A media frenzy about a possible HIV superbug gripped New York City in February when health officials breathlessly spoke of a single person who had become infected with a multiple drug resistant variant of HIV and had rapidly progressed to AIDS defining symptoms. Many outside experts acknowledged that it indeed was bad
Academy of Friends names beneficiaries The Academy of Friends, producers of the annual Oscar party and AIDS benefit in San Francisco, have announced beneficiaries for 2006. Executive Director Elizabeth Loeffler and board chair Scott Miller noted in a letter to supporters that the organization has made it a priority to
In the crowd of streetwise San Franciscans lining up for needle exchange, he stands out: a 52-year-old gay Buddhist monk, lean and sinewy in his bright yellow and red robes, chatting amicably with the men and women in line while swapping clean syringes for the dirty ones he collects. His name is Tekchog, and he knows f
Participants in the National AIDS Marathon Training Program spend months conditioning themselves for the grueling 20-plus mile race. Entrants in the 2006 winter run, though, faced an obstacle no amount of training could overcome: Hurricane Katrina. Katrina not only wiped out major sections of New Orleans when it slamme
There s no reason to be alone during the holidays, as several local organizations have community events for those in need and others. AEF Christmas Eve dinner The AIDS Emergency Fund will host its 18th annual holiday dinner for people living with HIV/AIDS on Christmas Eve, Saturday, December 24. There are three seating
Those in the know have been saying it for a while: in order to survive and continue to deliver the best services to their clients, San Francisco s nonprofits are going to have to start forming some new collaborations. Recently, the Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center and Continuum did just that, passing resolutions to asse
The Names Project has quietly dropped its opposition to a court-mediated settlement with the founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, Cleve Jones, and will be returning a portion of the memorial to San Francisco. It is a surprising victory for Jones, who two weeks ago feared he would never realize his dream of seeing the qu
It s hot, it s legendary, it s charitable, and at the beginning of next year it will have a new leader. Folsom Street Events – producers of the Folsom Street Fair, Up Your Alley, and Magnitude – has hired Demetri Moshoyannis as its new executive director, board President Andy Copper told the Bay Area Reporter last week
Make Room for All was the theme of a meeting hosted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Sunday, December 11, immediately prior to the opening of the White House Conference on Aging, which runs through December 14. The conference is a once-a-decade event that is the culmination of smaller regional meetings. The
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund held off on its assessment of Chief Justice nominee John Roberts until after hearing his replies to questions during his confirmation hearings. Federal Judge Samuel Alito apparently does not warrant such a wait. Lambda announced Monday, December 12 that it will oppose Alito s nom
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation, along with several other AIDS agencies, has dropped its opposition to the creation of a names-based HIV reporting system, clearing away a major hurdle for state lawmakers and advocates pushing legislation to drop California s current code-based HIV reporting system. Lawmakers are expe
In response to an unusual number of false positive results from an oral HIV test, city health officials said this week they plan to implement new guidelines on using the test beginning January 1. Once approved by both the city s Department of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials, the n
The Names Project has quietly dropped its opposition to a court-mediated settlement with the founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, Cleve Jones, and will be returning a portion of the memorial to San Francisco. It is a surprising victory for Jones, who two weeks ago feared he would never realize his dream of seeing the qu
Sean Strub, an activist and founder of Poz magazine, gave a powerful keynote address at the World AIDS Day observance December 1 at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco s Golden Gate Park. Never one to shy away from controversial topics, Strub took leading AIDS service organizations to task, saying many of
AIDS advocates are warning people with AIDS that they have until December 30 to sign up for both the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, known as Part D, and the state s AIDS Drug Assistance Program, known as ADAP, to avoid penalties and ensure they will be properly covered. Under the new program, most seniors have
Gay men have been bombarded lately with dire warnings about using crystal meth and the drug s deadly role in HIV transmission. Yet one segment of the community is just now hearing the message. Deaf and hard of hearing gay men are taking it upon themselves to translate the concerns voiced by health officials and communi
The continuing acceptance of unprotected anal sex, gay pornography s depiction of the act, and the extent to which online dating has replaced face-to-face cruising were the most compelling hot button issues during a gay men s health forum last Wednesday night, November 30. At the San Francisco Gay Men s Community Initi
An often overlooked state program can help people living with AIDS maintain not only their homes but the mental stability and health benefits that come with being a homeowner. The Property Tax Postponement Program, run by the state controller s office, has already helped several PWAs deal with tax bills they couldn t a
The worldwide forecast for HIV/AIDS continues to be grim, with intermittent reasons for hope, according to an update on the epidemic released by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization . The estimate of the total number of people living with HIV has topped 40 million, which appears to be a leveling off of the rate of
In addition to events observing World AIDS Day at the National AIDS Memorial Grove and the University of California, San Francisco that were mentioned in last week s Bay Area Reporter , several other organizations are hosting events today (Thursday, December 1) and in coming days. *** SF Public Library Beginning today,
Cleve Jones expected to spend World AIDS Day welcoming home portions of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to San Francisco, the city where he stitched together the first quilt in 1987. Instead, Jones will be in New Jersey today (Thursday, December 1), discussing the ongoing fight to end AIDS. His desire to see sections of the qu
The worldwide forecast for HIV/AIDS continues to be grim, with intermittent reasons for hope, according to an update on the epidemic released by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization . The estimate of the total number of people living with HIV has topped 40 million, which appears to be a leveling off of the rate of
The rate of HIV diagnosis in the United States remained relatively stable over the last four years, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a November 17 telephone news conference. However, the rate dipped about 5 percent among blacks and increased among men who have sex with men
World AIDS Day is being commemorated Thursday, December 1 and several events are scheduled to take place in San Francisco and around the Bay Area. National AIDS Memorial Grove Embracing Life is the theme of the 2005 National AIDS Memorial Grove 12th annual service for World AIDS Day. The event is free and open to the p
A wake was held Saturday, November 19 for Mike Pendo, a longtime HIV prevention worker at the San Francisco Department of Public Health s AIDS office. Mr. Pendo died peacefully in his sleep November 15. He was 41. The cause of death is pending completion of an autopsy. Mr. Pendo s friends and colleagues at the AIDS off
San Francisco s Phantom of the Opera star Franc D Ambrosio returns for one night on Monday, December 5 at the Empire Plush Room at the city s York Hotel. I just can t wait to get back, said D Ambrosio in a telephone interview. I ve done benefits, but always as one of a few people. It s wonderful to come back with a one
The Internet has long been touted as a way for people to connect, and gay men realized early on that the World Wide Web could be used as a de facto neighborhood gay bar. But cyberspace can also have the opposite effect. Amid the thousands of people online in various chat rooms and hookup sites, gay men can feel alone a
Steven Tierney s departure next month as the city s director of HIV prevention is raising the question of whether it is time for the city to combine the health department s HIV prevention unit with the sexually transmitted diseases control section. Talk is also centering on the search for his replacement and if it is e
Medicare recipients living with HIV/AIDS are bracing for changes to their health coverage. The federal health insurance program is about to undergo its biggest expansion in 40 years, effective January 1, 2006. An additional benefit, called Part D, will add prescription drug coverage to the Medicare system. Recipients w
The Food and Drug Administration began consideration of the process to approve a home test for HIV at a November 3 meeting outside of Washington, D.C. The process is likely to take many years. Let me be clear, this is a multi-step process ... we are not going to be evaluating an HIV test for approval today, Elliot P. C
Earlier access to Medicaid for people living with HIV took a large step closer to becoming a reality when the Senate approved a demonstration project as an amendment to a budget measure adopted on November 3. The Early Treatment for HIV Act has been a long-sought goal of AIDS advocates. Under current regulations, low-i
Liver disease is now the leading cause of death for people living with HIV, said Dr. Teresa Wright, the president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. The AASLD and the American Liver Foundation have declared November Hepatitis Screening Month in San Francisco to help raise awareness about liver
David Slocombe, one of the AIDS Emergency Fund s longest serving volunteers and community fundraisers, died Saturday, October 29 of cancer. He was 72. Mr. Slocombe was a leader of the Every Penny Counts project from its founding in 1987 until his death. Despite advancing age and a long illness, he continued to voluntee
Syphilis continues to increase among men in the United States , driven primarily by gay men, according to the latest annual data on sexually transmitted diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the report during a telephone news conference Tuesday, November 8. The CDC estimates that 19 milli
The National AIDS Fund has awarded $126 million to community-based groups nationwide since its inception 17 years ago. Yet most people have never heard of the fund. It is a predicament the fund s leadership is trying to overcome. Without doubt we need to raise our public awareness and a lot of time and energy is going
Stem cells may hold the key to treating HIV without the debilitating effects current therapies, such as antiretroviral treatments, cause in people who are positive, AIDS researchers said Wednesday, November 2 at a panel hosted by California s new stem cell institute. There is the potential to utilize embryonic stem cel
Two years after city health officials sounded alarms that crystal use among gay men was fueling new infections of HIV, there is growing evidence of a drop off in the use of the drug and increasing concerns about the impact of other substance abuse on the transmission of HIV. According to data from the Stop AIDS Project
Fifteen months after requesting federal officials increase the penalties for illegal use of erectile dysfunction drugs, a San Francisco health official is changing course and withdrawing his controversial proposal. But he still is sounding alarms about how the drugs are marketed and labeled because of the role they pla
It may please some local AIDS advocates who still harbor bitter memories of the group, but to the medical marijuana clients of ACT UP/San Francisco, news that the organization has lost its lease at 1884 Market Street is cause for concern. The several members of ACT UP who once owned the building recently sold it, said
In the overheated Bay Area housing market, finding a luxury condo for under $100,000 is like being in a 1970s time warp. Most people would say to friends and family pinch me, this can t be true. Vernel Primus had such a moment. Nearly a year ago, on December 28, 2004, Primus learned he had an opportunity to become a ho
Health service providers should provide late night services for gay men, concludes a study which tested the feasibility of offering such things as HIV testing, counseling and needle exchange during predawn hours. You can do it. An agency could do it. You just need to have a dedicated staff willing to work those hours,
Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra should carry warning labels about increased risk for HIV transmission and should be treated like controlled substances, said Jeffrey Klausner, the San Francisco public health official in charge of prevention and care for sexually transmitted diseases. Klausner has long called for stricter co
Isolated and near death, Bill Stern lay in a Santa Barbara hospital room placing bets on which opportunistic infection would kill him first. HIV positive, his T-cell count was at zero and all Stern could do was wait to die. I was in bed hooked up to all these tubes. My doctors called my parents to come out from the Eas
HIV vaccine researchers are expressing cautious optimism on the outcome of a new trial as they expand the number of people in the four-year long study called Step. Early test results of the vaccine, produced by Merck & Co. , show it can be administered to a greater number of people than previously thought. The
Various groups and organizations have formed to address different aspects of HIV/AIDS throughout the more than two decades of the epidemic; some of these groups, limited by the timeliness or climate of their messages, are now defunct, while some have become reliant on their sanitized programs to please the government d
Can meditating delay the need for HIV-positive people to take antiretrovirals? San Francisco researchers are trying to find out. A new study aims to see if meditation can keep HIV-positive people s CD4+ T-cell count high enough so they can postpone other forms of treatment. We are not looking for something where people
City leaders and AIDS organizations are offering help to those Gulf Coast residents who are HIV-positive or living with AIDS and find themselves displaced due to Hurricane Katrina. Officials estimate more than 8,000 people with HIV or AIDS were affected by the storm. The Above and Beyond Fund, created by Under One Roof
Dump Tina is a community based anti-methamphetamine campaign that coincides with the Crystal Meth Task Force formed earlier this year by Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Bevan Dufty. The task force aims to address the issue of the widespread use of methamphetamine in San Francisco. The campaign offers community actio
A first-of-its-kind emotional and practical support group for HIV-related lymphoma patients begins next week, organized by a blood disorder charity, and led by an experienced oncology nurse with years of AIDS epidemiological experience and a social worker. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society-sponsored group, which is f
For the first time in four years portions of the AIDS Memorial Quilt are to return to the birthplace of the project and be overseen by its founder, Cleve Jones. As part of a settlement to a wrongful termination lawsuit Jones filed in January 2004, the Names Project Foundation has agreed to send 35 of the 12 foot by 12
Methamphetamine use rises and falls, dips, whatever, but it has been a constant [for decades] for those of us who live on the West Coast, and it has been a constant within the gay community, said Michael Siever, Ph.D., an addiction specialist at the University of California, San Francisco and director of the Stonewall
With new HIV infection rates among gay men in San Francisco on the decline, as health officials reported last month, some say AIDS prevention groups in the city might be tempted to pause for a moment of rest and self-congratulations. Not the Stop AIDS Project, however. One of the oldest grassroots HIV prevention organi
Social conservatives have long tried to impose their moral views upon AIDS prevention activities and organizations. The most recent move by the Bush administration has been to require that international groups providing family planning and HIV prevention activities certify that they have a policy explicitly opposing pr
AIDS czar Jeff Sheehy said the push by a city health official to make erectile dysfunction medications Schedule III drugs is AIDSphobic and homophobic. He has asked the city s Human Rights Commission to investigate the appropriateness of using city funds to advance the criminalization of Viagra use by gay men, particul
An HIV case that raised alarm about a possible new superstrain appears to be an isolated phenomenon, according to a presentation at the third International AIDS Society conference in Rio de Janeiro in late July. This past winter, a New York City man presented with advanced immunosuppression, although he was believed to
Five years after health officials said San Francisco was seeing sub-Saharan African levels of HIV transmission, the city is showing the first signs of a decline in its HIV rates. Since 2000, new HIV infections dropped from 900 and remain stable at 748 per year. The city s HIV prevalence rate - the number of people livi
Matthew S. Bajko (Bay Area Reporter not online. To respond, send email to BARpaper@aol.com or Matthewsbajko@aol.com )
San Francisco s HIV epidemic has stabilized, and health officials reported this month they expect the trend to continue through at least 2007, if not longer. The leveling off is a turnaround from the late 1990s through 2001, when HIV incidence had a resurgence. It also makes San Francisco unique, in that the country as
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