In light of the FDA s concerns about the Red Cross supply, some patients may opt for auto donations. After federal officials chastised the American Red Cross earlier this month for not doing enough to keep the blood supply safe, blood experts took great pains to emphasize that the risk of contamination is, in fact, sma
A cure for AIDS remains elusive, but with more than 42 million infected people worldwide, the need for better treatments is undeniable. Last week, researchers announced two promising, if early, developments. One approach, developed at Caltech in Pasadena and at UCLA, uses gene therapy to keep the AIDS virus from enteri
In a San Juan Capistrano mobile home, Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark has labored for a dozen years on a homemade computer network creating what AIDS experts say is the most definitive -- and perhaps the most accessible -- source of information on the disease. The 24-by-60-foot trailer a few blocks from the beach is the he
Charles Ornstein and Megan Garvey, Times Staff Writers
Federal regulators on Friday disclosed widespread problems with the screening, storage and distribution of blood by the American Red Cross, calling into question the safety of the nation s blood supply. The FDA cited more than 200 safety violations and deficiencies in its preliminary inspection report, the latest since
JWANENG, Botswana -- The digging does not stop. Not when night falls or when a three-year drought sears the countryside or when the nation edges toward famine. Workers for Debswana Diamond Co. have not stopped digging for 20 years, scooping out enough wealth to make Jwaneng the world s richest diamond mine and Botswana
MBABANE, Swaziland -- It s good to be king. Nearly half the people in this land of 1.1 million live in thatched huts without electricity or running water, and King Mswati III is in the market for a $50-million private jet. Polygamous relationships are among the main drivers of Swaziland s 33% HIV infection rate, but Ms
Fourteen Democratic members of Congress accused the Bush administration Wednesday of playing politics with a new government fact sheet on condom use, eliminating key information that they say could help people make informed decisions. Led by Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles, the lawmakers said the U.S. Centers for D
South Africa s leader tells his party that apartheid left a legacy of inequity and division. STELLENBOSCH, South Africa -- Dressed in a green and black African National Congress T-shirt, President Thabo Mbeki addressed 5,000 party faithful Monday, opening a five-day conference to determine the movement s leadership and
Sometime in the late 19th century, both Europeans and North Americans realized that the herb echinacea was a medicinal gift from nature. In 1919, noted anthropologist Melvin Gilmore remarked in a study of the Plains Indians that echinacea seems to have been used as a remedy for more ailments than any other plant. A mem
Gilead Sciences Inc. agreed Wednesday to buy a struggling North Carolina biotechnology company for $464 million in a bid to expand its share of the AIDS drug business. Foster City, Calif.-based Gilead, which markets a successful AIDS drug, will pay $6 cash for each Triangle Pharmaceuticals share, a 33% premium over t
In the last two years, the number of new HIV and AIDS patients in the city has more than doubled, according to an annual report Tuesday to the San Francisco Health Commission. In 2000, there were about 500 new reported cases of people with HIV or AIDS. In 2002, that increased to 1,084, said James Loyce Jr., the city s
In the parking lot of St. Brigid s Catholic Church in South- Central Los Angeles on Sunday sat a 35-foot trailer from Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, offering free HIV testing. Inside the church, Father John Harfmann walked the aisles, thundering a message of abstinence to a congregation whose membe
The $100 million that Bill Gates philanthropy will add to the battle against HIV and AIDS in India is a welcome expression of concern for what Gates rightly portrays as one of the worst epidemics in the world. But the Gates Foundation s generous support may be undone by factors that neither the government of India nor
Today is World AIDS Day. As a mother with a son who has been living with HIV for more than 20 years, I don t need a World AIDS Day to remind me of the devastation that HIV disease is causing here and throughout the world. From an unusual outbreak of pneumonia among gay men in large U.S. cities in the early 1980s, we ha
President Bush has not minced words about the global toll of AIDS and last June said its devastation staggers the imagination and shocks the conscience. But urgent words do not amount to U.S. funding and action, the absence of which has repeatedly been criticized by international health officials. Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, th
President Bush has not minced words about the global toll of AIDS and last June said its devastation staggers the imagination and shocks the conscience. But urgent words do not amount to U.S. funding and action, the absence of which has repeatedly been criticized by international health officials. Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, th
U.N. report says women now make up half of all HIV-infected adults worldwide. Disease is destabilizing the worst-hit nations. UNITED NATIONS -- As the AIDS epidemic enters its third decade, for the first time women account for about half of all infected adults, and the disease has begun to destabilize countries as it l
Tecate s ban on male cross-dressing gets a mixed response. One result has been a surge in gay pride. TECATE, Mexico -- This city may be minutes from cosmopolitan San Diego and just over the Mexican border, yet life moves as slowly as a colonial village and residents hold tight to their traditions. The town s centra
Our best weapon against the spread of AIDS may turn out to be a common gel that s been used for years in drugs and cosmetics. That s the hope of a Johns Hopkins University research team, which has devised a microbicide that not only prevents sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS but acts as a contraceptive too.
The county health department finds 18 young people with the infection this year. Los Angeles County health officials have received 18 new reports of HIV infections among children this year, exceeding the annual total for each of the last three years. Although the number represents a setback, none of the new cases is am
-- The procedure is a sea change, activist says. In the past, waits of up to two weeks caused anxiety and led many to not find out results. Federal officials approved a finger-prick HIV blood test Thursday that can provide results within 20 minutes, reducing delays that cause anxiety and lead many people not to pick up
Quick Now: What Has 2 Million Victims, Turns Passive Men Violent, Spreads HIV and Could Be Stopped Overnight? If You Said Prison Rape, You re in on the Joke. Bill Handel is a drive-time radio host on L.A. s KFI-AM (640). He stays popular because he has a feel for what makes his audience chuckle as they head for that un
California is among hardest-hit states, with gay and bisexual men being most affected. Increase is a setback for goal of eliminating the disease by 2005. The number of new syphilis cases rose in 2001 for the first time in 11 years, with large increases among gay men outpacing continued declines among blacks and Souther
Appeals panel says U.S. can t investigate doctors or void their licenses for suggesting the drug to patients. California, six other states are affected. The federal government may not revoke a doctor s license to dispense medication, or investigate a physician, for recommending marijuana to sick patients, a federal app
Alpha lipoic acid may be the most potent of the antioxidants, nutrients that help neutralize free radicals and prevent damage to cells. (Free radicals are thought to play a role in many diseases.) A vitamin-like fatty acid that contains sulfur, alpha lipoic acid is made by the body and plays a large role in energy prod
Traditional medicine offers cures, hope and jobs for thousands. But some conservationists worry about depleting plant species. DURBAN, South Africa -- On an unfinished freeway onramp that juts out of the Durban skyline and into nowhere, people come searching for cures to an assortment of maladies. Loveness Bhengu,
Bogaletch Gebre, a tall, soft-spoken woman in her late 40s, runs the Kembatta Women s Center, a collective in her native Ethiopia dedicated to ending the ancient practice of excising girls external genitalia. The World Health Organization says at least 130 million females alive today have been subjected to this painful
A doctor takes a scientific look at the illegal drug s effects on HIV patients with painful symptoms. In March, in a hospital room tucked in a quiet corner of San Francisco General Hospital, a 39-year-old AIDS patient made history of sorts when he lighted a marijuana cigarette -- legally. He is the first of 16 voluntee
- State s managed care regulator says the proposal could have denied patients access to lifesaving prescriptions. The HMO says it pulled the request a day earlier. California regulators have rejected a request by Kaiser Permanente, the state s largest HMO, to set limits as low as $500 on coverage for prescription drugs
Broadening a public service campaign that began on MTV seven years ago, media giant Viacom Inc. announced on Wednesday the allocation of $120 million in advertising time to target HIV/AIDS prevention and education. Viacom s two-year project is unprecedented in its focus and reach: It will span all Viacom s media platfo
- Measure would have made it easier to buy syringes. Governor also takes action on open meetings, public records. SACRAMENTO -- In the final hours of a legislative year in which he signed 1,173 bills and vetoed 264, Gov. Gray Davis on Monday killed a measure that would have made it easier to buy hypodermic needles.
Federal regulators are expected to give final approval soon to an easy-to-use finger-prick blood test that can diagnose HIV infection in 20 minutes. The action will come more than four years after public health officials declared the urgent need for such a tool. People familiar with the approval process say the Food an
An infant in Michigan has not shown symptoms of the disease, but authorities worry they have found another route of transmission. Health authorities said Friday that they found evidence of West Nile virus in breast milk from a nursing mother, prompting concerns of a new transmission pathway for the disease. Although th
Federal regulators are expected to give final approval soon to an easy-to-use finger-prick blood test that can diagnose HIV infection in 20 minutes. The action will come more than four years after public health officials declared the urgent need for such a tool. People familiar with the approval process say the Food an
A family of proteins blocks replication of the virus, researchers say. Others fault the study s methods and conclusion. New York researchers report today that they have identified a mysterious and long-sought family of proteins that protect some people infected with HIV from progressing to AIDS, but their report has dr
Defendant says Baca told him it was OK to distribute medical pot; Baca denies it. A man charged with growing and selling marijuana rested his case in a preliminary hearing Wednesday after calling a single defense witness: Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. Steve Corchado said the 26 plants police found in his home in
Hagen Place, a nondescript two-story apartment building on a corner of 3rd Street in Laguna Beach, would seem just what California voters had in mind when they passed the medical-marijuana initiative in 1996. Laguna Beach police may beg to differ. Named after a local doctor and gay activist who died of the complication
Dr. R. Scott Hitt, a prominent AIDS specialist, gay activist and former chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council on AIDS and HIV, has been accused by state regulators of sexually molesting two patients at a Beverly Hills medical office. Hitt, the first openly gay person to head a presidential advisory body, acknow
SACRAMENTO -- Uninsured Californians infected with HIV but not yet disabled by full-blown AIDS will be eligible for government-funded health care under a bill signed by Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday. Hailed by AIDS activists as the state s most significant AIDS-related legislation in a decade, the law is expected to fun
It looks like a typical newsstand scene: a woman engrossed in a newspaper, a man gazing toward the racks and another walking away gripping the headline of the day, Holy War. Though the news is on target, the staged scene is a fashion ad, accessorized with the legend Mideast peace is the must-have for fall. The ad--feat
-- HIV* Hundreds in U.S. who have a resistance to existing therapies will be eligible for Fuzeon under the FDA s compassionate use program. An experimental AIDS drug will become available to seriously ill patients free of charge in early October. The drug, Fuzeon, is the first in a new class of drugs known as fusion in
In a last-minute plea bargain, prosecutors have dropped charges against a 46-year-old woman who is HIV-positive and accused of engaging in prostitution. Panchita Hall was facing a second trial under a 1988 law that requires prostitutes who are HIV-positive and who have been informed of their blood test results to be ch
Health: The former Soviet state s social ills go hand in hand with its soaring HIV rate. RYAZAN, Russia -- Out of work and separated from his wife, Yuri takes the only job he can find - chauffeuring prostitutes in this provincial city. The women are all using heroin. He becomes close to one, has an affair with her, and
Hong Kong -- A veteran Chinese AIDS activist missing for nearly two weeks is in police custody on suspicion of revealing state secrets, a human rights group said this week. Wan Yanhai, a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California in 1997, has been instrumental in publicizing China s growing AIDS crisis
Delegates from more than 190 nations signed on to a blueprint to aid the poor and protect Earth s environment. The 65-page Johannesburg Implementation Plan sets forth an ambitious agenda. But the plan is nonbinding, raising questions as to how, or if, these goals will be met. Here are some prominent ones: Clean water
Health: The project started last year in Ventura is an effort to stem the spread of blood-borne diseases. Health-care volunteers soon will begin exchanging new needles for used ones brought in by drug users in Santa Paula, as the Ventura County Health Care Agency expands its year-old syringe replacement program. The
Health: Measure now goes to the governor. Sponsors say it will cut disease; opponents say it condones drug use. The Legislature gave its final approval Friday to a measure that would allow pharmacies to sell up to 30 syringes, or hypodermic needles, to an adult without a prescription. Supporters say over-the-counter sy
Scientists have developed a new tool for detecting infectious disease that, some experts said, could significantly enhance the containment of epidemics or the early warning of bioterrorist attacks. The method, developed by Chad A. Mirkin of Northwestern University s Institute for Nanotechnology and announced Thursday,
Charity: Future of Pallotta TeamWorks, also organizer of breast cancer walks, is in limbo. The fate of a fund-raising company that pioneered the AIDS bike ride and three-day breast cancer walks remained up in the air Monday after the Los Angeles-based firm closed its doors. Pallotta TeamWorks announced over the weekend
Even from my office in Ghana , it was clear that the recent U.S. decision to cancel this year s contribution to the United Nations Population Fund had nothing to do with China s abortion policies and everything to do with politics. But that didn t stop my blood from boiling. How could one man-- albeit the U.S. presiden
WASHINGTON -- Over the decade ending in 2000, Los Angeles dramatically boosted its public health ranking to 15th of the nation s 100 most populous cities, up from 62nd in 1990, according to a study of national health data released Tuesday by the State University of New York. Los Angeles achieved national goals set for
An impasse was declared Wednesday in the prostitution trial of a woman who is HIV-positive after the Superior Court jury reported that it was deadlocked. Judge Arthur M. Lew dismissed the panel and set Aug. 7 as a pretrial hearing date for Panchita Hall, who will be retried under a 1988 state law that requires convicte
A jury was seated Monday in the Compton Superior Court trial of a 46-year-old woman who is HIV-positive and accused of engaging in prostitution. Panchita Hall was charged under a 1988 state law that requires convicted prostitutes who have been informed that they are HIV-positive to be charged with a felony upon their n
Discussion of two recent controversies--Louis Rukeyser s bitter exit from the long-running financial program Wall Street Week, and the potential presence of an HIV-positive Muppet on the children s show Sesame Street --dominated PBS session with television reporters gathered in Pasadena on Friday. PBS President and Chi
The Internet opens up a universe of possibilities for gay men seeking casual trysts. Some officials see a public health nightmare. A year after testing positive for HIV, a 40-year-old entertainment publicist returns time and again to the bathhouse in his backyard. Inside a cinder-block shed, with jazz blaring in the ba
Frustrated by federal efforts to stymie the medicinal use of marijuana, San Francisco is considering a novel and potentially provocative new twist--growing its own pot. A measure is headed onto the November ballot asking San Francisco voters whether the municipal government should explore cultivating and distributing c
Growing up in South-Central Los Angeles, Lori-Ann Jones never crossed paths with Panchita Hall. Jones went to Washington High School and Loyola Marymount University, picked up a law degree in Sacramento and became a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney. Hall got as far as a diploma from Manual Arts High, then be
In the two months since Ventura County began recording the number of new HIV cases to better track the spread of the virus that causes AIDS, 120 new cases have been reported. And county public health officials estimate there may actually be as many as 1,200 cases locally. As of July 1, state public health officials are
Elizabeth Jensen And Lisa Fackler, Times Staff Writers
The Public Broadcasting Service sent a letter to a group of concerned lawmakers Tuesday assuring them that no public funding is going toward the introduction of an HIV-positive Muppet in the South African production of the children s show Sesame Street, while reiterating that there are no plans to introduce a similar c
BARCELONA, Spain -- Frustration was palpable in the hallways and meeting rooms here as the 14th International AIDS Conference drew to a close amid protests against drug companies and Western governments, dire forecasts about the epidemic s toll and limited prospects for new treatments. Activists decried what they s
BARCELONA, Spain -- The number of children worldwide who have lost at least one parent to AIDS has skyrocketed from 1 million in 1991 to 13.4 million this year, and the total will double by 2010, according to an international report issued here Wednesday at the 14th International AIDS Conference. This is one of th
BARCELONA, Spain -- In one of the great triumphs of the fight against AIDS, physicians have reduced the number of U.S. infants born with HIV infections by 80% since 1991, according to the latest estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But experts cautioned Tuesday that the numbers could rise
BARCELONA, Spain -- The U.S. and Thai governments will shortly begin the largest trial yet of a preventive AIDS vaccine, testing a combination of vaccines on more than 16,000 subjects in the general Thai population, researchers from the two countries announced here Monday at the 14th International AIDS Conference.
BARCELONA, Spain -- AIDS in the United States has changed dramatically in the last decade, from an epidemic afflicting primarily gay and drug-using white men to a scourge of the African American community, participants in the 14th International AIDS Conference were told Sunday. About 15,000 scientists, educators, j
BARCELONA, Spain -- Trials of the first completely new AIDS drug in six years indicate it is an effective weapon for treating HIV infections that are resistant to other families of medications, researchers will report here today. The drug, called T-20, is the first member of a long-awaited family of drugs called fusion
BARCELONA, Spain -- At least one in every four San Franciscans newly infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, contracts a form that is resistant to one or more of the commonly used AIDS drugs, researchers said here Saturday. As a result of this resistance, it takes at least three times as long to bring these infe
LUANDA, Angola -- A crowd gathers at a dusty outdoor social center in the Morro Bento neighborhood here to watch as a young man tries to persuade a teenage prostitute to have sex with him--without using a condom. The man offers to pay double, arguing that using the contraceptive will ruin his fun. But the sex worker st
More than 68 million people will die of AIDS in the next two decades unless massive intervention efforts are begun immediately, according to a grim new UNAIDS report issued Tuesday. About 22 million people have already died of AIDS worldwide and another 40 million are now HIV-positive, but the numbers are going to grow
Public health officials in California today will begin requiring physicians and laboratories to report new HIV cases to the state, hoping to better track the disease as it spreads and better target prevention and treatment dollars. The new policy is a departure from the practice of tracking only cases of full-blown AID
A smiling cartoon penis will star in a syphilis awareness campaign to be unveiled this week in San Francisco to stem sharp increases in the sexually transmitted disease among gay men. But the Healthy Penis 2002 campaign--and its motto, Making every penis a healthy penis --has been rejected in Los Angeles County because
WASHINGTON -- President Bush pledged Wednesday to seek an additional $300 million to help nations in Africa and the Caribbean protect infants from the spread of HIV, which experts say infects 2,000 newborns every day. The global devastation of HIV/AIDS staggers the imagination and shocks the conscience, Bush said in a
A bill to be considered by the Assembly Health Committee today would allow adults 18 and older to buy up to 30 hypodermic needles or syringes at licensed pharmacies without a doctor s prescription. The purpose of the bill is to save lives in California, said Sue North, chief of staff for its author, state Sen. John Vas
Re Clean Needles Big Payoff, Editorial, May 29: Your editorial on the passage of SB 1785 by the state Senate was right on. I was disappointed but not surprised to see that state senators from Orange County voted against it. People confuse making syringes available with encouraging injection of illicit drugs. As a retir
Fifteen-year-old Tammy left a short but telling message in an Internet chat room: If it wasn t for camp, I would have committed suicide. Tammy, who did not want her last name used, was born with the virus that causes AIDS, a disease which she can only discuss with a few close friends at the school she attends in Paramo
NAIROBI, Kenya -- By 2010, the United Nations expects 20 million children in sub-Saharan Africa to be so-called AIDS orphans, their parents having succumbed to the deadly disease. The AIDS pandemic has already left 14 million African children parentless. Many are now cared for by aging grandparents. Others, barely able
The California AIDS Ride concluded its seven-day, 575-mile trek Saturday in Santa Monica, ending a tumultuous year for an event that has become the granddaddy of cycling treks in support of AIDS research. After a 12-month period that has seen the loss of a major corporate sponsor, the withdrawal of the two major benefi
Magic Johnson, whose legendary basketball career was defined by his passion for the game, couldn t help himself Wednesday when he was introduced as one of the newest members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He got choked up. That s it for me, the former Laker great explained after a luncheon at the Bil
Los Angeles County death rates have dropped by 26% in the last decade, giving county residents a life expectancy two years greater than the national average, according to data released Wednesday by the county Department of Health Services. Despite the fact that medical advances and prevention programs are helping to st
For the third year in a row, Rancho Alamitos High School, home to just 1,600 students, raised more money than any other school in the 16th AIDS Walk Orange County. We consider this a very good project, said Julie Le of Rancho Alamitos, who was joined on Sunday s walk at UC Irvine by more than 50 of her classmates. Thi
With church scandals, Internet porn and teenage romance, sex education could be one of the most wide-ranging and important subjects taught in middle and high school, some child psychologists say. Yet for better or worse, most of the nation s sex-ed classes focus on a handful of subjects--including anatomy, abstinence,
Women are generally discouraged from taking prescription drugs while pregnant, but some must do so to protect their health. Now they can take comfort in knowing they may be able to help others coming after them. The FDA s Office of Women s Health earlier this month launched a Web site to help women locate studies, call
WASHINGTON -- More than 18,000 working-age adults died prematurely in 2000 because they lacked health insurance, according to a report released Tuesday by the Institute of Medicine. While previous studies have shown that the uninsured get less medical care and generally are in poorer health than people with insurance,
After a week of triumph and tragedy, 670 cyclists rode into Los Angeles on Sunday, ending a 600-mile trek to raise money for HIV and AIDS services and educational programs. The inaugural AIDS/LifeCycle was born last fall out of a falling-out between two nonprofit agencies and the promoter of the California AIDS Ride, L
Pearl Jemison-Smith, a founding board member of the AIDS Services Foundation, and co-chair of AIDS Walk Orange County
The Declaration of Independence states that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable rights. We as a nation stress saving lives. We are concerned about driving as a risky activity so we have seat belts, air bags and speed limits. After Sept. 11, we acted rapidly to put security measures in place, spen
Los Angeles police arrested a man in the City of Commerce who is suspected of using a syringe allegedly contaminated with HIV to commit a series of robberies on Whittier Boulevard. Ray Prado, 27, was taken into custody at his home, said Ed Funes, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. The robberies occurred
Eric Lichtblau And Geoffrey Mohan, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON -- With the personal blessing of Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft, the Justice Department has decided to grant semi-permanent immigration status to a 4-year-old Thai boy who has become an international poster child for the ills of trafficking in humans, officials said. The decision helps a Los Angeles couple who are
California doctors should stop prescribing a widely used, inexpensive class of antibiotics to treat gonorrhea because a growing number of infections have grown resistant to the drugs, known as fluoroquinolones, federal health officials said Thursday. The antibiotic family includes Cipro, which gained fame last fall for
It surfaced, he says, as a physical yearning, the year after his lover died of AIDS. He needed to parent someone, to raise a child, to create a family. His gay friends thought I d gone crazy when he began exploring adoption options. After all, he d been diagnosed four years earlier with HIV, and early death was then co
Doctors and laboratories for the first time will be required to report newly diagnosed cases of HIV to public health officials, California health officials said Friday. Under the new system, which takes effect July 1, medical providers would use numerical codes rather than names to correspond to HIV-positive patients.
HURON, S.D. -- Here they are, college students from big cities in Texas and Florida, Michigan and Arizona, living in a frozen farm town where the most lively clubs around are the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. They are young and feel invincible. And they are bored. So, many students at SiTanka Huron
Talk about throwing good money after bad. Five years ago, Congress appropriated $250 million to teach teenagers about sex. But the money could be spent only to teach them to say no. A study released last week found that this federal gag rule on realistic sex education may be doing nothing to cut teenage pregnancies.
A South Dakota college basketball player who tested positive for HIV was arrested this week in a case that has led health officials to two other new infections and what they are calling a web of sexual contacts that numbers in the hundreds. The cases--and the great number of people believed exposed--have rocked a state
Efforts to contain a syphilis surge among gay men in California and elsewhere have been stymied by a failure among many gay leaders to portray outbreaks as possible precursors to a rise in HIV, health experts and some AIDS activists say. The leadership out of the gay community on this issue has essentially been absent,
Peter Biehl, who along with his wife channeled the pain of their daughter Amy s murder by a mob in South Africa into a passion for alleviating poverty and violence there, has died. He was 59. Biehl, of La Quinta, died Sunday at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage of complications from colon cancer, which was rec
SAN FRANCISCO -- A former city health commissioner here was ordered to pay $5 million for allegedly infecting a former lover with HIV and lying about his medical condition. Superior Court Commissioner Loretta M. Norris ordered former official Ronald Hill to pay the award, which included $2.5 million in punitive damages
Outbreaks of syphilis among gay men in large urban areas, particularly in California, are threatening to reverse progress toward eliminating the disease in this country. In San Francisco, the number of new infectious cases grew from a historic low of 26 in 1998 to 139 last year. Officials there say the total could easi
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The government on Monday lost a court appeal that could have allowed it to continue restricting access to a key drug for thousands of pregnant women who are HIV-positive. Reaffirming an earlier ruling, a Pretoria high court ordered the government to provide the anti-AIDS drug
Leaders of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center--caught in an escalating controversy over competing AIDS fund-raiser bicycle rides--fired 60 employees Friday as part of a far-reaching reorganization. Operators of the 30-year-old Hollywood center said they face a $4.5-million budget shortfall, caused primarily by costs and
Racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower-quality health care than whites, irrespective of income, age or insurance status, according to a new report by the National Academies Institute of Medicine. Disparities are particularly evident in the treatment of chronic illnesses. Minorities are less likely to underg
QINGDAO, China -- Shut up in his tiny, smoke-filled office, Zhang Beichuan sits hunched at his desk, editing a small but groundbreaking magazine. It has an innocuous title--Friend Exchange--and an even more innocuous look. Articles are printed on plain white paper. There are no photos, no fancy graphics, no splashy ads
Aiming to spread the message of loving responsibly, county officials are launching a $1-million HIV prevention campaign that shies away from explicit images but is intended to reach at-risk minorities. The campaign consists of text-only bilingual billboards that include AIDS awareness messages such as Respecting Yourse
SAN FRANCISCO -- Public health officials here are making an unusual appeal to federal regulators to warn consumers that use of the sexual impotence drug Viagra is linked to gonorrhea transmission. The data s clear, the evidence is strong, said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, director of sexually transmitted disease control for t
AIDS activists supported by South Los Angeles Rep. Maxine Waters announced Monday the filing of a class-action lawsuit asking that federal courts prohibit California prisons from cutting inmates hair with unsterilized clippers. At a news conference in the Crenshaw district, a dozen representatives of various organizati
AIDS researchers don t like to admit that the field is in a slump, but it is hard to escape that conclusion. There have been no major breakthroughs since the development of protease inhibitors six years ago. Many patients have stopped taking anti-AIDS drugs because of a growing incidence of both side effects and resist
With cameras around their necks and a mandate to photograph whatever intrigued them, they went off for two weeks to document life in South Africa from their perspective--that of 8- to 16-year-old urban Los Angeles kids. They came home with stunning images--of AIDS orphans, the homeless, anti-American protesters, abject
SEATTLE -- Researchers have for the first time found a way to identify people who are likely to suffer severe allergic reactions to the widely used AIDS drug abacavir . About 5% of patients who receive the drug suffer vomiting, fever, rash and shortness of breath after taking it. In those cases, continued use of the dr
Seattle -- The first human studies of a highly anticipated proposed AIDS vaccine indicate that it produces a response in the immune system that may help keep HIV infections in check, researchers said yesterday. If the vaccine is proved ultimately to work -- something that won t be known for several more years -- it wou
SEATTLE -- As many as 1 million Americans are now living with HIV infections and about half are undiagnosed or untreated, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said here Monday. AIDS death rates in the U.S. have declined sharply because of successful therapies. As recently as 1996, the last year before new com
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The government here launched a full-court press Friday to clarify its position on the use of anti-AIDS drugs and quiet a storm of criticism. At a regular Cabinet meeting earlier in the week, authorities resolved to step up efforts to eliminate inconsistencies in what activists, health offi
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The government s AIDS policy is facing a serious challenge as key South African politicians, medical specialists and church leaders rebel against state restrictions on the distribution of drugs that could curb the spread of the disease. In recent months, five of the country s nine province
Cocaine speeds the spread of HIV in mice and probably does the same in humans, according to UCLA researchers. Dr. Gayle Baldwin and her colleagues injected cocaine or a placebo into mice with an HIV infection. They reported Thursday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases that the mice who received cocaine had 200 times
SCIENCE FICTIONS: A Scientific Mystery, Massive Cover-Up, and the Dark Legacy of Robert Gallo, by John Crewdson. Little, Brown: 672 pp., $27.95. In the history of science, as in other fields, there have certainly been scandals and controversial figures: researchers who planted archeological finds made from clay, fudged
The number of AIDS cases reported in California dropped to a 15-year low in 2001, officials said, largely because of prescription drugs that can keep the full-blown disease at bay for years. In 2001, the state Department of Health Services received 4,227 reports of new AIDS cases, down 11.2% from 2000. In 1993, the sta
After spending 73 days in a San Francisco jail, two aggressive AIDS activists have posted a reduced bail and are now free until their trial on numerous felonies and misdemeanors. Protesters Michael Petrelis and David Pasquarelli were released last week after their supporters posted a combined $220,000 bond. Until then,
West Hollywood s gay and lesbian community was boiling over with frustration in 1991. Gov. Pete Wilson had just vetoed a major gay rights bill, sparking statewide protests. The AIDS epidemic continued to claim lives. And when the Los Angeles County Sheriff s Department fired a gay deputy amid cries of discrimination, a
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- South African President Thabo Mbeki vowed Friday to intensify his government s fight against the country s AIDS epidemic, restore land to thousands of families evicted under apartheid, and work to ensure a fair presidential election in neighboring Zimbabwe .
NASSAU, Bahamas -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell engaged in tough-love diplomacy Thursday with the island nations of the Caribbean, resisting appeals to free up $200 million in financial aid for the troubled government of Haiti . The funds are being withheld by the Inter-American Development Bank because of concer
With seven new cases of HIV reported among children in January, Los Angeles County health officials issued a public alert Monday urging pregnant women to be tested and treated to forestall these largely preventable infections. By taking anti-AIDS drugs during pregnancy and avoiding breastfeeding after birth, HIV-positi
Polls show Americans believe that about 15% of the federal budget goes for foreign aid. The actual number is less than 1%, a dismal figure that would remain about the same under President Bush s $2.1-trillion budget for next year. There are numerous competing priorities for the taxpayer s money. Last September s terror
Jim Bloor was 41 and physically fit, with no history of heart trouble, when he began having chest pains during a visit to Los Angeles in 1997. Doctors initially told him he was too young for cardiac problems. As a cardiologist performed a stress test to pin down the symptoms, Bloor went into cardiac arrest. His heart s
The powerful drug cocktails that have enabled AIDS patients to live longer, healthier lives are now suspected of causing heart disease in some of the very people they ve saved. Cardiologists and AIDS specialists across the country say they are seeing an increasing number of patients on the drugs who have suddenly suffe
Law: Police concede to therapists and strike a requirement they say was from a bygone era when prostitutes regularly used massage parlors as fronts. Huntington Beach police announced Friday that they will scrap a 17-year-old vice-squad requirement that all city massage therapists be tested regularly for sexually transm
President Bush faces a test today that pits his stated concern for the welfare of Afghan and other Third World women and children against a demand by abortion opponents. He will decide whether to release the money Congress appropriated late last year to support health care and family planning in Afghanis
A Los Angeles judge on Monday waved the green flag allowing two competing San Francisco-to-Los Angeles bicycle rides to raise money for AIDS charities in May and June. The action was greeted with jubilation by the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which may now proceed with the
A diet low in salt and meat may be the best way to reduce the risk of having kidney stones, Italian researchers have found in a study that upsets the conventional wisdom that a low-calcium diet is the best preventive measure. The Italian study found that the low-salt, low-meat diet reduced the risk of subsequent kidney
Federal inspectors have embarked on a comprehensive review of AIDS prevention grants, spurred by fears among some legislators that the latest marketing campaigns aren t working and exceed the bounds of good taste. Where s the data that all the billions we spent over the last 10 years has slowed or stemmed the spread of
On his sixth day without food, the Rev. M. Andrew Robinson-Gaither, already a slim man, is noticeably leaner. Leaner, but not at all hungry, he said. Since Kwanzaa began the day after Christmas, he had led his South-Central Los Angeles church on a seven-day fast to focus attention on the dwindling resources of the chur
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