GABORONE, Botswana (AP) -- Catherine had already buried two sisters because of AIDS when she was diagnosed with the dreaded disease. After doctors broke the news, she stopped eating. I thought that was the end of my life, she said. Three years later, the bubbly young woman in a floppy sun hat is sharing her marriage pl
WASHINGTON - A key Senate committee chairman on Tuesday hailed the government s reinstatement of a medical safety expert who was fired after he raised allegations of misconduct in federal AIDS research, saying it was an important step in addressing the problems. Dr. Jonathan Fishbein s reinstatement by the National Ins
NEW DELHI, India - Along with the usual hair lotions and creams, Ganga Ram, a barber who does business in the shade of banyan tree, also has the latest tools of his trade - a small pile of condoms and booklets on AIDS prevention. When men settle into Ram s barber chair in New Delhi s Lajpat Nagar market they become cap
SOFIA, Bulgaria - Talks aimed at ending an international row over the fate of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting children with AIDS were postponed, officials in both countries said Tuesday. The discussions between the Libyan Association of the Families of AIDS-Infected Chil
WASHINGTON - The federal chief of AIDS research said he believes drug companies don t have an incentive to create a vaccine for the AIDS virus and are likely to wait to profit from it after the government develops one. As a result, the government has had to spend more time focusing on the processes that drug companies
WASHINGTON - In an unusually candid admission, the federal chief of AIDS research says he believes drug companies don t have an incentive to create a vaccine for the HIV and are likely to wait to profit from it after the government develops one. And that means the government has had to spend more time focusing on the p
TRIPOLI, Libya - Libya s supreme court on Sunday overturned the death sentences against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on charges of infecting children with the HIV virus and ordered a retrial. The order for a retrial appeared to be an attempt to end the standoff between Libya and the West over the pros
A medical safety expert whose firing drew national attention to the lack of whistleblower protections in some areas of federal research is back on the government payroll. The National Institutes of Health s reinstatement of Dr. Jonathan Fishbein settles a two-year battle that prompted investigations into allegations of
WASHINGTON - Reversing course, the government s premier health research agency has reinstated a medical safety expert who was fired after raising allegations of scientific misconduct and sexual harassment in federal AIDS research, his lawyer said Friday. The National Institutes of Health s reinstatement of Dr. Jonathan
SOFIA, Bulgaria - Bulgaria s president said he was hopeful of a breakthrough in the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to die in Libya for allegedly infecting hundreds of children with HIV. President Georgi Parvanov added, however, that the medical workers release will come at a very hig
GULU, Uganda - They are called the night commuters - hundreds of children who hike through the heat and dust, clutching mats and blankets as they pour into this northern Ugandan town for a night s sleep and protection from a rebel army that has given a whole new meaning to the term child abuse. Every evening they l
WASHINGTON - It was a natural selection. The journal Science s choice for breakthrough of the year in 2005 is evolution in action, focusing on studies of how evolution works and how it affects lives today. Several research projects were discussed at meetings to choose the annual breakthrough winner. Then we realized th
NEW YORK - Authorities are investigating allegations that hundreds of bodies were illegally carved up in funeral homes around New York City and sold for parts without the permission of the families of the deceased. Corpses - including that of famed British broadcaster Alistair Cooke - were used to harvest human bone, s
SOFIA, Bulgaria - Bulgarian and European Union officials have agreed with Libya to set up an international fund to offer financial assistance to the families of AIDS-infected children in the Libyan city of Benghazi, Bulgaria s Foreign Ministry said Friday. The move was part of international efforts to secure the re
NEW YORK - A Jesuit magazine has apologized after inadvertently publishing an advertisement for a Virgin Mary statue wrapped in a condom that an artist intended as a protest against the church s opposition to condom use. The Rev. Drew Christiansen, editor-in-chief of America, said in a note to readers that the condom w
WASHINGTON - More Americans are concerned about the commercialization of Christmas than about restrictions on public displays of religious symbols, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Fifty-two percent of respondents said they were troubled by the commercialization of the ho
WASHINGTON - A generic version of a pediatric AIDS drug received preliminary approval Wednesday from the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA said it was giving tentative approval for Stavudine , an antiretroviral drug considered child-friendly that is manufactured by Aurobindo Pharma Ltd.
NEW YORK - Shares of Tanox Inc., a Houston-based biotechnology company, jumped in premarket trading on Monday, after the company presented results for an antibody HIV treatment at an industry conference on Saturday. Bear Stearns analyst Akhtar Samad upgraded the stock to Outperform from Peer Perform, and set a $20 pric
JACKSON, Miss. - Theresa Cochran, humiliated and frustrated by her struggle to be treated for HIV, decided on her way home from the doctor s office to end her life at the next overpass. But as she approached the exit, Cochran quickly changed her mind as the words spray painted across the bridge came into view: Jesus lo
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Miss Universe says she would like to act in a movie, but her heart is in the world of business. The Russian-born Natalie Glebova, a model and motivational speaker from Toronto, was in the Dominican Republic on Sunday to crown Miss Dominican Republic 2006.
WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist s AIDS charity paid about half a million dollars in consulting fees to members of his political inner circle, according to tax returns providing the first financial accounting of the possible presidential hopeful s nonprofit. The returns for World of Hope Inc. also show th
ATLANTA - Federal health officials are recommending a new, more accurate blood test for tuberculosis that may someday replace the skin test used for the past 100 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that the test -- called the QuantiFERON-TB Gold -- is less likely to yield false positive
GENEVA - The umbrella group for Red Cross societies worldwide said Thursday it needs $333 million to fund its aid work, particularly in Africa and Asia, through 2007. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was breaking from its policy of issuing annual 12-month appeals to help faci
MOSCOW, Russia - Prosecutors on Thursday opened an investigation into the case of an 11-year-old boy who has possibly contracted HIV from the blood of an infected donor in a central Russian city, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. The probe began after preliminary tests showed a boy in Voronezh, 300 miles south of Mos
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Inside a clinic, a doctor edges past hundreds of people - some nervously awaiting results of an HIV test, others appearing emaciated and resigned as they wait for antiretroviral drugs to fight AIDS. Patients hand in prescriptions for antiretroviral medicine at the GHESKIO medical center in Port-
New York - OraSure Technologies Inc. stock extended its fall Tuesday after reports surfaced late last week about a spike in false positive results in San Francisco and New York from its rapid, oral HIV tests. Shares of Bethlehem, Pa.-based OraSure fell $1.16, or 9.5 percent, to $11.10 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq
HONG KONG - Chinese AIDS patients lack appropriate drugs because the World Trade Organization s patent rules prevent China from making the medicine, the French aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said Monday. The criticism came despite the WTO s move last week to improve access to cheaper medicine in developing countrie
GEORGETOWN, Guyana - The body of an American consultant for the U.S. government s overseas aid agency was found in his hotel room in this South American country, and police said Sunday they suspect homicide. Hotel staff found the body of Hubert Daniel Thompson, 55, on a mattress in his room late Saturday at the Le Meri
San Francisco - A promising new oral HIV test that uses fluid swabbed from the mouth to quickly and easily detect the virus that causes AIDS incorrectly diagnosed a quarter of the people who tested positive in San Francisco, city health officials found. Forty-seven people who tested positive after using the OraQuick Ad
CHICAGO - Bowing to federal pressure, Illinois will join 38 other states in January when it begins tracking HIV cases using infected patients names, a move some worry will deter people from being tested and treated for the virus that causes AIDS. The state risks losing millions of federal dollars if it doesn t drop its
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to use Tedco, Inc. s Miracle II Neutralizer products, saying the products have been contaminated by bacteria. Using them could lead to infections, particularly in children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems, the FDA
NEW DELHI - Vaccine experts were to meet in New Delhi Wednesday to review progress made in an international children s immunization program after distributing more than 1.2 billion single-use syringes in developing countries. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, or GAVI, said it succeeded in protecting mi
HARARE, Zimbabwe - A U.N. humanitarian official appealed Tuesday for better cooperation between Zimbabwe and the international community, saying government efforts to rehouse those displaced in a massive slum clearing drive were inadequate - and criticizing the drive as poorly timed. The humanitarian situation in
GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- World Trade Organization members on Tuesday approved measures to make it easier for developing countries to get cheaper generic versions of medicines for communicable diseases like AIDS. Changes to the WTO s intellectual property agreement would make permanent a waiver currently in place and
Another World AIDS Day has passed without a monument to those New Yorkers who died of the disease. For the past 10 years, a team of local volunteers has lobbied for the creation of such a public memorial site, but factors like bureaucratic intransigence, the effects of 9/11 and swiftly changing municipal priorities hav
LAKE FOREST, Calif. - After years of ministering to AIDS patients overseas, evangelical Christians are turning attention to the disease in their own back yard -- and one of the nation s largest and best-known megachurches is leading the way. Nearly 2,000 pastors traveled last week to Orange County s Saddleback Church f
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Connie Ayres lost her 16-year-old daughter in a car crash in 1996. The next year she learned that a county morgue was using the autopsy photos in a slide show to help fight drunken driving. Ayres outrage helped lead to restrictions last year on the display of autopsy photos in Michigan -- one of at lea
SEATTLE - The doctor who led the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation s fight against AIDS and TB is leaving to become president and chief executive officer of CARE USA. Dr. Helene Gayle will oversee an annual budget of $624 million and a staff of 12,000 in 70 countries. In her five years as director of HIV, tuberculosi
WASHINGTON - The U.S. must better recognize Africa s strategic importance in the global struggles against terrorism and the AIDS pandemic, and as a crucial source of energy, according to a Council on Foreign Relations report released Sunday. As the Live 8 charity concerts and increased aid pledges from the world s rich
BEIJING -- An HIV-positive man in northern China who sold his blood infected at least 18 others with the virus - including three who died - the government and state media said Saturday. The man, identified only by his surname, Song, gave blood 15 times at a blood bank in Jilin province s Dehui city between January 2003
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Organizers of the state s first school screening for AIDS and HIV were impressed by the number of students volunteering for the test at a Birmingham high school. We were surprised by the turnout, said Donald Smith, chairman of Birmingham s AIDS Task Force, which organized Thursday s testing at Wenona
FATICK, Senegal -- Schoolchildren in Senegal pledged to abstain from sex and village women in India cast off a veil of shame about their HIV status as World AIDS Day was marked Thursday around the globe. Our teacher told us that AIDS is a very dangerous disease, said 13-year-old Aissatou Niang, wearing a green Muslim
Berkeley, Calif. - An estimated 150,000 people in California are living with HIV, the largest number since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, a new analysis shows. The report from researchers at the University of California, released in conjunction with World AIDS Day on Thursday, indicates new infection rates have de
GAUHATI, India - Thousands marched in anti-AIDS rallies Thursday in India s plagued northeast, while China rolled out a campaign targeting millions of migrant workers to mark World AIDS Day. In Indonesia , the head of UNAIDS criticized the country s leaders for not
WASHINGTON - Marking World AIDS Day, President Bush on Thursday reaffirmed America s effort to fight the deadly disease around the world, and said that 40,000 new infections in the U.S. each year are not inevitable, and it s not acceptable. Across Africa, this pandemic threatens the stability and the future of whole so
BEIJING - China marked World AIDS day on Thursday by launching a campaign to educate the country s 120 million migrant workers about condom, while warning that drug users were now the main transmitters of the HIV virus. The government s five-year migrant worker anti-AIDS campaign encourages condom use and discourages d
NEW YORK - A study of AIDS patients in Haiti who were sick, poor and hungry found that they did just as well as Americans do when given standard AIDS drugs. The largest study of AIDS treatment in a developing country, released on World AIDS Day, supports the idea of expanding treatment in poor nations, the researchers
New York - Alicia Keys and Bono are hoping to save the lives of children through song. The two superstars have collaborated on Don t Give Up (Africa), and will donate all proceeds to Keep A Child Alive, which provides medicine to families infected with AIDS and the HIV virus. The song will be available exclusively on i
Tampa, Fla. - Florida, California and 11 other states will receive $18.8 million in grant money to help cover housing costs for those infected with HIV and AIDS, federal officials said Wednesday. The grant money is part of $282 million budgeted for people nationwide whose housing needs are affected by AIDS, Alphonso Ja
NEW YORK - More than 2 million children around the world live with the AIDS virus and fewer than 5 percent are being treated. Now, hundreds of youths in India , Burkina Faso , Tanzania , Romania and Mexico are picking up cameras
JAKARTA - Indonesia s response to an emerging AIDS epidemic is inadequate, the head of the U.N. agency fighting the virus said Wednesday. HIV has infected an estimated 150,000 to 250,000 people in the country and is spreading quickly among injecting drug users, as well as sex workers and their clients, said
WASHINGTON - Money is available, treatment is better and much of the mystery is gone from prevention, treatment and care of AIDS. Yet more people will become infected with the HIV virus and die from the disease itself in 2005 than in any previous year, the World Bank said Wednesday. In light of that, the bank announced
LONDON - The U.K. marked World AIDS Day on Thursday by announcing it was contributing GBP27.5 million ($48 million) to the global fight against the disease. Prime Minister Tony Blair s government said GBP20 million would go to the International Aids Vaccine Initiative and GBP7.5 million toward developing microbicides t
CANBERRA - Australia will spend A $10 million to help India fight AIDS, the government announced Thursday to mark World AIDS Day. The money will be provided over five years through UNAIDS - the United Nations AIDS program - and the Indian government to reduce the risk and impact of the HIV virus, whi
LAKE FOREST, Calif. (AP) -- After years of ministering to AIDS patients overseas, evangelical Christians are turning attention to the disease in their own back yard -- and one of the nation s largest and best-known megachurches is leading the way. Nearly 2,000 pastors have traveled to Orange County s Saddleback Church
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - An Anglican cleric who became the first priest in Africa to acknowledge that he had the virus that causes AIDS has started a tour of Caribbean nations as part of a campaign to increase awareness of the illness and tolerance for those who have it. The Rev. Canon Gideon Byamugisha of
UST-IZHORA, Russia - With her eager smile and delight in scrawling crayoned pictures, 3-year-old Katya seems the perfect image of an adored child. But a year ago she was all but abandoned, a victim of Russia s neglect of children born to mothers with the AIDS virus. She lay in a grim, remote hospital where nurses barel
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday he felt close to AIDS victims and their families as he encouraged efforts by the church to combat the disease and to offer help to the sick. Benedict was adding his voice to a call by the United Nations for a renewed commitment by the international community to fight the
BEIJING - China must keep its number of HIV-infected people under 1.5 million in the next five years or risk social instability and a possible economic downturn, the country s top health official said Wednesday. AIDS prevention and control are key to China s economic development, social stability and prosperity, Healt
JOHANNESBURG - The deadly HIV epidemic may be leveling off in South Africa , but too many people suffer from a false sense of security in the world s most infected country, researchers said Wednesday. A national household survey commissioned by The Nelson Mandela Foundation, which included conducting HIV tests on respo
DELHI, India - Zalisz Ahmed paid $1 and lost his virginity on the side of the road to one of India s countless young truck-stop prostitutes. He s had unprotected sex with many others since and says he s never heard of AIDS. Ahmed, 20, is one of an estimated 5 million to 8 million truck drivers who supply the country wi
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican decried a culture of sex that is fueling the AIDS crisis and said Tuesday that keeping sexual activity exclusive to marriage was the best way to prevent the virus from spreading. The Vatican s Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care issued a message for World AIDS Day, which is marked eve
JAKARTA - Indonesia is in the early stages of an AIDS epidemic, but the spread of the virus can be stopped with stepped-up prevention programs, the head of the U.N. agency fighting the virus said. The virus is spreading fastest among injecting drug users, prostitutes and among heterosexuals in the eastern province of P
CAPE TOWN - Activists and doctors are taking legal action to try to force South Africa s health minister to close down the operations of a German-born doctor accused of endangering AIDS patients in one of the world s hardest hit countries. The Treatment Action Campaign and the South African Medical Association said Tue
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Mismanagement, bureaucracy and inadequate funding have kept the world from meeting a goal to provide treatment to 3 million HIV-infected people by year s end, AIDS activists said in a report issued Monday. The goal, set by the World Health Organization in 2003, would be mis
SOFIA, Bulgaria - Five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya for allegedly infecting some 400 Libyan children with HIV may be freed if Tripoli receives humanitarian aid to treat the victims, Libya s Foreign Minister was quoted as saying Monday by Bulgarian state radio. Abdul Rahman Shalgam spoke to Bulgarian
KIEV - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Sunday praised Ukraine s reforms since last year s Orange Revolution but counseled Ukrainians to have patience. It takes time to build the kind of vibrant, progressive, forward-moving nation that you are all working to build, Clinton said at a news conference with Ukrainian
PARIS - France s health minister expressed concern Saturday over a rise in the number of HIV cases, with new figures showing 7,000 people were infected last year in France with the virus that causes AIDS. I am worried, said Health Minister Xavier Bertrand. Worried about the increasing transmission, worried about the de
Los Angeles - It was nerve racking! director Darrell James Roodt exclaimed on the phone from his home in Johannesburg. He was recalling watching the Oscar nominations on CNN last January, hoping to see his film Yesterday among the foreign-language contenders. I didn t know it was done alphabetically, he said. So by th
ROME, Italy - A Brazilian singer who promoted the use of condoms in an anti-AIDS campaign has been dropped from the lineup of next month s Christmas concert at the Vatican, organizers said Friday. Daniela Mercury was dropped after Vatican authorities read statements by her in the Brazilian press that went against the
KUALA LUMPUR - Asian countries need to urgently beef up HIV education and prevention programs to stop a possible AIDS explosion among children, a senior UNICEF official said Friday. Philip O Brien, UNICEF s regional director who is on a visit to Malaysia , said efforts to combat the epidemic in the region are inadequat
NEW YORK - An ornate Queen Elizabeth I costume that Whoopi Goldberg wore while hosting the 1999 Academy Awards sold for $22,800 at an auction Tuesday of costumes and dresses by the designer Bob Mackie, Christie s auction house said. The Mackie items -- 150 in all -- brought in a total of $440,820, part of which will be
ATLANTA - A former Emory University medical student pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two more counts of knowingly having sex without warning his partners that he was HIV positive. A Fulton County judge sentenced Garry Wayne Carriker to two years in prison and eight more years of probation. The sentence will be served concu
BRASILIA - Brazil pledged on Tuesday to reduce the rate at which HIV positive mothers transmit the virus to their newborns to just 1% by 2008. The Health Ministry, backed by UNICEF, announced it would provide 50,000 free AIDS tests to pregnant women and adolescents in the poorest regions of the country starting in 2006
GENEVA -- Breast feeding is saving the lives of 6 million babies a year, but more than twice that could be saved if more mothers would use the time-honored method, the U.N. children s agency said Tuesday. Thirty-nine percent of infants in developing countries are exclusively breast fed, UNICEF said, blaming lack of awa
San Francisco - A man who allegedly robbed a Banana Republic store by brandishing a syringe and claiming to be infected with the HIV virus was arrested when he returned to the store three days later, police said. Jonathan Black, 24, was held at the San Francisco jail on suspicion of three counts of robbery, police Lt.
The global HIV epidemic continues to expand, with more than 40 million people now estimated to have the AIDS virus, but in some countries prevention efforts are finally starting to pay off, the United Nations says. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized in 1981, making it one of the m
NEW DELHI – More than a million people contracted HIV infections across Asia and some 520,000 died of the disease in the past year, with the disease s spread being largely driven by drug use and unsafe sex, according to a new United Nations report. The deaths were a sharp increase from the 420,000 reported in 2003, sai
REGINA, Saskatchewan - A Canadian Football League player police say is HIV positive appeared in court Friday on a second charge of aggravated sexual assault. Linebacker Trevis Smith of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and formerly of the University of Alabama allegedly had unprotected sex with a woman without telling her h
LAGOS - The world s top funding body in the fight against AIDS may freeze grants to Nigeria , citing concerns about data gathering and spending, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press Friday. An Oct. 11 letter from the U.N.-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said there were ser
NEW YORK - Drug maker Merck & Co. said Friday that its experimental HIV treatment lowered virus levels significantly in all patients tested in a mid-stage clinical trial. The company used four different doses of MK-0518, a compound meant to block an enzyme needed for the HIV virus to enter a cell, as a standalone t
NEW YORK - Drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said Friday that a lower percentage of HIV patients taking its Reyataz-based treatment regimen experienced a rebound in their virus levels compared with treatments based on other protease inhibitors . Reyataz, also a protease inhibitor, is a substance that prevents
WASHINGTON - Actress Angelina Jolie used her star power Thursday to draw attention to a new law assisting the world s orphans and to push for funding. The law, the Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act, was signed last week by President Bush. It directs the government to evalu
ATLANTA - The rate of newly reported HIV cases among blacks has been dropping by about 5 percent a year since 2001, the government said Thursday. But blacks are still eight times more likely than whites to be diagnosed with the AIDS virus. The racial disparities remain severe, said Lisa Lee, an epidemiologist at the Ce
CAIRO, Egypt - Libya is working behind the scenes to find a way to resolve the case of five Bulgarian nurses facing a possible death sentence. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi wants to win favor with the West, but he also needs to save face at home. The postponement Tuesday of a long-awaited Libyan Supreme Court decisi
SURREY, British Columbia (AP) -- A Canadian Football League player police say is HIV positive will go on trial next spring on a charge of aggravated sexual assault. Trevis Smith of the Saskatchewan Roughriders was not at Wednesday s brief court hearing, but his lawyer and lawyers for the Crown attended and a court date
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Medical marijuana clubs will need a permit and will have to follow new zoning under regulations passed Tuesday by San Francisco supervisors. Until now, the clubs have operated without government oversight. But elected officials in this liberal city sought to strike a better balance between their c
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Libya is working behind the scenes to find a way to resolve the case of five Bulgarian nurses facing a possible death sentence. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi wants to win favor with the West, but he also needs to save face at home. The postponement Tuesday of a long-awaited Libyan Supreme Court
New York - LIFEbeat - the Music Industry Fights AIDS will honor World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 with an Internet auction featuring some 1,000 items from stars in music, film, theater and television. The Bid 2 Beat AIDS auction on eBay will include a signed bottle of officially licensed, limited-edition Lindsay Lohan Heinz ket
NEW YORK, - Police disclosed that a Canadian Football League player is HIV positive after he was charged with sexual assault, saying they thought a public health warning about his health status was necessary. Trevis Smith, a linebacker on the Saskatchewan Roughriders, was arrested Oct. 28 in Regina, Saskatchewan, and c
KIEV - The explosion of HIV infection among young, working Ukrainians could stall economic growth, scare away investors and derail the new government s promises of a better life in the former Soviet republic, experts warned Tuesday. The HIV epidemic might be the key obstacle to economic growth in Ukrai
TRIPOLI, Libya - The Supreme Court on Tuesday postponed to Jan. 31 its ruling on an appeal for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who were condemned to death after being convicted of infecting more than 400 children with the AIDS virus. The accused were not present at the hearing, which lasted less than fiv
KIEV - Ukrainian business leaders were gathering Tuesday for a first-ever event aimed at pressing industry to help battle the growing HIV/AIDS problem in this ex-Soviet republic. Dozens of private sector leaders were expected to discuss how their businesses can provide preventive information about HIV/AIDS to their wor
SOFIA, Bulgaria - The government criticized a decision by Libya s Supreme Court Tuesday to postpone its ruling on the appeal of five Bulgarian nurses condemned to death for infecting more than 400 children with the AIDS virus. President Georgi Parvanov s office said the decision to postpone the verdict until Jan. 31 wa
BOSTON -- Intravenous drug users and others would be able to purchase syringes directly from a pharmacist without a prescription under a bill approved by House lawmakers on Monday. Backers of the bill say it s an important step toward curbing the spread of AIDS, hepatitis C and other blood-borne diseases. Critics said
SOFIA, Bulgaria - Antoaneta Uzunova waits in anguish to hear if her mother and five other health care workers will face a Libyan firing squad for their convictions in the HIV infections of more than 400 children at a Libyan hospital. A Palestinian doctor and five Bulgarian nurses, including Uzunova s mother, face a hea
LONDON, United Kingdom - AIDS experts called for more tests on a British man who claims his body has rid itself of the virus that causes AIDS. Andrew Stimpson, 25, told two British newspapers that he tested positive for HIV in August 2002, but that tests 14 months later came back negative. He told the Mail on Sunday,
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - When Hurricane Katrina flooded the basements and records rooms of New Orleans hospitals this summer, desperately ill patients faced rebuilding their medical histories from scratch. For 3,500 HIV-positive patients at the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans, the possibilities were even more dire
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodian drug addicts have adopted a new tactic - selling their blood to hospitals - to pay for their habits, and the practice is threatening to unravel the country s gains in fighting HIV/AIDS, officials and experts warn. Cambodia has had no known cases of HIV being spread by blood transfusions
WASHINGTON - The FDA wants condom packages to warn that condoms are less effective at stopping some sexually transmitted diseases, such as herpes and human papilloma virus, than others. The agency also wants packaging to advise that condoms that use a common spermicidal lubricant should not be used by people at risk of
ZAGREB, Croatia - Libyan Prime Minister Shukri Ghanom said Friday his country s judiciary will make an independent ruling on the appeal of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for allegedly infecting children with AIDS. The U.S. and Europe have been pressuring Libya to free the five Bulgarians and a Palestinian doc
WASHINGTON - Congress on Thursday sent President Bush a $20.9 billion measure for foreign policy programs and aid for poor nations, an increase of about $1 billion from last year. The bill, which the Senate approved on a 91-0 vote, gives the president millions of dollars more than he sought for worldwide efforts to fig
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - Ashley Judd has come to this Central American capital to join 3,000 Latin American politicians, police chiefs, doctors and activists in a regional forum on HIV. Judd, who has been the ambassador of U.S.-based project Youth AIDS since 2002, on Wednesday met briefly with Salvadorian Foreign Mi
YANGON - Japan pledged US$3.8 million to UNICEF to prevent AIDS, malaria, tetanus and measles in the children of Myanmar , the Japanese Embassy said Wednesday. The announcement comes three months after the U.N. Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria cut its funding to Myanmar because of what it said were j
The public can contribute to AIDS and breast cancer charities Nov. 16 simply by dining out at a range of popular San Francisco restaurants. Dine Around, now in its fourth year, takes place at formal and casual places in the Mission District, Noe Valley, the Castro and SoMa including Bagdad Cafe, Foreign Cinema, Fringal
HARARE, Zimbabwe - The U.S. ambassador received Zimbabwe s protest of a speech he made blaming President Robert Mugabe for the country s economic crisis, and was to fly to Washington for consultations. Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi summoned Ambassador Christopher Dell Wednesday, alleging his speech to student
WASHINGTON - Hundreds of AIDS activists from California and around the country converged on the Capitol Tuesday to push Congress to reauthorize a law funding treatments for the disease, which kills thousands of people in this country each year though other issues have pushed it from the spotlight. I feel like people ha
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - Hundreds of Latin Americans with HIV demonstrated against discrimination on Tuesday on the sidelines of a regional conference on the killer virus being held in this Central American capital. More than 600 protesters from countries including El Salvador,
ATLANTA - Gonorrhea has fallen to the lowest level on record in the U.S., while the rates of other sexually transmitted diseases - syphilis and chlamydia - are on the rise, federal health officials said Tuesday. The seemingly paradoxical findings can be explained by the cyclical nature of syphilis outbreaks and a rise
LOS ANGELES - Harry Potter doesn t just have the fate of the magical world on his shoulders. This time, the teen wizard s trying to save Hollywood, too. In this year of mediocre studio flicks, with movie attendance at its slowest pace since the mid-1990s, audiences might kill for a big film that really delivers. Well
Los Angeles - Swathed in jewels and bathed in the spotlight, Elizabeth Taylor made a rare but regal public appearance to dedicate the new UCLA Clinical AIDS Research and Education Center. Wearing a cream-colored jacket over a billowy black pantsuit, the 73-year-old actress, who has had severe back problems in recent ye
WASHINGTON - Tom Donohue, 26, learned two years ago he had the virus that causes AIDS. He told government medical advisors Thursday he had learned from a family doctor in State College, Pa., that he had tested positive for HIV. But he worries that too many people are afraid of going to clinics for testing because other
WASHINGTON - President Bush would get millions of dollars more than he requested for worldwide efforts to fight AIDS but less than he sought for Iraq reconstruction and a key program to encourage global development, under a bill the House approved Friday. On a 358-39 vote, the House signed off on the spending packa
WASHINGTON - A man who had sex with women and teenage girls without warning them he had the AIDS virus was sent to prison Thursday by a judge who labeled him a violent, self-absorbed outlaw. Sundiata Basir, 34, was sentenced to 21 years and eight months by District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Robert I. Richter. Th
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration s Blood Products Advisory Committee heard opinions Thursday on whether an HIV test should be made available over the counter. An FDA scientist said the privacy and convenience of the test is a potential boon in that it could lead to more people seeking treatment earlier dur
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - A top U.N. AIDS envoy said Thursday that poorer nations were doing better than South Africa in fighting the disease and accused its health minister of preventing him from working in the country, which has the most HIV/AIDS sufferers in the world. In an Associated Press interview, Stephen Lewis
WASHINGTON - A government advisory panel is considering whether to allow the use of the first HIV test a person can take entirely at home, alone. The possible availability of the test, which relies on a swab on the inside of the mouth, has raised concerns about the potential psychological impact on people who learn the
Buoyed by a legislative victory in California and a court ruling in Arizona, advocacy groups say they are making significant headway in efforts to ensure that HIV-positive people have the same access as other patients to kidney and liver transplants. California recently became the first state to prohibit insurers from
NEW YORK - Brad Pitt s voice is usually identified with movies such as Troy, Ocean s Eleven and Twelve Monkeys -- not a six-hour documentary on global health. Starting Tuesday night on PBS and ending Thursday (check local listings), Pitt will narrate six hour-long episodes of RX for Survival: A Global Health Challenge,
GENEVA - A Boston-based health organization received the world s largest humanitarian prize Monday for its innovative efforts to provide medical services to the poor. The $1.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize will allow Partners In Health to bring more people on board to provide decent health care to everyon
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad - The spread of HIV/AIDS could cripple the Caribbean s work force unless regional companies spend more money on disease prevention for employees, a top U.N. official said Monday. Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of the United Nations Program of HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS
ABBOTT PARK, Ill. - Abbott Laboratories Inc. said Monday that the Food and Drug Administration approved a new tablet version of HIV treatment Kaletra that will enable patients to take fewer doses. The new formulation allows patients to take four tablets per day rather than six capsules.
NEW YORK - Drug makers Merck & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said Monday that they have signed separate licensing agreements with International Partnership for Microbicides so the health organization can develop gels that women can use to protect against HIV. Bristol-Myers Squibb markets such HIV treatments
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Researchers in Africa have started what they describe as the largest trials ever held of a vaginal gel that could help women protect themselves against HIV in countries where men are notoriously reluctant to use condoms. About 10,000 women in South Africa, Ugan
NEW YORK - Angelina Jolie, often photographed with her two children in her arms, says she wants to adopt again. It s a very special thing, the 30-year-old actress told People magazine at the recent Worldwide Orphans Foundation benefit in Manhattan. There s something about making a choice, waking up and traveling somewh
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it is investigating a New Jersey-based company that sold human tissue to processors for eventual implantation into people because it may not have been properly screened for infections. The New York Daily News reported earlier this month that the district atto
NEW YORK - Shares of Tanox Inc. climbed Wednesday, after the biopharmaceutical company said its HIV drug did well in a clinical trial. The 24-week trial showed that when the drug was given to infected patients in combination with other drugs, it produced a greater reduction in viral load than did a placebo, according t
WASHINGTON - Take a swab of saliva from inside your mouth. Put it into a vial of test fluid, and 20 minutes later you ll learn whether you re infected with the virus that causes AIDS. The OraQuick Advance test is already widely available in health clinics and doctors offices. The Food and Drug Administration is conside
UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations is launching a global campaign to combat the rising threat of AIDS against children, nearly 1,800 of whom are infected with HIV every day. According to a new report from UNICEF and UNAIDS , children under 15 account for 1 in 6 global AIDS-related deaths and 1 in 7 new global HIV inf
PHILADELPHIA - A supplement maker that wrongly claimed its shark-cartilage and other products had cancer-fighting benefits plans to refund customers millions of dollars. Lane Labs USA-Inc. has tentatively agreed to return up to $8 million to customers who bought three products targeted by the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis
SEATTLE (AP) -- Test results from an experimental vaccine to treat HIV patients is showing promising results, which have prompted researchers to double the number of volunteers involved in the international study. The vaccine is the most promising in 20 years, say scientists with the international HIV Vaccine Trials Ne
A virus research institute at a Mexican university will become the third to align itself with a University of Maryland research center run by AIDS virus co-discoverer Robert Gallo. The Mexican agreement follows similar affiliations with institutes in China and Nigeria and the Institute of Human Virol
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Debbie Runions, a prominent AIDS activist and patient who called for governmental response to the spread of the disease, died Sunday. She was 55. Runions found out she was HIV-positive in 1992 and spent the rest of her life promoting AIDS awareness and prevention. She died of AIDS-related complicatio
WASHINGTON - Before getting on stage before his fans in a Wednesday night concert, U2 frontman Bono bent President Bush s ear about the world s poor. The rock star and the president had lunch in the private dining room off the Oval Office, ordering from the menu at the same mess hall where White House staffers get thei
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A Zimbabwean archbishop said Wednesday he feared 200,000 of his countrymen could die by early next year because of food shortages he blamed on his government, and called for President Robert Mugabe s ouster. Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, a frequent critic of Mugabe, spoke at a news
SEOUL, South Korea - A bank that will create and supply new lines of embryonic stem cells for research opened Wednesday in Seoul as part of a global partnership that will help scientists in countries such as the United States get around government restrictions on cloning.
Foster City, Calif. - Gilead Sciences Inc. said earnings in the latest quarter were boosted by strong sales of the company s HIV/AIDS drugs. The Foster City-based drug company, which developed flu treatment Tamiflu, said Tuesday it earned $179.2 million, or 38 cents a share, on revenue of $493.5 million in the third qu
TALLAHASSEE - Florida s Medicaid program will receive $54.1 million as part of a nationwide fraud settlement with the maker of the AIDS treatment drug Serostim, the largest damage award obtained by the state in the 40-year history of the program. The Swiss company Serono Laboratories agreed Monday to pay $704 million a
ATHENS, Ga. - A $1,000 reward has been offered for clues that might lead police to the person who taped the hypodermic needle that pricked a woman in a movie theater. Athens-Clarke County Crime Stoppers posted the reward while police await test results on the small amount of blood in the needle s syringe. Since the amo
NAPASHA, Malawi - It s so quiet you can hear scrawny hens pecking at the dust. A few ragged children peer timidly from the shadow of their mud huts but show no interest in playing. Beyond them lie barren cornfields, abandoned to the blistering heat. The despair is unmistakable in Napasha, a village in the southern Afri
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A new therapy for treating tuberculosis could cut the current six-month treatment time in half, expand the number of patients and save millions of lives, a nonprofit that seeks treatments for the disease said Monday. The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development and Bayer HealthCare AG said t
WASHINGTON - The Swiss manufacturer of the AIDS treatment drug Serostim has agreed to pay more than $700 million to settle allegations that it offered kickbacks to doctors to write prescriptions to boost sagging sales, government and company officials said Monday. The Justice Department settlement with Serono Laborator
WASHINGTON - U2 s Bono says he is not involved in efforts by U.S. lawmakers to use his band s concerts to raise campaign money. Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and other politicians have scheduled fundraising events in private suites during shows for U2 s North American Vertigo tour, which runs
-- Chicago native challenged conventional wisdom on treatment of HIV, linked disease to poverty, violence NEW YORK -- LeRoy Whitfield, a writer who focused on the battle against AIDS among black Americans, died Sunday after living 15 years with HIV--while refusing to take medication. He was 36. Mr. Whitfield, a Chicago
LONDON, United Kingdom (AP) -- The world will never eliminate poverty until it confronts social, economic and physical discrimination against women, the United Nations said Wednesday. Gender apartheid could scuttle the global body s goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015, the U.N. Population Fund s annual State of Wor
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) -- Brazil has reached an agreement with U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturer Abbott Laboratories Inc. to lower AIDS drug Kaletra s price, heading off a possibility the country would break the patent, the health ministry said Tuesday. In a statement, the health ministry said the deal would reduce t
HANOI, Vietnam In the lobby of what Vietnamese delicately call a rest house, Phil Harvey sits listening intently as the manager details how many condoms he passes out each month and how much a room costs by the hour or night. This nha nghi, on a narrow road across the Red River in the communist capital, is one of about
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- Governments, schools and communities are turning their backs on the education needs of children affected by AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, an international rights organization said Monday. More than 12 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, and more
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - There were the usual ringing phone lines and frantic countdown. But Sunday s telethon had a twist: South Africans were asked to pledge action - rather than money - to fight AIDS. More than 155,900 pledges were collected during the show on the South African Broadcasting Corp., including prom
LONDON - Move over, Eros. Developers announced plans Friday to open a multimillion dollar sexual theme park near London s Piccadilly Circus, home to the much-photographed statue of the Greek god of love. Backers say the London Academy of Sex and Relationships, due to open next spring, will not be a sleazy sex museum, b
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - President Benjamin Mkapa and Abbott Laboratories CEO Miles White opened a state-of-the-art outpatient center and clinical laboratory in Tanzania s capital on Thursday as part of a major program to improve HIV treatment in East Africa. The facilities at Muhimbili National Hospital are part
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Tea Leoni visited young Vietnamese at a support center for people who are HIV-positive, promoting AIDS awareness in a country where infection rates are rising. The 39-year-old actress is on a weeklong visit as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador to help raise funds for the Global Campaign for Children a
UNITED NATIONS - Today s youth are the best educated generation in history even though 130 million are still illiterate, according to a new U.N. report that urges greater investment to ensure universal primary schooling. The U.N. World Youth Report 2005, which provided a snapshot of the 1.2 billion young people aged 15
Pasadena, Calif. - The Nobel Prize-winning scientist who has led the California Institute of Technology for nearly eight years is stepping down to concentrate on AIDS research and teaching. Caltech President David Baltimore said Monday his resignation is effective in June, although he promised to remain on the job unti
WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers went on record favoring equal civil rights for gays when she ran for Dallas city council, and she said the city had a responsibility to pay for AIDS education and patient services. But Miers opposed repeal of the Texas sodomy statute - a law later overturned by the court
LONDON, United Kingdom - Hollywood might be bad for your health, according to a new study, which concludes that blockbuster movies paint a consequence-free view of sex and drugs. Dr. Hasantha Gunasekera, the study s lead author from the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, said the findings are troublin
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand was once considered a model in the fight against AIDS, but the man behind that success says the country of 63 million has returned to the days of ignorance and that the disease is making a deadly comeback. Mechai Viravaidya is widely known as Mr. Condom for the aggressive condom distributi
San Francisco (AP) - It has been four years since a spate of anthrax poisonings killed five people, and the murderer is still on the loose. Many investigative missteps occurred in the first days when those packages of anthrax began showing up in the mail - including the federal government s refusal to immediately ackno
WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Angelina, Condoleezza and Hillary combined their considerable star power Wednesday night to cast a spotlight on the international effort to fight HIV and AIDS. For one night, the campaign against HIV trumped the buzz over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton s re-election bid, speculation over whether Secret
CHEYENNE -- The head of the Wyoming Board of Pharmacy defended a proposal to allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions on moral grounds, despite criticism that it could create an undue burden for people in rural areas or even result in discrimination against AIDS patients. That last concern was raised by Pamela
Charleston, W.Va. (AP) -- West Virginia University is the latest higher education institution in the state to offer an orally administered HIV test to students that requires no blood tests or needles. The test is administered with a cotton pad or swab that is placed between a patient s cheek and gum for five minutes to
WASHINGTON -- Hoping to speed AIDS drugs from port to patient, the Bush administration awarded a $77 million contract Tuesday to help establish a new supply system for medicines and other HIV-related aid to Africa. The effort to provide worldwide HIV treatment has been complicated by developing nations lack of basic me
NHLANGANO, Swaziland (AP) -- King Mswati III has chosen a 17-year-old as his bride-to-be, selecting a teenager just a month after retreating from a campaign to encourage girls to wait until they are 18 to have sex. Ntfonjeni Dlamini, in charge of traditional matters for the royal family, told state radio Sunday that th
-- The International Monetary Fund s steering committee approved a plan that would cancel at least $40 billion in debt. WASHINGTON - A deal to erase billions of dollars of debt for poor countries cleared an important hurdle Saturday, winning the endorsement of the International Monetary Fund s steering committee. Th
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- A South African AIDS expert Saturday advocated male circumcision as the best available vaccine against the virus in his country, where an estimated 6 million people are infected and more than 600 people die every day. Francois Venter told a congress of health activists in the Treatment A
NOUMEA, New Caledonia -- Countries facing severe HIV and AIDS epidemics should consider using domestic or international trade rules to circumvent patent laws on anti-retroviral drug therapies, a World Health Organization official said Friday. Dr.
TORONTO, Canada -- India s largest drug company announced Thursday it was entering the Canadian generic drug market with the launch of a subsidiary called Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. said the firm already had regulatory approval to sell eight products and four others were awaiting appr
WASHINGTON - Rep. Mark Green, a U2 fan of 80s vintage and a lawmaker with an interest in Africa, plans to meet with the band s lead singer Bono to discuss HIV/AIDS and debt relief prior to Sunday s concert in Milwaukee. Green, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in Wisconsin next year, said Wednesday
BEIJING, China (AP) -- A rubber company in China has begun marketing condoms under the brand names Clinton and Lewinsky, apparently seeking to exploit the White House affair that led to the impeachment of America s 42nd president. Spokesman Liu Wenhua of the Guangzhou Rubber Group said the company was handing out 100,0
WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The FDA has approved the first generic versions of the AIDS medication AZT , a move that could reduce the expense for people in the United States being treated for the disease. AZT, an anti-retroviral drug that is also known as Zidovudine, helps prevent the AIDS vir
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- Across Africa, hospital wards are filling with military casualties. The cause: not another African conflict -- but AIDS. More deadly than any of its wars, AIDS is hitting at Africa s ability to defend itself at a time when its countries are shouldering a growing share of the peacekeeping
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) -- Pvt. Andries Nhlengethwa jumps from planes and lifts 100-pound weights. He also happens to have HIV. The 31-year-old parachutist and bodybuilder is one of the few South African soldiers living openly with the deadly virus, presenting a new face of the pandemic on a continent where AIDS dr
Although the number of AIDS and HIV cases reported in West Virginia has dropped slightly since 2003, the fact that new cases continue to be reported has state health officials worried that public education efforts aren t working. During the first six months of this year, 65 cases were reported, compared with 139 for al
Redwood City, Calif. - An HIV-positive man was ordered to stand trial for allegedly raping an 8-year-old relative because he was angry with the girl s mother. Frederick Torralva, 53, allegedly admitted raping the girl three times while he was knowingly infected with the virus that causes AIDS. The child was taken by Ch
CHICAGO - Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday surprised an audience gathered to hear him announce the state would double funding for an HIV/AIDS awareness program targeting blacks when he returned to the microphone to say he was inspired to increase the money tenfold. It was unclear how the state would come up with the $2
TIJUANA, Mexico - Tijuana is cracking down on prostitutes by requiring them to pass monthly exams to detect sexually transmitted diseases, part of new standards aimed at protecting them and their clients and putting unsafe brothels out of business. The regulations amount to an open, official acknowledgment of what has
NEW YORK, (AP) -- First lady Laura Bush, addressing a group of her African peers about the AIDS crisis on their continent, said Thursday that education and compassion were the keys to progress in stopping the spread of the deadly disease. Experience teaches us that we can turn the tide on this epidemic, Bush told the o
As rising floodwaters swamped New Orleans, Louisiana s chief epidemiologist enlisted state police on a mission to break into a high-security government lab and destroy any dangerous germs before they could escape or fall into the wrong hands. Armed with bolt cutters and bleach, Dr. Raoult Ratard s team entered the stat
--To challenge federal funding of abstinence-only programs, groups that promote sex education have turned to a law mostly used by industry. It says programs containing erroneous information must be corrected. WASHINGTON - Two organizations that promote sex education are taking an unorthodox approach in their fight agai
One oncologist evacuated flooded New Orleans clutching a laptop computer with some patients records. Another threw some paper charts in her truck on the way out. But for untold numbers of people, Hurricane Katrina destroyed or left inaccessible key medical records, focusing new attention on the need for computerized me
TRENTON, N.J. - Democrat Jon Corzine and Republican Doug Forrester on Monday took their campaigns for governor to the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey, courting the influential clergy group with their visions for New Jersey. The nonprofit council s board of directors met with the pair in separate sessions at Mount
NEW YORK - Vical Inc., a developer of gene-based drugs, said Monday it expanded a licensing deal with Merck & Co. , increasing its potential payments from the drug maker and allowing Vical to pursue certain AIDS vaccines. Shares of San Diego-based Vical jumped 72 cents, or 17 percent, to $4.94 in midday trading on
About 8,000 people with HIV and AIDS who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina now face the massive challenge of trying to manage their disease without their doctors, their clinics and their support systems. I m very frustrated right now, said Noel Twilbeck, executive director of the NO/AIDS Task Force, the oldest HIV/AI
BEIJING, China - China will have to tolerate more dissent as its economy grows and opens up to the rest of the world, former President Clinton said Sunday. Clinton, who is on a four-day visit to China, also said he would have raised the case of a Chinese journalist imprisoned for allegedly providing state secrets to fo
MOSCOW (AP) - The Russian Orthodox Church launched a new program Tuesday to help stem Russia s snowballing HIV/AIDS epidemic. Government and U.N. experts officials praised the initiative while others criticized the church, saying action was long overdue. The church prevention program calls for teaching to discourage se
New York - An HIV-positive ex-convict who said he tried to kill several police officers and a psychiatric hospital employee by biting them or spitting blood in their faces was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in prison. Robert Murray, 33, was not in court when state Supreme Court Justice William A. Wetzel imposed the se
ATLANTA - The foundation that cares for the AIDS Memorial Quilt announced Wednesday that the group has settled a lawsuit with the man who created the quilt and later claimed he was wrongly fired. Cleve Jones, who in 1987 stitched the first square of what became an international symbol of the human toll of AIDS, sued th
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- Unless drastic measures are implemented, the world will not meet its targets for reducing poverty and millions of people will die needlessly during the next decade, according to a major U.N. report released Wednesday. Despite progress globally, many countries are falling behind, espec
New York (AP) -- An HIV-positive ex-convict who said he tried to kill four Manhattan police officers and a psychiatric hospital employee by biting them or spitting blood in their faces was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in prison. Robert Murray, 33, was not in court when state Supreme Court Justice William A. Wetzel i
-- CytRx Says Preliminary Data Show Encouraging Potential for HIV Vaccine LOS ANGELES (AP) -- CytRx Corp. said Wednesday that its experimental HIV vaccine produced responses in an early clinical trial that make it likely the drug would fight off multiple strains of the virus, according to interim results. The company s
-- GenVec Shares Rise After HIV Vaccine Produces Immune Response in Clinical Trial GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) -- Biopharmaceutical company GenVec Inc. said Wednesday early clinical trial results show that its HIV vaccine candidate produces a vigorous immune response in healthy volunteers. GenVec shares rose 20 cents, or 7.
--ViroLogic to Become Monogram Biosciences; Stock Symbol to Change SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (AP) -- ViroLogic Inc., which develops tests for diagnosing HIV and cancer, on Tuesday said it is changing its corporate name to Monogram Biosciences Inc. Beginning Wednesday, the company s stock will trade on the Nasdaq unde
Malaysia Sunday denied it is holding off on the distribution of free needles and condoms to drug addicts because of opposition from Islamic religious groups. Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said the program was crucial to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS but the government needed time to implement it. The staff have
VENICE, Italy - Director Spike Lee is one of eight directors who worked on All The Invisible Children, a movie showing out of competition at the Venice Film Festival. The film consists of seven shorts telling the plight of children in different parts of the world, including child soldiers and street urchins. Lee ch
The Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria said it was likely to resume funding Uganda s HIV programme after the government appointed international accountants to investigate allegations of financial mismanagement. The Geneva-based fund suspended much of its funding last week after a review of one of its five grants
SYDNEY, Australia - Police in Papua New Guinea collared a teen suspected of picking the pocket of a soldier and dispensed their own justice: The officers beat him, slammed his head into a truck and burned him, the youth told human rights researchers.
PARIS (AP) - France plans to put a tax on airline tickets next year to finance efforts against poverty and disease in the developing world, President Jacques Chirac said Monday. While the idea is still being debated at the international level, France wants to launch a pilot program to prove it could work. The first fun
DOVER, Del. - Louis Chance Jr., serving six months behind bars for his fourth drunken driving conviction but hoping to start a new life when he got out, was only a few weeks away from his release date when he began suffering severe headaches. The headaches grew so agonizing that Chance became disoriented and incoherent
Los Angeles - A condom shortage in Uganda has prompted Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation to pledge a donation of 1 million condoms to the African country s Ministry of Health. The organization, which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the United States , Africa, Central America and Asia, announc
FOSTER CITY, Calif. (AP) -- Gilead Sciences Inc. said Monday that it is reducing prices for its Viread and Truvada HIV drugs in developing countries to reflect lower manufacturing costs. The biotechnology company, which sells the drugs at no profit to a
San Francisco - Although they campaign arm-in-arm for gay rights, lesbians and gay men don t always march in step. With bemusement and at times frustration, they acknowledge a lingering gender gap in how they live, socialize and perceive each other. The two groups each grapple with real differences, and with stereotype
NAIROBI - The Bush administration s international AIDS policies have worsened a condom shortage in Uganda and could lead to an increase in the HIV infection rate there, a top United Nations envoy said Monday. Stephen Lewis, the U.N. Secretary General s special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said U.S. cuts in funding for
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Chinese health officials on Monday plan to announce an AIDS cooperation partnership with a U.S. institute, a measure that takes aim at combating what health officials fear will be a tenfold surge in HIV infection in China over the next five years. The partnership between the Chinese Center for Disease
The U.S. Postal Service is honoring Arthur Ashe. A 37-cent stamp will be available nationwide Monday. In addition to his tennis fame, Ashe established foundations to help youths and to support the fight against AIDS, which he contracted from a blood transfusion during heart surgery. Ashe, who died in 1994, was a native
MAPUTO, Mozambique -- Mozambican health officials know they are being overwhelmed by tuberculosis -- and fear the crisis may be even worse than thought. But Thursday s declaration by African health ministers of a tuberculosis emergency on the continent will certainly help tackle the problem, Candido Mindu, head TB doc
MAPUTO, Mozambique - The World Health Organization ended a weeklong meeting Friday after declaring tuberculosis an African emergency in a move meant to intensify the fight against a disease that kills more than a half-million people a year. The annual number of new tuberculosis cases in Africa has quadrupled since 1
MAPUTO, Mozambique - Regional health ministers unanimously agreed Thursday to declare tuberculosis an African emergency, underlining their commitment to fight the epidemic that is killing more than half a million people a year in Africa. The decision was taken at the 55th session of the World Health Organization s Regi
GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said Wednesday it has suspended grants to Uganda based on evidence of serious financial mismanagement. A review by accountants of one of the Global Fund s five grants to Uganda uncovered mismanagement by the African country s Ministry o
MBABANE, Swaziland - Thousands of Swazi girls Tuesday celebrated the end of a ban on sexual activity that had been imposed as a way to combat AIDS in one of the countries hit hardest by the epidemic. King Mswati III, Africa s last absolute monarch, had reinstated the umchwasho chastity ritual for five years in 2001, b
WATERTOWN, Mass. (AP) -- Shares of Panacos Pharmaceuticals Inc. closed up sharply Monday after the biotech company said its experimental HIV drug demonstrated promising results in a mid-stage clinical trial. Panacos shares rose $3.25, or 46 percent, to close at $10.30 on the Nasdaq, after peaking at $12 earlier in the
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - The quantity of fish available per person worldwide grew during the last two decades but declined in Africa, raising concerns about how to guarantee supplies of a main source of protein for a hungry continent. Simple steps to increase fish farming in Africa could solve the problem - and increase j
MBABANE, Swaziland (AP) - At dawn Monday, thousands of Swazi girls removed tasseled scarves symbolizing their chastity, abandoning an ancient rite that had been revived to combat the modern scourge of AIDS. King Mswati III, Africa s last absolute monarch, reinstated the umchwasho rite for five years in 2001, banning s
Washington- Inmate death rates for suicide, homicide and AIDS are showing substantial declines in jails and state prisons, the government says. The trend reflects improved medical care and closer attention to separating violent criminals from other offenders, officials say. State prison homicide rates declined by more
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- Jamaica has started an advertising campaign to stop discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS, a problem that human rights activists warn is undermining efforts to stop the spread of the virus. Radio, television, newspapers and billboards will carry messages against discrimination, said Fait
SAN FRANCISCO - As a young, bisexual inmate weighing just 123 pounds, Kendell Spruce said he made a perfect target for sexual predators. Nine months after landing in an Arkansas prison for violating parole for check forgery, he claimed he had been raped by 27 fellow prisoners, including a cellmate who infected him with
GENEVA, Switzerland - The U.N. health agency said Friday it has reinstated seven Indian-made generic drugs to its list of approved HIV/AIDS medicines for use in developing countries after the manufacturer was able to prove they were the same as the patented versions. The World Health Orga
New York - India .Arie is hoping viewers will be moved to action after watching VH1 s upcoming documentary, Tracking the Monster, in which she and actress Ashley Judd visit separate African countries grappling with the plight of AIDS. It s what the power of this piece is, because I intellectually heard the numbers and
BERKELEY, Calif. - They re called synthetic biologists and they boldly claim the ability to make never-before-seen living things, one genetic molecule at a time. They re mixing, matching and stacking DNA s chemical components like microscopic Lego blocks in an effort to make biologically based computers, medicines and
TRIPOLI, Libya - Libya called on the Bulgarian government to negotiate a payment to win amnesty for five Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian sentenced to death for allegedly infecting 400 children with the AIDS virus. Libya has come under intense pressure from Europe and the United States to
SHANGHAI, China - A university in Shanghai is offering China s first class on homosexuality and gay culture and several hundred students have applied for the 100 openings, a professor in charge of the course said Tuesday. Professor Sun Zhongxin, one of the course s instructors at the prestigious Fudan University, said
BERLIN, Germany - Pope Benedict XVI invited all young people to attend the upcoming World Youth Day events in Germany, according to a message published Monday. In a greeting published in the Bild tabloid, the pope called the upcoming event in Cologne a festival of faith, joy and brother- and sisterhood and said it was
ATLANTA - Once or twice a week, the women s drum circle gathers to practice. Drum Sista s members pound and caress the skins, bonding through the rhythm in an atmosphere of like-minded women - activists and artists, all African-American, all lesbian. It is no accident that they found one another in Atlanta. The city an
LONDON - A new treatment strategy has shown promise in helping to transform HIV into a curable infection. Preliminary research published this week in The Lancet medical journal outlines how scientists used an anti-convulsant drug to awaken dormant HIV hiding in the body, where it is temporarily invisible but still dang
FOSTER CITY, Calif. - Gilead Sciences Inc. said Tuesday that a second study of its proposed all-in-one, once-a-day HIV pill failed to show that the combination treatment worked as well as taking the included drugs separately. In addition, Gilead pushed back its filing timetable for the drug, sending shares down nearly
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The head of the World Health Organization and Thailand s prime minister on Sunday launched a global health conference in Bangkok, urging unconventional, pre-emptive steps in areas from tobacco use to nutrition to battle human illness. WHO Director General Lee Jong-wook held up the example o
Los Angeles (AP) - An HIV-positive transgender woman from Honduras can stay indefinitely in the United States because she would face physical threats and a lack of medical care if she returned to her native country, a federal judge ruled. Judge Jan D.
ATLANTA - Former President Clinton spoke to a cheering, applauding crowd of hundreds Wednesday as he addressed the nation s largest and oldest minority journalism organization. Clinton, speaking at the opening ceremony of the annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists, addressed his efforts to c
BANGALORE, India (AP) -- India will introduce female condoms later this year to help fight the spread of AIDS among its billion-plus population, with cheap supplies available to commercial sex workers, the state-owned contraceptive maker said Friday. Female condoms will empower the woman to protect herself from infecti
NEW YORK, (AP) - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. s profit soared 91 percent in the second quarter helped by a one-time tax benefit, while sales growth helped push up earnings at rival drugmakers AstraZeneca PLC by 50 percent and GlaxoSmithKline PLC by 7 percent. AstraZeneca, the Anglo-Swedish company behind the drugs Cres
Rio de Janeiro - With a record five million new cases of HIV last year and major new outbreaks in Central Asia and China , the epidemic s impact is only now becoming fully apparent, a top United Nations official said on Wednesday. It s still an emerging epidemic. Just now we re getting into the globalisation phase, sa
LONDON, United Kingdom - Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline PLC reported a 7 percent rise in profits Thursday on strong sales growth even as production problems temporarily halted production of two key drugs. Glaxo s net profit for the three months ending June 30 rose to 1.19 billion pounds ($2.08 billion), from 1.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Male circumcision significantly reduces the chances of female-to-male transmission of the AIDS virus, according to a new study French researchers announced Tuesday. The study, conducted in South Africa , found that circumcision reduced the risk of men contracting AIDS during heterosexual inter
Los Angeles -- California s code-based HIV reporting system is faulty and inaccurate and could cause the state to lose up to $50 million in federal funding as of 2007 if it is not revamped, experts said. While most states track HIV cases by reporting the names of patients in a confidential database, California is among
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- Heroin flowing out of Afghanistan is creating a new AIDS epidemic among drug addicts in Eurasia, where the disease once had been rare, scientists said Monday. Dr. Christopher Beyrer said a rising number of HIV infections had been detected in Belarus ,
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Former President Bill Clinton launched a program Saturday that will nearly double the number of children receiving treatment for HIV infection in Kenya by the end of the year. Some 100,000 children are infected with HIV, but only 1,200 receive treatment. The Clinton Foundation s Pediatric HIV/AID
Clinton said his foundation had received grants worth $1.5 million to help train medical workers for rural areas in this East African nation. The money came from singer Elton John and the Children Investment Fund Foundation, a London-based charity that funds projects to improve the lives of children in poor nations, Cl
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) -- Former President Clinton and Tanzania s President Benjamin Mkapa launched a program Wednesday to expand HIV/AIDS treatment in rural areas by training health workers. At least 30 medical workers will receive advance training each year and will go to remote areas that traditionally lacked
WASHINGTON - The Senate on Wednesday cut President Bush s request for foreign aid and the State Department s budget by about 3 percent to free $1 billion for domestic programs. The $31.8 billion measure passed by a 98-1 vote after a debate that spanned four days even though the bill was devoid of controversy. The House
Santa Ana, Calif. - A Newport Beach doctor and his former assistant were indicted Wednesday on fraud and conspiracy charges for allegedly diluting AIDS- and HIV-related medicine and cheating insurance companies out of $1.2 million. George Steven Kooshian, 54, and office assistant Virgil Opinion, 45, face 25 counts of h
KAMPALA, Uganda - A lawmaker is offering to pay university fees for girls who are virgins when they graduate from high school, in part to help fight AIDS. We want to encourage people to be morally upright and not to go into early marriages. We also want girls to resist defilement. We do not want these girls to get expo
WASHINGTON - India is a resolute U.S. partner in the war on terrorism and a responsible nuclear power, India s prime minister told Congress on Tuesday as he promoted new nuclear cooperation between the two countries. Manmohan Singh, in an address to a joint meeting of Congress, spoke broadly of how the world s oldest a
A sudden doubling of New Zealand s low AIDS rate caused campaigners to warn Tuesday that improved treatments for the disease may be causing complacency toward its risks. New Zealand s Aids Foundation communications director Steve Atwood said there were 33 new cases of full-blown AIDS diagnosed in New Zealand in the fir
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Tuesday that the Food and Drug Administration granted fast track status to its experimental HIV drug, a move that could speed up approval of the therapy. The FDA grants a fast track label to drugs designed to treat serious or life-threatening diseases, and that addres
ATLANTA - Emory University has sold its royalty rights to an HIV drug for $525 million, which school officials said Monday they believe is the largest amount ever for such a sale. Gilead Sciences Inc. and Royalty Pharma will purchase the royalty interest owed Emory for emtricitabine, also known as
UNITED NATIONS - Despite some progress, U.N. peacekeepers still haven t been trained well enough to protect themselves or the people where they re deployed from AIDS, the top U.N. AIDS official said Monday. Dr. Peter Piot urged the U.N. Security Council to make that training an explicit and timebound goal, but council
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Former President Nelson Mandela celebrated his 87th birthday Monday with his family at his ancestral home at Qunu, near South Africa s eastern coast. Tributes have poured in for Mandela and celebrations nationwide began with a fireworks display on Robben Island, the site of the former priso
MASERU, Lesotho - Former President Bill Clinton dedicated a pediatric AIDS clinic Monday that was established with the help of his foundation to treat children infected with HIV. Clinton also reviewed progress made by the government in expanding access to HIV/AIDS treatment. The government, with the help of the Clint
SINGAPORE - In a country where gay sex is punishable by prison time and the government bans gay-themed parties, the Free Community Church stands out. It is the only place of Christian worship willing to accept gays and lesbians in Singapore . Gay sex is still a crime considered an act of gross indecency in Singapore.
BIRMINGHAM (AP) - A court-appointed monitor warns that erratic treatment of HIV-positive inmates in a Limestone County state prison could develop into treatment-resistant AIDS. A new report by Dr. Joseph Bick issued that warning. It came a year after the state Department of Corrections agreed to improve medical treatme
Since the first prescription drug ads aimed directly at consumers began in the late 1990s, scores of the rich and famous have become richer by doing TV commercials and by visiting talk shows to promote medicines or discuss a disease on behalf of a pharmaceutical company. Here s a sampling of stars who have done ads sin
SAL ISLAND, Cape Verde - Laura Bush heard a Rwandan girl tearfully describe raising her three young brothers, their father killed in the 1994 genocide and their mother dead of AIDS. She saw miles of South African shanty towns, tin and tarpaper shacks crowded in the shadow of Cape Town s wealth. She met women riskin
BRASILIA - Brazil s new health minister denied reports that an agreement was reached with a U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturer that would avert the country s plan to break an AIDS drug patent, despite the ministry s earlier statement that such a deal was finalized. In an interview published Thursday in the newspaper Corr
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - In front of the television cameras, Jenna Bush listens silently to Tanzanian orphans who have been left by AIDS with no family. Across the continent in South Africa , twin sister Barbara quietly cares for children afflicted with the devastating disease. First lady Laura Bush s trip to Afri
Thailand announced Wednesday it will offer anti-retroviral drugs at almost no cost to the nation s 500,000 people with the AIDS virus. We will be the first country in the world to give every person living with AIDS access to anti-retroviral drugs, said a statement from the Ministry of Public Health. The Thai-prod
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) - Traveling in Africa in part to empower its often disenfranchised women, Laura Bush said Wednesday she would not automatically vote for a woman in a field of candidates for president of the United States . If a woman were to run, it would be exactly the same thing I would consider in any o
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) - Traveling in Africa in part to empower its often disenfranchised women, Laura Bush said Wednesday she would not automatically vote for a woman in a field of candidates for president of the United States . If a woman were to run, it would be exactly the same thing I would consider in any o
HOUSTON – Texas teen pregnancy rate has declined over the last decade, but studies show that young people in the state are more likely to have babies than most of their peers in other parts of the country. One national study said Texas had the second-highest rate, behind Mississippi. State statistics show the rate drop
VATICAN CITY, (AP) - The Vatican is calling for clients of prostitutes to not only face legal action but to also receive counseling and other help to stem what it called a form of modern day slavery. The Vatican s office for migrants and itinerants also called for greater protection of women through better enforced law
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - Laura Bush, clearly moved Tuesday by a song from a roomful of HIV-positive mothers, thanked them for stripping away the stigma of AIDS and helping prevent more babies in their impoverished township from being born with the disease. Mrs. Bush, on a three-nation African trip that aims to hi
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- The agreement between Brazil and a U.S. drug maker that avoided breaking the patent of an important AIDS medicine made everyone a winner, experts said Monday. The agreement was reached on Friday night, two weeks after Brazil issued an ultimatum threatening to break the patent on the AIDS
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - After a safari weekend, Laura Bush stepped out of a dusty SUV with her twin daughters on Monday to serve as a goodwill ambassador in Africa for President Bush. The first lady s whirl through South Africa, Tanzania and Rwanda this week comes on the
China is stepping up efforts to combat the spread of AIDS in Chinese women as they face an upward trend in infections, the country s top health official said Monday. The proportion of AIDS sufferers who are women jumped from 19.4 percent in 2000 to 27.8 percent last year, Health Minister Gao Qiang said at a Beijing c
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - More than 6.5 million of South Africa s 47 million people could be infected with HIV, according to a government report released Monday, a sharp increase from previous estimates. A 2004 Health Department survey of more than 16,000 pregnant women attending antenatal clinics indicated bet
WASHINGTON - U.S. groups fighting AIDS overseas are being given an ultimatum by the government: Pledge your opposition to sex trafficking and prostitution or do without federal funds. The new rule has created confusion among health groups that wonder how it will affect them and has drawn criticism from others who say i
Los Angeles (AP) - A woman who alleges she underwent two years of treatment after being misdiagnosed with HIV has sued County-USC Medical Center. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks unspecified general damages and compensation for past and future medical expenses, according to court pa
PROMISE: U.S. groups that receive federal funds to fight AIDS overseas must pledge their opposition to sex trafficking and prostitution, according to a new government directive. PLEDGE: Supporters of the pledge say the United States is taking a stand against degrading, debilitating practices. POWER: Critics say it
WASHINGTON, (AP) - U.S. groups fighting AIDS overseas are being given an ultimatum by the government: Pledge your opposition to sex trafficking and prostitution or do without federal funds. The new rule has created confusion among health groups that wonder how it will affect them, and has drawn criticism from others wh
CLEVELAND - A jury ruled Thursday that McDonald s Corp. discriminated against a restaurant manager who claimed he was forced out of his job after the company learned he had AIDS. The jury awarded Russell Rich of Akron $490,000 in damages in the second trial on his claim against the fast-food chain. Rich, 41, won $5 mil
Medicaid officials said patients on mental health drugs not on a state list of approved medications will have 60 days to switch or get permission to continue. TALLAHASSEE - Some people who rely on Medicaid to pay for psychiatric drugs will get two months to either switch to a drug on a new state list or have their doct
CAMP HILL, Pa. - In a bid to ramp up its health-care offerings, Rite Aid Corp. said it will open health-care centers in 10 of its retail drugstores to be staffed by certified nurse practitioners who will treat minor ailments, perform vaccinations and screen for diseases. The retailer said it signed an agreement with Ta
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Angelina Jolie, who has been romantically linked with her Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-star Brad Pitt, is adopting an orphaned Ethiopian baby girl. Jolie visited the Horn of Africa nation last week to file her adoption request, accompanied by Pitt and her 3-year-old son, Maddox, whom she adopted
MIAMI, (AP) - When Luckner Pierrsaint feels congested from the flu or bronchitis, he doesn t go to a doctor or a drugstore. He takes his own concoction: a spoonful of a sugar-and-purple-onion mixture left outside for three nights. Pierrsaint fled Haiti for Florida in 1989 but still relies on the plant-based remedies he
KOBE, Japan (AP) - After five days of hearing figures and seeing charts about the increasing spread of AIDS in the Asia-Pacific, Maura Elaripe Mea said Tuesday it s time for those living with the disease to rise up and demand what s needed to keep them alive. As an HIV-positive woman from the impoverished Pacific natio
A federal panel is recommending that all pregnant women, not just those considered at high risk, be screened for the AIDS virus because testing has proven so successful at helping prevent the spread of the disease to babies. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said in 1996 that there was insufficient evidence that
KOBE, Japan (AP) -- Developing countries in the Asia-Pacific risk sinking deeper into poverty if they fail to adequately confront the rising threat of HIV infection with increased funding for prevention and treatment, officials said Monday. The region has the second-highest number of people living with the virus, about
WASHINGTON - The government s AIDS research agency is a troubled organization and its managers have engaged in unnecessary feuding, sexually explicit language and other inappropriate conduct that hampers its global fight against the disease, an internal review found. The review for the National Institutes of Health dir
Brazil (AP) - AIDS activists and humanitarian groups are praising Brazil for taking the first step by any country to break an AIDS drug patent and produce copycat versions, a decision they hope leads to massive exports to other poor countries devastated by the disease. But property rights advocates and the pharmaceut
KOBE, Japan (AP) -- Papua New Guinea is at risk of an African level HIV/AIDS epidemic, while other Asia-Pacific nations like Malaysia , Vietnam and Myanmar are also worrisome as the
KOBE, Japan (AP) - The Asia-Pacific faces a silent tsunami as HIV/AIDS rates surge in a region home to more than half the world s population, a U.N. official said Saturday. In 2004 the region posted the world s second-highest infection rates after sub-Saharan Africa, although the overall percentage of the population in
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - The tattooed, tired-looking heroin addicts who navigate the capital s congested alleyways to get to this quaint Dutch colonial house every day are not looking for a fix. They come for the free needles and a chance to talk - part of government efforts to stem the rise in HIV cases. The Stig
KOBE, Japan (AP) - Asia risks having 12 million new HIV infections in the next five years but could halve that number if it acts fast enough to fight the virus among vulnerable groups such as drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men, a UNAIDS report said Friday. The U.N. AIDS agency s report also w
NEW YORK, (AP) - Pfizer Inc. said Friday that it is abandoning development of an experimental HIV therapy after two studies failed to show a significant difference between its capravirine drug and standard treatments for the virus that causes AIDS. The pharmaceutical company said capravirine did not significantly boost
NEW YORK - Designed to raise consciousness about African poverty, the Live 8 concerts will feature some of black music s biggest stars especially those representing hip-hop. The Philadelphia concert boasts Russell Simmons as one of its producers and A-list acts such as Destiny s Child and Alicia Keys a far cry from 198
JACKSON, Miss. - Medicaid officials said Thursday that they ll work with the state Department of Health to keep providing life-sustaining drugs for patients with HIV and AIDS. But a news release from Medicaid offered few details, and the program s spokesman was not available to answer questions. There will be no interr
GENEVA - A much-heralded U.N. attempt to put HIV-infected people on antiretroviral drugs will fail to reach its target of 3 million patients by the end of the year, a key health agency official conceded Wednesday. But the 1 million-patient milestone has been passed, and the groundwork for further advances has been laid
The United States gave impoverished Cambodia US$34.7 million (Cambodian Riel $28.7 million) in grants Thursday to fight HIV/AIDS, boost education and improve the livelihoods of its people. Charles A. Ray, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Cambodia, signed the two grant agreements with Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.
BRASILIA, Brazil -- Brazil expects U.S. pharmaceutical companies Merck & Co. Inc. and Gilead Sciences Inc. will agree to reduce prices or allow production of generic equivalents of their anti-AIDS drugs, Health Minister Humberto Costa said on Wednesday. But there was no sign of an agreement with
TOKYO, Japan (AP) -Asia could become the next sub-Saharan Africa if it doesn t get a quick handle on the rising number of people infected with the AIDS virus, a top official from the U.N. Health agency said Wednesday. More resources and drugs must reach affected people and prevention campaigns have to be stepped up to
GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) - A much-heralded U.N. attempt to put HIV-infected people on antiretroviral drugs will fail to reach its target of 3 million patients by the end of the year, a key health agency official conceded Wednesday. But the 1 million-patient milestone has been passed, and the groundwork for further adva
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - African musicians say they re glad to be participating in the Live 8 concert from Johannesburg, but would have liked to share a stage with Western stars in the campaign to help their continent. Zola, star of South Africa s rap-flavored kwaito style, was introduced Tuesday as one of the
Trenton, N.J. (AP) - Everyone knows condoms prevent pregnancy and protect against sexually transmitted diseases. But how well do they work? That question is at the center of a debate over whether the labels on condom packages should be changed. On one side are abstinence advocates, including a conservative congressman
WASHINGTON, (AP) - The House voted Tuesday to significantly slash President Bush s funding request for an international aid program considered a cornerstone of his campaign to spread democracy. Money for the program, called the Millennium Challenge Account, is included in the $20.3 billion foreign aid bill the GOP-led
Numerous studies have documented the effectiveness of condoms - latex, but not natural or lambskin ones - in preventing pregnancy and spread of the AIDS virus. Condoms reduce chances of pregnancy over a year s time to 3 percent with perfect use and 14 percent with typical use, compared with 85 percent with no birth con
GENEVA - (AP) - Brazil s health minister on Monday encouraged other countries to use the world trade body s rules on intellectual property to challenge pharmaceutical giants in their pricing policy on anti-AIDS drugs. Last week, Brazil threatened to break the patent on Abbott Laboratories AIDS drug
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - France , Germany , Brazil and Chile have called for a tax on airline tickets to help finance the global fight against poverty. Such a tax makes sense because airlines benefit from globalization and pay low tax rates, and airline passengers are
GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) - Brazil is encouraging other countries to use the World Trade Organization s rules on patents to challenge pharmaceutical giants in their pricing policy on AIDS drugs, the Brazilian health minister said Monday. The WTO s intellectual property agreement allows governments to manufacture generic
SEATTLE, (AP) - Two years ago, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation posed a series of questions to scientists around the world: How can we improve public health in developing countries? Can we develop vaccines that don t require refrigeration or needles? Are there better ways to stop insects from spreading malaria and
PHILADELPHIA, (AP) - Alicia Keys, the Black Eyed Peas, Josh Groban, Def Leppard and Toby Keith have been added to the lineup of Saturday s Live 8 concert in Philadelphia. Celebrity presenters at the show also will include actors Salma Hayek, Natalie Portman, Chris Tucker, Jennifer Connolly, Jimmy Smits and Kami, an HIV
NEW YORK (AP) -- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and the Baylor College of Medicine are launching a $40 million initiative to treat children with AIDS in the developing world, an effort that includes a pediatric AID corps to send doctors to Africa to treat about 80,000 children over the next five years. In addition, Brist
BALTIMORE, (AP) - World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz told participants at an African business conference Thursday night that the private sector is crucial to the development of Africa, but the region faces enormous obstacles, including highly subsidized agricultural products from the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Post-tsunami living conditions, poverty and migration have put Sri Lankans at higher risk of spreading HIV, said a U.N.-backed report released Thursday. The United Nations Development Program-financed study said deteriorating economic and social conditions, the Tamil Tiger armed conflict and the presence of a large mil
CLEVELAND - A former employee with AIDS who is seeking millions of dollars in damages from McDonald s quit because he felt victimized by discrimination, his attorney said in opening statements Wednesday. The burger chain said the man refused a new position and resigned. Discrimination has put him in that position, Pai
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Police have begun destroying vegetable gardens planted by Zimbabwe s urban poor, extending a demolition campaign that initially targeted shacks and street vendor kiosks. Senior assistant police commissioner Edmore Veterai said urban farming on vacant plots of land was causing massive environmen
WASHINGTON, (AP) - First lady Laura Bush will travel to Africa next month to talk about education, the battle against HIV/AIDS and women s rights, the White House announced Tuesday. Mrs. Bush will leave for Africa from Scotland, where President Bush is attending the G-8 meeting of leading industrialized countries in Sc
TRENTON, N.J. -- Just two weeks before the state s first needle-exchange programs for intravenous drug users were to start, an appeals court order has halted the pilot projects. The temporary injunction, issued Thursday in the Mercer County Superior Court Appellate Division but not made public until Monday, stays an e
WASHINGTON, (AP) - Two generic versions of a major AIDS drug were tentatively approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Monday. The agency said it was giving tentative approval to applications for nevirapine tablets manufactured by two companies in India :
San Francisco (AP) - Researchers here want to talk about sex, and not just the naughty bits. Academics, social scientists and policy makers from around the world are gathering this week at San Francisco State University for a conference on human sexuality and the moral panics caused by such charged topics as homosexual
Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn, For The Associated Press
Los Angeles (AP) - AIDS IS GOD S CURSE. A child, no more than 9 years old, holds the banner high during an anti-gay rally in Lubbock, Texas. On the other side of the street, gay students protest the school board denying them the right to organize on campus. Their cause draws legal support, media coverage and an unlikel
CLEVELAND (AP) - It was tradition in Russell Rich s family that every Friday night his dad would take the kids to McDonald s. Rich recalls gazing through the window of the local old-style McDonald s - the kind with the big golden arches and no indoor seating - and dreaming of flipping burgers like the workers inside.
Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP) - Janet Jackson was in no mood for jokes when she got a cheeky introduction from actor Alan Cumming as she received a humanitarian award from a gay rights group. After Cumming joked that she was never one for controversy, Jackson apologized for her own lack of humor in her first public appear
PRETORIA - New World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz wrapped up a four-nation African tour Saturday, saying new leadership on the troubled continent was creating opportunities for partnerships with wealthy countries to fight poverty and encourage development. The more I have traveled through Africa in these six days the more
Tallahassee, Fla. (AP) - A battle in the war against AIDS - one involving its youngest victims - is being won in dramatic fashion. The number of babies who contract the HIV virus that causes AIDS before or during childbirth has plunged in the last decade and so far this year no babies have been born HIV-positive in Flo
WASHINGTON (AP) - Stephan Bekale left his home in Gabon with a teenager s dreams of a U.S. college education and a career in the sport he loved, basketball. But his personal game plan changed when his parents, back home in their country on Africa s west coast, died a few years later, just months apart. AIDS had stolen
A snapshot of AIDS in Africa, from the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS: --It is the leading cause of death on the continent. --Sub-Saharan Africa is the most seriously affected region in the world. It is home to more than 60 percent of all people with HIV, but accounts for just over 10 percent of the world s popul
WASHINGTON - Some government-funded researchers who tested AIDS drugs on foster children over the past two decades violated federal rules designed to protect vulnerable youths, U.S. investigators have concluded. Researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Hospital failed to obtain an
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government has concluded at least some AIDS drug experiments involving foster children violated federal rules designed to ensure vulnerable youths were protected from the risks of medical research. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Human Research Protections concluded tha
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Yes, the government can make a federal case out of medical marijuana use, the House said Wednesday. Less than a week ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the government can prosecute medical marijuana users, even when state laws permit doctor-prescribed use of the drug. In response, the House rejected a
ATLANTA (AP) - Three years after a much-heralded HIV test uncovered an outbreak among black male college students in North Carolina, the promising test still isn t being used in many other places. Health officials say they are waiting for the government, especially the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to end
BEIJING, China (AP) - China should stop harassing AIDS activists, a U.S.-based human rights group said Wednesday as it warned that Beijing s heavy-handed methods of controlling information about the disease could hinder efforts to stop its spread. In a 57-page report, Human Rights Watch called on China to remove restri
Los Angeles (AP) - The county will allow pharmacies that register with its Department of Health Services to sell syringes over-the-counter in an attempt to slow the spread of HIV and other infections that can be transmitted through needles shared by drug users. The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday to allow pha
ATLANTA (AP) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday that more than 1 million Americans are now living with HIV. Here is the latest U.S. data: Estimated number of HIV cases: 1,039,000 to 1,185,000 in December 2003 Number of new HIV infections: 40,000 per year AIDS rate, by race or ethnicity:
ATLANTA (AP) - For the first time since the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, more than a million Americans are believed to be living with the virus that causes AIDS, the government said Monday. The latest estimate is both good and bad news - reflecting the success of drugs that keep more people alive and the f
WASHINGTON, (AP) - Now that Africa is getting an influx of cash to pay off debts, President Bush is pushing for an influx of democracy on the troubled continent. The United States and others of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations agreed Saturday to eliminate more than $40 billion of debt owed by 18 of the w
TROMSOE, Norway (AP) - Nelson Mandela teamed up with more than 50 international music stars to press the world s richest nations to take increased action against AIDS and poverty. Let every child be a healthy child, Mandela told a crowd of almost 18,000 at a benefit concert held Saturday under the midnight sun in Norwa
TROMSOE, Norway (AP) - Nelson Mandela and international music stars pressed the world s richest nations to save lives with increased action against AIDS and poverty at a benefit concert under the midnight sun on Saturday in Tromsoe, the main city of Norway s Arctic. We urge them to save the lives of our children. Let e
VATICAN CITY, (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI urged African bishops Friday to keep up their fight against AIDS, reiterating church teaching that abstinence is the only fail-safe way to prevent the spread of the virus. Benedict met with the bishops from South Africa , Botswana ,
UNITED NATIONS, (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday called 2005 a make-or-break moment for the world s poor and urged all rich nations to follow the European Union and boost aid, improve trade and provide debt relief. With more than 1 billion people living on less than $1 a day, 815 million having too littl
Los Angeles (AP) - An unexpectedly cold breeze swept the hotel s poolside cafe where writer-producers Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman were discussing their Showtime series Queer as Folk. They d left a late spring snowstorm behind in Toronto after wrapping filming there on the fifth and last season of their racy, radical ga
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - They ll be grooving to Coldplay in London, rapping along with Will Smith in Philly, dancing mbalax with Youssou N Dour in Paris. But in African cities and villages, they ll be worrying about day to day survival - and questioning whether Western extravaganzas like the Live 8 concerts, however well
Toledo, Ohio (AP) - When Katie Chromik put a silver ring on her finger and promised at church to save sex for marriage, her junior high school friends giggled. Some people have made bets on me that I m not going to make it, she said. It just makes me more determined. Even if pledging purity draws snickers, it s still g
In his upcoming memoir, former Sen. Jesse Helms acknowledges he was wrong about the AIDS epidemic but believes integration was forced before its time by outside agitators who had their own agendas. Here s Where I Stand, to be published in September by Random House, contains Helms first extended comments on national aff
For years, rock star Bono has used his celebrity to gain access to Washington s elite to discuss eliminating poverty and AIDS, and they ve listened. WASHINGTON - It was a long day s work for Bono, lead singer for the rock band U2 and dedicated lobbyist for the world s poor and AIDS-stricken. In Boston s FleetCenter on
NEW YORK, (AP) - Lotsa de Casha, the fifth and final installment in a series of children s books by Madonna, has been released. It tells the story of the richest man in the world, who loses everything but gains a friend. Written for readers ages 6 and up, Lotsa de Casha is described as a whimsical updating of the age-o
WASHINGTON, (AP) - President Bush is meeting with the leaders of several Western and Southern African nations later this month to celebrate elections held last year in each and hold them up as models of democratic progress on the troubled continent. The presidents of Botswana , Ghana
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - A Libyan court on Tuesday acquitted nine police officers and a doctor accused of torturing six foreign medics sentenced to death for allegedly infecting children with HIV. The six — five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor — have complained of severe torture during interrogations, saying the
Thousands of HIV-AIDS patients in military-ruled Myanmar lack access to life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs because of a funding shortage, a U.N. representative was quoted as saying Tuesday. Myanmar s health department can provide the drugs to only about 500 of the 25,000 victims infected with the AIDS virus who need
San Francisco (AP) - It was business as usual at the Love Shack after the Supreme Court ruling came down. A steady stream of customers filed past a security guard into the small storefront, where they could buy $5 pot brownies or spend up to 20 minutes inhaling premium marijuana that sells for $320 an ounce. One of at
SHANGHAI, China (AP) - In an aggressive new anti-AIDS push, China s Health Ministry is urging the promotion of free condoms and needle exchanges — strategies previously considered taboo by the conservative communist government. The proposed guidelines urge local governments to tailor those measures to high-risk groups
CHICAGO - From drug-resistant tuberculosis in California to high disease rates in South African gold mines, stubborn challenges threaten health officials goals for drastically reducing TB globally within 10 years, several studies show. Many public health officials world-wide are using a World Health Organization-recomm
NEW YORK - Brad Pitt is taking on poverty and AIDS in Africa ... and the tabloids. In an hour-long ABC Primetime Live special set to air Tuesday night (10 p.m. ET), Pitt talks to Diane Sawyer about the humanitarian crisis in Africa. I can t get out of the press. These people can t get in the press. So let s redirect th
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The Dutch Health Ministry, unhappy with legal sales of medical marijuana through pharmacies, will reevaluate its program later this year and may close it, a spokesman said Monday. In a country where unauthorized marijuana has been easily available for decades, the government was surprised
WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal authorities may prosecute sick people whose doctors prescribe marijuana to ease pain, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, concluding that state laws don t protect users from a federal ban on the drug. The decision is a stinging defeat for marijuana advocates who had successfully pushed 10 states t
TOKYO, Japan (AP) - A rapid spread of AIDS over the past decade has reached a level that has confounded and alarmed the health establishment in Japan, a country that has long felt protected by a first-rate health system and widespread condom use. Infections which had stayed at infinitesimal levels are surging at rates
UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations top HIV/AIDS official acknowledged at a conference Thursday that it was no longer realistic to hope that the world will meet its goal of halting and reversing the spread of the pandemic by 2015. Peter Piot, head of the U.N. campaign to combat AIDS, told reporters that it was still
Little Rock, Ark. (AP) - A beauty school that dismissed an HIV-positive student was told Thursday by the state cosmetology board to take him back. Allan Dugas told the Hair Tech Beauty College in Paragould that he had the virus that causes AIDS, the American Civil Liberties Union chapter in Arkansas said. The school ci
UNITED NATIONS, (AP) - The global fight against AIDS is seeing its first signs of success in hardest-hit Africa, but the $8 billion being spent this year to combat the disease must be doubled because the epidemic is expanding worldwide. That s the message representatives from 127 countries will be hearing at a high-lev
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia will distribute free needles and condoms to drug addicts in a potentially controversial pilot project aimed at curbing HIV infections, the government said Thursday. Clinics will provide 1,200 volunteer addicts with sterile hypodermics, condoms and methadone - a painkiller that can
UNITED NATIONS, (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday warned that the AIDS epidemic is accelerating on every continent and called for more money and leadership to halt its spread by the U.N. target date of 2015. In an opening address to representatives of 127 countries at a high-level conference, Annan said t
UNITED NATIONS, (AP) - A high-level U.N. meeting Thursday to assess progress in the global fight against AIDS will get some good news: money to combat the pandemic has quadrupled in four years and new infections are declining in half a dozen East African countries, the Bahamas and Cam
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Legislation that would allow health agencies and nonprofit groups to distribute condoms in California prisons was approved by the state Assembly late Wednesday, a step supporters said would help prevent the spread of AIDS. Our prisons are HIV infection factories and we are paying tens of millions of d
County supervisors on Tuesday blocked medical marijuana dispensaries from opening in unincorporated areas, but that may not stop a Hacienda Heights dispensary from operating. The 45-day moratorium only applies to new dispensaries, and the Hacienda Heights dispensary opened just before Tuesday, said Don Duncan, a consul
NEW DELHI, India (AP) - India, home to the second largest number of people infected with the HIV virus, dropped a bombshell last week when it declared that new cases fell by 95 percent in just a year. As it turns out, it was not a miracle - just mathematics. The National AIDS Control Organization announced 28,000 new c
Oklahoma City (AP) - Oklahoma s teen pregnancy rate has declined in recent years, but the state still has the nation s eighth-highest teen pregnancy rate, health officials said. We still have a long, long way to go, but we re making progress, said James Allen, state adolescent health director. It s not a problem that s
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Drug addicts in Cambodia who sell their blood to support their habit may become a new source for the spread of AIDS, a new study said Tuesday. Cambodia, which is one of the world s poorest countries, already has an HIV infection rate of 1.9 percent among people in the 15-49 year age bracket,
HAMILTON, Ontario (AP) - The Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty Monday to distributing blood tainted with HIV and hepatitis C in the 1980s, and was fined $4,000 in the public health disaster that infected thousands. More than 1,000 Canadians contracted blood-borne HIV and up to 20,000 others were infected with hepatitis
NEW DELHI - At face value, the news coming out of India is great: The country s AIDS control body says new HIV cases have come down by 95 percent in just a year. But it has whipped up a controversy, with many health workers saying the news is too good to be true, and others backing the government claim. The Nationa
NEW DELHI, India (AP) - Former President Clinton urged the United States on Thursday to show more flexibility in allowing money pledged for AIDS prevention to be used for low-cost generic drugs, and he criticized U.S. pharmaceutical companies for pressuring the government to restrict use of those funds. Clinton als
NEW DELHI, India (AP) - Former President Clinton on Thursday praised India s battle against AIDS after new government figures showed a sharp decline in the number of new HIV cases in the country. The former president called the results encouraging but cautioned that India could not become complacent. I think your
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton was slated to speak on AIDS prevention in India and visit tsunami-battered villages after he arrived in the country Wednesday. Clinton was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other top government officials before traveling on Friday to Nagapattinam, the southern I
The veteran civil rights organization the NAACP is weathering a tough leadership transition and is examining its relevance and responsiveness. Within two days of reports that Mexican President Vicente Fox had made racially charged comments about black American workers, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and National Urban Leag
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Revelers in leather, lace and bodypaint strutted down a red carpet and into Vienna s Gothic-style city hall for the city s Life Ball, a charity gala headlined by Liza Minnelli, Elton John, Heidi Klum and Donatella Versace. Versace entered Saturday s campy costume party differently than most of th
Charleston, S.C. (AP) - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told Medical University of South Carolina graduates Friday that the most ominous threat to the world is disease but they have the power to heal. The most dangerous existential threat to mankind and to Americans is biological, Frist told about 740 graduates.
MOUGINS, France (AP) -- Penelope Cruz offered the dress off her back to raise $100,000 for AIDS research. Boris Becker and Monica Seles donated a tennis lesson. And Liza Minnelli sold a song. A glitzy benefit dinner Thursday on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival brought in more than $3 million, a record at the a
Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding Ltd. said Wednesday that it plans to stop selling its Fortovase HIV medication in early 2006, saying demand for the pill has slackened as prescribers moved to its new formulation of the same drug. Roche s newer formulation of an older drug, Invirase , uses the same activ
WORCESTER, Mass.- The Worcester City Council opposes a state Senate bill that would mandate needle exchange programs across the state, with some members characterizing it as undemocratic. The council voted 8-3 Tuesday night to oppose the bill. In a separate resolution, the council said it was against the bill because i
The Government will set up a new panel to monitor HIV/AIDS programmes across the country and formulate more vigorous steps to curb the spread of the disease, officials said on Wednesday. The National Council on AIDS, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will meet four times a year to monitor progress made by public
WASHINGTON (AP) - Standards for enlisting foster children in federal medical experiments vary widely among the states, and the Bush administration is examining how best to protect the most vulnerable in our population, a top government health official says. Foster children are certainly vulnerable and failing to protec
The United Nations and the Myanmar government have launched a program to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV-AIDS, UNICEF said Tuesday. The program began Monday at Myanmar s 10 largest hospitals and will gradually be extended throughout the country to make prevention and treatment more widely available to mothe
GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) - Bill Gates said he is using the same strategy that succeeded in building Microsoft Corp. to tackle his latest challenge - fighting AIDS, malaria and other deadly diseases around the world. The featured speaker at the World Health Organization s annual assembly, Gates told the 192-nation body
CAPE TOWN (AP) - A South African court opened a hearing Friday against a self-styled nutrition guru who claims that antiretroviral medicines are poisonous and that his own natural multivitamin therapies are more effective against AIDS. The Treatment Action Campaign, or TAC, filed a temporary motion with the Cape High C
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - Officials in Nigeria launched a major blood bank and transfusion project Thursday, aiming to clean up AIDS-contaminated blood supplies in Africa s most-populous nation. President Olusegun Obasanjo called on all healthy Nigerians to donate, giving blood in front of television cameras at Abuja s new
CAPITOL HILL (AP) -- Senators have heard from experts about the threat posed by H-I-V/AIDS to older Americans. Doctor Robert Janssen, an expert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has told the Senate Special Committee on Aging the number of people over 50 living with H-I-V and AIDS is growing sharply.
Recent surveillance data show the HIV/AIDS situation in the Philippines has worsened from low and slow to hidden and growing, health officials said Thursday. Outgoing Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit cited several factors: fear of discrimination among people who test positive for HIV/AIDS, the underground network of inje
AGIOS ANDREAS, Greece - A pastor in Lesotho urges his congregation to get tested for HIV infection. A Nigerian activist has counseled Roman Catholic priests with AIDS. An Anglican minister who is HIV positive speaks of how the pandemic in Africa may help reclaim Christianity s spirit of compa
CAPE TOWN (AP) - The South African government faces increasing pressure to clamp down on a U.S.-based vitamin distributor accused of hyping the risks of anti-AIDS medication to push its own nutritional supplements. The U.N. added its voice Thursday to the wave of criticism against Dr. Matthias Rath, who has placed adve
A growing number of HIV-infected men and women in India are seeking partners through newspaper and Web site advertisements in which they acknowledge their health status, a news report said Wednesday. Nayan and Sushma, both HIV-positive, got married six months ago in western Gujarat state after responding to newspaper a
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Rich nations are discriminating against Africa on desperately needed aid for humanitarian crises, resulting in meager food rations for thousands of people, no food for others and many deaths, the U.N. humanitarian chief said. Jan Egeland told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that donors are mo
ATLANTA - Despite the best efforts of the region s health departments and prevention groups, cases of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases remain high in the South, health officials said Tuesday. For example, AIDS cases rose 27 percent for six Southern states - Georgia , North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama,
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - The global medical group Doctors Without Borders criticized Brazil s government on Tuesday for failing to keep its pledge to break the patents on expensive foreign AIDS drugs. In March, the government threatened to break the patents on four anti-AIDS drugs if producers didn t agree to allo
MOSCOW (AP) - U.S. President George W. Bush heard a litany of complaints Monday from representatives of Russian non-governmental organizations about the difficulties they face because of government hostility. Participants in the meeting said Bush told them he had spoken to President Vladimir Putin about concerns over h
WASHINGTON (AP) - Gay men s brains respond differently from those of heterosexual males when exposed to a sexual stimulus, researchers have found. The homosexual men s brains responded more like those of women when the men sniffed a chemical from the male hormone testosterone. It is one more piece of evidence ... that
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Christian leaders, theologians and religious activists from around the world gathered Monday for a meeting to assess some of the most serious challenges for the faith, such as growing rifts between churches and African congregations ravaged by AIDS. The conference, organized by the World Counc
WEST SENECA, N.Y. - The commute takes about 40 minutes, from the notoriously tough state prison at Attica to Mike Verrastro s pool-and-patio-equipped home in this middle-class Buffalo suburb. Two different worlds, but the veteran correctional officer ruefully acknowledges the difficulty keeping them separate. He someti
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Stressing the benefits of olive oil, garlic and beet root, South Africa s health minister insisted Thursday that good nutrition was just as important as antiretroviral medicines for people infected with HIV and said her government would not be pressured into meeting U.N. treatment targets.
NEW YORK -- City Council members, asking a litany of questions and chastising the commissioner who was testifying, on Thursday insisted on a thorough investigation into policies that allowed foster children into clinical drug trials for HIV/AIDS from the late 1980s to 2001. According to the Administration for Children
New York (AP) - To the dismay of gay-rights activists, the Food and Drug Administration is about to implement new rules recommending that any man who has engaged in homosexual sex in the previous five years be barred from serving as an anonymous sperm donor. The FDA has rejected calls to scrap the provision, insisting
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - Stressing the benefits of olive oil, garlic and beetroot, South Africa s health minister on Thursday said good nutrition was just as important as anti-retroviral medicines for people infected with the AIDS virus and that her government would not be pressured into meeting U.N. treatment ta
WASHINGTON - The job of appointing protective advocates for foster children in AIDS drug trials has been left up to local review boards at each study site. A recent review said those boards were overworked, were inappropriately dominated by scientists and lacked focus on patient safety. The Institute of Medicine, the n
CHICAGO - A handmade quilt with the names of foster children who died of AIDS before the mid-1990s hangs on the wall behind Elizabeth Monk s desk. It s a reminder of why her Illinois agency originally approved enrolling children in clinical drug trials a decade ago. These kids did not have the benefit of the clinical t
What researchers, state officials and foster care agencies in various states told The Associated Press about the use of foster children in AIDS drug experiments. CALIFORNIA: No foster child can legally participate in clinical trials without an order of the state juvenile court. A spot check of several counties said the
WASHINGTON - Government-funded researchers tested AIDS drugs on hundreds of foster children over the past two decades, often without providing them a basic protection afforded in federal law and required by some states, an Associated Press review has found. The research funded by the National Institutes of Health spann
ILFORD, England (AP) - In this closely fought district on the eastern outskirts of London, the opposition Conservatives - led by the son of a Romanian immigrant - are hitting hard on their promise to crack down on immigration just days before the election. The message is resonating with many voters - even some immigran
KAMPALA, Uganda - Preliminary findings of a government survey show that Uganda may have a higher HIV prevalence rate than previously thought. Seven percent of Uganda s adult population - or 800,000 people - are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, compared to the previously known figure of 6.2 percent, says t
New York (AP) - If you re a child of the 80s, chances are Erasure provided the synthesized soundtrack to your angst-ridden adolescence. Their songs about love and heartbreak can be simultaneously joyous and achingly sad, a mix of Vince Clarke s complex dance beats and Andy Bell s haunting, soulful vocals. After 20 year
Virginia Beach, Va. (AP) - Eastern Virginia Medical School has received $24 million to finish testing a new contraceptive gel that also fights HIV infection. The third phase of clinical trials - the last stage before possible Food and Drug Administration approval - will be conducted in India and the African coun
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Malaria kills more than one million people and sickens between 350 million and 500 million people a year, mainly in Africa, according to a U.N. report launched Tuesday. Malaria kills an African child every 30 seconds. Ann Veneman, executive director of UNICEF, the U.N. children s agency, said much
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A child who was pricked with a needle by a classmate and initially tested positive for HIV has now tested negative for the virus that causes AIDS, officials said Monday. The negative test means that 18 other elementary school children who were also pricked at Bayard Taylor Elementary School no longe
PHILADELPHIA, (AP) - Nineteen elementary schoolchildren who were pricked with a needle by another student are taking strong drugs to fight HIV after one of the children tested positive for the virus, officials said. Although authorities said the odds of the other children getting HIV from the needle were extremely low,
Two doctors were convicted Wednesday in Miami federal court of using two South Beach AIDS clinics to bill Medicare for potent intravenous drugs that were either not provided, not given as claimed or not medically necessary in a scheme that defrauded the government out of $5 million. Jorge Forcada and Clark Carlton Mitc
PHILADELPHIA, (AP) - A third-grader stuck 19 schoolmates with her mother s diabetes blood-testing needle this week, and one pricked student tested positive for HIV on a preliminary test, officials said. Health officials said the virus could not have been contracted from the needle stick, and they noted that preliminary
KIEV (AP)--The number of HIV-positive people soared in Ukraine last year, an official said Friday. Health authorities registered 12,490 cases of HIV infection in 2004, a 25% increase from the year before, said Tetyana Yurchenko, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Health Ministry. She refused to speculate as to the reasons
NEW YORK, (AP) - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said Thursday its first-quarter income plunged 36 percent because of milestone payments to its drug-development partners, asset sales and increased litigation reserves. Bristol said its net income fell to $621 million, or 32 cents a share, in the January-March quarter, down fro
Boise, Idaho (AP) - Despite an increase in national funding, Idaho and 10 other states continue to have waiting lists for low-income HIV and AIDS patients who need help paying for prescription drugs, according to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Alliance of State AIDS Directors. These are lif
BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union s head office appealed Wednesday for more funding from E.U. governments to support programs fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa and Asia. In a statement, the European Commission called on governments to agree on a considerable contribution to boost the budget of the
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Actor Brad Pitt spent three days in Ethiopia meeting with orphans of the AIDS pandemic that is devastating Africa, a spokesman said Tuesday. The star of Troy and Fight Club also visited projects offering AIDS treatment as part of a campaign to get more lifesaving drugs for victims of the HI
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - Brazil has promised to give several eastern Caribbean countries antiretroviral drugs to help them in their struggle against HIV/AIDS, officials said Monday. The Carribean Community announced that the drugs will be administered to 500 AIDS patients in Anguilla
The nation s governors, weighing what to tell Congress they want from Medicaid reform, may take aim at the common practice of seniors giving away their assets so the government pays for nursing home care. They could also demand that the poor pay a share - or a greater share - of their health care bills. Those proposals
HA LONG CITY, Vietnam (AP) - Action film star Jackie Chan took time out from jumping off buildings and beating up bad guys to play with children Saturday while promoting HIV/AIDS awareness in Vietnam, where health experts warn infection rates are on the verge of exploding. Chan, 51, was in the communist country for the
NEW DELHI, India (AP) - Only a quarter of condoms made in India are used for sex, most of the others are used to make saris, toys and bathroom slippers, a newspaper reported Saturday. The condoms are valuable to manufacturers because of the lubricant on them. Sari weavers place the condoms on their thread spools and th
A city agency that put more than 400 HIV-positive foster children into clinical trials for AIDS drugs has asked for an independent review of the program after children s rights advocates said it amounted to exploitation. John Mattingly, commissioner of the Administration for Children s Services, said the inquiry would
KUALA LUMPUR (AP) - Malaysian social and human rights groups Saturday urged education for religious leaders about AIDS, after a cleric suggested that people with AIDS be sent to live on remote islands. The Malaysian AIDS Council, likening the suggestion to condemning AIDS/HIV victims to death, said HIV infection can be
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Being P.C. can be death to comedy, says Meg DeLoach, and it s exactly what the creator and executive producer of UPN s Eve wanted to avoid in the sitcom s episode on HIV. In the episode Testing, Testing, HIV, airing 8:30 p.m. EST Tuesday, Shelly (played by rapper-actress Eve) is eager to go to the n
Los Angeles (AP) - Being P.C. can be death to comedy, says Meg DeLoach, and it s exactly what the creator and executive producer of UPN s Eve wanted to avoid in the sitcom s episode on HIV. In the episode Testing, Testing, HIV, airing 8:30 p.m. EST Tuesday, Shelly (played by rapper-actress Eve) is eager to go to the n
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional committees have begun investigating allegations that female officers inside the nation s premier health research agency were sexually harassed and their concerns about safety in human experiments disregarded. The Associated Press reported earlier this month that sworn, videotaped deposi
Seattle (AP) - The federal government has cited the University of Washington for problems in its safety regulation of human research programs involving hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The school must respond by April 28 with proposals for bringing its oversight up to standards - or risk losing the hundreds o
ONITSHA, Nigeria (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI s reputation for strict orthodoxy has won him admirers across a continent where many hold traditional views, but critics fear he may not do enough to fight African scourges such as AIDS, poverty and religious violence. Elected pope on Tuesday, former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger w
Fallbrook, Calif. (AP) - Alicia Vera rises bleary-eyed before dawn, downs a cup of coffee and heads for nearby fields and churches to help stop the spread of AIDS. She is among a small group of health educators working against language, cultural and economic barriers to reach an estimated 1.3 million migrant farm labor
-- Gilead Sciences First-Quarter Earnings Rise 47 Percent on HIV Product Sales FOSTER CITY, Calif. (AP) -- Biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Inc. on Tuesday said first-quarter earnings rose significantly on a 47 percent increase in sales from its HIV product franchise. Quarterly income rose to $157.1 million,
SACRAMENTO, (AP) - Inmates could be given condoms and corrections officials would be required to make it a priority to prevent prison rapes under two bills advanced Tuesday on an often taboo subject. It s unrealistic to think we have the ability to completely eliminate sex in prison, said Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-Wes
Merck & Co. said Tuesday it will launch a card that will discount its drugs for uninsured Americans regardless of their age or income. The card will become available April 25 and is aimed at providing uninsured Americans with discounts of 15% to 40% for many Merck medicines. An ad campaign including print and rad
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)--Chinese-made jet fighters flew over independence celebrations at which President Robert Mugabe declared he had no need for Western help or Western-style democracy. We have turned east, where the sun rises, and given our back to the West, where the sun sets, Mugabe told a crowd of 8,000 gathered
SACRAMENTO, (AP) - A year ago, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed sweeping changes in the state s workers compensation system, he promised the legislation would protect workers, save billions of dollars and root out fraud and waste. On Tuesday, unions and other groups representing injured workers will mark the firs
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- A state Health Department study has found gay men in New Mexico are not getting regular tests for HIV, meaning many are finding out they have the virus when they become very ill. Sixty-three percent of New Mexicans diagnosed with AIDS last year were unaware they had HIV, the virus that destroys c
NILOPOLIS, Brazil (AP) - Dulcimar Cesar da Rocha considers herself a conservative Catholic just like Pope John Paul II. But the harsh realities of life in this poor, violent town on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro often lead her to disagree with many of the late Pope s positions. She s not alone. About 73 percent of
BOSTON, (AP) - Four former executives of drug maker Serono Laboratories were charged Thursday with offering doctors kickbacks for writing prescriptions for an AIDS treatment drug with sagging sales. A federal indictment accuses two former vice presidents with getting two regional sales directors to use illegal methods
GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) - The United Nations AIDS chief predicted Thursday that a vaginal gel that protects women from contracting HIV during intercourse could be ready in as little three to four years. With the successful development of a vaccine still nowhere in sight, UNAIDS chie
HANOI (AP) - A 21-year-old HIV-positive woman has contracted bird flu in the first such case in Vietnam , a health official said Thursday. Nguyen Hong Hanh, deputy director of Quang Ninh province general hospital, said initial test results from the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology confirmed the woman had the H5N1
The Alabama Senate approved funding Wednesday that is necessary to keep 200 low-income people from losing their AIDS medication, but a senator said the medicine should come with a warning that the recipients should pursue a more godly lifestyle. We need to send a message we cannot continue to fund a disease that comes
BEIJING (AP) - Chinese police have arrested 15 people in connection with illegal blood-buying operations blamed for spreading the AIDS virus, a news report said Thursday. The arrests are linked to 106 cases of unsafe blood collection, illegal plasma sales and serious malpractice in the blood market, the China Daily new
WASHINGTON (AP) - A boss sends a red bra to a former female subordinate who had a falling out with him. Government e-mails distribute profanity and a picture of a partly nude woman. An order to better protect patients in a medical experiment takes two years to complete. All of that happened inside the National Institut
WASHINGTON (AP) - Women at the National Institutes of Health faced sexual intimidation and repeated disregard of their concerns for the welfare of patients in AIDS experiments, according to testimony by two senior female officers and documents gathered by investigators. One longtime medical officer at the government s
NEW YORK (AP) - Former President Bill Clinton announced Monday that his foundation s HIV/AIDS Initiative will deliver treatment to 10,000 children in about 10 countries by the end of the year. This would nearly double the number of children on antiretroviral treatment (ART) in the developing world outside
PHILADELPHIA - Singer Elton John will entertain at Fourth of July events in Philadelphia to promote awareness and raise money for the fight against HIV/AIDS. John will perform with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops orchestra at the Philadelphia Freedom Concert and Ball. Organizers said they hope to draw 1.5 million people
TOKYO, Japan (AP) - Elmo has undergone something of a metamorphosis in Japan. Sure, he still has his fuzzy red look, falsetto voice and hearty laugh in Japan s first local production of Sesame Street. But unlike the Elmo loved by generations of American children, this Muppet wastes little time teaching reading or arith
BUCHAREST (AP) - Romania s government will help hospitals pay off huge debts to medical suppliers which have accumulated over the last two years, the health ministry said Friday. The pledge comes after distributors threatened to stop supplying drugs and material to indebted hospitals unless the debts are paid. Hospital
PATTAYA, Thailand (AP) - U.S. negotiators on Friday wound up a third round of negotiations with their Thai counterparts on a proposed free trade agreement, saying they were pleased with the progress made. After a week of talks, both countries are now well-positioned for continued progress in the next round, which will
Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP) - Brad Pitt is among the A-list celebrities featured in new public service announcements for a campaign led by U2 singer Bono to fight poverty and AIDS. The campaign was not immediately asking for donations but simply raising awareness and recruiting new advocates, Bono said Wednesday at an e
WASHINGTON -- Controversial U.S. research in Africa that violated federal patient protection rules was nevertheless conducted well enough to support its conclusions that the AIDS drug nevirapine could be used safely to protect babies from the disease, an expert scientific panel has concluded. The committee finds t
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - When the news came that Pope John Paul II was facing his final hours, Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels was on a mission to China that exemplified his stature as a leading church diplomat. Danneels met government officials, Chinese Catholics and representatives of other religions on a rare vis
Jefferson City, Mo. (AP) - Some Missouri prisoners have been spitting on guards, and state legislators are trying to stop them with the threat of more time behind bars. The House gave initial approval Tuesday to legislation making it a felony for an inmate to expose a prison employee, visitor or another inmate to bodil
Los Angeles (AP) - Teen birth rates continued to decline across California, while the number of AIDS patients also dropped, according to a state report released Monday. The teen birth rate, which has plunged steadily since 1996 among 15- to 19-year-olds, was 41.1 per 1,000 females from 2001 to 2003, according to the st
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- HIV is a topic more openly discussed at Alabama s historically black colleges since a North Carolina study showed an increasing number of infections among black male students, but some question if enough is being done about it. I know it s here and it s not going to go away, said Mary Morris Billing
New York (AP) - It s a Friday evening, traditional kickoff time for the party scene in New York s gay community, but the 75 men packed into a small room at a gay health center aren t in a partying mood. Through a humbling 12-step program modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous, they are battling to kick their addiction to m
CHICAGO -- About one in five ninth-graders report having had oral sex, and almost one-third say they intend to try it during the next six months, a small study of teens at two California schools reports. The teenagers, whose average age was 14 1/2, also say oral sex is less risky, more common and more acceptable for th
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Preliminary findings of a government survey show that Uganda may have a higher HIV prevalence rate than previously thought. Seven percent of Uganda s adult population - or 800,000 people - are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, compared to the previously known figure of 6.2 percent, s
Arlington, Va. (AP) - Three weeks at home was apparently enough rest for former President Clinton, who stepped back into the public arena Thursday night with a call for more action to fight AIDS. He also couldn t resist a few joking jabs at Republicans. I got all juked-up at home, said Clinton, looking energized and ex
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An array of advocacy groups are calling on the federal government to take down one of its new Web sites, saying it presents biased and inaccurate advice to parents on how to talk to their children about sex. The site - 4parents.gov - stresses the promotion of abstinence. Emphasizing abstinence is fin
JACKSON, Miss. - A federal judge issued an order Thursday ending a 15-yearlong lawsuit between the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mississippi Department of Corrections over the treatment of HIV-positive inmates. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerry A. Davis found that the conditions of the HIV-positive prisoners had imp
NEW YORK, (AP) - Pamela Anderson is the newest face of the VIVA GLAM V lipstick and lipglass, the primary fund-raising tools for the M.A.C. AIDS Fund. The former Baywatch actress joins the roster of the VIVA GLAM V lipstick advertising campaign that includes Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliott, Linda Evangelista, Chloe S
MONROEVILLE, Pa. (AP) - A suburban Pittsburgh hospital is urging about 200 patients who had colonoscopies during a four-month span to get tested for hepatitis and the virus that causes AIDS because the instruments may not have been disinfected adequately. Forbes Regional Hospital officials said the patients risk of exp
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP)--A U.S.-based human rights group accused the Ugandan government Wednesday of a worrying shift toward promoting abstinence in the fight against AIDS and minimizing efforts to promote the use of condoms. Human Rights Watch accused President Yoweri Museveni and his wife, Janet Museveni, of falling und
New York (AP) - Health officials have identified several patients potentially infected with a rare strain of highly drug-resistant HIV, but are not sure if the cases are related. The first case of the strain was reported last month in a man who had unprotected sex with dozens of other men while under the influence of c
MOSCOW (AP) - The growing AIDS epidemic represents a threat to Russia s security, senior Russian officials said Wednesday, as they pledged to reduce the cost of HIV/AIDS drugs sevenfold. Health Minister Mikhail Zurabov said his ministry has concluded agreements with top international pharmaceutical companies, which wil
BANGKOK (AP) - Thailand s intense crackdown on illicit drugs two years ago had mixed results, according to a newly published study that gave drug control experts little to cheer about. A report on the study, published in the March issue of the International Journal of Drug Policy, said 70% of intravenous drug users sur
TRIPOLI (AP) - A Libyan court decided Tuesday to rule in May on an appeal by five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for infecting more than Libyan 400 children with HIV-contaminated blood. Human rights groups have accused the Libyan government of concocting the charges to cover up unsafe prac
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - A U.S.-based human rights group accused the Ugandan government Monday of making a worrying shift toward promoting abstinence in the fight against AIDS and minimizing efforts to promote the use of condoms. Ugandan officials and church leaders said the report was seriously flawed and lacked any fac
BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) -- Its rapid HIV test has made its name known throughout the world. But OraSure Technologies of Bethlehem also is pushing the emerging science of oral diagnostics in another direction: drug testing. It has two products that can detect the likes of marijuana and cocaine in saliva. One, Uplink, is a p
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. promised Friday to do all it can to persuade Libya to free five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death on charges they injected the virus that causes AIDS into 400 children. International observers said the charges were contrived and confessions were extracted by torture. Secretary of State
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The FBI and the U.S. Postal Service have joined the criminal investigation into the disclosure of the names and addresses of some of the 6,500 HIV/AIDS patients in Palm Beach County. County Health Department Director Dr. Jean Malecki said Thursday that the FBI and postal inspectors have joined t
BEIJING (AP) - Chinese authorities have arrested 30 people in a crackdown on unsafe blood-buying agencies, the government said, in the latest effort to clean up an industry that spread the AIDS virus to thousands of people. Officials have closed 147 of China s more than 900 blood-supply agencies since last May, the off
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A design by two New York architects was declared the winner Wednesday in a competition to create a centerpiece for a 7-acre garden in Golden Gate Park, the only federally recognized AIDS memorial in the country. Living Memorial, by Janette Kim and Chloe Town, features a stand of black carbon fiber
LONDON (AP) - Most areas of the world seem to be winning the battle against tuberculosis, but an overwhelming burden of cases in Africa, unleashed by HIV, is frustrating efforts to reverse the global epidemic, according to a new U.N. report. The United Nations considers beating TB vital to the economic and social devel
NEW DELHI (AP) - International aid groups on Wednesday slammed the Indian Parliament s decision to approve patent legislation that ends the decades-old practice of allowing domestic drug companies to make low-cost copies of expensive Western medicines, saying hundreds of thousands of poor people will be affected. The c
SHANGHAI (AP) - China s southwestern province of Yunnan will require annual AIDS tests for people working in hotels, nightclubs and other entertainment outlets, a local official and the government s Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday. Under the new rules, announced Monday and effective immediately, those testing positive
Indian and international aid groups on Monday slammed a proposed overhaul of the country s patent laws, saying it would end production of cheap generic drugs and threaten the survival of cancer and AIDS patients in the developing world. India s government on Friday introduced legislation that would tighten patent laws
WINDHOEK, Namibia (AP) - President Hifikepunye Pohamba was sworn in Monday, taking the reins of power from Sam Nujoma who led the country to independence. Despite heavy rains, thousands of Namibians crowded into The National Independence Stadium to witness the inauguration on the 15th anniversary of the country s indep
MUMBAI (AP) - Aid groups fear that a proposed overhaul of India s patent laws would end production of cheap generic drugs, threatening the survival of cancer and AIDS patients in the developing world. India s government has introduced legislation that would tighten patent laws to bring them in line with World Trade Org
George, South Africa (AP) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela, playing host to his second AIDS awareness concert on Saturday, told a crowd of 20,000 that women bear the brunt of the AIDS pandemic that has infected some 25 million people in Africa. The disease carries the face of women, whether through infe
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Thirty-eight Thai construction workers in Bangladesh have been found to be infected with HIV , a news report said Sunday. Twenty-one of them have already been deported, while the remaining 17 have also been ordered out, The Daily Star newspaper. The workers had been employed on a Japanese-spons
George, South Africa (AP) - Former President Nelson Mandela on Friday welcomed stars including actor Will Smith and singers Annie Lennox and India .arie to South Africa for his second concert to raise awareness of the AIDS pandemic ravaging the continent. The so-called 46664 concert - named after Mandela s prison n
BRIDGEORT, Conn. -- An AIDS specialist believes that one of his Connecticut patients may be linked to a case of drug-resistant HIV discovered in a New York City man. Dr. Gary Blick said Thursday that in a preliminary study he found epidemiological and genetic links between the virus strains infecting both men. The two
FRANKFORT, Ky. - A divided Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday that disclosure required by a workers compensation claim filed by an HIV-positive employee trumps privacy considerations. Steven Barnett told very few people he had tested positive for the virus that can cause AIDS. But when he was bitten by a cat during
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - The suffering of Zimbabwean children is being forgotten in a standoff over politics and aid, the U.N. Children s Fund said Thursday. Zimbabwe suffers the world s fourth-highest HIV infection rate and has seen the highest rise in child mortality, yet receives just a fraction of the donor funding lavi
WASHINGTON (AP) - Two-thirds of the members serving on an expert medical panel investigating a U.S.-funded AIDS study are receiving grant money from the federal agency at the center of the probe, according to documents and interviews. The Institute of Medicine said it was aware of the financial ties with six of the nin
In Haiti , mothers clutched photographs of their dead sons. In Washington, First Lady Laura Bush promoted women s rights in the Middle East. In Bangladesh , hundreds of men joined protests against acid attacks that disfigure scores of women every year. Across the globe, women and men marked International Women s Da
MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) - About 150 police officers are dying every year of AIDS-related illnesses in this impoverished southern African country, police commander Miguel dos Santos said Wednesday. The high death rate in the 13,000-strong force is crippling its ability to fight crime, dos Santos told state radio. So
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - In its latest bid to reduce the cost of HIV and AIDS drugs, Brazil s government has threatened to break the patents of American pharmaceutical firms unless they share their technology with local drug makers. Called voluntary licensing, the policy is aimed at allowing government laboratorie
Los Angeles (AP) - The University of California, Los Angeles, is scheduled Wednesday to announce plans for a $20 million stem cell research institute that would compete for part of the $3 billion approved for the research by voters in November. UCLA officials said the university plans to spend $20 million in the next f
LUBBOCK, Texas - Health investigators in Lubbock on Monday continued to check into reports that a junior high girl infected with HIV had sex with other students. Information gathered through Monday indicated the sex between the infected student and at least one partner was protected, said Tommy Camden, director of the
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The final day of a U.N. meeting to press for women s equality took an odd turn Friday when countries adopted a resolution pushing for the economic advancement of women - over the objections of its chief sponsor, the U.S. The resolution was one of 10 passed by the nations. The resolution capped a c
UNITED NATIONS, (AP) - A two-week meeting to fight for women s equality ended as it began, with the United States at odds with much of the rest of the world on issues of reproductive health and abortion. The gathering was meant to reaffirm the platform for action adopted at the 1995 U.N. women s conference in Beijing t
Los Angeles (AP) - More than 650 people inadvertently received the wrong kind of penicillin after contracting syphilis or being in contact with someone who may have the disease, the Centers For Disease Control reported. Use of the wrong drug by the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center began in January 1999 and continue
LONDON (AP) - U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair Friday challenged the world to help end the poverty, conflict and disease plaguing Africa, as he launched a major international report on how to ease the continent s woes. There can be no excuse, no defense, no justification for the plight of millions of our fellow beings in
LONDON (AP) - International health advocates welcomed a major U.K. report issued Friday on improving the health and economic situation in African but said a more critical analysis could have been made of neglected health issues. U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair hopes the report of his Africa Commission will be embraced a
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Thai health activists on Thursday protested plans to test an anti-AIDS drug on hundreds of volunteers, claiming it failed to meet ethical standards. Thailand s Public Health Ministry earlier this month approved a plan, proposed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, to test Tenofovir s effica
STRASBOURG, France (AP) - European Union officials called on Libya Wednesday to immediately release six medical workers sentenced to death for allegedly infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV-contaminated blood. Luxembourg immigration minister
VIENNA (AP) - Authorities who combat drug use and those who fight AIDS must cooperate more to counter the rapid spread of HIV among injecting drug users, the head of the U.N. AIDS agency told a U.N. drug policy-making body Tuesday. AIDS now spreads most rapidly in Eastern European and Central Asian countries, where the
San Francisco (AP) - Three Bay Area men whose job offers were rescinded because they hid their HIV status can sue American Airlines for discrimination, a federal appeals court has ruled. The airline can request medical information - but only after all background checks are completed and a job offer has been made, accor
WASHINGTON (AP) - Treasury Secretary John Snow on Sunday wouldn t rule out the idea of Irish singer Bono, an activist on debt relief and AIDS , making the short list of potential candidates to lead the World Bank even though an American is expected to get the job. He s somebody I admire. He does a lot of good in this w
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A Thai government program providing low-cost health care leaves open serious disease risks because more than a million migrant workers are not covered, experts warned. The government s policy of providing health care for just 30 baht ($1=THB38.419) per hospital visit excludes foreign laborers -
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- More than 80 million Africans may die from AIDS by 2025, the U.N. said in a report released Friday, and infections could soar to 90 million -- or more than 10% of the continent s population -- if more isn t done soon to fight the disease. More than 25 million Africans have already been infected
MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) - A senior U.S. official wrapped up a two-day visit to Mozambique with promises that Washington will increase funding for HIV/AIDS programs to $48 million this year, from $26 million in 2004. U.S. Undersecretary of State for African Affairs Constance Newman was continuing to
ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan s anti-narcotics chief is appealing for foreign aid to fight the flow of heroin and opium from Afghanistan , saying his forces need helicopter gunships and electronic intelligence to defeat powerful traffickers. Maj. Gen. Nadeem Ahmed, director-general of the Anti-Narcotics Force, says that Pa
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - The prime ministers of Bulgaria and Norway Tuesday pledged to support the western Balkan countries bids to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - a process that would expand the military alliance to the whole Balkan region. We agree that the integration of the rest of the Balkan count
GABORONE, Botswana (AP) - A dozen HIV-positive women donned flowing evening gowns and glittering jewelry to compete in a beauty pageant aimed at fighting the stigma that still surrounds the deadly virus in this AIDS-ravaged southern African country. Botswana has one of the world s highest rates of HIV infection, with a
BOSTON (AP) - Blacks are contracting HIV at twice the rate they were in the late 1980s and early 90s, which researchers and AIDS prevention advocates attribute to drug addiction, poverty and poor access to health care, according to government statistics. At the same time, the HIV infection rate among whites has held st
Mineola, N.Y. (AP) - A Nassau County man has been diagnosed with a rare sexually transmitted disease, the first case in the county and one of seven around the country. The Nassau County Department of Health has confirmed that the man has Lymphogranuloma Venereum, a form of chlamydia. The disease s symptoms can be serio
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Homosexuality is such a deeply ingrained taboo here that it is punishable by law as an act against nature. The threat of violence and rejection, experts say, is scaring gays away from treatment and making them a high-risk group in a country that has been spared the ravages of AIDS seen elsewhere i
BOSTON (AP) - Research on a recently discovered HIV strain shows it holds an array of disturbing traits that help it quickly progress to full-blown AIDS while resisting drug treatments, doctors said Thursday at the leading meeting on AIDS science. The variant, discovered in a New York City patient, may have raced from
BOSTON (AP) - Scientists fighting the ravages of AIDS in the Third World have shown convincingly that a short and relatively inexpensive combination of HIV drugs could reduce mother-to-baby transmission rates in Africa far more effectively than the single pill now used. But the cost of the drug combinations could still
LONDON (AP) - U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that his Africa commission would be brutally frank about the problems facing the poverty-stricken continent when it publishes its report next month. It s an ambitious project we have set ourselves and you will have to judge on its outcome when we publish it, s
President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday issued joint statements on three initiatives and agreed to instruct their governments to enhance cooperation in several other areas. Here are highlights of the agreements, as released by the White House. NUCLEAR SECURITY COOPERATION Cooperation will includ
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A small study from the world s first mass immunization campaign against cholera suggests that the vaccine may work in people with the AIDS virus - a finding that could prove useful in Africa, where HIV is rampant, researchers say. Cholera is a major killer in developing countries, where it is spread
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) - The leaders of Botswana and Barbados signed an agreement Wednesday to encourage investment and eliminate double taxation. Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur and Botswana President Festus Mogae also agreed to exchange expertise in various areas, including AIDS research and prevention.
West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP) - Six more county health workers said they opened an e-mail containing a confidential list of thousands of AIDS and HIV patients, bringing to 16 the total number of employees known to have opened the e-mail. John W. Jack Nolan, the county s top HIV statistician, accidentally attached the list
BEIJING (AP) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton signed an agreement Monday with China to provide a year s supply of AIDS drugs to 200 children to help Beijing battle the disease. The program is part of a three-year, $10 million deal struck last year between the Clinton Foundation and China s Health Ministry. The
AMMAN (AP) - Health practitioners urged Mideast and North African governments Wednesday to provide proper sex education and AIDS-prevention training in schools to stem the increase of HIV infection among women and girls. They also demanded AIDS counseling and treatment be integrated within the wider women s health cont
MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota health officials are alerting doctors to watch for what might be a new, drug-resistant strain of HIV that is said to move quickly to AIDS. The state Health Department e-mailed about 300 infectious-disease specialists Friday, asking them to consider testing each newly diagnosed HIV patient for dr
West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP) - County officials are 99 percent sure a confidential list of thousands of AIDS patients and people with HIV never got outside their control after it was mistakenly e-mailed to health workers, a spokesman said. Only 10 Palm Beach County Health Department workers opened the message - which con
WASHINGTON - U.S. funding for AIDS vaccine research is tightening, the government s top HIV expert warned Monday, even as he said scientists still must overcome a big hurdle in the hunt: how to harness the body s first defenders to repel infection. Today s leading vaccine candidates can t do that, noted Dr. Anthony Fau
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - The South African state on Monday applied to the Constitutional Court for the retrial of Wouter Basson, the alleged apartheid-era head of germ warfare and mastermind of schemes to poison and sterilize black opponents. Basson, nicknamed Dr. Death, was cleared in 2002 of 46 charges including murder, f
West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP) - A confidential list of 4,500 Palm Beach County residents with AIDS and 2,000 who are HIV positive, including their addresses, was inadvertently e-mailed to more than 800 county workers, officials said. Computer technicians quickly shut down the county health department s e-mail system and o
SAN DIEGO, (AP) - This week s announcement that a San Diego resident tested positive for a possibly aggressive and drug-resistant strain of HIV turned out to be inaccurate, local health officials said Friday. The test results did not come from San Diego, as investigators reported on Monday, according to the San Diego C
PRETORIA (AP) - The number of deaths in South Africa increased by 57% in the five years ending in 2003, with AIDS and related illnesses among the leading causes in adults, the state statistical service reported Friday. AIDS was the fifth most common natural cause of death reported in South Africans aged 15-49 in 2001,
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- San Diego researchers recently confirmed scientifically what biologists knew intuitively: The stem cell lines President Bush approved for federally funded research are contaminated by the mouse feeder cells used to make them grow in the lab. The race is now on to create and keep human embryonic st
WASHINGTON - Detecting illegal drug use may one day become as simple as testing spit on a sponge. Researchers on Thursday said techniques now being developed for analyzing saliva may in the future replace many of the blood and urine tests that now are used to detect drug abuse and disease. Some law enforcement agencies
MIAMI -- An injunction and asset freeze have been extended against one of the nation s largest death benefit companies, which is accused of defrauding up to 30,000 investors out of more than $1 billion in securities sold since 1994. The Securities and Exchange Commission claimed Mutual Benefits Corp. was paying its top
VIENNA, Austria - Donatella Versace will present a fashion show and appear at the annual Life Ball, a charity gala dedicated to raising funds to fight AIDS. Organizers hope to raise awareness - as well as cash - with the May 21 event at City Hall. The Life Ball, regularly attended by singer Elton John, is known for the
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Actor Will Smith and musicians Brian May, Annie Lennox and India .arie are among the artists featured at former President Nelson Mandela s next star-studded concert to raise awareness about the AIDS pandemic. The March 19 event at Fancourt golf club in the Eastern Cape city of George w
VATICAN CITY, (AP) - Vatican officials on Thursday held out Pope John Paul II s stoic suffering with Parkinson s disease as an antidote to the mentality that modern medicine must cure all, calling this a religion of health that is taking hold in affluent countries. While millions of people in the world struggle to surv
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Annie Lennox, Brian May and India .arie will perform at Nelson Mandela s next concert to raise awareness about the AIDS pandemic. The March 19 event in the Eastern Cape city of George, to be hosted by actor Will Smith, will highlight the plight of women and girls, who are six times mor
PORT HURON, Mich. - Two fashion designers recently took their Hollywood Graffiti gown on the first leg of a world tour, stopping in Port Huron, Mich., in January. The gown, covered with more than 350 celebrity signatures collected over 24 years, will eventually be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to support AIDS
LONDON (AP) - The U.K. s main opposition party said Tuesday that people applying to live and work in the U.K. over a long period should be screened for diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV . Conservative Party leader Michael Howard announced the policy - which would apply to people from outside the European Union - in
SAN DIEGO, (AP) - Health officials said Monday they are trying to identify and locate a San Diego resident who tested positive for a form of HIV that is similar to a possibly aggressive and drug-resistant strain of the virus discovered recently in New York City. The San Diego patient tested positive last fall for HIV,
New York (AP) - AIDS scientists are studying viruses isolated from two people to find out if either of them are the source of a possibly more aggressive, drug resistant strain of HIV discovered in a local man. Dr. David Ho, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS research Center said more tests are needed to determine if th
NEW YORK - New York s first diagnosed case of highly drug-resistant HIV in a person never before treated for the virus is a wake up call to anyone who has unprotected sex, the city s health commissioner said. The patient, a man in his mid-40s who had unprotected sex with other men, contracted a strain of human immunode
City health officials are working to track down sex partners of a man diagnosed with a rare strain of highly drug-resistant HIV that progressed rapidly to AIDS. The virus was found in a man in his mid-40s who had unprotected sex with other men, often while using crystal methamphetamine, an addictive stimulant, health o
CAPE TOWN (AP) - In an upbeat state of the nation address Friday, President Thabo Mbeki outlined plans to boost the economy and cut poverty, crime and disease as South Africa heads into its second decade of democracy. Mbeki spoke amid a festive atmosphere, with lawmakers dressed in traditional costumes and designer out
DENVER (AP) - A Wyoming couple can sue an insurance company for not informing them that a blood test taken for their application for coverage came back HIV-positive, a federal appeals court ruled. A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co. Inc. had
PHILADELPHIA, (AP) - Singer Elton John said Wednesday he will entertain at Fourth of July events in Philadelphia to raise money for and promote awareness of HIV and AIDS. John will perform with Peter Nero and the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Philadelphia Freedom Concert and Ball. Organizers said they hope to draw 1.5
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Urging a major shift in U.S. policy, some health experts are recommending that virtually all Americans be tested routinely for the AIDS virus, much as they are for cancer and other diseases. Since the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, the government has recommended screening only in bi
BEIJING (AP) - China s premier spent the Lunar New Year holiday visiting AIDS patients and calling for better AIDS prevention measures, highlighting government fears about a disease that the U.N. has warned could infect up to 10 million Chinese by 2010. Chinese state television on Wednesday showed Wen Jiabao shaking ha
Atlanta, GA (AP) - Elton John s frequent flier miles are about to skyrocket. An image of the globe-trotting rock star will begin appearing this week on 20 AirTran Airways jets to promote the launch of satellite radio at each passenger seat, the company said. The traffic controller this morning was calling it Elton One,
WASHINGTON (AP) - The government warned consumers Monday not to use certain home diagnostic tests marketed by a Canadian company because they have not been approved for sale in the United States and could give false results. The Food and Drug Administration said Montreal-based Globus Media Inc. has sold the test kits o
United Nations (AP) - Agency: State Department Spending: $32.7 billion Percentage change from 2005: +15.6 percent Highlights: -Would allocate $22.8 billion for military and economic assistance, compared with $19.7 billion in the current fiscal year. -Would provide $5.7 billion for nations considered to be on the front
NEW DELHI (AP) - Indian scientists on Monday began the country s first human clinical trials of a vaccine designed to prevent AIDS. The vaccine trials are part of an international partnership among the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and U.S.-based Targeted Geneti
JOHANNESBURG, (AP) - It s the tale of one woman s struggle to bring up her daughter alone in rural poverty. The tragic twist - she faces imminent death from AIDS. Director Darrell Roodt says his inspiration for Yesterday, South Africa s first Oscar-nominated film, came from the dignity of people struggling with AIDS an
UNITED NATIONS (AP)--U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed sending a 10,130-strong force to monitor a peace deal ending Sudan s civil war, and warned of the hugely complex task that would await the mission, according to a report released Thursday. In his report to the U.N. Security Council, Annan laid out his visi
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - A painting depicting a couple making love while covered in Quranic verses was removed from a Swedish museum this week after hundreds of complaints, some threatening, from Muslims who found it offensive, officials said Thursday. The painting, Scene d Amour, by Louzla Darabi, was removed Monday
United Nations (AP) - The Constitution also gives the Senate a responsibility: Every judicial nominee deserves an up or down vote. Because one of the deepest values of our country is compassion, we must never turn away from any citizen who feels isolated from the opportunities of America. Our government will continue t
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, fellow citizens: As a new Congress gathers, all of us in the elected branches of government share a great privilege: We have been placed in office by the votes of the people we serve. And tonight that is a privilege we share with newly ele
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Nevadans with HIV or AIDS could languish on waiting lists for medication due to inadequate state funding, those who work with victims of the disease warn. Gov. Kenny Guinn s proposed budget doesn t increase state funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program despite the state Health Division s r
New York, NY (AP) - A rare sexually transmitted disease that can scar the genitals has been found in two patients in New York, and the strain is the same as that recently detected in Europe, the city s health commissioner said Wednesday. Lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV, is a form of chlamydia that can damage the bowel
MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) - Mozambique s new president was sworn in Wednesday pledging to combat crime, poverty and AIDS . Crime and corruption are big enemies, Armando Guebuza said. Therefore, the struggle against these will constitute one of the central points in our agenda. Guebuza also said his government would
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Blacks make up more than half of new HIV infections annually in the United States and about two- thirds of new AIDS cases among teens, though they represent less than 15 percent of the nation s population, according to a report released Tuesday. The report, titled The Time is Now!, was released to
A Hollywood Graffiti gown signed by more than 350 stars, including Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn, has kicked off the first leg of its world tour at a Michigan museum. The gown, designed by Randy McLaughlin and Jerry Skeels, was displayed at the Port Huron Museum on Saturday and Sunday. The worldwide tour will
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - African leaders at a continent-wide summit grappled Monday with how to halt the spread of diseases that kill thousands of their people daily and hit economic growth across the world s poorest continent, officials said. Discussions among dozens of African leaders would center on fund-raising and be
LONDON (AP) - Britain s first openly gay lawmaker revealed Sunday that he has been HIV positive for 17 years, saying he was inspired by Nelson Mandela to tell the public he had the virus that causes AIDS. Chris Smith, 53, the governing Labour party s former culture secretary, said he was responding to the former South
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - More than 2,000 of the world s rich and powerful left this luxurious Swiss ski resort Sunday with a message of hope about the future of the Koreas and a few more ideas on how to improve the world. South Korean unification minister Chung Dong-young, who said he was hopeful there would be subst
OSLO, Norway - Nelson Mandela has agreed to attend an AIDS benefit concert in the Arctic city of Tromsoe for his charity 46664, named after his prisoner number, the city announced Friday. The Norwegian concert on June 11 follows up a star-studded concert in Cape Town, South Africa , in 2003 t
GENEVA - The number of people on HIV/AIDS drugs in the developing world almost doubled during 2004, but still falls far short of a U.N. target to have three million people on treatment by the end of this year, the World Health Organization said. Although the level of commitment is encouraging, it must accelerate in 200
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) -- Sharon Stone raised $1 million in five minutes Friday for mosquito nets in Tanzania , turning a panel on African poverty into an impromptu fund-raiser. About an hour into the panel, when a U.N. official said 150,000 African children were dying of malaria every month because they didn t have b
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder Friday criticized a kaleidoscope of separate African aid proposals and said none would be achieved if governments did not co-ordinate their efforts. Schroeder welcomed separate U.K. and French plans to generate billions of dollars a year in Third World aid b
CHICAGO (AP) -- Already known as a rural scourge, methamphetamine is becoming a problem in a number of U.S. cities. Meetings of the 12-step group Crystal Meth Anonymous have increased in Chicago from one night a week a few years ago to five a week. In the Atlanta area, methamphetamine users account for the fastest-grow
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush s new budget will ask Congress to provide $3.2 billion to combat AIDS in Africa and other poor regions, senior administration officials said Thursday. The request would represent the latest portion of Bush s 2003 pledge to provide $15 billion over the next five years to combat the dise
DAVOS, Switzerland – The world s richest man, one of its most visible social activists and Britain s leader put a sharp focus on the horrors facing Africa s poor on Thursday, saying the planet s indifference to the suffering has been scandalous. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has made Africa a focus of his lead
DAVOS, Switzerland – The World Economic Forum - the global business meeting that attracts world leaders and Hollywood stars - opened Wednesday in Switzerland, where the weakening dollar, the rising euro and amazement at China s rapid growth were on many minds. As it prepares to host the 2008 summer Olympics, China s ec
A recent rise in syphilis rates in the United States is probably due to natural cycles rather than an increase in unsafe sex or other behaviors, according to a new study. The finding is encouraging to public health authorities who have worried that increasing syphilis infection, especially among gay and bisexual men, i
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Production of a generic version of a very widely used combination of AIDS drugs that will sell for less than half brand-name prices could begin as early as March or April and expand treatment for patients in 13 African countries, the medicines manufacturer said Wednesday. Aspen Pha
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - French President Jacques Chirac Wednesday called on the world s richest nations to provide billions of dollars in aid for poor countries through new taxes and other measures that would help combat AIDS , poverty and natural disasters. He said the tsunami that struck Asian coastlines last month
DAVOS, Switzerland - Corporate and political leaders at the World Economic Forum got down to business Wednesday, with amazement at China s rapid economic growth and concerns about the euro s strength against the dollar taking stage. As Beijing prepares for the 2008 Summer Games, its economy has gained steam, growing at
WASHINGTON (AP) - A government scientist who blew the whistle on shoddy research had been recommended for a cash bonus, but his bosses pulled it back and tried to fire him after the scientist raised allegations of interference with his safety work, memos show. This is going to take some work, National Institutes of Hea
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - The number of people using HIV/AIDS drugs in the developing world, including Africa and Asia, nearly doubled in 2004, but more work is needed to meet ambitious goals of having 3 million getting treatment by the end of 2005, officials warned Wednesday. One way to ensure that figure is met i
NEW YORK - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration tentatively approved on Tuesday a generic and less costly version of one of the most widely used combination of AIDS drugs, an action that is expected to expand AIDS treatment in the developing world. The approval came as part of an expedited FDA review process
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - What do you get if you mix Angelina Jolie with Bill Clinton and Bill Gates at the annual summit of the rich, famous and powerful in the snowy Alps? A discussion with the presidents of South Africa and Nigeria on reducing poverty and fighting AIDS.
MADRID, Spain (AP) - Spain s defense minister on Tuesday rejected Pope John Paul II s criticism of its Socialist government, which wants to legalize gay marriage and streamline laws on divorce and abortion, and he said some church positions go against the teachings of Jesus Christ. Faith is not something a governme
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Around 14,000 Ethiopians infected with HIV are getting free doses of life-prolonging drugs under a U.S.-funded program that stipulates only brand-name drugs be used, an official said Tuesday. Medical authorities began administering the drugs, known as anti-retrovirals, in 20 hospitals and 3
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Timm Podhorin is not HIV positive. But because he has friends who are fighting AIDS, the 31-year-old is taking part in a clinical trial of an HIV vaccine at Saint Louis University. I ve donated money. I ve donated time. I felt the best gift I could give was of myself, he said. Researchers at Saint Loui
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A potential HIV/AIDS vaccine developed by Merck & Co. that uses synthetic genes to prepare cells to fight the deadly virus is moving into the second stage of testing. An approved vaccine would be about a decade away if the trial and a third study are successful, said officials with the internati
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Prisoner guards monitoring sick inmates at hospitals are racking up considerable overtime and costing California taxpayers millions. Under a long-standing policy, the California Department of Corrections posts two officers with most ailing inmates -- no matter how sick or immobile they are -- when the
NEW YORK (AP) - Carol Bellamy has witnessed her share of horrors as head of the United Nations children s agency for the past 10 years, from traumatized Iraqi children to starving Sudanese babies to frightened tsunami orphans. Through it all, she says, she s tried to push forward. You can t just stand there and be help
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Education, chastity and sexual fidelity are the responsible methods to combat AIDS, Pope John Paul II said Saturday, reiterating Vatican policy days after Spanish bishops supported condom use to fight the disease but then quickly reversed their position. The Vatican has come under fire from AIDS act
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Health professionals applauded the federal government for including people exposed to the HIV virus through isolated episodes of unsafe sex or drug use among those recommended for emergency treatment, calling the new policy an overdue surprise from the Bush administration. Previously, federal healt
ATLANTA (AP) - The government recommended for the first time Thursday that people exposed to the AIDS virus from rapes, accidents or occasional unsafe sex or drug use be given potentially lifesaving medications that can keep them from becoming infected. Federal health officials had previously recommended emergency drug
NEW YORK (AP) - Heart disease has been the nation s top killer. Now cancer has taken its place for Americans 85 and younger. The reason is that deaths from both diseases are falling, but heart disease mortality has declined more. It s dropping fast enough that another disease is eclipsing it, said Dr. Walter Tsou, pres
MADRID, Spain (AP) - The Catholic Church in Spain backtracked late Wednesday from a leading bishop s groundbreaking statement in support of condom use to fight the spread of AIDS, saying instead the church still believes artificial contraception is immoral. A ruling Socialist politician involved in health-care issues s
(AP) - A new survey of U.S. fertility clinics found that few have policies for deciding who to help get pregnant -- an issue drawing fresh attention because of claims that a 66-year-old woman in Romania gave birth over the weekend. A whopping 80 percent of clinics had customers meet with financial coordinators, but onl
MADRID – Spain s Catholic Church said it supports the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS -- a substantial shift from traditional policy. The Vatican states that condoms, being a form of artificial birth control, cannot be used to help prevent the spread of HIV , the virus that causes AIDS. But condoms have a
(AP) - Some statistics on American life as President Bush s second Inauguration Day nears, compared with 2001, his first year in office, and three or four years later. FEDERAL BUDGET Fiscal year 2001: $127 billion surplus Fiscal year 2004: $413 billion deficit (record) UNEMPLOYMENT RATE January 2001: 4.2 percent Ja
They ll check her ovaries and her bank account, but few U.S. fertility clinics have policies for determining a woman s emotional or mental fitness to have a child, let alone whether it s OK to help one who is past menopause, a new survey reveals. It shines a fresh spotlight on the ethics of the largely unregulated fiel
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Tuesday that as the new head of the U.N. children s agency, she will focus on promoting education and health rather than on social issues such as reproductive health and sex education. Veneman, who resigned her Cabinet post following President George W.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - British Treasury chief Gordon Brown on Monday called on wealthy nations and international institutions to write off Africa s debt, saying debts incurred by past generations are keeping the continent poor. Brown wants rich nations to set a timetable for increasing African development aid a
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - In the coming decade, more than 500 million people can escape from poverty and tens of millions can avoid certain death if the United States , Japan and other rich countries keep their promises to vastly increase development aid, a U.N.-sponsored report said Monday. The report spells out the i
NEW YORK (AP) - Shire Pharmaceuticals Group PLC, based in Britain, on Monday said it licensed its HIV compound SPD754 to Avexa Ltd., an Australian specialty anti-infectives company. Shire said this represents one of the final steps in its divestment program, designed to ensure focus on later-stage pipeline investment i
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Here are some of the key recommendations from a U.N.-sponsored report released Monday on how to meet U.N. goals to tackle poverty, hunger and disease by 2015: -Poor countries should develop national strategies to meet the U.N. goals, including moves to strengthen good governance and promote of hum
CAPE TOWN (AP) - U.K. Treasury chief Gordon Brown Monday called on wealthy nations and international financial institutions to write of Africa s debt, saying debts incurred by past generations are keeping the continent poor. Brown wants rich nations to set a timetable for raising development aid, and also wants more co
WASHINGTON (AP) - Asked to list Condoleezza Rice s main challenges as President George W. Bush s secretary of state, career diplomat James Dobbins has a succinct answer: Iraq , Iraq and Iraq. There is a long list of other things Rice wants or needs to do as the country s top diplomat, including revitalizing peace negot
ACCRA, Ghana - As a young African-American wondering how to connect with his heritage, Marcus Manns may have been alone in thinking that his ancestral homeland had a great need for a decent chiropractor. Fresh out of college four years ago, Mr. Manns landed in Ghana s sweltering, exhaust-choked capital with $1,200 in h
QUNU, South Africa (AP) - The grandson of Nelson Mandela heeded the former president s call for more openness about the AIDS epidemic on Saturday, revealing that his mother had died from the virus that also killed his father. Mandla Mandela revealed the cause of his mother s death in a speech to mourners at the funeral
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Libya should acquit and free five Bulgarian nurses convicted in a high-profile HIV trial in Libya, the Bulgarian parliamentary speaker said Friday. Ognyan Gerdzhikov commented on media reports that the Libyan parliament, known as the People s Congress, had issued a tough declaration on the HIV ep
MOSCOW -- HIV/AIDS is spreading at a devastating pace in Russia , with a new study showing an estimated 1 million people infected -- three times the number officially reported -- U.S. and Russian experts said Wednesday. A recently released 90-page report by Murray Feshbach and Cristina Galvin of the Woodrow Wilson Inte
NEW YORK (AP) - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., the pharmaceutical giant, announced Wednesday that is putting up for sale its U.S. and Canadian consumer over-the-counter drug line, which includes pain relievers Excedrin and Bufferin, cold medicine Comtrex and Keri lotions. The company, which has struggled to restructure in t
GENEVA (AP) - The number of worldwide polio cases last year rose by almost one-third after a vaccine boycott in Nigeria spawned a resurgence of the disease across Africa, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. The number of cases worldwide in 2004 reached 1,185, compared with 784 in 2003, the United Nations heal
MOSCOW (AP) -- HIV/AIDS is spreading at a devastating pace in Russia , with a new study showing an estimated 1 million people infected - three times the number officially reported - U.S. and Russian experts said Wednesday. A recently released 90-page report by Murray Feshbach and Cristina Galvin of the Woodrow Wilson I
WASHINGTON - Two of the government s premier infectious disease researchers are collecting royalties on an AIDS treatment they re testing on patients using taxpayer money. But patients weren t told on their consent forms about the financial connection. Drs. Anthony Fauci and H. Clifford Lane, who helped invent the expe
WASHINGTON - Government scientists have collected millions of dollars in royalties for experimental treatments without having to tell patients testing the treatments that the researchers had a financial connection, according to documents and interviews. The personal royalties are legal, though the researchers developed
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A new global campaign to stop the spread of AIDS uses three animated characters dressed as condoms who deliver a serious message in humorous public service spots in 41 languages: If you re going to have sex, use a condom. The short spots are being offered free to broadcasters, community groups and
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Promiscuity and other risky sexual behavior must change to stop the spread of AIDS in Africa, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Saturday. Young Kenyans, including an 11-year-old girl, had a frank discussion with Powell about promiscuity, resistance to condoms and the cultural expectation that y
In the Baghdad night, awakened by the rumble of car bombs and the thump-thump of attack helicopters, Peter Smallwood lies in a sandbagged trailer counting his trees. In his mind s forest, the University of Richmond ecologist zigzags through a dark maze of Appalachian hardwoods until he finds specific specimens, unmarke
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Former President Nelson Mandela, a leading AIDS campaigner, won local and international praise Friday for disclosing that his own son died of the disease still shrouded in silence and fear. The U.N. AIDS agency said Mandela s announcement Thursday was an example of his unwavering leadership in the f
WASHINGTON (AP) - Having extra copies of a gene that produces a blocking protein helps protect people from AIDS, a finding that may explain why some people are more susceptible to the disease than others, a new study reports. Researchers wondering why people from the same ancestry varied in their ability to resist HIV
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Former President Nelson Mandela announced Thursday that his eldest son died Thursday of AIDS-related complications, saying the only way to fight the disease s stigma was to speak openly about it. Makgatho Mandela, an attorney, was admitted to Linksfield Park Clinic last month. He died
GAITHERSBURG, Md. - Panacos Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Thursday it has received fast-track status from the Food and Drug Administration for PA-457, the company s once-daily oral drug candidate for HIV. Fast-track status is designed to expedite development and approval of new drugs that may have the potential to improve
BALTIMORE - A vial of radioactive solution, 12 hepatitis C cases and the death of one infected person are elements of a mystery health officials are investigating. The hepatitis cases were from a group of 16 people injected with the solution in October for routine heart-stress testing, all from a single vial produced b
-- Bio-Rad Laboratories Gets FDA Approval for Rapid Test for Detecting HIV Antibodies HERCULES, Calif. (AP) - Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. said Tuesday it has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for a rapid test for detecting HIV antibodies. Bio-Rad said the single-use test kit will be available in the
WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal officials involved in a U.S.-funded research project in Uganda were more interested in promoting an AIDS drug than patient safety, says a government whistlebower. The research was aimed at finding ways to protect babies in Africa from HIV infection. In prepared remarks for a hearing Tuesday, D
Dr. Alex Garza, an Army Reserve captain and emergency room doctor from Missouri, saw firsthand how hopelessly outdated Iraq s medical libraries were. Back in the United States , Dr. David Gifford, a retired Army colonel, learned of the problem from a physician friend stationed in Iraq. Unbeknownst to each other, th
WASHINGTON (AP) - The government gave more than $1 billion in 2003 to organizations it considers faith-based, with some going to programs where prayer and spiritual guidance are central and some to organizations that do not consider themselves religious at all. Many of these groups have entirely secular missions and so
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.