in 2015
Oct 24, 2016 - Ghana has recorded a total of about 11,000 HIV AIDS deaths with 12,635 new HIV infections in 2015, the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has stated.
According to the Commission, there are 274,562 persons living with HIV in the country, out of which 89,113 are on Anti Retroviral (ART) drug.
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Huge diversity in current HIV vaccine research, Research for Prevention conference hears
23 October 2016 - Human efficacy trial just starting; others may follow next year
The HIV vaccine research field is currently going through probably its most fertile and diverse period yet, the second HIV Research for Prevention conference (HIVR4P) in Chicago heard last week. A high proportion of presentations there were devoted to the multiplicity of different approaches scientists are taking towards making an effective a vaccine.
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Launch of About HIV / Pro VICH website
23 October 2016 - On 23 October, at the HIV Drug Therapy conference in Glasgow, NAM and its partners launched the ‘About HIV / Pro VICH’ website, for people living with HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). The new website features a series of factsheets about key HIV topics, currently available in Armenian, English, Georgian, Kazakh, Russian and Ukrainian.
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56,000 people living with HIV in Sudan: WHO
October 23, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday said that there around 56,000 people living with HIV in Sudan, including 3500 child and 2300 pregnant women.
WHO official Mohamed Sayed Ahmed pointed that the number of HIV-positive people is increasing in Sudan according to the latest survey conducted in 2015.
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Let's remove stigma: ex-NRL referee Michael Jones breaks silence on HIV
OCTOBER 23, 2016 - Jones was diagnosed in 1998 as his partner Stephen was dying of an HIV/AIDS-related cancer.
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Scientists discover new mechanism for inadequate immune defense against chronic viral infection
October 21, 2016 - Although pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake is on the rise among populations at risk for HIV, uptake in women remains low, according to data from a retrospective
analysis. Based on their findings, the researchers recommend interventions to increase PrEP uptake among women at risk for HIV infection.
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PrEP uptake remains low among at-risk women
October 21, 2016 - Although pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake is on the rise among populations at risk for HIV, uptake in women remains low, according to data from a retrospective
analysis. Based on their findings, the researchers recommend interventions to increase PrEP uptake among women at risk for HIV infection.
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Ghana has recorded a total of about 11,000 HIV AIDS deaths with 12,635 new HIV infections in 2015, the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has stated.
October 21, 2016 - Ghana has recorded a total of about 11,000 HIV AIDS deaths with 12,635 new HIV infections in 2015, the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has stated.
According to the Commission, there are 274,562 persons living with HIV in the country, out of which 89,113 are on Anti Retroviral (ART) drug.
Read more...
GMHC and the New York Public Library present "Library & Leaders: 35 Years of AIDS"
October 21, 2016 - New York, New York - Featuring GMHC's co-founders, government officials and community leaders
Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) and the New York Public Library (NYPL) will host "Library & Leaders: 35 Years of AIDS," on Wednesday, October 26, from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm at the Library Main Branch located at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan. The discussion will feature GMHC co-founders, Larry Kramer and Larry Mass, MD., as well as C. Virginia Fields, President and CEO of National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, and Johanne Morne, Director of the New York State AIDS Institute. This panel discussion will be moderated by Kelsey Louie, CEO of GMHC.
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“Together, we can stop HIV and AIDS,” says incoming Osler lecturer
October 20, 2016 - A Professor of Medicine and Head of the Division of AIDS at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Dr. Julio Montaner is a globally renowned researcher best known for his pioneering work on combination antiretroviral
therapy (cART). After determining cART’s efficacy for patients already living with HIV/AIDS, Dr. Montaner went on to show how cART could be used to prevent HIV transmission, a finding that has revolutionary implications for today’s global AIDS Pandemic.
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Charlie Mortimer: My three decades living with HIV
October 20, 2016 - In January 1986, then aged 33 and after suffering a number of unpleasant and unexplained illnesses, my long suffering GP broke it to me that I was infected with what was then called ARC (Aids Related Complex).
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Transitioning HIV-infected youth to adult care
October 2016 - Pediatric and adolescent physicians go to great lengths to care for our communities’ young patients. This particularly rings true for those caring for youth living with HIV, where home life, confidentiality and behavioral health are core aspects of care. However, there is an element missing from this mix that could lead to poor disease outcomes: transition to adult care.
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HHS awards $2.3 billion in grants to help Americans access HIV/AIDS care and medications
October 20, 2016 - oday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced nearly $2.3 billion in Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program grants awarded to cities, states, and local community-based organizations in fiscal year (FY) 2016. This funding supports a coordinated and comprehensive system of care that provides lifesaving HIV health care, support services, and essential medications to over half a million people living with HIV in the United States.
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GMHC Responds to Complaints Over Alleged HIV Drug Coverage Discrimination
October 20, 2016 - New York, New York - Seven Insurers in Eight States Alleged to Have Discriminated
GMHC released the following statement in response to complaints filed recently with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights by Harvard Law School’s Center for
Health Law and Policy Innovation. The complaints charge that plans offered by seven insurers in eight states are discriminatory because they don’t cover drugs that are essential to the treatment of HIV or require high out-of-pocket spending by patients for covered drugs.
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Large increases in HIV suppression needed to reduce new infections in critical population
October 20, 2016 - Achieving moderate reduction of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) will depend on significantly increasing the percentage of HIV-infected MSM whose viral load is suppressed
to undetectable levels, according to a new mathematical model based on data from Baltimore. Access and adherence to antiretroviral therapy are key to sustained HIV suppression, which dramatically reduces the risk of transmitting HIV to others.
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Ghana passes law to deal with discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS
Oct 19, 2016 - Parliament has approved a three year maximum jail term for discriminating against persons living with HIV/AIDS.
According to the new Act, a person who discriminates against a person infected with HIV/AIDS commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine or a term of imprisonment of not less than 18months and not more than three years or both.
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Anal sex may transmit four in ten HIV infections in US women at high risk
19 October 2016 - A study presented at the 2016 HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P) Conference in Chicago, USA suggests that, in women at high risk of HIV infection, 40% or more of the HIV infections in this group might be transmitted via anal intercourse.
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Second case report of PrEP failure due to drug-resistant virus
19 October 2016 - A PrEP user in New York City has become HIV positive with virus that is resistant to Truvada and other antiretroviral drugs, the HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P 2016) conference in Chicago heard today. This
is only the second such case that has been reported, highlighting the rarity but not the impossibility of HIV infections in people who adhere to their PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) medication schedule.
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7 Insurers Alleged To Use Skimpy Drug Coverage To Discourage HIV Patients
October 18, 2016 - The health law prohibits insurers from discriminating against people with serious illnesses, but some marketplace plans sidestep that taboo by making the drugs that people with HIV
need unavailable or unaffordable, complaints filed recently with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights allege. The effect may be to discourage people with HIV from buying a particular plan or getting the treatment they need, according to the complaint.
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Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network's funding to be slashed 70% by 2017
Oct 17, 2016 - Organization expects drastic cut in money received from community action fund
A non-profit group for Indigenous people living with HIV and AIDS will soon have to work with far fewer resources after the federal government slashed its funding by 70 per cent.
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HIV/AIDS: Nigeria facing anti-retroviral drugs shortage – UN
October 17, 2016 - The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS says it is working to address the growing shortage of anti-retroviral drugs in various health facilities in Nigeria.
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NFID names 2017 award recipients
October 16, 2016 - The foundation has awarded Peter Piot, MD, PhD, with the 2017 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Humanitarian Award for his role in the first isolation of the Ebola virus, his early research of AIDS in Africa, and his services as founding director of
the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and head of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
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National Latino AIDS Awareness Day: Gay men’s health crisis
October 15, 2016 - HIV is a global epidemic that affects millions of people across different countries, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds. But while the destructive impact of the HIV crisis continues to touch every segment of the population, the most
devastating effects today in the United States are concentrated in disadvantaged communities.
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HIV prevention gains bring hope — and challenges
October 14, 2016 - Injectable PrEP and other options are in the pipeline, and that makes clinical trials more complicated
A clinical trial set to begin later this year will test whether an experimental drug injected every two months protects against HIV infection as effectively as a once-a-day pill called Truvada. If it does, the long-acting PrEP drug — for “pre-exposure prophylaxis” — would add another major tool to an HIV prevention toolbox that for the global pandemic's
first 30 years was limited to education, testing and condoms.
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Canadian patients with HCV often restricted from DAA treatment
October 14, 2016 - Despite the availability of effective treatments for hepatitis C virus infection, Canadian researchers showed that restrictions imposed by governments often hinder patient access to direct-acting antivirals.
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First Antidiarrheal Medication for HIV Patients Hits the Shelves
October 14, 2016 - Napo Pharmaceuticals’ Mytesi, formerly marketed as Fulyzaq, is a prescription treatment for diarrhea designed to normalize the flow of water in the GI tract.
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Antibody treatment surprisingly 'cures' monkeys of HIV-like infection
Oct. 13, 2016 - "Fascinating." "A complete first." "Striking." "Too amazing to be real." Those are some of the reactions researchers are having to a provocative, baffling monkey study suggesting that a monoclonal antibody used to
treat inflammatory bowel disease in humans might lead to a "functional" cure of an infection with the AIDS virus.
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Public Health Agency of Canada Cutting Funding to Canadian AIDS Service Organizations
October 2016 - Just two weeks after the federal government pledged $804 million to international efforts on AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis at the Global Fund Replenishment Conference, HIV organizations have had their federal funding drastically cut or completely discontinued across Canada. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) sent out responses from the HIV and Hepatitis C Community Action Fund (CAF) Letter of Intent Process starting on Sept 29, 2016, several months later than originally promised, and the results have been catastrophic for the sector.
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International 15-year study shows most dominant HIV subtype is also 'wimpiest'
OCTOBER 13, 2016 - An international study 15 years in the making has shown that it's 'survival of the wimpiest' among subtypes and strains when it comes to understanding the
spread of HIV/AIDS around the world, a virus that has killed an estimated 35 million people since the 1970s.
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Open Letter to Jane Philpott Minister of Health from AIDS ACTION NOW!
October 2016 - Dear Jane Philpott, Minister of Health,
As a community of people living with and affected by HIV and Hepatitis C we have been listening with concern to the limited information released from the
Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) regarding massive changes to the funding landscape that supports organizations and services that our lives depend on. Specifically, we have
been concerned about the recent response to a funding call and the Letters of the Intent for the HIV and Hepatitis C Community Action Fund. We are very concerned with the way
the process has taken place with regards to which organizations and proposal have been denied and accepted through the Letters of Intent process and the negative outcomes of
decisions from the PHAC which have the potential to have a massive impact on the ongoing HIV and Hepatitis C epidemics in Canada.
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Less than 100% adherence to HIV therapy, even with viral suppression, can lead to more inflammation and immune activation
12 October 2016 - Research involving men taking antiretroviral therapy, all with an undetectable viral load, has shown that imperfect adherence to therapy is associated with higher levels of key markers of inflammation and immune activation.
The study is published in the online edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases. The authors believe their findings could explain the residual inflammation observed in people taking HIV therapy who have a suppressed viral load.
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Almost 30 years later, people are still affected by the AIDS Memorial Quilt
October 11 2016 - On Oct. 11, 1987, members of the gay and lesbian community demanded the nation's attention.
It was the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Some people were fighting for their lives. Others were fighting to save their loved ones or to avoid the deadly disease, and many more were fighting to ignore it. Why? It was still very much thought of as a “gay disease.”
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Empowering girls advances HIV response
GENEVA, 11 October 2016 - “Girls count! We need to know what counts for girls, to make sure that they start life HIV-free, stay HIV-free or remain AIDS-free,” said UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé.
Statement from GMHC CEO on National Coming Out Day
October 11, 2016 - New York, New York - GMHC released the following statement on National Coming Out Day (NCOD), which was founded on October 11, 1988 by Robert Eichsberg and Jean O’Leary to
mark the anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Eichberg, who died in 1995 of complications from AIDS, said, in a 1992 interview, “Most people think they don’t know anyone gay or lesbian, and in fact
everybody does. It is imperative that we come out and let people know who we are and disabuse them of their fears and stereotypes.”
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GOP, Dem, Green, Libertarian: Their Stances on HIV/AIDS
October 11, 2016 - The 2016 election is about more than deleted emails and missing tax forms. In fact, a lot is at stake. That’s why Harlem United and the Fenway Institute—AIDS service organizations in New York City and Boston—released the report “The 2016 Presidential Candidates on Important Health Equity Issues.”
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Public Health denies project funds to historically-funded HIV organizations
Oct. 10, 2016 - Several HIV/AIDS networks whose projects were funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada have had their new applications rejected.
In a bid for new ways to address HIV/AIDS across the country, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has denied or cut back project funding requests of several HIV/AIDS organizations historically supported by the federal government, leaving some worrying where they’ll find financial resources to keep operating.
Among those facing cuts is the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN), which chief executive officer Ken Clement said had its $750,000 proposal cut down to $250,000 — a two-thirds reduction.
Spending big on sex and drug initiatives, AIDS activist Michael Weinstein says he ‘can’t lose’
October 10, 2016 - Weinstein, 64, leads the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, an organization he willed from a 25-bed hospice near Dodger Stadium to a global powerhouse that rivals the American Cancer Society. AHF, as it is known, has a projected $1.3 billion budget, more than 600,000 clients and operates in 37 countries.
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Late HIV Testing Drives Transmission Rates
Oct 10, 2016 - One out of eight people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) don’t know it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although these patients don’t make up the majority, they are still a key driver behind the epidemic.
A new study out of the University of California (UC), Riverside found just how dangerous it is when someone is diagnosed at a later HIV stage. Published in Medicine, the researchers conducted the analysis in Riverdale County – noted for being the sixth most HIV/AIDS impacted county in California.
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Libraries exhibit on HIV, AIDS emergence supports CLGBTQE's Commission Reads
October 10, 2016 - UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. “From Gay-Related Immune Deficiency to AIDS: The Emergence of HIV in the 1980s” features books, artifacts on historical responses to AIDS as public health crisis
In conjunction with the Commission on LGBTQ Equity’s 2016 Commission Reads selections “The Normal Heart” and “The Destiny of Me” by activist and writer Larry Kramer, the Penn State University Libraries presents an exhibit that explores books and other materials related to the emergence of HIV and AIDS in
the early 1980s. “From Gay-Related Immune Deficiency to AIDS: The Emergence of HIV in the 1980s” is located in two display cases near the entrance of the Arts and Humanities Library on the second floor of Pattee Library on Penn State’s University Park campus.
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Gay Men’s Health Crisis Expands Testing Services to Offer Free, Rapid Hepatitis C (HCV) Testing
October 10, 2016 - New York, New York - New Testing Services Will Promote Early Detection & Prevent Spread of Deadly Hep. C Virus
HCV is a leading cause of death for people with HIV. Nationwide, 3.6 million people in the United States are living with the disease, and deaths from HCV-related disease — hepatic
and extrahepatic — now surpass those caused by HIV. Unfortunately, it is estimated that approximately 50% of people living with HCV are unaware that they are infected. In New York State, as of 2014, the
offering of a HCV screening test is required by law for individuals born between 1945 and 1965 who are receiving inpatient hospital care or primary care.
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‘Highly misleading’ headlines suggest impending cure for HIV
October 10, 2016 - In reality, while the research at the center of the reports may be meaningful, it is unlikely to yield a cure, experts said.
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Nine ways funding for the global HIV response could go further
October 10, 2016 - A serious funding shortfall threatens the prevention and treatment of HIV. Our panel of experts share their ideas on how to do more with less money
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More men agree to date an HIV positive person than women: Survey
October 7, 2016 - At present, around 1.2 million Americans are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
A trusted American website called adamandeve.com which sells adult products conducted a yearly sex survey asking more than 1,000 adults if they would date somebody who is HIV positive. The results were received this month and men were found to be more willing to get into a relationship with an HIV positive person compared to women.
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Tanzania has banned lubricants over the belief that it "promotes homosexuality"
7 Oct 2016 - Tanzania's government has banned lubricants, leaving the community to "return to using saliva, margarine, herbs, coconut oil, Vaseline and cooking oil" as activists worry about increased rates of STIs and HIV infections.
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Suboptimal ART adherence associated with inflammation despite viral suppression
October 6, 2016 - Suboptimal adherence to ART was associated with higher levels of inflammation and immune activation in patients with HIV even if the virus was suppressed, according to an analysis of data from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study.
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CytoDyn Announces Favorable Protocol Modifications for Pivotal Phase 3 Combination Trial With PRO 140 After Positive FDA Meeting
VANCOUVER, Washington, Oct. 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Primary endpoint results expected as early as the first quarter of 2017
IInvestor conference call scheduled for October 11, 2016
CytoDyn Inc. (OTCQB:CYDY), a biotechnology company focused on the development of new antibody therapies for combating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, announces that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted protocol modifications for the Company's Phase 3 pivotal trial with PRO 140 in combination with current standard-of-care antiretroviral therapy (ART) for highly treatment-experienced patients with HIV. The new protocol reduces the number of patients to be enrolled in the trial from 150 to 30 patients and lowers the primary endpoint for viral load reduction from viral load of 0.7log to viral load of 0.5log. The Company intends to provide data from its monotherapy trial (conducted in parallel to this study) to satisfy the safety portion of its pivotal trial and will meet with the FDA when the trial's primary end point data becomes available to further discuss the safety portion requirement.
New name, new look revealed for the Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation (CWGHR)
October 2016 - Toronto, Ontario - On the 23rd of September 2016, the Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation (CWHGR) launched its renewed organizational branding and identity and unveiled its new name, realize, at a Reception held at the Courtyard Marriott hotel in downtown Toronto.
Since 1998, CWGHR (now realize ) has been a leader and a catalyst for improved access to rehabilitation services, for people living with HIV.
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AmfAR to Honor Charlize Theron, Jeffrey Katzenberg
October 6, 2016 - The American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) will honor Charlize Theron and Jeffrey Katzenberg at its upcoming Inspiration Gala.
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252 000 Swazis are HIV positive
October 6, 2016 - A total of 252 000 people live with HIV in Swaziland, according to the HIV/AIDS epidermiology of 2015.
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HIV/AIDS Bill a big win but 10 years too late: Pune Activists
October 6, 2016 - New Delhi: Vijay Nair, programme officer with India HIV/AIDS alliance, said there still seems a long struggle ahead. “We have to constantly grapple with issues like shortage of commodities, including anti-retroviral treatment medicines. The CD4 machines, which tests the viral load, are at times non-functional and people living with HIV/AIDS have to come twice or thrice a month due to shortage of drugs. They eventually are lost to follow-up,” Nair said.
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New Bill Proposes Jail Term For Discriminating Against HIV Patients
October 6, 2016 - New Delhi: The cabinet on Wednesday approved important amendments to the HIV and AIDS Bill, 2014 in a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The bill provides legal accountability and a formal mechanism to probe complaints of discrimination against patients and also makes anti-retroviral treatment a legal right of patients.
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Are HCV Drug Sales Plummeting?
OCT 05, 2016 - A contagious infection of the liver, hepatitis C (HCV) continues to be a public health concern, as 2.7 to 3.9 million people are living with the illness in the United States alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
HCV is a disease that ranges from acute to chronic symptoms and once a person has it, they have it for life. In an effort to control this infection, biopharmaceutical companies have made efforts to provide the public with next-gen drugs, one of these companies is Gilead Sciences.
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The Wailing Souls will be in Kenya to sensitize youth on AIDS
Oct. 05, 2016 - Next month, Nairobi will host Jamaican reggae legends, The Wailing Souls. The visiting band is set to perform at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre on November 5.
Beside the concert, the iconic reggae band will be in the country to sensitive youth on the threat they face with HIV/AIDS as well as highlight the plight of those infected at this transitional stage of life.
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Treating Social Determinants Of Health Can Help End HIV/AIDS
04.10.2016 - By Dr. Julio Montaner, OC, OBC, MD, FRCPC, FCCP, Director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
Picture this scenario: An individual living with HIV in British Columbia, "Doug" (whose name has been changed for privacy), was being "shuffled around" through care. As a result, he had grown tired and had mostly given up on treating his HIV.
Sadly, he had begun telling family and friends that he wouldn't be around much longer. Can you see a solution to a situation like this?
There was an answer for Doug. An outreach worker, with the province of B.C.'s STOP® Program (Seek and Treat for Optimal Prevention of HIV/AIDS), knocked on his door and started to connect him to services to help support his medical adherence.
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The plight of HIV/AIDS patients: Lack of anti-retroviral drugs
04.10.2016 - According to members of the Mathew 25 House, an HIV and AIDS Care Centre in Koforidua, regular supplies of the anti-retroviral drugs from the Koforidua Regional Hospital and Agormanya Hospital had been delayed for the past three months.
Persons Living with HIV and AIDS in the Eastern Region have appealed for anti-retroviral drugs to save them from the complications of the infection.
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OVERCOMING THE STIGMA OF HIV/AIDS
New Delhi, Oct 4 - The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), known as the largest global AIDS organization worldwide, sponsored a number of community events at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 2016 Annual Legislative Conference (ALC), held September 14-18. The
foundation addressed the quiet, yet growing AIDS epidemic in the Black community. The organization hosted a march from McPherson Square in Washington and later, it held a town hall meeting at the Metropolitan AME Church, a historic faith institution, where Frederick Douglass attended church services. us,” said
Imara Canady, chairperson for AHF and the Black AIDS Crisis Taskforce
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Cabinet to discuss amendement bill related to HIV/AIDS
New Delhi, Oct 4 - A crucial amendment bill which seeks to prohibit discrimination against persons with HIV and AIDS is likely to be taken up by the Union Cabinet tomorrow.
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Gay Men’s Health Crisis Offering Housing for the First Time Ever
October 4, 2016 - New York, New York - New contract maintains housing opportunities for high risk populations living with HIV
Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) announced today that for the first time, the agency will directly be offering housing with wraparound supportive services. GMHC has partnered with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS (HOPWA)
program to take over a contract held for 25 units of scatter site housing in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx beginning October 1, 2016.
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With Global Trials Expanding, More HIV Vaccines Are Put to the Test
October 3, 2016 - It's been slightly more than 35 years since the first official reports of what would later become known as the human immunodeficiency
virus. These initial cases were the beginning of a global epidemic that infected an estimated 78 million people, according to the Joint United-Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS or UNAIDS. An estimated
37 million people are now living with the virus. About the same number -- approximately 35 million people -- have died from AIDS-related illnesses. The introduction of antiretroviral therapy in 1996
has saved millions of lives. Antiretrovirals have transformed a positive serostatus into a "chronic but manageable" condition similar to diabetes or asthma. But the decades-long hunt for a preventive vaccine has remained elusive.
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Researchers reflect on three decades of HIV research
Oct 04, 2016 - It has been 35 years since the first case of HIV/AIDS was recorded in Connecticut, and since then, Yale has been at the forefront of scientific interventions to address the challenges posed by the epidemic.
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Mental illness rates high among hard-to-reach people with HIV/AIDS in B.C.: Study
October 3, 2016 - More than half of people in the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS’s drug treatment program have suffered from mental illness
Addressing the underlying mental health issues of harder-to-reach people with HIV/AIDS is important for treatment, a British Columbia researcher says.
The B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) studied 916 participants in its drug treatment program from 2007 to 2010 and found that more than half (54 per cent) reported having a mental health disorder at some point in their lives.
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HIV cure close after disease 'vanishes' from blood of British man
October 2, 2016 - The 44-year-old is one of 50 people currently trialling a treatment which targets the disease even in its dormant state.
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Without Early AIDS Patients, The Medical Marijuana Movement Wouldn't Exist
October 2, 2016 - "Before the AIDS crisis, things had been very quiet for the medical marijuana movement, " said Drug Policy Alliance Director Ethan Nadelmann.
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Health authorities adopt 90-90 agenda to fight AIDS
2 October 2016 - "The good news is that from 1st October, Ghana is going to implement a policy called treat all. In a situation where anybody with the virus will be put on treatment within one week," he said.
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Fred Lee Social Network: Brilliant! runway party fashions record night, while brunch bunch boosts bucks for AIDS care
October 2, 2016 - Elbow room once again was in short supply at the ninth annual Celebrity Dim Sum, Vancouver’s tastiest and most raucous brunch benefiting AIDS Vancouver.
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Grandmothers to Grandmothers network helps African AIDS orphans
Oct. 1, 2016 - Stephen Lewis says network got rolling in August 2006 during the International AIDS conference in Toronto.
It was a little over a decade ago when Stephen Lewis ' daughter Ilana Landsberg-Lewis turned to him and said, “Dad, there's something happening in Africa that no one's paying attention to.”
She spoke to him about how so many African grandmothers were raising the 15 million children orphaned by the continent's HIV-AIDS pandemic.
Sunrise advocate fights HIV through social media
Oct 1st 2016 - Maria Mejia has raised awareness about HIV prevention and the sometimes harsh realities of living with the virus. In her Sunrise home, Mejia reflected on her journey as an HIV advocate.
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Actor Taye Diggs comes to Milwaukee to help raise awareness about HIV, AIDS
Oct 01, 2016 - Former 'Rent' star served as chairman of AIDS Walk Wisconsin and 5K Run
Diggs said he was taking part in the AIDS walk and run as a reminder that a lot of people are still affected by the disease.
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A DAY WITH HIV
OCTOBER 1, 2016 - This is what A DAY WITH HIV looks like
On Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, people across the United States and in 11 other countries photographed a moment of their day for A Day with HIV to portray 24 hours in the lives of people affected by HIV/AIDS.
No matter who you are, or where you are, we are all affected by HIV.
A DAY WITH HIV is the anti-stigma campaign of POSITIVELY AWARE magazine, the HIV treatment magazine.
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Immune to reason
Oct 1st 2016 - Russia’s contempt for effective drug and HIV policies is killing its citizens
In most of the world the threat of HIV/AIDS has receded. The exceptions are eastern Europe and Central Asia. In Russia, which accounts for more than 80% of new infections in the region, 51,000 people were diagnosed in the first five months of this year. In January registered
HIV cases there topped one million. Vadim Pokrovsky of Russia’s Federal AIDS Centre reckons the true figure may be 1.4m-1.5m, about 1% of the population; he warns there could be 3m by 2020. In some African countries prevalence can reach 19%, but the epidemic is slowing. In Russia, the infection
rate is “getting worse, and at a very fast pace”, says Vinay Saldanha, UNAIDS’ director for eastern Europe and Central Asia.
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Increasing Access to Antiretroviral Therapies as a Global HIV/AIDS Prevention Strategy
October 01, 2016 - New biomedical strategies for preventing HIV/AIDS were covered in a plenary lecture at the 25th European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology Congress in Vienna, Austria, this Thursday. “The New Threats of HIV & STIs” was presented by Thomas C. Quinn, MD, distinguished investigator
and head of the section on international HIV/AIDS research in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, associate director for international research for the Division of Intramural Research at NIAID, professor of medicine and pathology in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and professor of
international health, epidemiology, and immunology and molecular microbiology in The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
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