Bob Ross, publisher of the Bay Area Reporter and a man whose influence and creativity helped transform San Francisco s gay community into a powerful political force, died Wednesday night of complications from diabetes at Davies Medical Center. He was 69. Bob Ross was a great San Franciscan and a dear friend, Mayor Will
Duna, Ethiopia -- Yemmi Samta didn t know that her 14-year-old-daughter, Saron, was pregnant until she found her unconscious and bleeding profusely on the dirt floor of her ramshackle house. Samta begged a neighbor to load Saron onto a donkey cart and take her to the nearest clinic, 12 miles away. But the girl died on
Manuela Dabs-Kelley, 48, has lived with HIV for 14 years, is in excellent health and lives in a three-bedroom Victorian in Bernal Heights with two roommates who, like her, are clean and sober and living with HIV. It s a long way from Dabs-Kelley s days hustling in the Tenderloin, pawning possessions and stealing to sup
A San Francisco judge Tuesday found insufficient evidence to support charges that a former San Francisco health commissioner had intentionally infected sexual partners with the virus that causes AIDS. The ruling by Superior Court Judge Kay Tsenin to throw out a grand jury s indictment in the case marked the first-ever
San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, December 7, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
Tororo, Uganda -- Bedridden for months and racked with fever, Margaret Achieng this August could feel her life slipping away. AIDS was about to take her, as it had her police officer husband and their 7-year-old son. In the tribal culture where polygamy is the norm, AIDS had also killed her husband s two other wives, a
Kisumu, Kenya -- In this isolated city on the shore of Lake Victoria, Nyanza Provincial General Hospital still goes by its old nickname. The locals call it The Russia . Built by the Soviet Union in the 1960s, the medical complex has the rundown look of a concrete Cold War relic long abandoned by those who built it.
Sending a U.S. delegation of lawmakers, health officials and business leaders to Africa for a first-hand look at the destruction caused by the AIDS virus is admirable. But the mission becomes just another photo opportunity unless the White House releases the money it promised to battle a global AIDS epidemic that, by a
What exactly constitutes popular culture? A case can be made (and often is in this space) that just about anything under the sun can now be considered a kind of pop culture, given the omnipresent filter of the media and the vast common ground of stuff and ideas -- the material world, the immaterial and everything in be
Kabgayi, Rwanda -- If Africa is ever to turn the tide against the onslaught of AIDS, it will happen in places like this. At the Kabgayi (Cab-guy) Hospital here in Gitarama Province, about 37 miles southwest of the Rwandan capital Kigali, the local Catholic diocese has built a campus of brick-and-cement buildings in the
San Francisco Chronicle - Tuesday, December 2, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
Livingstone, Zambia -- The chief of the World Health Organization for the first time endorsed the widespread use of a new AIDS medicine that combines into a single pill three different anti-viral drugs that can prolong the lives of infected patients for between $150 and $300 a year. The endorsement Monday by Dr.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson is jetting to Africa this weekend with an all-star cast of business executives and the Bush administration s top medical experts, in a tour of four hard-hit nations likely to share a piece of President Bush s $15 billion AIDS relief package. Thompson and more than 8
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
Amid hopeful signs that world resources are beginning to mobilize against AIDS, the disease continues to infect an estimated 5 million people a year and is outpacing efforts to contain it, global health authorities said Tuesday. Worldwide, more than 40 million people are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, a
San Francisco Chronicle - Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Greg Lucas, Sacramento Bureau Chief
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger presented lawmakers Monday with nearly $2 billion in midyear spending cuts aimed primarily at social programs, including payments to doctors who care for the poor and recreational programs for developmentally disabled children. The spending reductions would touch nearly all parts of state gov
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, November 21, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
With a top national ranking it could surely do without, San Francisco has surpassed Detroit as the city with the highest per-capita rate of syphilis in the United States . Driven by an increase in new cases among gay white men, the nation s syphilis rate rose 9.1 percent in 2002, the second consecutive increase after a
San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, November 20, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
The South African government adopted a comprehensive plan Wednesday to offer antiviral drugs to its AIDS-afflicted citizenry -- a historic turnaround for an administration that for years had rejected scientific consensus that the disease was caused by a virus. For Dr. Eric Goosby, a veteran AIDS physician who tackled t
Matthew Cusick wanted the spotlight on the performance, not on himself. But after Cirque du Soleil fired the gymnast in April because he has HIV, he says he was forced to take a stand. I didn t want everybody labeling me and not seeing past the label, but I could not sit idly by while this happened, Cusick said Wednesd
San Francisco Chronicle - Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sometimes history is made with a simple act. Surrounded by friends at his Cape Town, South Africa , home, Zackie Achmat could only stare in silence at the single pill in front of him, pondering the immensity of the moment. After ten minutes, he finally slipped the sunset yellow and white capsule onto his tongue, took u
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, November 14, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
UCSF researchers have found hints that the AIDS virus can cause subtle damage to the brain even if patients are using drugs that suppress the microbe below detectable levels. Using a battery of tests, including MRI scans of the brain and memory agility tests, the scientists at UCSF s departments of psychiatry and radio
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, November 7, 2003
Rona Marech, Chronicle Staff Writer
Elia Arce had worked with homeless people and HIV-positive women to create performance art pieces, but taking on something called The Fruitvale Project seemed dauntingly different: How to capture the soul of a neighborhood onstage? The director s answer came slowly over eight months of an unusual collaboration. Artists
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, November 7, 2003
Anna Badkhen, Chronicle Staff Writer
Moscow -- The high-profile arrest of Russia s leading billionaire, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has focused the world s attention on the state of Russia s legal system, and now it is casting a harsh light on conditions in its prison system. Khodorkovsky is serving a two-month sentence at the capital s crowded Matrosskaya Tish
San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, November 6, 2003
Nancy S. Padian**
I was in Bangalore, with a team of international researchers who are working to prevent the spread of AIDS on the Indian subcontinent, when I learned that my name and my research were on a hit list of researchers and projects apparently targeted for additional scrutiny and possible loss of funding by the National Insti
San Francisco Chronicle - Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
A government document naming 157 scientists who study AIDS and human sexuality is alarming university researchers, who call it a Republican hit list that may be used to target prevention programs that some members of Congress find offensive. National Institutes of Health program officers, who are responsible for overs
San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, October 26, 2003
Henry Hoenig, Chronicle Foreign Service
Phnom Penh, Cambodia -- Sipping a beer in an Irish pub, Doc looks every bit the privileged young man that he is. Neatly dressed in a buttoned-down shirt and khaki pants, he is polite and quick with a smile, especially when talking about his favorite pastime - gang rape. Asked how many times he has gang raped a prostitu
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Christopher Heredia
San Francisco public health officials announced Tuesday that they have allocated $425,000 to fight crystal methamphetamine addiction among gays. Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who held public hearings in May about the scourge of speed use among those who frequent gay clubs and Internet chat rooms, said he hopes the money will
San Francisco Chronicle - Saturday, October 18, 2003
Charlie Goodyear, Chronicle Staff Writer
A Pittsburg man was arraigned Friday on five misdemeanor counts of knowingly exposing four women - including his deceased former wife and his current spouse - to the HIV virus, authorities said. Police arrested 39-year-old Remond Frederick at his home on Thursday afternoon after receiving a complaint in August from one
San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, October 16, 2003
Matthew Yi, Chronicle Staff Writer
Equal Access, a San Francisco nonprofit that brings educational radio programming via satellite to remote villages in Nepal , was named among five winners of the 2003 Tech Museum Awards on Wednesday. The winners were announced at a dinner banquet in San Jose to honor 25 finalists who use technology to improve human li
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, October 10, 2003
WITH MORE than 50,000 Californians infected with the AIDS virus, the state should be looking at all measures to slow the epidemic s spread. SB774, which could help that effort, sits in limbo on the governor s desk. The Pharmacy Syringe Sale and Disease Prevention Act authored by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, w
A San Francisco judge freed a former city health commissioner from jail without bail Thursday while he awaits trial on two charges of knowingly infecting sexual partners with the virus that causes AIDS. Ronald Hill, 46, was arrested last month at his home in Grass Valley after the San Francisco grand jury indicted him
San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, September 28, 2003
As required by state law, should those who intentionally expose a sexual partner to AIDS face criminal charges? -- Yes. Anyone who misrepresents his or her HIV status in such an intimate way is committing a life-threatening crime. 91% -- No. The punishment is too harsh. 3% -- Each case should be evaluated individually.
San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, September 28, 2003
Christopher Heredia, Chronicle Staff Writer
Visitors relaxed as a disc jockey spun ambient music at this place they call Magnet, just a stone s throw from 18th and Castro streets in San Francisco. Employees laid out a Twister game in the center s entrance, which resembles a hotel lobby, although among the few men who stopped by that evening, no one seemed intere
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, September 26, 2003
Steven Winn, Chronicle Arts and Culture Critic
It can t just be the clothes. Twenty-one years into its life as San Francisco s biggest annual fashion fete, Macy s Passport has entered that hallowed, graying grove of local cultural institutions. Like the Bay to Breakers, the San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker, the Black and White Ball and Beach Blanket Babylon, Passpo
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, September 26, 2003
Christopher Heredia
Public health officials and gay community leaders announced Thursday they have teamed up to combat a rising syphilis epidemic among gay and bisexual men. The plan calls for increasing the number of testing sites, including a new gay men s health center in the Castro, and raising awareness among gay men and their doctor
San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, September 21, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
The arrest last week of former San Francisco Health Commissioner Ronald Gene Hill on charges that he lied about his HIV-positive status to his sexual partners is a rare invocation of a little-known California law. But the high-profile case underscores, in dramatic fashion, a growing trend in AIDS prevention: holding th
San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, September 18, 2003
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Northern California medical marijuana clubs made another bid for legal status Wednesday, telling a federal appeals court that the use of a drug to ease severe pain is a basic right that should override federal narcotics laws. The case offers the only opportunity to decide whether Americans have a fundamental constituti
San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, September 18, 2003
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco -- A former San Francisco health commissioner was jailed Wednesday after being indicted on a seldom-used state law that makes it a crime to intentionally infect a sexual partner with the virus that causes AIDS. Ronald Gene Hill, 46, was arrested at his home in Grass Valley (Nevada County) after a San Fran
San Francisco Chronicle - Monday, September 1, 2003
THE NUMBERS ARE so staggering they re almost incomprehensible: AIDS/HIV has infected 42 million, killed 25 million and orphaned 14 million children, whose numbers increase by two every 30 seconds. If left unchecked, there will be 70 million AIDS cases in China and 110 million in
Cape Town, South Africa -- Millions of South Africans celebrated earlier this month when the government announced it would finally begin offering powerful anti-retroviral drugs to its citizens with AIDS, but some experts warn that drug-resistant strains of the HIV virus may proliferate if the program is not managed pr
San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, August 28, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
A nationwide study led by UCSF researchers apparently has dashed hopes that a strategy of putting AIDS patients on four-month drug holidays would help restore the usefulness of antiviral medications for people who have developed drug-resistant strains of HIV. Researchers found that patients who temporarily stopped taki
San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, August 14, 2003
Bernadette Tansey, Chronicle Staff Writer
Shares in Virologic Inc. of South San Francisco rose 13 percent Wednesday after the company announced that a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of the firm had concluded with no action. Virologic said the federal prosecutor s office based in San Francisco has also taken no enforcement action after complet
San Francisco Chronicle - Saturday, August 9, 2003
Bernadette Tansey, Chronicle Staff Writer
The Food and Drug Administration has ordered Foster City s Gilead Sciences Inc. and drug giant Bristol-Myers Squibb to pull the plug on what it called false marketing messages. The FDA warned Gilead for the second time in just over a year that its sales representatives were downplaying the risks and exagge
Two San Francisco AIDS activists have pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of making threatening phone calls to public health officials and reporters for The Chronicle. The court ordered Michael Petrelis and David Pasquarelli to spend three years on probation and attend anger-management counseling. They also were
After a decade of steady decline, the number of people newly diagnosed with AIDS in the United States rose slightly last year, causing worried health officials to call for renewed efforts aimed at preventing the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The number of AIDS cases nationally rose 2.2 percent from 41,227
U.S. drug czar John P. Walters likes to dismiss the medical-marijuana movement as a cynical effort by the pro-drug-use crowd to hide behind sick people in order to legalize all marijuana use and the use of other drugs. But what Walters doesn t see is how his actions are helping the people he opposes. By enforcing feder
Every day people call me asking how to get legal. They suffer from many different ailments -- cancer, AIDS, arthritis, glaucoma, MS, chronic pain and others -- but the commonality is that they have all talked to their doctors about using marijuana to treat either their condition or its symptoms. And while their physici
Gary-Michael O Keefe is playing hooky from work so he can teach newbie cheerleaders how to shout with flair. He was supposed to be doing the Dixie Chicks makeup, but he took a rain check from his day job as a freelance makeup artist to help out would-be cheerleaders. They seem to need his magic touch more than any cele
As a crew mom -- that s like a soccer mom for kids who row -- I spend a lot of time listening to teenage girls in the car, and I can tell you the issue of abstinence-only sex education is not a big hit with the youngsters I transport. They don t even have the programs in their own schools, but they re connected electr
Federal health officials will announce today that they are expanding an HIV surveillance system, piloted in San Francisco, that can detect recent infections and help direct prevention resources at groups that are at highest risk. This will give us the clearest picture yet of the magnitude of the U.S. HIV epidemic, the
On the eve of a national AIDS meeting in Atlanta, community groups involved in AIDS prevention programs since the epidemic s early days fear that the Bush administration is preparing to yank their funding in favor of a new approach. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- which is sponsoring the confe
When San Francisco General Hospital opened the world s first AIDS ward on its fifth floor exactly two decades ago, a lot of people thought it was a bad idea. Dr. Mervyn Silverman opposed it. As director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health at the time, he feared that patients sent there would be shunned, an
Washington -- A surprisingly strong bid to shield medicinal pot smokers in California and nine other states from federal prosecution was defeated in the House on Wednesday after a spirited debate that centered on states rights and even reached back to the pre-Civil War nullification debate. Proponents of the proposal b
It has been less than three minutes since I hopped off the BART train at 19th Street station, and already I m in the middle of a conversation with a young, athletic-looking African American man named Khalil who wants to know what I m doing around here so late. I tell him I m visiting from New York and on my way to a ne
In the microscopic world inhabited by the AIDS virus, scientists are uncovering a remarkable cloak-and-dagger struggle that pits the crafty microbe against an ancient antiviral defense wired into our genes. So far, the virus is winning. Still, the discoveries spilling out of molecular biology labs around the world are
AIDS Walk San Francisco, now in its 17th iteration, has become as much a San Francisco institution as the Bay to Breakers race and Willie Brown s fedoras. An institution within that institution is the celebrity guest, and this year s AIDS Walk, on Sunday, does not disappoint: On hand, among others, will be Tony winner
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Washington -- House conservatives killed a provision on Tuesday pushed by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, that would have restored U.S. money to the United Nations Population Fund that President Bush stopped in 2002 amid accusations that the agency backed forced abortions and coerced sterilizations in China
Washington -- By a razor-thin margin, a bid by House conservatives to scuttle a taxpayer-funded study of AIDS and drug use among Asian prostitutes in San Francisco massage parlors was defeated Thursday after a debate on the floor of Congress. The 212-210 vote narrowly blocked a move by Rep. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., to cut $
Washington -- Congress took the first steps Thursday toward approving $2 billion for the first year of President Bush s $15 billion plan to fight AIDS in Africa, an amount some activists argued is one-third less than they were promised but which supporters said marked a good start. At every stop on his current tour of
Dr. Haile Debas, who will retire Aug. 31 as dean of the UCSF School of Medicine, has been named to the newly formed United Nations Commission for HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa. The commission will investigate how the AIDS epidemic, which has killed an estimated 20 million people during the past two decades, threate
THE WORLD S deepest problems find harsh expression in Africa. AIDS, warfare and authoritarian leaders contend with mineral wealth, human potential and promising solutions. President Bush is taking on a major challenge by visiting five sub-Saharan nations this week. But his promises to fund AIDS prevention and foreign a
As President Bush heads off to Africa this morning for a five-nation tour of that troubled continent, he will be showcasing his five-year, $15 billion AIDS relief package. His visit to Senegal , South Africa , Botswana , Nigeria and
San Francisco s glamorous Four Seasons hotel was the scene of last fall s annual fund-raiser for the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Celebrities such as Shirley MacLaine and Stephan Jenkins traded air kisses, clinked crystal glasses of fine wine and purchased goodies -- including handbags that cost as much as a
I was riding BART to the Gay Pride Parade on Sunday when I noticed a middle-aged man dandling a younger woman -- all legs and high-heeled sandals -- on his knee. They cooed and necked, and I thought: I don t mind what these heterosexuals do in the privacy of their own bedrooms, but flaunting it in public? Speaking of b
Washington -- President Bush s nominee for the new position of global AIDS coordinator ran into immediate criticism Wednesday from AIDS activists while some conservatives praised the appointee, a retired drug company executive. In a White House ceremony, Bush formally nominated Randall Tobias, former chief executive of
Even before the wheel, mobility has been a catalyst for survival. Out of Africa, into Asia, on to Europe - in one of life s great paradoxes, mobility strengthened agrarian civilizations and even the growth of cities. The movement of people, of thought, even armies, all gave rise to cross- pollinated ideas and possibili
Las Vegas -- When a convention promoting virginity comes to Las Vegas, expect the unexpected. And so it was when the Abstinence Clearinghouse -- a Sioux Falls, S.D., organization that preaches in favor of chastity until marriage and against using condoms -- descended on the City of Sin to spread the word. Ain t no sha
As the Avon Foundation s two-day walk through San Francisco to raise money to fight breast cancer kicks off today, a potential competitor is being organized to support another major breast cancer charity. It remains to be seen whether the two fund-raising events will generate more money overall for the breast cancer ca
Irene Benton was riding an 82 bus to downtown Oakland when a little girl seated next to her caught sight of a public service sign and asked her mother what HIV is. When you see them people, you stay as far away from them as you can, her mother said. Benton bridled. She didn t even know that standing right in front of h
As the search for an effective AIDS vaccine continues to sputter, a group of top international scientists called today for the creation of a new global program -- modeled after the $3 billion Human Genome Project -- to speed the discovery and testing of new vaccines. A well-coordinated global enterprise necessary to dr
Las Vegas -- Down the corridor from the blackjack tables and 24-hour slots at the J. W. Marriott hotel, 700 clapping advocates for abstinence-only sex education cheered lustily as Elvis imitator James Love Rompel swiveled about the luncheon tables singing Viva! Viva Las Vegas! Thus began the seventh annual convention o
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
For months, San Francisco City Hall s glum budget predictions were in the abstract, detailed in writing as part of Mayor Willie Brown s $4.9 billion spending plan, discussed during hours of public hearings. But come Monday, they will be real, as dozens of programs that have relied on city funding are set to shut their
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, June 25, 2003
LEGISLATION to foster a broader, more consistent brand of sex education in California public schools is about to be taken up in the Assembly after winning Senate passage by 23-13 vote. The comprehensive sexual health measure (SB71) by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, would replace a patchwork of contradictory and out
The smiling face of NBA legend Earvin Magic Johnson delivering the message of AIDS awareness is plastered on billboards across East Oakland. Last Friday, Johnson arrived at Allen Temple Baptist Church, in the heart and soul of the black community, to deliver the message in person. And in private. That was my decision,
Muhamadou Gaye, a lanky 49-year-old homeless man at San Francisco General Hospital, sat up slowly in his bed and winced as the director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed the dressing on a set of tubes draining fluid from his lung. You are a very patient man, said Dr. Julie Gerberding, ar
The Thai woman is pipe-stem thin. Her large teeth jut from a rictus mouth carved into a face with skull-tight skin and buzz-cut hair. She often grinds her teeth when she talks. Her name is Lek, and she lives in an AIDS hospice at the Wat Phrapratan Nampu Buddhist temple in Lopburi, 71 miles north of Bangkok. There, pat
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an apparent flip-flop, threatened Friday to pull funding from a controversial San Francisco AIDS prevention program that employs sexually explicit street language to promote safer sex workshops. In letters to San Francisco s Stop AIDS Project and to the city De
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Bernadette Tansey, Chronicle Staff Writer
VaxGen Inc. will receive as much as $2 million in government grant money to mine data from its disappointing AIDS vaccine trial, in order to find clues that might point the way to a successful vaccine, the Brisbane company said Tuesday. VaxGen shares rose almost 15 percent on the news that the National Institute of
Last Halloween, a handful of men danced on the fire escape of a Castro apartment, dressed as go-go dancers, a hunky soccer player and Cher. They could have been any group of friends enjoying the annual street party. But they were actually the staff of Ground Zero Software, a tiny San Francisco company that has achieved
When federal officials shut down the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative in 1998, Angel McClary Raich faced what she considered a life-threatening situation. I could die in 45 days without medical marijuana. It literally keeps me alive, said Raich, 37, an Oakland resident who suffers from an inoperable brain tumor, sei
The 27th San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, which starts Thursday, features 271 films and videos from 33 countries. Here are some of the more intriguing offerings: The Gift: This shocking documentary follows bug chasers -- young men who seek out HIV through unprotected sex with positive partne
The controversy over Gov. Gray Davis power to block the parole of convicted murderers is headed back to the California Supreme Court in the case of an inmate with AIDS who has spent 18 years in prison for murder. A state appellate court in Los Angeles ruled Thursday that Davis had misstated the facts of Mark Smith s ca
San Francisco -- From a distance, the two-piece men s suit hanging on the back wall of the Museum of GLBT History in San Francisco looks like any old suit you might find at a thrift store in the Haight. Take a closer look, however, and you notice the bullet holes and bloodstains and realize that you re staring at the c
America s most celebrated drug defendant has spent what may be his final days before prison working quietly in his Oakland office, preparing his magazine columns and his next book about marijuana growing. No big send-offs. No wild parties for the icon of the medical marijuana movement. I d like to be a pop culture figu
A San Francisco attorney filed a class-action lawsuit Monday on behalf of thousands of hemophiliacs who claim that Bayer Corp. and several other companies knowingly sold blood products contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C . The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, alleges that the companies conspired to
Jakarta, Indonesia -- This is the last in an occasional series by The Chronicle Foreign Service on AIDS in Asia. The entire series can be seen on The Chronicle s Web site -- www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ under Chronicle Specials. The reports focused on India ,
Jakarta, Indonesia -- This is the last in an occasional series by The Chronicle Foreign Service on AIDS in Asia. The entire series can be seen on The Chronicle s Web site -- www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ under Chronicle Specials. The reports focused on India ,
Imagine the students reaction if Barry Bonds started showing up as a guest instructor in San Francisco elementary and junior high school classrooms. That s roughly akin to what s happening now in the African nation of Zimbabwe , where that country s biggest names in professional soccer have signed on to help educate a
Tom Coates, an AIDS expert who transformed UCSF s varied scientific efforts into a powerhouse of interdisciplinary research, is resigning to take a post at UCLA Medical School. Coates informed his colleagues at the university s AIDS Research Institute this week that he will resign as executive director in September, af
Mention drug problems in Southeast Asia, and the prevalent image -- for centuries -- has been of opium dens with sleepy junkies lying beneath curling streams of smoke. No more. In the past five years, methamphetamine -- called yaa-baa, or crazy drug in English -- has mushroomed from being nearly unheard of to the most
Washington s odd couple, solidly conservative President Bush and outspokenly liberal Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland, made a rare appearance together Tuesday. Lee, one of Congress main proponents of increased funding for the fight against HIV and AIDS, was on hand when Bush signed a bill authorizing $15 billion
Washington -- President Bush signed landmark legislation Tuesday authorizing $15 billion to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean, and now the spotlight switches to making sure Congress notoriously independent-minded appropriators actually come up with the money. Bush signed the bill in a State Department ceremony, fl
Johannesburg -- When Sias Strydom arrived at his wedding in Klerksdorp, the first thing he saw was a group of giggling police officers hiding behind a wall. They were there to see whether Strydom, who joined the police force a year before, was wearing a white dress. To their disappointment, Strydom and his sweetheart b
Washington -- President Bush said Wednesday he will push America s major allies to spend more on AIDS relief as Congress gave final approval to his proposal to spend $15 billion over five years on fighting the pandemic in Africa and the Caribbean. In addition to trying to save lives in fighting a disease that has kille
Manila -- Philippine government officials may be burdened by a sluggish economy and several tenacious rebel armies, but there is at least one subject that they can crow about -- this archipelagic nation of 84 million inhabitants has one of the lowest AIDS rates in Asia. Almost 20 years after the nation s first reported
Stopping the threat of infectious diseases imported from developing countries should become a top national security priority. Until the terrorist acts of Sept. 11, we had thought that our shores were safe from enemy attack. The same false sense of security has prevailed with respect to the microbes that cause infectiou
Africans are pleased to see that the U.S. government is showing its concern for the victims of AIDS on our continent with a $15 billion assistance package. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of our own governments. And sadly, no amount of money or free drugs from the United States will help us until our own governm
The HIV Research Section of the AIDS Office in the San Francisco Department of Public Health believes that an effective HIV vaccine is our best hope for stemming the epidemic worldwide. Sadly enough, today -- HIV Vaccine Awareness Day -- 16,000 people throughout the world will contract HIV. In fact, 16,000 people contr
Jumping headfirst into the highly charged arena of race politics, the University of California s Board of Regents voted overwhelmingly Thursday to oppose a ballot measure backed by fellow Regent Ward Connerly to prohibit the state from classifying people by race or ethnicity. The 15-3 vote to take a stand against the m
As the U.S. Senate prepares for a vote Thursday on President Bush s $15 billion global AIDS initiative, a new report has found that international spending is falling far short of what s needed for HIV prevention. The study released by the Global HIV Prevention Working Group on Tuesday warned that only 1 in 5 people at
As the U.S. Senate prepares for a vote Thursday on President Bush s $15 billion global AIDS initiative, a new report has found that international spending is falling far short of what s needed for HIV prevention. The study released by the Global HIV Prevention Working Group on Tuesday warned that only 1 in 5 people at
The past decade has seen a revolution in preventing newborns from contracting the AIDS virus from their mothers. Most hospitals, though, do not have experts in the field, which is both complex and rapidly changing. In response, Alameda County s Family Care Network and the UCSF Medical Center have started a 24-hour page
The past decade has seen a revolution in preventing newborns from contracting the AIDS virus from their mothers. Most hospitals, though, do not have experts in the field, which is both complex and rapidly changing. In response, Alameda County s Family Care Network and the UCSF Medical Center have started a 24-hour page
An overflow audience turned out Wednesday night for a City Hall forum on San Francisco s growing crystal methamphetamine problem, which experts say is helping fuel rising HIV infection rates among gay and bisexual men. The hearing, which drew about 150 people, came on the heels of a Chronicle series documenting how use
WHEN San Francisco officials gather at City Hall tonight to discuss escalating concerns over crystal methamphetamine usage and HIV risk among gay and bisexual men, they should treat it with the urgency of a public health crisis. The evidence, as documented in a series by Chronicle reporter Christopher Heredia, appears
When Sam first tried crystal meth with her Walnut Creek high school friends last year, she was scared. But she liked it. She did it again. And again. Sam had always hated her body, and now she was losing weight. She finally belonged. She d been depressed, and the meth was holding that at bay. Yet not much later, she st
Hundreds of people pleaded Monday for various San Francisco public health programs to be spared the ax during a hearing of the Board of Supervisors budget committee. Those urging that other ways be found to make up the city s $347 million deficit included doctors frustrated at having to do more with less, HIV patients
Isaac sleeps in his closet, in a corner carved out from all the dirty clothing on the floor of his Tenderloin apartment. That s a long way from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which awarded him a dual doctoral degree in architecture and media arts and sciences a decade ago. He is now 47 and addicted to cryst
The use of crystal methamphetamine has reached epidemic proportions among gay and bisexual men, and Bay Area health officials are warning that the mantra of HIV prevention - safe sex - has been drowned out by a raucous scene of loud party music, cheap meth and reckless intercourse. Health experts estimate that up to 40
Washington -- The House overwhelmingly approved President Bush s plan to triple spending on the fight against AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean nations on Thursday, after tacking on two conservative-backed amendments that emphasize abstinence education over condom distribution. Bush s initiative, which passed 375 to 41,
PRESIDENT BUSH had been in office only a few hours in January 2001 when, with the first strokes of his presidential pen, he reinstated the global gag rule. The rule, instituted by Ronald Reagan and lifted by Bill Clinton on his first day in office, prevents U.S. family-planning money from going to any overseas group th
-- WHAT WE SAID: Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to family planning. The restrictions on U.S. aid are so severe that groups receiving U.S. aid are not even allowed to talk about abortion laws in their own country . . . These groups should not have to forfeit their rights to tell women about a full array of options
A California program that provides free AIDS drugs to state residents who cannot afford them may have to reduce the number of covered drugs and start a waiting list for new enrollees because of rising drug costs and the $34.6 billion state deficit. About 26,000 Californians with AIDS rely on ADAP, or the AIDS Drug Assi
PRESIDENT BUSH had been in office only a few hours in January 2001 when, with the first strokes of his presidential pen, he reinstated the global gag rule. The rule, instituted by Ronald Reagan and lifted by Bill Clinton on his first day in office, prevents U.S. family-planning money from going to any overseas group th
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Washington -- In a move that dismayed some of his ardent conservative supporters, President Bush on Tuesday publicly embraced a plan for his $15 billion global AIDS initiative that includes money for groups that promote birth control and abortion. Since the Reagan administration, anti-abortion forces have supported the
ALAN BRADY of Santa Cruz carried a flag emblazoned with a snake that read Don t tread on me. He was part of a double-digit size crowd that turned out to support a lawsuit filed by the Santa Cruz Wo/Men s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) against the federal government. Brady wasn t a member of WAMM, he said, but he
San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, April 24, 2003
Bernadette Tansey, Chronicle Staff Writer
With sales of its HIV drug surpassing even the most optimistic projections by analysts, Gilead Sciences Inc. reported first-quarter revenue that was more than double that for the same period last year. The Foster City biotechnology company registered positive cash flow for the third consecutive period, but reported a n
Today being Easter, there should be some flamboyant bonnets worn by the men in Penny Nixon s flock. Nixon 45, is senior pastor at the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) of San Francisco. She found her way to this pink and purple A-frame in the Castro in the typical way - she had just come out to San Francisco, and jus
My good friend Tommy is dying. Tommy (not his real name) has been HIV-positive for years. But he s not dying from HIV-related complications. Tommy is dying of methamphetamine addiction. This has broken my heart. And I am furious. Tommy was sober for a long time. Then a job took him all over the world for a few years. H
Gilead Sciences , long the promising third child after its venerable Bay Area biotech siblings Genentech and Chiron, is catching up with its older brothers. The Foster City company turned profitable on revenues last year -- still a rarity among biotech firms. It did what Genentech couldn t do: It scored two drug appr
Rawalpindi, Pakistan -- For the past 15 years, heroin has turned Tariq Jameel into a confused, friendless and jobless 44-year-old man. Shaky and somewhat incoherent, Jameel was once a promising young banker. Now, he battles to overcome his addiction in a small rundown room in a psychiatric ward at Lahore s General Hosp
Gilead Sciences will announce today it is ready to ship its new antiretroviral HIV drug Viread at a steeply discounted price to every country in Africa and 15 other impoverished nations. The Foster City biotechnology firm will charge $1.30 per day for the once-a- day dose of Viread, which wholesa
Lantaya, Burma -- Set among a series of wooden shacks that are connected by bamboo bridges, the four thatched huts on stilts make up one of Burma s few AIDS clinics. The clinic in this bedroom community 45 minutes outside the capital, Rangoon, has 11 patients. They are treated for malnutrition and other illnesses but a
VaxGen Inc. shares dropped 14 percent Monday as the firm s first report to fellow researchers on its AIDS vaccine trial showed no stronger proof of the protective effect for minority participants than it reported last month. At a major meeting of HIV researchers in Canada , the Brisbane biotech
As VaxGen Inc. prepares to unveil further analysis of its AIDS vaccine study at a scientific conference today, its reports of potential benefits to minority groups last month continue to draw both interest and scrutiny. A coalition of AIDS activist groups is calling for an independent review by the National Institutes
Relying on street smarts, charisma and strong convictions, Alfonso P. Acampora spent the last 30 years turning a small San Francisco group home called Walden House into a multimillion-dollar drug treatment organization with more than a dozen sites throughout California. A product of the streets of the South Bronx, Acam
Mesa, Ariz. -- Marquis Grissom is sitting at his locker in Scottsdale Stadium breaking in a glove by pounding the palm with a wooden mallet. It is tedious work, so Grissom has time to gaze at Marvin Benard next door and suggest a creative way to integrate the mallet into Benard s anatomy. Benard shoots an insult back a
San Francisco Chronicle - Saturday, March 22, 2003
Angelica Pence, Chronicle Staff Writer
pet-chi-tec-ture 1. The art or science of building for pets 2. The practice of designing and constructing structures, esp. habitable ones, for four-legged, furry, gilled or feathered creatures That s the idea behind Petchitecture, an annual San Francisco auction where animal meets art, hosted by Pets Are Wonderful Supp
San Francisco Chronicle - Saturday, March 22, 2003
Juliette Terzieff, Chronicle Foreign Service
Lahore, Pakistan -- When doctors asked Saida and her two children to submit to blood tests after she checked her dying husband into a local hospital, the university- educated housewife received the shock of her life. She tested HIV positive and discovered that full-blown AIDS was ravaging her 31-year-old husband.
Many of the Burmese refugees in the Bay Area bear physical and psychological scars that make their transition more difficult. Though it is not openly discussed in the community, some who underwent brutal ordeals in Burma suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. AIDS is another taboo, but critical, issue in the commu
When the biotech company VaxGen released the results of its long- promised AIDS vaccine trials last month, the only conclusion that could be drawn from the large-scale study was that the vaccine had no significant effect. Of the more than 5,300 volunteers, 5.7 percent of those who received the vaccine became infected w
Among the frustrating aspects of health care is that in many areas of medicine, we know what works but we don t quite get that information to doctors or to patients -- or, more precisely, to those for whom this knowledge could prevent them from becoming patients. We know that smoking-cessation programs are cheap and th
Washington -- House leaders, including Rep. Tom Lantos of San Mateo, will announce an agreement today with the White House that may end a conflict over abortion politics and authorize President Bush s $15 billion plan to combat AIDS overseas. The agreement will allow the money to go to international health agencies and
Tokyo -- Over beer and fried noodles, a dozen young sex workers clad in jeans and bright sweaters are engrossed in a heated debate. The women -- employed by massage parlors called fasshon herusu, or fashion health -- are discussing ways to avoid AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases and still keep their jobs if
A new AIDS drug that could be the last best hope for many long-term survivors won speedy approval from the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, but its high cost already is stirring a new round of heartache and controversy. Executives of Hoffman-LaRoche, the Nutley, N.J., arm of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Gr
San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, March 13, 2003
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monalisa Manuel tried several sales pitches outside the student center at San Francisco State University on Wednesday afternoon. It s free! There s condoms and lube! she yelled as study-weary students passed through Malcolm X Plaza at the center of campus. They didn t stop, so Manuel refined her spiel. Free condoms! s
Last week s reports about the Brisbane firm whose AIDS vaccine failed to protect whites and Latinos, but seemed to benefit African Americans and Asians touched racial and ethnic nerves and exposed weaknesses in the media s ability to explain complex science and statistics. I knew I d had a failure to communicate when m
Taipei, Taiwan -- On a recent weekend night, nurse Ryan Shay casually offered free condoms and HIV tests to visitors to secluded Memorial Park, next to the presidential office. Since gay men typically meet in the park to have sex in public bathrooms or in nearby hotels, it has a more popular name -- Gay Park.
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Alice Joyce*
The AIDS Memorial Grove is a safe space for grief and meditation. A formidable boulder of Sierra granite stands sentinel at the intersection of Middle Drive and Bowling Green Drive in Golden Gate Park, marking the Main Portal to the National AIDS Memorial Grove. Rich with history, the Grove s 7 1/2 -acre site hearkens
San Francisco Chronicle - Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Sabin Russell, Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writers
With its puzzling mix of disappointment and promise, the world s first large-scale trial of an AIDS vaccine has tapped one of the most sensitive nerves in biology today: whether race plays a significant role in modern medicine. The scientific community is divided on this, said Dr. Esteban Gonzalez Burchard, a San Franc
San Francisco Chronicle - Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Bernadette Tansey, Chronicle Staff Writer
VaxGen Inc. shares lost almost 50 percent of their value Monday as investors reacted to news that the Brisbane company s AIDS vaccine failed to protect most study subjects from infection with the life-threatening HIV virus. Still, a glimmer of promise in the otherwise disappointing data may stave off the layoffs and
San Francisco Chronicle - Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer
The head of a Brisbane biotech firm pledged Monday to push for government approval of an experimental AIDS vaccine that, according to a study released Sunday, may protect blacks but not whites. He challenged critics to consider the alternative. If we announced to the world that we were abandoning the project because th
San Francisco Chronicle - Monday, February 24, 2003
Thomas Bell, Chronicle Foreign Service
Kathmandu, Nepal -- When Aaron Peak arrived on vacation in this Himalayan capital in 1991, the Californian was alarmed at the unsanitary conditions for most addicts living and taking drugs on city streets. Peak, who worked as a volunteer for the Mid-City Consortium to Combat AIDS in the Haight-Ashbury in the mid-1980s,
San Francisco Chronicle - Monday, February 24, 2003
Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer
A disappointed and puzzled Brisbane biotech firm announced Sunday that its experimental AIDS vaccine failed to protect white and Latino volunteers against HIV infections, while inexplicably shielding two-thirds of the black, Asian and other non-Latino minority participants. Officials of VaxGen planned to hold
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, February 21, 2003
Chuck Squatriglia, Chronicle Staff Writer
Everything you ever wanted to know about sex -- and some stuff you probably didn t -- is now just a mouse-click away. From the basics of safe sex to the effects of HIV on aging and the sexuality of people with disabilities, the National Sexuality Resource Center hopes to replace myths and misconceptions about sex with
San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, February 20, 2003
Ray Delgado, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco -- A San Francisco AIDS prevention group did not violate federal funding guidelines when it set up a series of sexually explicit workshops for gay men, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said last week in a letter to Rep. Mark Souder, R-I
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
Like swallowing a bitter pill under doctor s orders, the San Francisco Health Commission on Tuesday recommended $34 million in cuts to the city s public health system -- a move that officials concede will begin the unraveling of the safety net for drug addicts, the mentally ill and the poor. Commissioners said the plan
San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, February 16, 2003
Kate Scannell*
I want John Ashcroft to leave his desk, come into the chemotherapy suite and participate in the real consequences of his choices. I want him to meet the bald, frail woman lying in the hospital bed next to mine in the chemotherapy suite. I want this 70-year-old woman to ask him the same medical question she asked me.
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, February 14, 2003
Dave Ford
Happy Valentine s Day, for what it s worth, and did you hear about the Gay Shame protest Feb. 6 at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center? Gay Shame is a queer group in the tradition of the Stonewall activists and ACT UP and Queer Nation. Partipants support social rights for the disenfranchised, ga
San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, February 9, 2003
Anastasia Stanmeyer, Chronicle Foreign Service
Shenzhen, China -- As he dined on boiled chicken s feet, AIDS activist Chung To leaned over a restaurant table to tell a gay prostitute about a landmark AIDS test -- the first time male sex workers have been asked to participate in an AIDS survey in China. The prostitute, a 20-year-old so-called money boy named Ye, i
San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, February 9, 2003
Jasper Becker, Chronicle Foreign Service
Beijing -- When university student Li Dan made a poignant film last year documenting how AIDS is laying waste to villages in impoverished Henan province, the government was lukewarm. Then, inexplicably, the response changed -- dramatically. I wasn t welcome (within government circles), said Li, but now . . . people are
San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, February 9, 2003
EVERY SIX minutes someone dies of an AIDS-related illness. In Africa, 30 million people are infected with the AIDS virus, including 3 million children under the age of 15. Current infection rates forecast 70 million AIDS cases in China and 110 million in India by 2025.
San Francisco Chronicle - Saturday, February 1, 2003
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco may have to slash programs for the mentally ill, substance abusers, seniors and the homeless to close what the city s public health chief described as a devastating budget deficit in the Department of Public Health. These cuts are painful, and they re occurring in areas where there are currently unmet nee
San Francisco Chronicle - Saturday, February 1, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
President Bush s surprise pledge of $15 billion to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean has dramatically recast the debate over how rich nations should help the world s poor battle the epidemic. In five short paragraphs in Tuesday s State of the Union address, the president laid out a moral imperative to bring antire
San Francisco Chronicle - Saturday, February 1, 2003
Ray Delgado, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco -- The San Francisco Giants have changed the date of their popular Until There s a Cure Day fund-raiser for AIDS to avoid a conflict with the annual Gay Pride parade. Giants spokeswoman Shana Daum said Friday that the team had decided to move the game from June 29 to June 1 so fans would not have to choos
San Francisco Chronicle - Saturday, February 1, 2003
Ulysses Torassa, Chronicle Health Writer
Doctors who treat gay men in San Francisco said Friday they are seeing a rise in cases of drug-resistant skin infections in line with reports of a similar outbreak in Los Angeles. The problems appear to be caused by a common bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, known as staph, that usually lives harmlessly on the skin but
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, January 31, 2003
Dave Ford, Chronicle Staff Writer
For Bay Area musician Beth Champion, the call to pitch in to fight hunger and HIV in Africa came in a conversation with a co-worker, who persuaded her to donate her music to the cause. She will join the Oakland Youth Chorus and the Lesbian and Gay Chorus of San Francisco on Feb. 8 at Stand With Africa, organized by St.
San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, January 30, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
With his surprise plan to triple overseas AIDS spending to $3 billion a year, President Bush has opted for a go-it-alone approach that will first help a group of friendly African and Caribbean states and largely sidesteps existing international programs. As details of the administration s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, January 29, 2003
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
Despite an austere budget and the prospects of a costly war in Iraq , President Bush appeared ready Tuesday to open the federal purse strings for the global battle against AIDS -- offering $15 billion over five years for disease treatment and prevention in Africa and the Caribbean. Seldom has history offered a gre
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, January 24, 2003
JERRY THACKER has thankfully withdrawn his nomination to sit on President Bush s advisory commission on AIDS, but it boggles the mind that an anti-gay ideologue who called AIDS a gay plague would have been considered for membership on the panel in the first place. The Thacker incident was clearly more than a bureaucrat
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, January 24, 2003
Ray Delgado, Chronicle Staff Writer
Giants AIDS game creates conflict: Gay Pride planned for same day San Francisco -- The San Francisco Giants have stumbled into a public relations nightmare with a proposal to move the popular Until There s a Cure Day game to June 29 this season, the same day the city s annual Gay Pride celebration roars through town.
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Richard Sine, Chronicle Foreign Service
Phnom Penh, Cambodia -- After Yun Nit fled an abusive husband and a barren province to look for a job in the capital, it seemed at first that she had landed a decent job. Each evening, the 22-year-old dons a gold-trimmed red dress and a silk sash that reads Madiran Vin Rouge and goes to the Bird and Dragon, an outdoor
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Ben Schnayerson, Chronicle Foreign Service
Phnom Penh, Cambodia -- Although Cambodia has the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate in Asia, the impoverished nation is making major inroads in its war against the potentially lethal disease. According to UNAIDS , 160,000 people between 15 and 49 have HIV in a population of only 12 million. AIDS has already killed 80,000
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer
A bitter, behind-the-scenes battle between Chiron Corp. and AIDS researchers appeared headed for a happy ending Tuesday when the Emeryville biotech giant promised to continue funding a study about whether doctors can fight AIDS by strengthening the immune system. Current anti-retroviral drugs generally combat the disea
San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, January 12, 2003
Jonathan Curiel, Chronicle Staff Writer
The world doesn t trust us. You, me and other Americans. That s what the polls say. The most recent one by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press quotes people in China , Egypt , Uganda , Poland ,
HOW DO YOU appease a religious conservative constituency while posing as a moderate Republican? This is the political dilemma President Bush confronts every day. He needs to pacify his party s most extreme faction at the same time as he tries to convince moderate voters to re-elect him in 2004. His solution is to launc
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.