The shooting gallery under Interstate 395 was deserted, hundreds of tiny blue bags scattered across the dirt floor. The cook-ups were all over: spoons, the bottom of a soda can covered with heroin s sticky brown residue, the smell sour and rank, organic. And there, in the dirt and paraphernalia, John Delgado spotted a
The list of artists participating in Nelson Mandela s Feb. 2 South African AIDS benefit concert has grown to include a who s who of popular and world music, reports Billboard Online. Among those newly confirmed to appear at the SOS concert to eradicate AIDS are Coldplay, Ludacris, Jimmy Cliff, Femi Kuti, Queen and Debo
Chicago star Richard Gere has a good excuse for not attending the Golden Globe-nominated film s premieres this month. He s been in Bombay fighting the spread of the AIDS virus. The actor said Friday that India should focus on children suffering from HIV. We need a way to touch the heart of the subject.
Africa, long considered of little strategic interest to the United States , is being nudged toward the center stage of U.S. foreign policy. There are two major reasons why: terrorism and oil. For Africa, however, this newfound spotlight may be a mixed blessing. -- As recently as 1995, the Defense Department declared su
Bill Ward of Fort Lauderdale says it s impossible to live up to the modern gay stereotype of male beauty: forever young, thin and body hairless. But he grins and bears it. Ward is president of a newly launched, nonprofit club for burly men just like him -- the Bears of South Florida. Sunday, they ll hold a holiday part
AIDS advocates say dozens of families may be living in the dark or in jeopardy of losing their homes because the city of Miami misused federal housing funds meant to assist patients with utility and mortgage payments. Now the city may award $3.3 million in new contracts -- without a bidding process -- to the same agenc
A Cuban-American company planning an awards ceremony to benefit AIDS causes scuttled the event this week when organizers discovered that conservative exile groups were gearing up to protest the rumored appearance of Cuban singer Rosita Fornés. At least one local politician also got involved. Miami Commissioner Tomás Re
As the White House prepares to ask 500,000 healthcare professionals to lead the way by volunteering for smallpox vaccinations, Florida s largest union of hospital workers warned Thursday that it wanted some protections and guarantees before its members took the shots. The union would like Jackson Memorial Hospital lead
WASHINGTON - Strife-torn Haiti , which faces the worst AIDS epidemic in the Americas, is about to get a huge boost in treatment and prevention, giving it hope of mitigating a catastrophic wave of deaths. The Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria agreed this week to grant Haiti $24.7 million t
TAMPA - Health officers from Southern states demanded Wednesday that federal policymakers increase funding to combat an HIV epidemic that is taking a heavy toll across the region. The health officials, meeting at an AIDS conference here, said that in the past two years, increases in new HIV infections and full-blown AI
The bass line cut and for a fraction of a second silence fell down on the crowd. At the center of the throng, where the air was hot and damp, gym-thick men danced against one another and sweated in the night. I need you, a woman s voice sounded piercingly over the speakers. And again, quickened and urgent: I need you.
When teens in a Miami HIV/AIDS peer group begin anticipating their first sexual encounter, they seek advice from Stephanie. Most of them were born with the virus. She s lived with it since she was 7. At 20, she s somewhat of an elder stateswoman. When should they tell a boyfriend or girlfriend that they have HIV, they
A new documentary about the beautiful men of White Party Week paints a very unpretty picture of drugs, drinking and promiscuous sex. When Boys Fly centers on four young gay men from Los Angeles and Orlando who came to Miami Beach three years ago for White Party, the Thanksgiving week fundraising ritual held by Care Res
Women have reached a dubious milestone in the race for parity: They equal the number of men worldwide now infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. And that s only part of the grim statistics in a United Nations report released prior to World AIDS Day this Sunday. Some 42 million people, including 3.2 million chil
Henry, a 22-year-old cashier from Surfside, vividly remembers the day he learned he had the AIDS virus. What he blocks out is the exact moment. Everything went blank, he said. I just heard the nurse s voice -- like long distance -- telling me I was going to be fine, that there were good drugs, that I wasn t going to di
On Sundays, Alex Lamazares and a group of friends work in a greenhouse behind Matheson Hammock Park in Coral Gables, growing and grooming orchids. They re caring for 2,500 orchids, to be sold in May at Dante Fascell Park in South Miami to benefit South Florida children with AIDS. Lamazares is president of OrchidMania S
Harvey Burstein is a low-key philanthropist, a man who blends into the crowd at places like New Theatre, Maximum Dance, the Miami Light Project and the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. But make no mistake: The quiet but passionate former Chicagoan isn t just a ticket buyer. In some cases, he has given an organiza
Think of a world where you have no home. Where you have been sent from family to family, sometimes cared for, sometimes not. You turn 16, you run away. There is no home to return to. You have lived in foster care most of your life. You have failed school. You have been sexually abused. Now the Department of Children
A documentary film based on a story written by a Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School student will premier at 7 tonight at the Soyka Cinema, 5580 NE Fourth Ct., near the Miami Design District. Verena Faden s story won the Scenarios USA What s the REAL Deal? contest on which the 15-minute film, Just Like You Imagined, is bas
Women who douche at least once a month have higher rates of bacterial vaginosis infections than women who don t douche, reports the October issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Researchers studied 1,200 women at high risk for sexually transmitted diseases. Of the approximately 40 percent of women who reported douching
Enrique Iglesias has been busy with more than tennis pinup Anna Kournikova lately. The Latin music heartthrob has created a designer disk -- inspired by Miami Beach -- for AOL s new Version 8.0 service, to be unveiled Tuesday. The disk benefits KIDZCare, a group that supports children and adolescents infected and affec
Marie Wansiki, founder of the Wansiki Foundation Clinic in Fort Lauderdale, began working with AIDS patients in the early 1980s. She was living in New York and realized that many of her closest friends suffered from AIDS or had died from it. She started a clearinghouse to help AIDS patients get medication. The organiza
Before she gets to the part about dying and AIDS, Marilyn Brand breaks out foil-wrapped packets of scented condoms, trying to draw in her audience of some 50 seniors, a couple of them red-faced. I don t want to destroy sex, the 73-year-old health educator tells the crowd in Boca Raton. Just make it safer. The topic is
Jeffrey is the story of a gay man who, in the face of AIDS and after having had sex with 5,000 men, decides to embrace celibacy. Paul Rudnick s well-written comedy was keenly relevant in the early 1990s, when it was first staged. Today, as we hear the horrendous news from overseas about the spread of AIDS, it serves as
The University of Miami has brought clinical trials of new AIDS drugs to Broward through a Fort Lauderdale clinic. It allows people access to new drugs and vaccines at no cost to them, said Ruth Koku, a nurse practitioner with UM s AIDS Clinical Research Unit. The partnership gives UM access to potential participants i
The phone message is short and to the point. Rupee. . .Why have you decided to get involved in the battle against AIDS, and, secondly, what would probably be your most important message to young people? the female caller asks. Soca fans listening to Rupee s new CD, Leave a Message, never get to hear a response from the
What a charnel house is Africa. It is consumed by disease, tribalism and poverty so oppressive that it turns human beings into foraging animals. And saddest of all, Africa is consumed by imported half-baked, self-destructive concepts. Even as the World Summit on Sustainable Development lumbered on in Johannesburg, many
As health officials scramble to understand how four organ recipients -- two from Miami-Dade -- got the West Nile virus from a single Georgia donor, they continue to say America s blood supply is safe. But they acknowledge up to 150,000 people may have been infected with the virus. Even if they develop no symptoms, they
For HIV-positive patients, organ transplants used to be out of the question. As stronger therapies keep the virus in check, however, about a dozen transplant centers nationwide -- including Miami s Jackson Memorial Hospital -- are now performing the controversial procedure. And with careful management of the tricky int
Many international efforts waged against the HIV/AIDS pandemic claim to be global in name, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, but many smaller impoverished nations still lack basic resources to fight the pandemic. With one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the Eastern Caribbean a
In a room smelling faintly of incense, women lined up for massages and moaned with delight as their limbs were rotated, backs pounded and necks kneaded. Others perused pamphlets on nutritional supplements, listened intently to their horoscopes or experimented with acupuncture. It was like a day at the spa for the women
One is wooing voters with the word of God and the other is making daily appearances on local and cable network stations on behalf of a missing child. But different as their approaches are, the two women who are actively campaigning to become the next state senator for District 33 in North Miami-Dade have crossed paths
A day after operations at Center One were shut down when state Medicaid fraud investigators seized medical records of 41 patients, Broward County s oldest and largest private HIV/AIDS clinic was open again Thursday. Lawyers for the agency were in a Broward County courtroom on Thursday to protest the manner in which the
A week of activities celebrating National Health Center Week will kick off with Tropiculture Miami from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday at Cutler Ridge Mall, 20505 S. Dixie Hwy. Community Health of South Dade Inc. has arranged for health screenings and cultural activities at the mall during the event. CHI, which specializes in
Me Shell Ndegoc‚llo is teaming up with the Gay Men s Health Crisis to help fight AIDS. The vocalist will be the musical director of You Rock My Soul, a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall on Nov. 11. Ndegoc‚llo also will be among the evening s performers. We all have the power to make a difference in the fight against HIV
Ostensibly, they came out to the European Guest House in South Beach to bid on paintings. But the men and women who attended the fundraiser for the Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce were more interested in the live pop concert featuring local musicians J.C. Salih and TMarie. CHARITY SUPPORT Salih, who de
There are some things we just expect. Tuesday follows Monday, Michael Jackson will never cut another Thriller . . . and David Knapp will be the White Party DJ. But not at this year s soiree on Dec. 1. South Florida DJ Monty Q will be spinning the main party. Knapp will work the decks at the fledgling Muscle Beach party
Dr. Anju Sood examines Kim Aime, 3, at the Community Health Center of South Dade Inc. Doris Ison Health Center. Known as CHI, the center is the clinic of choice for many -- especially those with no health insurance or little money. For patients without insurance, medical fees are based on a sliding scale. Even though h
Three inmates who died in the Broward County jail system between September and February might have been saved with adequate medical care, according to documents filed this week in an independent review of jail conditions. A report by New Mexico consultant Dr. Steven S. Spencer also faulted the jail s medical staff in f
The first HIV/AIDS Summer Beach Blitz will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at Hollywood Beach Theater on the Broadwalk at Johnson Street. The event will provide HIV prevention information and counseling, testing and screening services on a variety of diseases, school immunizations, nutrition information, chiropracto
Earlier this month, Tim McCarron, a Miami-based artist and AIDS activist, was seen parading about Miami s Design District in a T-shirt that would have made local tourism officials toes curl. State of Denial, Welcome, the shirt read, the letters scripted against a spray-painted backdrop of Florida. McCarron wove easily
The stock market s recent plunge could mean fewer caseworkers for South Florida s neediest families, reduced support services for neglected children and increased cutbacks to the region s HIV and AIDS programs. I m kind of panicking right now, said Sheri Kaplan, founder of the Center for Positive Connections, an HIV su
Re the July 18 letter Does the HIV virus really cause AIDS?: HIV/AIDS isn t a hypothesis, as described in a letter by Rudolf Werner. It is a fact that has resulted in one of the worst worldwide epidemics of our century. AIDS describes the complications of life-threatening infections and processes as a result of a sever
Yes, we ve come a long way, baby, but when we get ready to talk to our children about sex, a certain awkwardness overwhelms our most progressive intentions. Take it from somebody who has done it three times already. Doesn t matter the age or gender, a conversation about the birds and the bees is a little like walking a
Blood donor screening failed to prevent two Tampa Bay area residents from contracting HIV from transfusions. But experts say you are more likely to get hit by lightning than receive tainted blood. Florida Blood Services, which processes donations for Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, said it discovered that a May don
Amenace that has killed 20 million people and threatens 40 million more with sure death is at least as much a global peril as international terrorism. AIDS is the peril that has killed a million human beings since it became an epidemic 20 years ago and will take the lives of the 40 million people now infected with HIV,
After the Excellence Without Excuses program was finished Saturday, Dolphins receiver Chris Chambers shook his head. That was some serious panel, he said after sharing the dais with a large group of luminaries, including basketball stars Alonzo Mourning and Charles Barkley, and actors Danny Glover and Tommy Ford, the e
BARCELONA, Spain - A wake-up call jolted the world this week as AIDS activists, angered by what they see as complacent, stingy governments, returned to the hard-core tactics that brought them success in the early days of the epidemic. As the 14th International AIDS Conference ended Friday, the evidence of the newly sto
BARCELONA, Spain - The MTV AIDS forum taping was wrapping up, and Bill Clinton strode off stage and waded out into the crowd of young people. OK, who here is HIV positive and not afraid to talk about it? he called out. Instantly, Antigone Hodgins of Washington, D.C., was beside him. He wrapped her in a hearty bear hug
BARCELONA, Spain - A safe, effective vaccine that could greatly slow the global HIV/AIDS pandemic could be as little as three years away, although experts caution it might not immunize everyone who takes it, delegates at the 14th International AIDS Conference were told Wednesday. AidsVax, in the last stage of clinical
BARCELONA, Spain - In one of America s most heartening successes against AIDS, physicians have reduced the number of U.S. infants born with HIV infections by more than 80 percent in the past decade, but that number may rise again as the number of infected U.S. women climbs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Con
BARCELONA, Spain - The world could have as many as 45 million more people living with AIDS or the virus that causes it by the end of the decade, but nearly two-thirds, or 29 million, of those cases could be prevented with condoms, diaphragms and commitments for funding from the world s top nations, a prominent AIDS doc
BARCELONA, Spain - (Reuters) - Three-quarters of young gay men with HIV infection in U.S. cities are unaware they are carrying the virus, the results of a study released Monday suggested. And more than half of the HIV-positive men surveyed said they considered themselves to be at low risk of infection, lead researcher
BARCELONA, Spain - The rate of new HIV infections in the United States has remained stable since 1998, but that overall stability may be masking dangerous new increases in HIV among U.S. heterosexuals as well as gay and bisexual men. The disturbing new trend was revealed at the 14th International AIDS Conference by Dr.
After almost a decade of sharp retreat, AIDS in America is proving to be a shifty, stubborn foe. Its rate of decline is slowing, and occasionally the number of cases even ticks upward -- especially in South Florida. The reasons are as myriad as they are ominous. And in deadly irony, many of them are directly related to
BEIJING - The United Nations said Thursday that AIDS is pushing China to the verge of a catastrophe that could result in unimaginable human suffering, economic loss and social devastation. The U.N. report, titled HIV/AIDS: China s Titanic Peril, is the direst warning yet about the threat the epidemic poses to the world
The Florida AIDS Drug Assistance Program was recognized as the outstanding AIDS drug assistance program of the year by the Title II Community AIDS National Network. This program offers 56 medications that fight HIV and prevent or treat infections. It is administered by the Florida Department of Health s Bureau of HIV/A
Haiti and Guyana -- which have the highest rates of AIDS and HIV in the Western Hemisphere -- and 12 African nations would get badly needed help to keep mothers from passing the virus to their children under a proposal announced Wednesday by President Bush. The five-year, $500 million package, designed to help s
Alvia Palmer-Michel, an AIDS educator who lost her husband and 4-year-old daughter to the illness, died Tuesday at Mount Sinai Medical Center of complications from AIDS. She was 42. Born and raised in Miami, Palmer-Michel married Richard Michel in 1986 and gave birth to Riccardia one year later. In 1988, her husband fo
North Miami residents and city leaders shared breakfast with state representatives and senators Saturday morning as part of Vice Mayor Jacques Despinosse s ongoing breakfast meeting series. Guest speakers were Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, who talked about legislative updates in educa
Denise Pinkus made a deal with her disease. You leave me alone, I ll leave you alone, and we can live together, she said. For nine years, the bargain has held: Pinkus takes her medication and her virus -- HIV -- has not turned into AIDS. In that time, the Hollywood pharmacy technician also became the first Hispanic wom
A physician at a Miami clinic that once treated HIV patients was arrested Thursday for defrauding the state s Medicaid program of more than $400,000, state authorities said. Shelley Wolland, 44, of Davie, once affiliated with the now-closed Sunshine Medical Inc. at 1498 NW 54th St., was charged with 115 counts of Medic
In January, Nelson Alarcon took an HIV test. The result was positive -- that is, not good. He became ill for a while but pulled out of it hoping he would be healthy enough to one day help others who faced the same plight. On Wednesday, Alarcon was greeting supporters at a reception for Union Positiva, an organization a
Is grandma having sex? The idea makes many people -- including some doctors -- uncomfortable, but the question is critical, said Jolene M. Mullins, an early intervention consultant with the Florida Department of Health. Mullins spoke about HIV and older people Friday at the 21st Annual Broward Aging Network Conference
WASHINGTON - After years of the mostly ignored ravages of AIDS in Africa, a broad coalition of lawmakers from both political parties advocates a major injection of U.S. money to stop the disease s global spread. This week, the House will consider more than doubling American support for fighting AIDS abroad, from $300 m
Lobbyist Ron Book is best known as influence-for-hire, a man paid to persuade Florida legislators to do things his client s way. But on Monday, Book stepped into the spotlight to talk about a law he pushed for love and not money. It s a law he hopes will bring peace of mind to his 17-year-old daughter, Lauren, who was
A twentysomething Miami woman recently took an HIV test because she had landed a new job and needed the results for a life insurance policy. The diagnosis she got earlier this month was devastating; she tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS. The source of her infection? Her boyfriend, a thirtysomething ex-conv
WASHINGTON - Rep. Carrie Meek, a Miami Democrat, and the Congressional Black Caucus on Thursday renewed a plea to the State Department to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Haiti . U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, have said that Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide must do more to w
This is a critical time for Care Resource, South Florida s largest AIDS service agency: Just as Miami was identified as having the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the nation, funding for the organization has fallen off at least 10 percent from 2001. Last year, we saw almost 15,000 clients, and almost 40,000 individual times p
They call him Baby Boy J. Born with respiratory problems, he is in need of surgery and is in intensive care on a respirator. His mother, who is HIV-positive and a crack addict, admitted to using drugs during her pregnancy. She left the baby at the hospital and cannot be reached. The father is in jail. What will happen
South Florida AIDS service providers, already stung by decreases in funding and donations, are facing higher caseloads as the Miami metropolitan area finds itself in the unenviable position of having the highest rate of the disease in the nation. The Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach metropolitan areas also placed in
South Florida AIDS service providers, already stung by decreases in funding and donations, are facing higher caseloads as the Miami metropolitan area finds itself in the position of having the highest rate of the disease in the nation. The Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach metropolitan areas also ranked among the top
Jorge Correa receives an oxygen tank, 62 home-cooked meals a month and weekly visits from a member of a companionship program. Diagnosed with HIV five years ago, Correa, 52, has come to rely on these services provided through funding from the Medicaid s Project AIDS Care Waiver program. But on Friday, state budget cuts
The United Way will present its highest philanthropic honor to Miami aviation pioneer George Batchelor, president and chairman of the Batchelor Foundation. The Alexis de Tocqueville Award for Outstanding Philanthropy will be given to Batchelor tonight at a private reception hosted by Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodrig
WASHINGTON -- A new age may be dawning in the battle against one of humanity s oldest and deadliest enemies: viruses. Deeper understanding of viral diseases -- and fresh defenses against them -- are coming along just when experts are warning that the smallpox virus could be the most fearsome weapon of a bioterrorist at
It was impossible not to hear the voices coming from Biscayne Boulevard on Tuesday night. We don t want to die. AIDS activists, patients, family members and friends gathered in front of the Torch of Friendship to protest the proposed budget cuts for Prospect Aids Care (PAC). This is terrible, said Arturo Alvarez, case
Rocky Mountain, who is HIV-positive, said while the physical implications worry him, the chance of mental impairment frightens him. It s little things -- at first. Difficulty making the bed. Trouble recalling the content of a newspaper article. Faltering footsteps. AIDS has stolen the physical health of its sufferers f
Honored for his efforts to help those living with AIDS and HIV, Elton John said he was fortunate not to have contracted the disease. As a gay man I m very lucky not to be infected, he told ITV News in London. My concern nowadays is that young people think they are invulnerable, but they re not. John was interviewed aft
Sixteen years ago Rae Lewis-Thornton had her sights set on a West Wing post when a routine blood drive launched her on a far more arduous public career. I was on a track to the White House, recalled Lewis-Thornton, who was active in Democratic presidential politics. Most of my friends in politics went to the White Hous
Teenagers getting body piercings at illegal parlors or sticking themselves with kits bought off the Internet could get a deadly infection, state health officials say. This could lead to anything from HIV infection to hepatitis B , said Michael Spindell, the biomedical waste coordinator for the Florida Department of Hea
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.