A homeless shelter being built at the former Tustin Marine base received $1 million in construction funds Thursday, the largest of seven grants given to low-income housing projects in Orange County. The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, a federally sponsored lender that provides low-interest mortgages to low-inc
UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan would like to talk about something other than Iraq . In a year-end news conference, the U.N. leader lamented Thursday that the focus on that conflict had taken attention away from other major problems that cause more daily insecurity than do terrorism or unconventional weap
People who use marijuana for medical purposes won a victory Tuesday from a federal appeals court that ruled they cannot be prosecuted by the federal government so long as they grow their own or obtain pot from other growers without charge. The 2-1 decision from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco wo
John Giebeler, a former psychiatric technician earning $36,000 per year, is disabled by AIDS and unable to work. He receives $837 per month from Social Security disability insurance and a $300 to $400 monthly housing subsidy from the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS program. To reduce his apartment rental cos
This week brought reasons to question the highfalutin pledges by U.S. leaders to battle AIDS, which killed 3 million people this year, and HIV, which infected 5 million. On Wednesday, Bush administration officials announced plans to scale back commitments to fight AIDS and poverty by more than 80% between now and 2008.
WASHINGTON - The House wrapped up legislative business for 2003 Monday by passing a $328-billion spending bill that is a testament to how much power President Bush has wielded over Congress this year. The bill, which was approved, 242 to 176, sticks to the budget guidelines set by Bush and, over the objection of many o
Luis Molina was worried. He had gotten off track in junior high school and was having trouble getting back on. I was heading in a bad direction, said Molina, now 18. I was doing pretty bad, hanging out with the wrong crowd, trying to impress my friends. He was ready for a change, though, so the summer after his freshma
BEIJING - Premier Wen Jiabao shook hands last week with AIDS patients, the first Chinese leader to do so publicly. In a country where HIV-positive people are beaten, tattooed and treated like pariahs, it was a significant signal from a top official. It s the kind of assignment Wen is good at, part of a new administrati
Los Angeles County residents commemorated World AIDS Day with rallies, fairs and fundraisers Monday, as tens of thousands of people around the globe paid their respects to the 8,000 who die from the disease every day. World AIDS Day really is just a day to remember individuals who have died and a reminder that the epid
Some Congress members have overstepped their legitimate role of overseeing federally funded scientific research by threatening to cut off money for nearly 200 grants to study sexual behavior. The funding is channeled through the National Institutes of Health. This month, pressure from House Republicans led Northwestern
The global spread of AIDS shows no sign of slackening, with an estimated 3 million deaths this year, according to the United Nations annual report on the epidemic released Tuesday. The report found the number of new HIV infections in 2003 totaled 5 million, or about 14,000 people a day - the highest number ever. On
In a victory for advocates of medicinal marijuana, officers of a defunct West Hollywood cannabis club were sentenced Monday to one year of probation for growing and selling marijuana to hundreds of people with cancer, AIDS and other serious ailments. In imposing the minimum allowable sentence, U.S. District Judge A. Ho
Like anti-apartheid protesters, Zackie Achmat was willing to die for his cause, and today he is alive in spite of it. So it was all the sweeter for the renowned South African AIDS activist to learn, during a visit to Los Angeles last week, that his movement has just won an unexpected battle - if not yet the war - in th
The number of syphilis cases rose nationwide in 2002 for the second straight year, and San Francisco had the highest rate of infection in the nation, federal health officials said this week. From 2001 to 2002, the overall rate of syphilis increased 9.1%, from 2.2 cases to 2.4 cases per 100,000 population - the highest
BEIJING - Former President Clinton warned Monday that the hard-won progress China has made in building its economy and expanding its middle class could erode if its AIDS problem isn t brought under control. China has come too far to see the future of millions of its people derailed over this, he told delegates at a c
An Orange County woman is suing an Irvine restaurant, saying she found a condom in her clam chowder. Laila Sultan, 48, said she was eating at McCormick & Schmick s Seafood Restaurant on Feb. 26, 2002, when something rubbery stuck to her tooth. We said, Of course. You re chewing on a clam, said Paula Wild, one of th
Whey is a watery byproduct of cheese production and one of the two major protein groups in milk (the other is casein). Whey contains fat and lactose, but supplements called whey protein isolates can contain little or no fat and lactose. * Uses: Whey proteins are used most often by athletes to build muscle mass. They a
The U.S. Supreme Court pulled a shocker Tuesday when it let stand a controversial appeals court ruling that effectively lifts the federal threat against doctors who recommend marijuana in states where the practice is legal. The high court s decision not to accept an appeal of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rulin
David G. Savage and Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writers
The Supreme Court ruling shields Western state doctors from punishment if they recommend marijuana to their patients. WASHINGTON - Doctors in California and other Western states may recommend the use of marijuana to their patients without fear that they will be investigated or punished by federal authorities. In a vi
For the first time, the Supreme Court considers letting the U.S. enforce a 1998 law to shield minors from explicit sex on the Web. WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it would decide whether the government could make it a crime for a commercial Web site to make available sexually explicit material to minor
Outgoing Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill Friday that requires that all pregnant women in California be offered an HIV test. The bill, written by Assemblyman John Dutra (D-Fremont), was widely backed by an array of health advocates, who say the testing program will lead to fewer infections of newborns by women with HIV.
Marijuana can ease pain even for longtime sufferers of disease, but the illegal herb s mind-altering properties make it less than ideal as a medication. German researchers now have found that a synthetic version of one of many marijuana compounds safely reduced chronic nerve pain without impairing thinking and behavior
Federal waiver is sought so fuel-efficient vehicles can use carpool lanes. One new law protects women hospital patients from invasive exams. With just a few days remaining before voters decide whether to recall him, Gov. Gray Davis took a flurry of actions that would do everything from opening the state s carpool lanes
Astragalus membranaceus, a small, bushy plant native to northern China , has been used for centuries in Asia to enhance the immune system. The first half of its Chinese name, huang qi (yellow leader), comes from the color at the core of its medicinal roots. The latter half stems from the plant s reputed ability to imp
SACRAMENTO - In the seven years since California legalized marijuana as medicine, a vexing question has remained unresolved: How much pot should patients be allowed to possess? A bill that would limit the ill to six plants or a half-pound of pot is headed to the desk of Gov. Gray Davis. But the measure by state Sen. Jo
SACRAMENTO - In a defeat for Gov. Gray Davis, the California Supreme Court on Wednesday let stand a ruling that he should not have denied parole for an ailing inmate imprisoned more than 18 years for a drug-related killing in Los Angeles. The high court s decision not to review the case involving Mark Smith means that
Plenty of noble words about the need to fight AIDS gushed from the United Nations podium this week. We must shatter the silence that kills, said Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. French President Jacques Chirac agreed, adding that the world must unite in a struggle on behalf of life. Listeners could be forgiven if th
Doctors would be required to offer a voluntary HIV test to all pregnant women in California - even those in stable marriages - under a bill the Legislature sent to Gov. Gray Davis earlier this month. The bill s purpose is to prevent the human immunodeficiency virus from being transmitted from mothers to their babies. T
St. John s wort may interact with more medications than previously thought, a new study suggests. If you take the supplement, tell your doctor. Patients who take St. John s wort to treat mild depression may be setting themselves up for even greater problems, especially if they don t tell their physicians about their us
SAN FRANCISCO - In a rare prosecution under a controversial AIDS law, a former city health commissioner was arrested on charges that he had purposely exposed partners to the disease through unprotected sex. Ronald Hill was taken into custody at his home in Nevada County late Tuesday under a two-count indictment handed
Deborah Milligan looks the part of the Southern California surfer girl. With her blond hair tied back into a ponytail, her tan skin draped in linen and beachcombing flip-flops on her feet, she could blend right in with the denizens of her native Newport Beach. But for more than a year, Milligan saw more funerals than b
The gumshoes of the Justice Department must love Tommy Chong, the aging comedian/actor who until recently had a business making expensive blown-glass bongs. That s bongs, not bombs. Chong was sentenced Thursday to nine months in federal prison for sending one of those art-glass smoking devices across state lines. Unlik
Glendale has been awarded $6.6 million in federal grants to create jobs, affordable housing and emergency shelter for its homeless, low-income families and people living with HIV/AIDS, officials announced Friday. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials said the funding signaled the federal agency s commit
SAN FRANCISCO - Thomas Lister awkwardly faced the roomful of strangers, offering the intimate details of his five-month sexual affair with former city health commissioner Ron Hill. Testifying before a grand jury here last week, the 38-year-old former brokerage manager described his sense of outrage and betrayal at lear
A human rights advocacy group Tuesday accused police in California of routinely interfering with legitimate needle-exchange programs intended to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C . Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group, alleged in a report that police intent on enforcing drug laws often arrest or hassle
When U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick left Qatar nearly two years ago after launching World Trade Organization talks there aimed at opening markets for farm goods and manufactured products, he was riding a wave of sympathy from the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But ba
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Standing 7 feet and 1 inch tall, weighing 188 pounds and wearing a size 18½ shoe, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Fall hopes that his physique and talent may one day land him a spot in America s premier basketball league. The prospect of playing in the National Basketball Assn. dominated his thoughts
SACRAMENTO - With accusations of sloppy lawmaking echoing through the Legislature, California lawmakers advanced bills Thursday that would crack down on corporate fraud, require safety devices on handguns and raise fees on garbage collection. Assembly Republicans accused majority Democrats of abusing their leadership
Quiet efforts to persuade some of the nation s largest producers of condoms to stop using a spermicide that may increase the risk of HIV and urinary tract infections haven t worked, so several legislators, AIDS activists and women s groups set out Wednesday to shame them into it. At a news conference in Sacramento, Ass
The happiest days for Dr. Louise Markert are when she opens her mail and finds a photograph of a grinning youngster. It s evidence that the painstaking research she began 10 years ago has been well worth it. I just love that - getting the school pictures, says the pediatric immunologist at Duke University Medical Cente
Marco Correa s wake-up call came last spring when a friend was diagnosed with AIDS. He was this very cheerful person, and then all of a sudden he started getting sick, said the 27-year-old Los Angeles businessman. They diagnosed him, and that opened my eyes. Before that, Correa lived like many of his young peers, usual
SANTA CRUZ - As another summer day fades, the sick and dying begin to gather. An elderly woman leans unsteadily on her walker. A hip young paraplegic fellow glides his electric wheelchair past a dapper old man clutching a cane. Men wiry with AIDS sidle into folding chairs in the cramped meeting hall. A blind man hunke
The honeymoon in Costa Rica was everything the East Coast couple had dreamed about. The rain forests were lush and calm, the breezes tropical. The nightmare began two weeks later, when they noticed painful, pimple-like areas on their scalps and shoulders. They had seen several doctors who weren t sure what it was, say
When Dick was a toddler, not quite old enough to go to Sunday School, he used to tag along with his father to church. Before the service, Dick and his dad would listen to lectures in the church on astronomy and science. So here s this 3-year-old kid watching slideshows and observing science, Dick said. When I started g
For the second time in 16 months, Food and Drug Administration officials have ordered Gilead Sciences Inc. to stop downplaying the risks and exaggerating the benefits of its hot-selling AIDS drug, Viread . In a warning letter to the biotechnology company, the FDA
The 4-year-old s blood pressure was falling when she landed in the intensive care unit of a Fresno hospital last week. Her breathing was shallow; she was on the verge of cardiac arrest. She had a huge tumor in her abdomen the size of a baseball wrapping around the big vein and artery in her belly, said Dr. Robert Diman
Two AIDS activists in San Francisco pleaded no contest this week to misdemeanor counts of making threatening or annoying phone calls to public health officials and newspaper reporters in late 2001. Visiting Superior Court Judge Raymond Arata sentenced Michael Petrelis and David Pasquarelli to three years probation as w
Male patrons at gay bathhouses who were tested for the virus that causes AIDS were infected at a rate twice that of men tested in public clinics or community-based agencies, a new Los Angeles County study found. In response, health officials suggested that an increase in such voluntary testing and in safe-sex education
U.S. increase is the first in a decade. HIV cases also rose last year. The CDC calls it a disturbing sign that efforts to fight the disease have stalled. For the first time in a decade, the number of new AIDS cases in the U.S. has increased - an unsettling sign that efforts to combat the deadly disease have stalled, th
Birth control has been dominated for decades by hormones and barriers, or more specifically, pills, condoms and diaphragms. But the next generation of contraceptives may prevent pregnancy by blocking specific genes and proteins. Using technological advances from the fields of molecular biology, genetics and genomics, r
A good buddy of my dad s was complaining the other day about President Bush s plan to spend $15 billion over the next five years to help African and Caribbean nations fight AIDS and the virus that causes the disease. What s the point of that? he griped. We got enough problems here with the economy. Hey pal, why don t y
He was one of about half a dozen illegal immigrants caught in a sweep last month in San Juan Capistrano. His plea to them - that he be allowed to remain in Orange County and care for an HIV-infected boy he had helped raise - went unheeded, and he was deported. On Monday, with a one-day visa, Hermenegildo Ortega returne
Raised in a Christian home in affluent Irvine, Jo Marie Janco s parents instilled in her and her younger brother compassion for the poor. My parents are Christian and I m Christian, she said. Love isn t really anything unless you show it It s too much to see this kind of pain without doing anything about it. When
The featured speaker at the Rev. Herb Hall s memorial service Thursday will be Herb Hall. The evangelist, credited with helping close the gap of ignorance and fear that stood between HIV-infected Christians and their churches, videotaped a message for family and friends three weeks before he died July 12 in Garden Grov
Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc. soared 13% on Monday after the Foster City, Calif.-based company said second-quarter results would surpass expectations on strong sales of its HIV drug Viread . The biotechnology firm s shares touched a 52-week high of $68.
Increased international travel and growing human contact with creatures of forests, swamps and jungles create more opportunities for new and potentially lethal infections to sweep the globe - and contaminate our blood supply. West Nile virus, SARS and monkeypox have all surfaced recently in the United States, and at le
ABUJA, Nigeria - Midway into his five-nation tour of Africa, President Bush visited a regional trade show in Gaborone, Botswana , where he mingled with vendors and eyed their wares: a kaleidoscope of fabrics, animal hide, faux ostrich eggs, glassware and candles. The vendors all had benefited from the African Growt
Having seen apartheid come and go, writer Nadine Gordimer is still giving witness to the societal travails of South Africa . In a parlor dominated by dark antique furniture, a beamed ceiling and the overpowering aroma of fresh-cut tropical blooms, South African novelist Nadine Gordimer sets down a heavy tea tray. The
On a visit to a clinic in Uganda , Bush praises that country s efforts to cut the rate of infection and pledges U.S. help to fight the disease. ENTEBBE, Uganda - Five months after launching his campaign to help an AIDS-ravaged continent, President Bush on Friday came face to face with what he called the deadliest ene
The president meets privately with two dozen AIDS patients and found it a moving experience, an aide says. ENTEBBE, Uganda - Five months after launching his $15-billion anti-AIDS initiative, President Bush came face to face today with what he called the deadliest enemy Africa has ever seen. You know, it s one thi
As the president assures Africa of his intention to help, critics decry the GOP s scaled-back amount. WASHINGTON - As President Bush pledged U.S. assistance to fight AIDS during his tour of Africa on Thursday, Democrats accused him and the Republican leadership in Congress of shortchanging a recently enacted campaign a
Can anything really come out of President Bush s visit to Africa, a continent so poor that it accounts for only 2% of the world s economic output even though it holds 13% of the world s population? The short answer - counterintuitive, perhaps, given Africa s image in many circles as long-suffering and forever destined
GOREE ISLAND, Senegal - Calling slavery one of the greatest crimes of history, President Bush on Tuesday launched a five-day African visit with a pilgrimage to this onetime staging area for traders who dispatched their manacled captives to the New World. Under a punishing midday sun, with the shimmering Atlantic Ocean
Africa doesn t fit into the national strategic interests, as far as I can see them, George W. Bush declared three years ago as he campaigned for the White House. His five-day, five-nation African tour, which began Monday, shows just how much the president s perspective has changed. In meetings Wednesday with South Afri
Dakar, Senegal -- President Bush s five-nation swing through Africa, beginning today in Senegal, underscores how the region has climbed on the administration s agenda, as growing political instability and staggering humanitarian problems threaten U.S. interests. The AIDS pandemic and the gradual spread of freedom, two
The Rev. Carroll Barbour, a retired Episcopal priest who transformed a stodgy Hollywood church into a thriving spiritual haven for people with HIV and AIDS, died Tuesday at his home in Coto de Caza from complications of a pulmonary disorder. He was 72. Barbour became rector of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Hollywood
An HIV medication made by Gilead Sciences Inc. received regulatory approval Wednesday, positioning the Foster City, Calif.-based company to become a formidable competitor in the multibillion-dollar AIDS drug business. It was the second potentially lucrative HIV drug from Gilead to win approval from the Food and Drug A
The rapid-result procedure has been used overseas for years. Officials hope to offer it at clinics, hospitals, jails and sex clubs. After months of anticipation - and delay - a rapid HIV test became available to the public Friday in California, allowing people to know in 20 minutes if they are infected with the deadly
Violence has escalated there after a cease-fire unraveled. U.S. pledges $100 million to Africa s war on terror as presidential visit nears. WASHINGTON - As a prelude to his trip to Africa early next month, President Bush on Thursday called for the resignation of Liberia s warlord president, Charles Taylor, and pledged
On the face of it, it s an innocuous charity cocktail party at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, a launch for a United Nations-supported CD to benefit people with AIDS. The recordings come from a roster of A-list music stars, from Britney Spears to Mary J. Blige, Paul Simon and Judy Collins. But presiding over tonight s part
Half of the U.S. patients infected with HIV use alternative therapies while taking powerful AIDS drug cocktails, and nearly one in four choose alternative treatments that could interfere with conventional AIDS therapy. And many never share that information with their doctors, researchers have found. Patients often beli
San Francisco health officials are hoping the Internet - a catalyst in the spread of syphilis - will encourage at-risk citizens to get tested and treated for the disease. This week, the San Francisco Department of Public Health - in partnership with Internet Sexuality Information Services and Quest Diagnostics - launch
The pain had been gnawing at the pit of his stomach for months, but Carlos Suarez - homeless, with no money and no health insurance - didn t think he was sick enough to see a doctor. That changed after he was persuaded to sit down at a new, computerized health screening station recently placed at the downtown Los Angel
Second of two parts. The project attracts job-seekers and prostitutes. Experts say that boosts HIV risk. KOME, Chad -- Hundreds of African men looking for jobs have congregated in a shantytown here just outside the remote headquarters of a $3.7-billion oil pipeline project. ExxonMobil Corp. officials call the shant
Four months after assuring a controversial San Francisco group that its HIV-prevention strategies were acceptable, federal health officials reversed themselves on Friday, saying its workshops appear to illegally promote sexual activity. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the nonprofit Stop AIDS P
Eric Bailey and Marcelo Rodriguez, Special to The Times
A judge frees activist who has become a symbol in a clash with the federal government over California s medical marijuana laws. SAN FRANCISCO - Ed Rosenthal has the look of a high school biology teacher and the resume of a stoner. For years he has written passionately about marijuana for High Times magazine, authored b
Cal State Fullerton has announced plans to establish a Center for Community Service Learning at Pa¤¤„sastra University in Cambodia . The joint effort is intended to address community needs such as HIV-AIDS education, literacy and human rights education. The center is supported in part with a $124,000 donation from the
Organizers estimate 15,000 people turn out at UC Irvine to raise $725,000 for prevention and support services. Rossy Jones can be very persuasive. This has become my mission, almost like my own ministry, said Jones, close to tears as she talked about her son Eliot, who died of AIDS 10 years ago. He was 33. I did a lot
Despite public health warnings, 13% of infected adults are still having unprotected sex without revealing their status to partners. Despite AIDS-prevention efforts to promote more responsible sexual behavior, 13% of HIV-infected adults are not disclosing their health status to their partners before engaging in unprotec
Photographer Lincoln Clarkes found beauty in Vancouver s female drug addicts. He didn t know he was also documenting murder. Patricia Rose Johnson was the original heroine. She came stumbling out of a doper s alley behind a Vancouver pawnshop, looking in her brazen, self-destructive beauty like a young Courtney Love. J
Federal drug czar John Walters has plenty of problems on his hands. Crack cocaine use by 10th-graders has climbed for two years. Illegal use of prescription sedatives by older teens is also up. In recent weeks, however, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy has wasted his valuable time not only fre
The Invisible Enemy: A Natural History of Viruses Dorothy H. Crawford Oxford University Press; 276 pages; $14.95 paperback * Although they ve been around since the dawn of life on Earth, viruses weren t seen until 1938, thanks to the invention of the electron microscope. Even so, they ve managed to make their presence
South African children whose parents die of the disease are victims of prejudice and neglect. A group trying to help is overwhelmed. SOWETO, South Africa - Seventeen-year-old Simphiwe Mtshixa sleeps each night in his parents bed, under a maroon satin quilt embroidered with pink and white flowers. Above the bed, on an o
WASHINGTON - Although President Bush once mocked the size of the Senate s $350-billion, 11-year tax cut package as itty-bitty, administration officials Friday heaped praise on the measure for including a temporary repeal of dividend taxes and made clear they would push for a final bill with even more tax reductions.
The Senate early today approved legislation authorizing $15 billion over five years to fight AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and other regions, marking a significant expansion of the U.S. commitment to wage war on the pandemic. With a culminating voice vote of approval after midnight, the Senate passed a glob
In the latest battle over Santa Ana Unified s sex education policy, the school board voted late Tuesday to reject an abstinence-only curriculum, saying it did not meet state requirements. The 3 to 2 vote against Game Plan, an abstinence-centered curriculum the board had been considering since last fall, capped a conten
A divided Riverside County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday rejected proposals to provide drug addicts with access to clean hypodermic needles, a program advocated by the county s top health-care official to stem the spread of hepatitis C and AIDS. The board voted 3 to 2 to forbid needle-exchange clinics in the coun
Despite surging hepatitis C , it will be a tough sell. Key county officials argue that the practice promotes drug abuse. Noting a surge in hepatitis C, Public Health Officer Gary Feldman is urging the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to give drug addicts access to clean needles. The proposal pits the county s
West Hollywood -- Attention, all cats! Interested in making a move? Look no further than West Hollywood, an official animal-cruelty-free zone. No pet owners allowed -- only pet guardians. There s a no-eviction policy if you live with a disabled person or senior citizen in a rent-stabilized apartment. And, as of Wednesd
WASHINGTON - The House on Thursday resoundingly approved President Bush s plan for a new global campaign against AIDS, authorizing billions of dollars to help fight a rampaging epidemic that has killed or infected tens of millions and threatens political stability in some of the world s poorest countries. The legislati
As it turns out, medical news is a lot like a medicine: Too much can be as serious a problem as too little -- and the wrong sort can be downright harmful. That s the persuasive case made by Caltech President David Baltimore, the Nobel Prize-winning virologist, who this week took the U.S. media to task for what he sees
A $15-billion measure to fight the disease globally would allow the use of condoms, something his most faithful supporters have opposed. WASHINGTON - President Bush and some of his die-hard conservative allies are headed for a rare disagreement over his proposal to spend $15 billion to combat the global spread of AIDS,
Hepatitis B, a relatively rare disease in the United States , is a silent killer of people of Asian descent, who are 20 to 30 times more likely to be infected than any other ethnic group. Although they make up 3.6% of the U.S. population, Asians account for half of the nation s patients with the viral disease, which ca
The FemCap barrier is designed to use less spermicide and last longer. The FDA approved its use by prescription. Women have a new contraceptive option in the FemCap, a silicone rubber device that fits snugly over the cervix and blocks the passage of sperm. FemCap, which has been available in some European countries, is
Over the objections of some vocal Lincoln Heights residents, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the construction of an AIDS victims memorial in Lincoln Park. Although most council members said it is difficult to go against the wishes of angry constituents, they voted 10 to 0 to approve the pro
Charles Ornstein, Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times
With 30,000 gay revelers expected for this weekend s White Party in Palm Springs, public health officials and some gay leaders openly worry that it will fan the spread of syphilis. We re nervous that they re going to take it there, and we re nervous that they re going to bring it home, said Dr. Peter Kerndt, director o
Mike Nicholson can stomach the most gruesome of death scenes -- from victims of violent crime and suicide to decomposing corpses -- without so much as a grimace. He even brings a grim sort of humor to his work -- such as his account of a man who shot himself in a sporting goods store. There were parts of him everywhere
The new focus will be on people already infected with the virus, not those who are at risk. AIDS groups criticize change. At stake is $90 million. Federal spending on safe-sex programs to prevent HIV among uninfected people will be curtailed next year in favor of a new campaign to stop the spread of the virus by those
Charles Ornstein and Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writers
Officials fear outbreak from annual party in Palm Springs. Expected are 30,000 gay revelers. With 30,000 gay revelers expected for this weekend s White Party in Palm Springs - a festival famous for sex and substance abuse - public health officials and some gay leaders worry openly that it will fan an epidemic of syphil
Prisons are cited as incubators, but officials make no promises on taking preventive steps. MOSCOW -- While the number of AIDS deaths is still low, an epidemic of HIV infection is raging in Russia , with up to 1.5 million Russians carrying the virus, the country s top expert on the disease said Thursday. Vadim V. P
Federal health officials will unveil a new HIV testing strategy today designed to expand screening among pregnant women and about 200,000 others who are infected with the virus but do not know it. The new strategy by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention specifically urges the testing of all pregnant wome
Rebecca Trounson and Charles Ornstein, Times Staff Writers
A UCLA medical oversight board has found that a researcher violated federal rules by taking part in controversial medical studies in which AIDS patients in China were injected with malaria-infected blood. The university said Tuesday that the oversight board has determined that microbiology professor John L. Fahey was i
Health care providers are hurrying to comply with a federal law that aims to further limit the spread of patient information. Myths and misunderstandings are rampant. A South Carolina company suspended an employee for refusing to divulge her medical records. A New York congresswoman s medical records revealing a suicid
Members renew pledges to assist poor countries that they concede they have failed to fulfill. Reconstruction of Iraq may drain the aid pool. WASHINGTON -- World financial leaders acknowledged Sunday that they are in danger of losing the other war, conceding that their failure to follow through on past pledges is contr
Organizers of an AIDS memorial are asking the city Human Relations Commission to mediate a meeting of the group and some Lincoln Heights residents who allegedly shouted anti-gay sentiments at a recent meeting and have passed out fliers saying that the park memorial is not the way children should learn about the disease
SACRAMENTO -- To curb abuses that include a black market among bodybuilders, California officials said Thursday that they are tightening controls on an expensive AIDS drug that has cost the state s health program for the poor more than $175 million in the past four years. Beginning June 1, Medi-Cal will require that ne
Drug maker Gilead Sciences Inc. today will announce plans to sell its top HIV drug to 68 poor nations at cost, or about one-tenth of its usual price, in a move applauded by AIDS activists. Other drug companies have offered similar low-cost AIDS drug programs. But Charles Farthing, chief of medicine for the AIDS Healthc
The 33-year-old, diagnosed with the virus in prison more than a decade ago, had pleaded no contest to his felony charge. A man convicted of prostitution for a fifth time since he was diagnosed as HIV-positive was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday. Donnie Ray Bobo, 33, pleaded no contest to a felony charge of pros
Some already are, but there are problems with e-mail consultations. Ensuring privacy and that physicians get paid for their time are key. Patients are clamoring for it. Many doctors hate the idea. But the smart money is on the patients to win this one, and it s a biggie: e-mail contact with doctors. E-mail, to state th
ST. LOUIS -- Stephen Mayfield is 19, homeless, broke and infected with HIV. He s run out of second chances. His mom won t take him back. They fight too much. He won t return to his dad s place. Too stifling. He s crashed on the couch of every friend who would take him in, and he has long since worn out his welcome. Las
Parks officials Thursday unanimously approved the construction of an AIDS memorial in Lincoln Park in northeast Los Angeles, as long as the memorial s sponsors meet several conditions. Richard Zaldivar, a longtime Eastside organizer, conceived of the Wall -- Las Memorias project nine years ago to help raise awareness a
Los Angeles County will get $2 million more than it received from the federal government last year to care for people with HIV and AIDS, while assistance to some other major cities is being cut. The money, distributed under the Ryan White CARE Act, is part of $600 million in grants to help local governments provide for
Lisa Richardson and Charles Ornstein, Times Staff Writers
First came euphoria as AIDS advocates in California and elsewhere welcomed a new drug approved to treat patients with advanced stages of the disease. Now comes dismay at its expected annual price tag of $20,000. This is a bittersweet moment, said Daniel Montoya of AIDS Project Los Angeles. For people who have no other
Los Angeles County health officials have called on the state to more vigorously regulate the local adult-film business, acknowledging public health and workplace safety problems in the industry. The move comes after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ordered an investigation by its health department into the i
ROBBEN ISLAND, South Africa -- On this wind-swept spit of an island, where penguins stood sentinel beside the road as guests pulled up in tuxedos and gowns, Nelson Mandela presided over dinner at the infamous prison where he was once held -- and enjoyed a little joke at the expense of President Bush. People had flo
The first AIDS vaccine to undergo advanced human trials has proved a failure, its makers acknowledged last week. But researchers and advocates are not giving up. Vaccines using other strategies remain in the pipeline, keeping alive the hope that at least one will someday tame the global spread of the human immunodefici
Thomas H. Maugh II and Denise Gellene, Times Staff Writers
Some hope is seen in treating blacks and Asians. But those tentative findings are criticized because of the small sampling. Although the first clinical trial of an AIDS vaccine proved to be an overall failure, researchers were sharply divided Monday over data from a subset of participants that seemed to offer hope for
Vaccine didn t protect people during five-year trial. Biotech firm s viability is questioned. Shares in biotechnology company VaxGen Inc. plunged 47% on Monday after the company revealed that its five-year, $100-million trial of an experimental AIDS vaccine didn t protect people from the virus. The failure of the l
A West Hollywood couple who are adopting twin babies with HIV weren t welcomed with a baby shower when they arrived home with the infants. They were greeted instead with twin eviction notices for the 5-month-olds. Each of them got one, Donna Burns said of the three-day notices to quit that she said arrived in the mail
The company will reveal on Monday the long-anticipated results of a five-year test of the drug. But skeptics critics doubt it will be effective. Donald P. Francis is a veteran virus fighter, and HIV has been his most elusive target. As an epidemiologist for the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the
Rebecca Trounson and Thomas H. Maugh II, Times Staff Writers
A UCLA medical oversight board has reopened an investigation into whether two researchers at the university took part in controversial medical studies to inject AIDS patients in China with malaria-infected blood. A university spokesman said Tuesday that the university is examining new information suggesting that UCLA m
BOSTON -- AIDS continues to be a devastating disease, but the prospects of fighting it have never looked better, researchers say. Less-complicated drug regimens are improving patients adherence to treatment, and the array of medications available continues to reduce the death rate despite problems of drug resistance, s
According to some Latino activists and others, the surge of AIDS and HIV-related deaths among Latinos is as dangerous and obvious as a knife at the throat, but many people in the community pretend it s not there. In an attempt to address that denial, activists led by longtime Eastside organizer Richard Zaldivar have pr
SACRAMENTO -- California s health program for the poor has exercised slack control over reimbursements for a costly AIDS drug, enabling a black market to thrive among bodybuilders and others with no medical need for it. In the last four years, Medi-Cal has spent about $175 million on the human growth hormone
Washington -- In a major policy shift, President Bush has decided to allow social service agencies in Africa and the Caribbean to receive U.S. funds under his $15 billion emergency AIDS relief plan even if they promote family planning and provide abortions, White House officials said Friday night. The only restriction
BOSTON -- Treatment of HIV-infected people with cocktails of anti-AIDS drugs has strongly increased survival, but a major new study shows that it also increases the risk of heart attacks, researchers said here Thursday. Clinicians have suspected as much for several years, but the study of nearly 24,000 patients provide
Federal health reviewers have cleared controversial Stop AIDS Project workshops in San Francisco that had been criticized as potentially obscene and appearing to promote sexual activity, in violation of government guidelines. Review teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have concluded that the desig
BOSTON -- New studies confirm that an innocuous and relatively common virus can prolong the survival of AIDS patients, researchers said here Thursday. People who had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and were co-infected with the virus, called GBV-C, were 2.5 times more likely to survive than those who were not co-infec
BOSTON -- For the first time since 1993, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported an increase in the number of diagnosed AIDS cases in the United States , researchers said Tuesday. The increase was only 1%, but scientists need to monitor it closely, said Dr. Ronald O. Valdiserri, deputy dire
Doctors have known for decades that silicone injections can permanently plump fine lines, banish wrinkles and restore facial fullness that aging has taken away. But the popularity of these cosmetic treatments has tended to ebb and flow through the years. Now some dermatologists and plastic surgeons are reporting an inc
WASHINGTON -- The proposals were perhaps the two biggest surprises in President Bush s State of the Union speech last week: a big nudge by the government to get Detroit to produce environmentally clean cars that would wean Americans from gas-guzzling vehicles, and a massive U.S. effort to fight AIDS around the world.
Charlie Pasarell thinks of Arthur Ashe every day. We all should. Pasarell thinks about Ashe - his best friend, his touchstone, a man that today, 10 years after Ashe died of complications of AIDS, Pasarell says is a hero and role model - and Pasarell cries a little. We all should. Ashe is missed by Pasarell. We all shou
With his $15-billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, unveiled in the State of the Union address, President Bush has altered both the level of commitment and the depth of resources in the worldwide struggle against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This new plan will focus on just 14 countries in Africa and the Western Hemisphere
Along the rugged coastline of British Columbia, more than a generation ago, the first American refugees trickled in. As the Vietnam War raged, draft dodgers who chose to flee America rather than fight an unacceptable war gravitated to Canada s west coast, to rain-washed Vancouver and northward in tiny villages astride
The Laguna Beach Community Clinic, which treats thousands of poor and uninsured patients, may have to reduce services because of proposed local and state budget cuts. Already, the City Council has reduced its donation to the clinic from $250,000 to $150,000 because of its own financial woes. Further cuts could come fro
Cuts proposed to help balance Orange County s budget would limit health care for the poor, could put more mentally ill patients on the streets and slow authorities response to outbreaks of disease. Not just the poor would be hurt. Cutbacks in the county laboratory also would affect the timeliness of water testing, pote
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The U.N. special envoy on AIDS in Africa welcomed President Bush s proposed $15-billion AIDS initiative Wednesday, calling it a sign of the U.S. commitment to fighting the epidemic that opens the floodgates of hope. But the response from South Africa -- which has the world s largest number
Vicki Kemper and Paul Richter, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON -- Like a rumor too good to be true, word of a substantial increase in U.S. funds to fight AIDS began to reach activist groups late last week. But what President Bush proposed Tuesday night in his State of the Union address surprised even the most hopeful advocates. Bush s five-year, $15-billion Emergency Pl
Irene Diamond, a Hollywood story editor turned New York philanthropist who donated more than $200 million to AIDS research, minority education and the arts, died Jan. 21 at home in New York City of a heart attack. She was 92. Her strong opinions about social issues led her to support gun control, AIDS education and fre
With infections that outsmart powerful antibiotics on the rise, doctors and public health officials have long worried that they might face an outbreak of resistant bacteria that threaten large numbers of people. Now they ve found it -- in Los Angeles County. The large, painful skin infections started turning up early l
The Bush team says the conservative left on his own, and president s views are very different. WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON -- The Christian conservative chosen to serve on a presidential AIDS advisory council withdrew his name from consideration Thursday, citing the current controversy over his previous remarks about the
WASHINGTON -- Jerry Thacker, a religious conservative who has described homosexuality as a deathstyle, will be sworn in next week as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS, a Bush administration official confirmed Wednesday night. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, noted that Thac
The move is made after a second French child undergoing treatment develops leukemia. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday suspended 27 gene therapy trials - nearly half of those now underway in the United States - after the agency learned that a second French child had developed leukemia after receiving the prom
Banished by the Communists, opium is back with a vengeance -- as heroin. Now ordinary citizens are uniting to fight it. ERGU, China -- One boy s sister was crushed by a train after she pumped heroin into her veins and passed out on the tracks. A young man became an addict in the city; his parents carried his body home
In California s unregulated porn film industry, an alarming number of performers are infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. And nobody seems to care. During production of the 1997 movie Mimic, American Humane Assn. representatives wandered through the Los Angeles set, ensuring that a herd of cockroa
BRONVILLE TOWNSHIP, South Africa -- The mother rises from her deathbed to bury her baby boy. She slumps in a wheelchair borrowed for the occasion, and an elderly relative must help hold her head up so that she can watch the body descend into the red earth. The casket is heartbreakingly small, and though Evelyn Matule w
After a decade of declines, the number of new AIDS cases reported in California increased 6% in 2002, to 4,437, according to the state Office of AIDS. In Los Angeles County, the jump is even more striking: Cases were up 32%, to 1,789. State and local health officials attribute the increase to better disease reporting b
Health-care providers serving large numbers of Medi-Cal patients said Friday that Gov. Gray Davis proposed budget cuts would force them to consider turning away patients or dropping out of the state s medical insurance program altogether. I ll have to take a hard look at staying in the Medi-Cal system, said 51-year-old
California s HIV reporting system has been hobbled in its first six months by the failure of some doctors and clinics to provide the data required by law, county health officials say. If the problems are not resolved, authorities say, they won t be able to track the epidemic s spread. And California risks coming up sho
UNITED NATIONS -- A U.N. special envoy on AIDS warned Wednesday that a war against Iraq would eclipse humanitarian efforts around the world, and 29.4 million Africans with the disease would be among those suffering the most. Wars divert attention, wars consume resources, wars ride roughshod over external calamities, s
Lance Loud was deteriorating in a Southern California hospice when he glanced at a photo of himself from An American Family, the landmark 1973 documentary miniseries. That s me in the morning, he said. This is me in the twilight. In December 2001, Loud left the world in the same way he burst onto the world s stage: wit
Tyler Marshall and Sari Sudarsono, Times Staff Writers
Iowan, sentenced with companion after arrest in separatist Aceh, says hospitals rejected her. JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A seriously ill American nurse imprisoned in this country s strife-torn Aceh province has been denied urgent hospital treatment, she and her lawyers said Sunday. Joy Lee Sadler, 57, of Waterloo, Iowa,
A cure for AIDS remains elusive, but with more than 42 million infected people worldwide, the need for better treatments is undeniable. Recently, researchers announced two promising, if early, developments. One approach, developed at the California Institute of Technology and at UCLA, uses gene therapy to keep the AIDS
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.