NEW YORK, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- One out of 10 nurses who don t work in U.S. hospitals reports at least one needle stick injury in the previous 12 months, a U.S. study found. Researchers at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health assessed the risk of exposure to blood-borne pathogens -- HIV, hepatitis B and C
NEW HAVEN, Conn., Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Hospitals could prevent half of the new drug-resistant cases of tuberculosis by using a combination of infection control measures, a U.S. study said. Sanjay Basu and the research team at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., developed a computer model using data from
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given tentative approval for a generic version of the AIDS drug Viread . The approval means that generic tablets of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate can be considered for purchase under the President s Emergency Plan for AI
LUSAKA, Zambia , Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Poverty and abuse are preventing Zambian women from getting life-saving treatment for HIV, a Human Rights Watch report said Tuesday. The 96-page report said Zambia s government had failed to combat violence, discrimination and insecure property rights, and that many women with HIV beco
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti , Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Haitian-American rap star Wyclef Jean has visited a Haitian boys prison, part of his continuing charitable work in his impoverished homeland. The boys in the prison on the outskirts of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, were given sneakers and T-shirts by Jean s charity, Yele-
ULM, Germany , Dec. 14 (UPI) -- German researchers say a protein found in semen dramatically increases the transmission of HIV. The findings, published in the the journal Cell, suggest a potential new strategy for preventing the spread of AIDS if researchers can find inhibitors that block the process, the journal said
MONTREAL, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A team of Canadian and U.S. medical scientists has identified a potential new treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus-related lipodystrophy syndrome. The syndrome -- associated with the use of anti-retroviral drugs -- results in the loss of subcutaneous fat and an increase in deep abdo
WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Sunday he stands by his statement 15 years ago that AIDS patients should have been isolated. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, the former Arkansas governor said that at the time he made the statement is was not known the virus was not sprea
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Some men acutely infected with HIV are choosing to have unprotected intercourse only with other HIV-infected partners, a U.S. study found. Lead author Wayne Steward of the University of California-San Francisco Center for AIDS Prevention Studies said this reflects a systematic shift by so
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti , Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean lashed out at a recent report suggesting AIDS arrived in the United States by way of Haiti. Jean, whose parents moved him to the United States from Haiti when he was 9, said that Haiti should not be made the scapegoat for AIDS in America.
HYDERABAD, India , Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The 2007 figures for the world s human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS epidemic include a significant reduction in the number of infected people in India. The United Nations- World Health Organization global estimate of HIV/AIDS includes a major reduction of the estimate for India to 2.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A potential HIV vaccine that recently failed a clinical trial in the United States may increase some people s chance of catching the virus that causes AIDS. Top government and drug industry scientists are currently reviewing data from the trial, which unexpectedly found more HIV infections a
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say it will take two years before new testing methods show whether the AIDS epidemic is growing or simply larger than anyone thought. The new methods show the number of people in the United States infected with the AIDS virus is 50 percent higher than previously known, The Wa
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- About one-third of the people in seven countries, including the United States , know little about the HIV or AIDS epidemic, a United Nations-backed survey said. The Global AIDS Attitudes Survey, published by World Vision, also reported that about 25 percent of the people surveyed indica
BEIJING, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao marked World AIDS Day by visiting a hospital in Beijing Friday. Hu spent time with patients and staff, Xinhua, the official government news agency reported. One woman whose husband is HIV positive showed Hu a picture of their new son and told him both she and the ba
SEATTLE, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Dr. Merle Sande, an infectious-disease specialist who pioneered AIDS/HIV treatment in San Francisco, has died at age 68. The Los Angeles Times said Sande died Nov. 14 of multiple myeloma at his home in Seattle. Sande was the chief of medical services at San Francisco General in 1981 when he be
MOUNT AIRY, Md., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- World AIDS Day is a day of hope and a day of sadness, U.S. President George Bush said Friday during a faith-based, round-table discussion. Bush also called upon Congress to renew the President s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and double the amount of funding from $15 billion over five
DENVER, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- A Denver woman charged in 2000 with engaging in prostitution while infected with AIDS has been arrested on the same charge. Frances Woodke was being held in lieu of $75,000 bond, The Denver Post reported. Woodke received a probationary sentence in 2000 after pleading guilty to a lesser charge.
BANGKOK, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Thailand is endangering its status as a leader in the fight against AIDS by failing to treat infected drug users, a report from two groups claimed. The report by Human Rights Watch and the Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group said the Thai government failed to treat or prevent HIV infections among
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania said their studies found monkeys can ward off AIDS-like symptoms with an enhanced HIV vaccine. Researchers said an immune system gene used to enhance a vaccine used to study HIV in macaque monkeys offered the animals greater protection against
ATLANTA, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- There is a demonstrable correlation between a person s housing status and his or her likelihood of transmitting or getting HIV, U.S. researchers found. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said the findings prompted them to issue a call to action that homele
SEATTLE, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The new head of the Lifelong AIDS Alliance in Seattle is looking for a new hostess for Gay Bingo after firing Glamazonia over speech issues. Glamazonia, the name used professionally by Thom Hubert, had been serving as mistress of ceremonies for seven years and raising $12,000 a month, The Seat
GENEVA, Switzerland , Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The United Nations lowered its estimates of the number of AIDS-infected people worldwide, indicating that the disease s growth has slowed for the first time. Better sampling techniques indicate the number of new infections peaked in 1998 and the number of deaths peaked in 2005, th
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A health alert was issued in West Michigan this week after a doctor was discovered to have reused sutures and medical instruments on his patients. Kent County officials said Thursday that nearly 5,000 patients could have been exposed to HIV or hepatitis due to Dr. Robert Stokes pr
ATLANTA, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- The more than 1 million new cases of chlamydia in 2006 is an all-time high for the United States , a government report said. Dr. John M. Douglas Jr. of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease, can cause pelvic inflammatory diseas
PROVIDENCE, R.I., Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Half of all new U.S. HIV infections are among 13- to 24-year-olds, but researchers suggest that early and widespread testing could curb the spread of HIV. Lead author Marina Tolou-Shamst at the Bradley Hasbro Children s Research Center, in Providence, R.I., assessed the sexual behavio
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved revised warnings and labeling changes for the anemia drugs Aranesp, Epogen and Procrit. The warnings on the erythropoiesis-stimulating agents address the risks that the drugs pose to patients with cancer or chronic kidney failure, the
MOSCOW, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- An international watchdog group says Russia s health policies aren t doing enough to treat drug addiction. Human Rights Watch said Russia s healthcare system violates international obligations by restricting access to evidence-based drug dependence treatment for injection drug users. The lack of
SEATTLE, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Researchers meeting in Seattle say a failed AIDS vaccine may have increased the risk of test participants getting HIV. The New York Times said the patients who face the highest risk are those who had pre-existing levels of immunity to a common cold virus known as adenovirus type 5. Merck halted
CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Evidence indicates psychological factors play a role in disease progression of HIV, say researchers led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lead author Jane Leserman, a professor of psychiatry and medicine, says traumatic life events, such as physical or sexual abuse,
CAPE TOWN, South Africa , Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Cape Town, South Africa, is among the worst cities in the region affected by a epidemic of HIV and drug-resistant tuberculosis. The BBC in Cape Town reported that children in the city s slums are 100 times more likely to contract TB than elsewhere in the world. A researcher
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- The DNA of a 4-year-old domestic cat named Cinnamon has been sequenced by U.S. researchers in an effort to shed light on human diseases. Cinnamon, an Abyssinian cat whose lineage can be traced by back several generations to Sweden , lives in a cat colony maintained at the University of Misso
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- The U.S. government and Becton, Dickinson and Co. agreed Wednesday to create a public-private partnership to improve laboratory systems in Africa. The memorandum of understanding signed in Washington is aimed at improving overall laboratory systems and services in African countries severely
TUCSON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A new study suggested the human immunodeficiency virus that leads to AIDS probably entered the United States about 1969 -- earlier than has been believed. An international team of researchers led by the University of Arizona-Tucson determined HIV originated in Africa, traveled to
BALTIMORE, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- A Baltimore study found that from 1990 to 2006, HIV patients beginning therapy have trended toward increasing levels of immunocompromise. Jeanne Keruly and Dr. Richard Moore of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine analyzed data from more than 3,300 patients seeking HIV care from the J
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A U.S. study found marijuana has therapeutic value at a medium-dose level for neuropathic pain in patients with HIV/AIDS, diabetes or shingles. Lead researcher Mark Wallace the University of California, San Diego, found in the placebo controlled study of 15 subjects that a low dose of mariju
DURHAM, N.C. (UPI) -- A U.S. study found 25 percent of those at high risk for contracting HIV said they planned to be tested for the virus within a year, but few actually did. Jan Ostermann of Duke University in Durham, N.C., and colleagues analyzed data from 146,868 U.S. adults ages 18 to 64 who were interviewed betwe
SAN ANTONIO, October 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. study suggested genetic factors in addition to viral load significantly influence the pace of human immunodeficiency virus disease. Viral load -- the amount of virus in the blood of an HIV-infected person -- has long been viewed as the chief indicator of how quickly someone with
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- T cells -- immune cells battling a chronic viral infection -- become exhausted, making them less effective over time, a U.S. study found. Although the experiments were conducted in mice, the problem of T-cell exhaustion has also been identified in HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C infectio
SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- African-Americans infected with HIV have the risk of end-stage renal disease, or ESRD, six times higher than for whites with HIV, a U.S. study found. Dr. Andy I. Choi of San Francisco General Hospital and University of California, San Francisco, analyzed Veterans Administration health data on mor
GAINESVILLE, Fla., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists have discovered how the human immunodeficiency virus evolves into a more deadly form that heralds the onset of full-blown AIDS. University of Florida researchers said their findings could pave the way for new therapeutic agents that target the HIV virus before
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced approval Tuesday of raltegravir tablets for treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus. The FDA said the drug was approved for use in combination with other anti-retroviral agents in treatment-experienced adult patients who have evidence of viral re
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. -- Merck & Co. said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given accelerated approval for the use of Isentress tablets to treat HIV. The New Jersey company said Isentress is the first medicine to be approved in a new class of anti-retroviral drugs called integrase inhibitors. The drug wo
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (UPI) -- U.S. and European male sex tourists may be fueling an HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean, says a University of Michigan School of Public Health expert. The Caribbean is second only to sub-Saharan Africa in HIV/AIDS cases and sexual contact between Caribbean male sex workers and male tourists m
UPTON, N.Y., Oct. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have developed peptides significantly more effective at blocking the human immunodeficiency virus from entering cells. Based in part on protein structures determined at the National Synchrotron Light Source at the U.S. Department of Energy s Brookhaven National Laboratory,
PITTSBURGH, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- A U.S. and Canadian review found stress is a contributing factor in human disease -- in particular depression, cardiovascular disease and HIV/AIDS. The review, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association , found stress is associated with the onset of depression as well as r
ATLANTA, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- A study concludes that routine testing for HIV recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta may violate many state laws. The study, published in the online journal PLoS ONE, found that more than 30 states require specific consent before HIV testing may occur an
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists have discovered how Kaposi s Sarcoma-associated Herpes Virus, or KSHV, subverts normal cells into causing cancer. University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers determined a KSHV protein called latency-associated nuclear antigen, or LANA, helps the virus
HYDERABAD, India , Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Asian Indian scientists have discovered a new mycobacterial organism that might be the earliest ancestor of the generalist branch of such pathogens. A team of researchers led by Seyed Hasnain of India s Institute of Life Sciences at the University of Hyderabad determined a seemingly u
PARIS, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Employees with HIV face unemployment and workplace discrimination -- with women and the less educated most vulnerable, a French study found. The study looked at 478 HIV positive people in France ; all had been diagnosed while employed and in the era of anti-retroviral treatments, which slows prog
LONDON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- British singer Annie Lennox is using her new album to raise awareness of AIDS. Songs of Destruction, the Eurythmics frontwoman s fourth solo album, includes Sing, on which Lennox is joined by 23 of her female colleagues -- including Madonna, Faith Hill, Celine Dion, Pink, Fergie, Bonnie Raitt an
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists said a genetic material called microRNA might play a role in aiding the human immunodeficiency virus evade detection. Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University Medical Center said microRNA, or miRNA, better known for its roles in cancer, could be a key to unlocking the sec
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Jenna Bush, daughter of U.S. President George W. Bush, recently sat down to discuss not only the war in Iraq , but her new book about an HIV-positive teenager. The 25-year-old new author said her book, Ana s Story: A Journey of Hope, is oriented towards drawing attention to the daily str
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- An AIDS specialist for the World Bank said defective HIV testing kits were distributed in India as recently as April. Kunal Saha told The Washington Post that he has been warning officials for months about the problem in India, where nearly 3 million people are believed to have HIV. The World Ba
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Irish rocker Bono has been chosen to receive the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia for his global humanitarian work. Bono, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, co-found the Washington-based advocacy group DATA, which stands for Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa. Previous
MAPUTO, Mozambique , Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The archbishop for the African country of Mozambique has alleged condoms and anti-retroviral drugs given to Africans are intentionally laced with HIV. Archbishop Francisco Chimoio from Mozambique s capital of Maputo recently alleged that unknown sources were intentionally attempti
SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- A Utah man sought for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl may be infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS, said Salt Lake City police. Christians Ortiz, 22, is charged with raping the girl in July and again in August, The Salt Lake City (Utah) Tribune reported Saturday. Police have
ATLANTA (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists have discovered how some chronic viral infections are able to suppress the body s T-cell immune response. The Emory University-led team of researchers, using a mouse model, discovered a chronic strain of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus targeted a type of stromal cell in the l
Pittsburgh, Pa., (UPI) -- U.S. medical researchers have proposed a strategy they say might dramatically slow the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus in sub-Saharan Africa. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers discovered giving a daily antiretroviral drug could potentially prevent more than 3 m
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has named Dr. Timothy Cote as director of its Office of Orphan Products Development. Cote will be responsible for promoting the development of products that demonstrate promise for the diagnosis or treatment of rare diseases or conditions. A captain in the U.S.
OXFORD (UPI) -- Teaching adolescents to use condoms when abstinence fails is a reasonable strategy for preventing HIV, a British review of studies found. Kristen Underhill, of the University of Oxford in England, and colleagues screened more than 20,000 research reports to identify 39 studies of abstinence-plus program
ST. CHARLES, Ill., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- An Illinois woman faces 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges she had unprotected sex with her boyfriend despite having the AIDS virus. Angela Harris, 27, St. Charles, Ill., is to be sentenced next month on two counts of knowingly and recklessly risking infection of an
SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- Organ transplants hadn t been considered an option for HIV patients but a U.S. review said new approaches have led to good outcomes for HIV-positive patients. The blanket exclusion of HIV-infected patients can no longer be justified based on the early results demonstrating the safety and efficacy
NASHVILLE, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers found pregnancy may help a woman with HIV lower her risk of progressing to AIDS and death. The study, published online in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, suggests women may benefit from pregnancy while taking combination HIV drug therapy known as highly active anti-retr
PRINCETON, N.J., 13 (UPI) -- The second annual Sexual Health Report Card found a lack of access to information and resources may prevent some U.S. students from being sexually healthy. The University of Minnesota and University of Wyoming were considered to have well- evolved sexual health programs and were the most se
NEW YORK, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Preliminary New York health department data show HIV infection is increasing among young men who have sex with other men. New HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men under age 30 have increased by 33 percent in the past six years. New diagnoses have doubled among men who have sex with
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has announced a $20 million gift to fund U.S. adult and embryonic stem cell research at UCLA. The University of California, Los Angeles said the donation is designed to enhance a program that brings together biologists, chemists, engineers, geneticists
LOS ANGELES, 11 (UPI) -- Unstable and unpredictable lifestyles may be significant factors in whether patients with HIV get regular medical care, a Los Angeles study found. Chaotic lives -- lives disorganized or with too many unexpected events -- can act as a barrier to regular medical care, Dr. Mitchell Wong of the Dav
LOS ANGELES, 7 (UPI) -- During a two-year study period, researchers found that 42 percent of U.S. children of parents with HIV weren t in their parent s custody at any time. A joint study by the University of California at Los Angeles and the Rand Corp. found from 1996 to 1998, 47 percent of children remained in the cu
OKLAHOMA CITY, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Dr. Edward N. Brandt Jr., who gained notoriety for heading up the U.S. government s initial response to the AIDS epidemic, died last month at the age of 74. Brandt, who served as Department of Health and Human Services assistant secretary during the initial AIDS outbreak in the
OKLAHOMA CITY , Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Dr. Edward N. Brandt Jr., who organized the initial U.S. response to AIDS in the early 1980s, has died at his Oklahoma City home at age 74. Brandt died Aug. 25 of lung cancer, his son, Edward III, told The New York Times. Brandt served as assistant secretary of the Department of Health
BOSTON, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Massachusetts is maintaining a requirement for written consent for AIDS and HIV test, despite federal directives requiring easier testing. Nine other states have similar requirements, The Boston Globe reports. Public health officials in Massachusetts say they agree with the U.S. Centers for Dis
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A U.S. study found pill box organizers are an easy and cost-effective tool to help HIV patients to take their medications as prescribed. The study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, examined low-income urban residents -- recruited from homeless shelters, free food progra
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- One-fourth of HIV patients surveyed in the Los Angeles area report feeling stigmatized by their healthcare providers. Whether or not it is actual stigmatization is hard to measure, because it s coming from the patients that we interviewed, said study leader Janni J. Kinsler of the Universi
CAPE TOWN, South Africa , Aug. 29 (UPI) - A condom supplier has been accused of bribing a South African official to approve defective condoms. The health department Monday recalled as many as 7 million condoms supplied by Zalatex that failed to meet quality standards, Business Day reported Tuesday. Zalatex supplies con
KABUL, Afghanistan , Aug. 29 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher working in Kabul, Afghanistan, warns increasing injection drug use and accompanying high-risk behaviors could lead to an HIV epidemic. Our findings suggest that interventions to reduce high-risk behaviors among injection drug users are urgently needed in Afghanist
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Aug. 27 (UPI) -- One in 20 North Carolina men who have sex with men reported using crystal methamphetamine during the previous month, a study found. The findings, published in the AIDS Patient Care and STD, found participants who reported using methamphetamines were more likely to report inconsiste
KAMPALA, Uganda , Aug. 24 (UPI) -- An international human group says homophobia in Uganda is contributing the country’s HIV epidemic. Human Rights Watch is calling on the Ugandan government to end homophobic statements and ensure full integration of issues of sexual orientation and gender identity into nationwide HIV p
GENEVA, Switzerland , Aug. 23 (UPI) -- More global cooperation is needed to identify and stop the spread of diseases to ensure public health security, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. The report, A Safer Future: Global Public Health Security in the 21st Century, said new diseases are emerging at an unpr
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa , Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Researchers in South African say there is no evidence healthier eating is an effective treatment for AIDS or tuberculosis. A panel appointed by the Academy of Science in South African said no food, no component made from food, and no food supplement has been identified in a
IOWA CITY, Iowa, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The Internet is being used to circulate false ideas about HIV/AIDS that could impact public health, U.S. researchers said. Tara Smith of the University of Iowa College of Public Health and Steven Novella of Yale University School of Medicine said HIV denialists reject the consensus of
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Upper trunk fat -- fat on the chest and back -- is associated with an increased risk of insulin resistance, a San Francisco VA Medical Center study found. In insulin resistance, cells in the body become increasingly resistant to the action of insulin, a hormone that regulates blood gluco
BOSTON, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Boston University School of Medicine researchers have found a link between alcohol consumption and HIV disease progression. Senior author Dr. Richard Saitz and colleagues assessed CD4 cell counts or white blood cells, HIV RNA levels or viral load and alcohol consumption in 595 HIV-infected pers
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have, for the first time, demonstrated the human immunodeficiency virus can affect stem cells. The researchers, led by Stuart Lipton of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research at the University of California-San Diego, said the study offered a novel perspective on how the
COLUMBIA, Mo., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Many say the AIDS epidemic may be the downfall of families in Africa, but a study of South African families found many coping. Enid Schatz of the University of Missouri-Columbia said AIDS compounds the issue of poverty in households where poverty is already a prevailing issue, especially
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has tentatively approved nevirapine tablets and a pediatric medication used to treat the human immunodeficiency virus. The FDA said the pediatric triple-fixed dose combination tablet of lamivudine,
AMMAN, Jordan , Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was poisoned and did not die from an AIDs infection, his personal doctor claims. Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi said he believes the HIV virus was injected into Arafat’s bloodstream as he lay dying, but the real cause of death was poison, reported the J
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A transgender AIDS patient died shackled to a bed and ignored by workers in a California detention center for illegal immigrants, a lawsuit charges. Victor Arrelano s death last month underscores the medical neglect facing nearly 30,000 undocumented immigrants in custody nationwide, the Lo
PRETORIA, South Africa , Aug. 10 (UPI) -- President Thabo Mbeki’s firing of a deputy health minister has brought condemnation from AIDS activists in South Africa and across the world. While Mbeki says that he dismissed Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge because she took an unauthorized trip to an AIDS conference in
NASHVILLE, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- An HIV-positive man charged in Tennessee with molesting underage boys may have used his church for assignations, investigators said. Police said Maurice Carter had an underage boy with him when he was arrested in May after a routine traffic stop. They also said he had marijuana and what the
PRETORIA, South Africa , Aug. 9 (UPI) -- The firing of South Africa s deputy health minister after she attended an AIDS conference in Spain has been sharply criticized by AIDS activists. It is believed that President Thabo Mbeki, who has not given an official reason for the firing, sacked Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge afte
WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the antiretroviral drug maraviroc for use in adult human immunodeficiency virus patients. The FDA said maraviroc, sold under the trade name Selzentry, is the first in a new class of drugs designed to slow the advancement of HIV. Maraviro
PITTSBURGH, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Few older U.S. women, especially African-Americans, are interested in being tested for HIV, despite having significant risk factors for lifetime exposure. Study author Dr. Aletha Akers, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said that those tested for HIV tend to do so late in t
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Harvard researchers say they ve found a high rate of HIV infection among young girls from Nepal who were sex-trafficked to India . A study of girls who were later repatriated found that 38 percent were HIV positive.
OXFORD, England, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Programs that exclusively encourage abstinence from sex do not seem to affect the risk of HIV infection in high-income countries, finds a British review. University of Oxford researchers reviewed 13 trials involving more than 15,000 U.S. youths to assess the effects of abstinence-only p
SOFIA, Bulgaria , Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Bulgarian officials said they would transfer $56 million to Libya under an agreement that led to the release of six Bulgarian medics from a Tripoli prison. The Bulgarian government decided Thursday to pay $56,635,373 to an international fund for children in Libya infected with the HIV
FLOWER MOUND, Texas, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- A Texas woman, who apparently killed her husband, two children and herself, reportedly wrote a note claiming her family was infected with the HIV virus. However, police told the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram the woman, identified as Jon Andrea Roberts, had no known terminal illne
IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists studying how the human immunodeficiency virus develops into AIDS have developed a strategy to block that transformation. University of California-Irvine biologist Dominik Wodarz and colleagues have shown for the first time the development of AIDS might require HIV to evol
BOSTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The active component of marijuana could enhance the ability of the virus that causes Kaposi s sarcoma to infect cells and multiply, said a U.S. study. Study author Dr. Jerome E. Groopman, of the Harvard Medical School, found low doses of A-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, equivalent to that in th
TORONTO, July 31 (UPI) -- A study shows hepatitis C viral infections among adult prisoners in Canada s Ontario province far exceed human immunodeficiency virus infections. The study by Dr. Liviana Calzavara and colleagues at the University of Toronto focused on both adult and young offenders admitted to jails, detentio
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 31 (UPI) -- Canadian firm bioLytical said Tuesday it has begun enrolling patients in a study of its one-minute rapid HIV test. The company said it has already recruited 25 patients into its trial of the INSTI 60-second rapid HIV test for use at the point of care. The test can detect HI
WASHINGTON, July 31 (UPI) -- Health problems generally afflict incarcerated women at higher rates than the rest of the population, but correctional facilities provide an optimal forum to potentially improve inmates health and stop cycles of destructive behavior, some experts say. The female inmate demographic profile p
KAMPALA, Uganda , July 27 (UPI) -- A clinical trail of a microbicide gel designed to block HIV transmission in women was stopped in Uganda after several women were infected. One group of women used a gel containing cellulose sulphate, while the other group used a microbicide that didn t contain the ingredient, New Visi
BETHESDA, Md., July 26 (UPI) -- The tonsils may possess the necessary factors to act as a transmission site for the spread of HIV as a result of oral sex, say U.S. researchers. HIV spreads mainly through sexual contact of mucosal surfaces, which the virus must cross to come in contact with underlying immune cells for i
AUSTIN, Texas, July 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. National Library of Medicine said a digital library to help in infectious diseases education will be developed under a $413,087 grant. The money will be used by the University of Texas at Austin s School of Information, in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital and Ha
WASHINGTON, July 26 (UPI) -- U.S. school nurses are being urged to take a proactive stance concerning human bites -- especially against the risk of hepatitis B and C. Bite victims are usually concerned about HIV transmission, but epidemiological data show the transmission rate for HIV from saliva is insignificant, acco
PITTSBURGH, July 26 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have discovered how the human immunodeficiency virus can so easily enter the body s immune cells. Carnegie Mellon University researchers found that after HIV docks onto a host cell, it dramatically lowers the energy required for a cell membrane to bend, thereby making it eas
SYDNEY, July 26 (UPI) -- For the first time, doctors treating patients with HIV infection have a genetic test that can help guide therapy. The test identifies individuals with a particular genetic disposition towards a reaction to abacavir -- GlaxoSmithKline s Z
SYDNEY (UPI) -- Doctors said Wednesday that babies infected at birth with the virus that causes AIDS should be treated with antiretrovirals as soon as the infection is determined -- even within the first three weeks of life. Researchers stopped prematurely a study that attempted to determine if deferring treatment unti
BALTIMORE, July 25 (UPI) -- Measles poses a greater fatality risk in HIV-infected children than in uninfected children, according to a study of children in Zambia from 2000 to 2004. Dr. William J. Moss and colleagues at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore administered the measles vaccine to HIV-infected and uninf
SYDNEY, July 25 (UPI) -- In a head-to-head clinical trial, Johnson & Johnson s Prezista (darunavir) outperformed Abbott s Kaletra ( lopinavir ) in controlling the AIDS virus. The drugs, both boosted with doses of ritonavir , were used to treat
SYDNEY, July 24 (UPI) -- Merck s investigative AIDS drug raltegravir -- sold as Isentress -- did as well as the standard of care treatment for new patients, say U.S. doctors. About 90 percent of all the patients treated with either raltegravir of efavirenz -- marketed as Sustiva -- were able to suppre
SOFIA, Bulgaria , July 24 (UPI) -- Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, sentenced to death for purposely infecting Libyan children with HIV, have left Libya and received pardons. The six medial personnel were flown out of Libya and to Sofia where Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov pardoned the five nurses a
MINNEAPOLIS, July 24 (UPI) -- U.S. medical researchers have developed a method of fighting the human immunodeficiency virus that might replace the drug cocktail approach. Scientists at the University of Minnesota s Center for Drug Design said their new approach combines the features of two antiviral agents into one dru
BALTIMORE, July 24 (UPI) -- A new study suggests the United States is hurting the fight against the human immunodeficiency virus with its anti-prostitution rule. In order to receive U.S. funding for HIV prevention or control projects, recipient organizations must take a pledge that explicitly condemns prostitution. How
UNITED NATIONS July 24 (UPI) -- On the 25th anniversary of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, U.N. officials say significant improvements have been made, but there s still work to be done. Much has been achieved under the committee s supervision, but we still have a long way to go in
LAS VEGAS, July 24 (UPI) -- U.S. firm Samaritan said Tuesday it has licensed from Georgetown University the exclusive rights to compounds treating HIV and other infectious diseases. The patent Samaritan has licensed covers the use of benzamide compounds as a new method to treat diseases including HIV, bird flu and hepa
SYDNEY, July 24 (UPI) -- Despite a current anti-AIDS arsenal of 28 drugs, researchers this week described several potential new compounds that attack the human immunodeficiency virus, the virus that cause AIDS. The pharmaceutical pipeline is loaded, Robert Murphy, professor of medicine at Northwestern University School
ATLANTA, July 24 (UPI) -- Three clinical trials in Africa found adult male circumcision reduced the risk of men acquiring HIV via heterosexual sex by about 55 percent. Adult male circumcision may also play a role in preventing HIV transmission in the United States , but the extent of this role on a population basis is
SYDNEY, July 23 (UPI) -- For the first time in at least five years, a U.S. health official managed to address an International AIDS Society meeting without having his talk interrupted or delayed by protesters. In the keynote address to the 4th conference of the society dealing with issues of basic science, prevention a
NKANGE, Botswana , July 23 (UPI) -- Efforts to prevent mothers in Botswana from passing AIDS to their nursing infants have apparently backfired, resulting in hundreds of deaths from diarrhea. A growing body of research indicated that urging mothers with HIV to use formula has left infants without the crucial antibodies
DURHAM, N.C., July 20 (UPI) -- Researchers from North Carolina s Duke University discovered a series of genetic variations that could help HIV-infected people avoid developing AIDS. The study, which was led by scientists at Duke s Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology, used Human Genome Project research to find specif
LAS VEGAS, July 20 (UPI) -- U.S. firm Samaritan said Friday it has positive data from a phase 2b study of its oral HIV treatment aimed at drug-resistant forms of the virus. The company said it is developing the therapy SP-01A to be used as an adjunct to the primary antiretroviral treatment. But in additional phase 2 st
FREDERICK, Md., July 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army Surgeon General was told this week by an independent board that its study in Thailand into a possible HIV vaccine can resume. A U.S. Army news release said Thursday that the military-sponsored Phase III Prime Boost HIV Vaccine trial will continue after the Data Safety and
SOFIA, Bulgaria , July 18 (UPI) -- Bulgaria has asked Libya to extradite five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to Bulgaria after their death sentences were commuted to life in prison. Bulgarian prosecutor Anton Gerginov in Sofia said the government is preparing documents needed for the transfer of the six peop
CARLSBAD, Calif., July 18 (UPI) -- U.S. firm Orchestra Therapeutics said Wednesday it discontinued its HIV vaccine program because of disappointing results in a clinical trial. The company said its second-generation HIV vaccine, IR103, failed to show an advantage over its original vaccine, Remune, in a 52-week trial in
TRIPOLI, Libya , July 17 (UPI) -- The Libyan High Judicial Council Tuesday commuted death sentences for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to life in prison in an AIDS scandal. The high court s action followed a deal in which the families of 438 HIV-infected children will receive $1 million compensation eac
TUCSON, July 17 (UPI) -- A U.S. study suggested that monkey viruses related to the human immunodeficiency virus might have swept across Africa more recently than thought. University of Arizona researchers have determined an HIV-like virus -- the simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV -- first infected green monkeys afte
ATLANTA, July 17 (UPI) -- GeoVax said Tuesday it was launching two clinical trials of its potential HIV vaccines. The trials were not scheduled to start until later this year, but GeoVax said it was launching them earlier due to positive results from previous studies. The trials will involve the company s DNA and MVA v
WASHINGTON, July 16 (UPI) -- A renewed emphasis on the critical but elusive HIV/AIDS vaccine is needed, along with more funding, to mitigate the disease s rampant spread in developing countries, health experts said Monday. Any serious discussion about AIDS must include the Holy Grail -- the potential for a vaccine, U.
LOS ANGELES, July 16 (UPI) -- HIV drugs called protease inhibitors block an enzyme crucial to cells nuclei and can cause serious side effects in patients, say U.S. doctors. Researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA added protease inhibitors to cultures of both mouse and human cells. They saw that t
WASHINGTON, July 16 (UPI) -- A study of more than 5,000 women in South Africa and Zimbabwe found no difference in HIV infection when using condoms or condoms plus diaphragms. The study, published online in The Lancet, reported an overall HIV incidence rate of 4.0 percent: 4.1 percent in the study participants that used
PARIS, July 14 (UPI) -- A surprise trip to Libya on behalf of her husband has European analysts buzzing about a new higher profile for French President Nicolas Sarkozy s wife. French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy, a 49-year-old former model who had kept a low profile since her husband was elected in May, showed up in Liby
SAN FRANCISCO, July 13 (UPI) -- Larger HIV prevention programs in Uganda , South Africa , Mexico , Russia and India were found to be cost effective. With the recent report from the Global HIV Prevention Working Group urging that fu
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 13 (UPI) -- Idenix Pharmaceuticals said Friday its studies of potential hepatitis C drug valopicitabine have been placed on clinical hold in the United States . Following discussions with the Food and Drug Administration, the hold was placed on the company s development program due to the overal
TRIPOLI, Libya , July 13 (UPI) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his wife planned to meet with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi about five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya. Cecilia Sarkozy has previously met with the Bulgarian nurses, who were sentenced to death for allegedly infecting children with the
TRIPOLI, Libya , July 11 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court of Libya in Tripoli spent six minutes Wednesday to uphold the death sentences of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor. The medics were first sentenced to die in May 2004 and then again in December 2006 after being found guilty of intentionally infecting 438
LAKE OSWEGO, Ore., July 11 (UPI) -- Calypte Biomedical said Wednesday the Drug Control Authority of India approved its Aware rapid HIV test. India, with approximately 2.5 million HIV patients, ranks third behind South Africa and Nigeria for the highest number of people infected with the virus.
NEW YORK, July 11 (UPI) -- Milk thistle extract -- silymarin -- is being examined as an adjunct to chemotherapy in integrative cancer therapy, say New York researchers. Milk thistle extract, an herbal remedy in use since the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans, is the focus of the current issue of Integrative Cancer
SYDNEY, July 10 (UPI) -- HIV/AIDS and kidney transplant patients have a greater risk of contracting 20 types of cancer than the general population, says an Australian study. Lead author Andrew Grulich, of the University of New South Wales National Center in Sydney suggests that immune deficiency -- which is common to t
NEW YORK, July 10 (UPI) -- After leveling off for more than two years, new syphilis cases spiked in New York City during the first quarter of this year, the city health department said. The health department announced that doctors reported 260 new cases of primary and secondary syphilis during January, February and Mar
TRIPOLI, Libya , July 6 (UPI) -- Libyan news agencies report that an agreement that would spare the lives of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor is expected within days. The nurses and doctor were sentenced to death for infecting hundreds of children with the HIV virus. International experts on AIDS said tha
WASHINGTON, July 5 (UPI) -- Tibotec s HIV drug, TMC125, may be better at fighting resistant strains of the virus than current medications, according to two phase 3 trials released Thursday. In the trials, known as DUET-1 and DUET-2, TMC125, a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, or NNRTI, suppressed virus le
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., July 5 (UPI) -- Researchers said Thursday that new anti-AIDS drug can suppress virus to undetectable levels even for patients with highly resistant strains of HIV. We were able to take the sickest patients -- people with no options and desperately short life expectancy -- and drive their virus le
WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J., July 3 (UPI) -- Par said Tuesday it licensed U.S. rights to BioAlliance s anti-fungal therapy, Loramyc, in a deal worth more than $35 million. Under the terms of the agreement, Par will make an initial payment of $15 million to BioAlliance, with another $20 million due upon U.S. Food and Drug Admi
NEW YORK, July 2 (UPI) -- Senior centers across New York recently began receiving free condoms as city officials have refocused their safe sex efforts to include local older citizens. In an attempt to limit the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus in the city, local health officials have begun visiting senior cen
NEW DELHI, June 30 (UPI) -- Folks in India three times out of four use condoms for anything but their intended use, including toys, water containers and dust covers for rifles. The Telegraph reported Saturday that free condoms were distributed as a means of cutting down on HIV and AIDS, but instead are being used for i
MALMO, Sweden , June 30 (UPI) -- A Swedish appeals court has upheld the conviction and prison sentence in the case of a woman who did not let her husband know she was HIV positive. The woman was diagnosed in 1987 when she was 19. A few years later, when she met the man she eventually married, she did not tell him of he
NEW DELHI, June 30 (UPI) -- Folks in India three times out of four use condoms for anything but their intended use, including toys, water containers and dust covers for rifles. The Telegraph reported Saturday that free condoms were distributed as a means of cutting down on HIV and AIDS, but instead are being used for i
SANTA FE, N.M., June 29 (UPI) -- New Mexico officials say patients will be allowed to grow their own cannabis plants when the state s medical marijuana laws goes into effect Sunday. Lobbyists had originally said patients would not be allowed to grow the plans but the Health Department Thursday unveiled a provision that
PHILADELPHIA, June 29 (UPI) -- By combining an old and a new screening technique, U.S. researchers can now test thousands of HIV strains for drug resistance in a single day. The old procedure is called DNA bar coding and the new one is pyrosequencing. DNA bar coding indexes DNA molecules using DNA sequence tags that al
WASHINGTON, June 29 (UPI) -- Eight candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination focused mainly on domestic issues at a forum Thursday at Howard University in Washington. In a debate televised over PBS, the candidates spoke before a live audience at the historically black school, and one of the first topics was
WASHINGTON, June 29 (UPI) -- United Press International interviewed Panacos Pharmaceuticals new Chief Executive Officer Alan Dunton about the company s lead product, a potential new HIV treatment, bevirimat, which attacks the problem of HIV drug resistance with a novel mechanism of action and which the company hopes to
WASHINGTON, June 28 (UPI) -- A report says more than half of U.S. surgical residents fail to report when they accidentally stick themselves with needles and sharp instruments. Researchers at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University conducted the survey of 699 doctors who in 2003 were surgical residents at 17
PHILADELPHIA, June 28 (UPI) -- U.S. medical researchers have developed a new method of screening for drug-resistant forms of the human immunodeficiency virus. An increasing number of drug-resistant strains of HIV are threatening the effectiveness of current treatments and existing methods of detecting such strains are
DAKAR, Senegal , June 26 (UPI) -- U.S. first lady Laura Bush Tuesday touted the importance of nutrition for HIV/AIDS patients during a visit to Fann Hospital in Dakar, Senegal. Bush, accompanied by daughter Jenna, toured the hospital s garden and kitchen before delivering a statement to a group of reporters. It s
KENILWORTH, N.J., June 25 (UPI) -- Schering-Plough said Monday the European Commission approved duo therapy of Pegintron and Rebetol for treating hepatitis C and HIV co-infections. The drugs were previously approved for treating hepatitis C alone. Effective treatment of HCV is critically important for people coinfected
UNITED NATIONS June 22 (UPI) -- The World Health Organization says it has a new strategy to strengthen and expand the fight against diseases of poverty such as leprosy, onchocerciasis, Chagas disease, lymphatic filariasis and visceral leishmaniasis, all recently brought under control. Onchocerciasis is perhaps bett
GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 22 (UPI) -- U.S. firm Sigma-Tau said Friday it has been OK d to market Carnitor SF sugar-free oral solution for patients with carnitine deficiency. The product is approved to treat primary systemic carnitine deficiency and for patients with an inborn error of metabolism, which causes secondary c
LOS ANGELES, June 22 (UPI) -- Some of Hollywood s heavy hitters will be screened for HIV in front of cameras Monday to raise awareness of stopping the spread of HIV in black communities. The 1 in a Million campaign seeks to get 1 million African-Americans screened for HIV by Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, a news release said.
LAS VEGAS, June 22 (UPI) -- Veteran boxer Tommy Morrison says he s tired of rumors about his HIV status and will contest the claims. His former agent told The Arizona Republic in April the fighter tested positive for HIV in mandatory blood tests for a boxing license in Nevada. I m getting tired of having to answer all
UNITED NATIONS June 22 (UPI) -- A new $2.15 billion, two-year U.N. program to fight drug-resistant tuberculosis aims to save more than 100,000 lives. The new initiative sponsored by the world organization and the Stop TB Partnership hopes to prevent, treat and control drug-resistant tuberculosis and multi-drug-resistan
HARRISBURG, Pa., June 21 (UPI) -- A U.S. policy barring gay men from donating blood is drawing criticism from gay activists, blood banks and some medical officials. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in May it would uphold the 1983 ban, The Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News said Thursday. Critics of the ban sa
NEW YORK, June 21 (UPI) -- Male circumcision is found to be a much less important deterrent to the global AIDS pandemic than previously thought, says a U.S. researcher. The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, found that the number of infected prostitutes in a country is the key to explaining the degree to which A
CORVALLIS, Ore., June 20 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have discovered a mechanism by which the bacterium Mycobacterium avium compromises the body s immune system. Oregon State University scientists said M. avium infects tissue cells -- macrophages -- resulting in serious lung infections and is prevalent in emphysema and A
LOS ANGELES June 20 (UPI) -- Some of Hollywood s top black actors have volunteered to undergo public HIV tests in Los Angeles to raise awareness for National HIV Testing Day. Among the many stars expected to be at the Screen Actors Guild headquarters for testing Monday are Jimmy Jean-Louis of Heros, Ray star Regina Kin
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa , June 20 (UPI) -- Doctors say AIDS is spreading in Africa faster than clinics can treat it, despite billions of dollars spent expanding access to antiretroviral drugs. At the moment, I just see a never-ending sea of disaster, Francois Venter, president of the Southern African HIV Clinicians
TRIPOLI, Libya , June 20 (UPI) -- The death sentences for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor will be reviewed by Libya s Supreme Court next month, a judge in Tripoli ruled Wednesday. The appeal will be heard July 11 and the court could confirm, revoke or change the already imposed sentences but cannot order
NEW HAVEN, Conn., June 20 (UPI) -- The fraction of HIV patients with undetectable drug-resistant forms of HIV is higher than previously thought, according to U.S. researchers. Yale School of Medicine researcher Dr. Michael Kozal used an innovative genome sequencing technology that quickly detects rare viral mutations a
KIEV, Ukraine , June 18 (UPI) -- Around 200,000 patrons stopped by Elton John s free HIV/AIDS awareness concert in Kiev, Ukraine, which raised money for AIDS awareness programs in the country. The free June 16 concert was attended by Ukraine s president, Viktor Yushenko, as well as numerous other politicians, Ukraine s
TRIPOLI, Libya , June 16 (UPI) -- Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor are preparing their final appeal of death sentences for infecting hundreds of Libyan children with AIDS. The case has attracted international attention during the eight years the defendants have been imprisoned. Prosecutors say the healthc
BALTIMORE, June 15 (UPI) -- An expert says a campaign of testing and counseling for those most at risk for HIV would be better than the mass screening proposed by the U.S. government. An analysis by David Holtgrave, an expert on HIV prevention at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, determ
RIDGEFIELD, Conn., June 14 (UPI) -- U.S. firm Boehringer Ingelheim said Thursday it has begun a 400-patient study of its anti-viral Aptivus in highly treatment-experienced HIV patients. The company said the main goal of its SPRING study is to assess how different ethnic groups and genders respond to the anti-viral medi
WASHINGTON, June 13 (UPI) -- U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday praised Southern Baptists for good works from fighting hunger to disaster relief. Bush, speaking by satellite to the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in San Antonio, said the church has made the United States stronger. You have cont
LONDON, June 8 (UPI) -- The British government is recalling an HIV drug contaminated with a drug that may cause cancer. Britain s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said all patients taking Viracept should contact their doctor immediately, The London Telegraph said Thursday. The recall -- which cov
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany , June 8 (UPI) -- Leaders of the Group of Eight nations meeting in Germany have agreed to spend some $60 million fighting AIDS in Africa. Under a plan announced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the G8 nations also agreed to increase aid to Africa by about $50 million a year by 2010, Deutsche We
HEILGENDAMM, Germany , June 8 (UPI) -- AIDS activists like rock star Bono say they are disappointed with Group of Eight plans for fighting killer diseases in Africa. We wanted numbers but this is burobabble, the U2 singer told The Daily Mail Friday after G8 leaders pledged $60 billion to fight AIDS, malaria and tubercu
LONDON, June 8 (UPI) -- The British government is recalling an HIV drug contaminated with a drug that may cause cancer. Britain s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said all patients taking Viracept should contact their doctor immediately, The London Telegraph said Thursday. The recall -- which cov
HOLLYWOOD, June 7 (UPI) -- The Painted Veil star Naomi Watts is set to headline the Hollywood adaptation of We Are All the Same for the Bureau of Moving Pictures production company. Hotel Rwanda co-writer Keir Pearson is handling the screen adaptation of the story about Gail Johnson, a white South African woman who ado
WASHINGTON, June 7 (UPI) -- Gilead s HIV drug Viread may get a boost from a phase 3 trial showing it s better for treating hepatitis B than the company s currently approved drug for the condition, Hepsera. This is a fantastic buy opportunity ... given the weakness we ve seen with the stock, Ed Nash, an analyst with St
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany , June 7 (UPI) -- The Group of Eight leaders meeting in Germany appeared ready to scale back their pledge to fund universal AIDS treatment, the Financial Times reported. The newspaper said documents show the G8 is aiming to help about 5 million people with AIDS over the next few years, a substanti
UNITED NATIONS June 7 (UPI) -- Africa is still off-track to meet the world s shared goals for fighting poverty in all its forms, according to the United Nations. U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told reporters at U.N. World Headquarters in New York Wednesday that despite faster growth and strengthened ins
CINCINNATI, June 6 (UPI) -- U.S. HIV patients are living longer, but those who are also infected with hepatitis B or C are experiencing the progression of liver disease. Because of shared modes of transmission, HIV and viral hepatitis infections often coexist, but while therapies have made HIV a manageable condition, h
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany , June 6 (UPI) -- Leaders of the world s eight richest countries want to push the fight against HIV/AIDS, poverty and climate change at the Group of Eight summit in Germany. I come with a deep desire to make sure that those suffering from HIV/AIDS know that they will get help from the G8, U.S. Pr
BOSTON, June 5 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have discovered a method for studying the DNA binding of small molecules that provides unprecedented accuracy. Northeastern University Professor Mark Williams and graduate student Ioana Vladescu said since molecules that bind through intercalation might interfere with important
COPENHAGEN, Denmark , June 5 (UPI) -- Bavarian Nordic said Tuesday the U.S. government is buying 20 million doses of its smallpox vaccine, Imvamune, in a deal worth up to $1.6 billion. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the company a contract for the manufacture and delivery of Imvamune that inclu
ALBANY, N.Y., June 5 (UPI) -- The trouble with being a caregiver -- especially for the elderly, who are frail -- is that we tend to get germ-phobic. We carry bottles of alcohol-based cleaner in all of our pockets and we scurry when someone coughs. For someone recovering from cancer surgery or with heart failure, even a
WILTON MANORS, Fla., June 4 (UPI) -- The original bassist for the U.S. pop-meets-progressive-rock band Styx says he hopes he can be a role model to youths labeled as different. I want young kids who are different to understand it s OK, said Chuck Panozzo, who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1998. Panozzo said he hid his sex
WASHINGTON, June 4 (UPI) -- Wealthy nations are not keeping their word on helping Africa. As leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized countries meet in Germany later this week, the World Bank argued that even though rich nations pledged to double their aid and bolster export opportunities for Africa, they are fal
WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- Multinational businesses -- desperate to solve their public image crisis -- used to be content to simply shell out donations. Now, they want a share of the action, executives from some of the world s largest companies said Friday. Corporate giving has always been based on the private partner
WASHINGTON, May 31 (UPI) -- Working with researchers in developing countries is not just good will, it s also good science, experts said Thursday. Long-term relationships -- even with poor countries -- can yield very good results, said Jane Kengeya-Kayondo, coordinator of implementation research and methods at the
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands , May 31 (UPI) -- Four men are in custody in the Netherlands, suspected of deliberately injecting homosexual men with HIV-infected blood. The attacks occurred in the town of Groningen, Expatica News and ANP said Wednesday. Police say the men met their victims in Internet chatrooms and lured them
NEW YORK, May 31 (UPI) -- Entertainer Liza Minnelli and HIV/AIDS activist Peter Staley will be the presenters for the Eighth amfAR Honoring with Pride event in New York. The Foundation for AIDS Research s Awards of Courage are to be presented Tuesday during Gay & Lesbian Pride Week, the organization said in a news
WASHINGTON, May 30 (UPI) -- New U.N. guidelines tell doctors to suggest HIV testing, instead of waiting for patients to request it. Under the guidelines, unveiled Wednesday by the World Health Organization and UNAIDS , healthcare providers everywhere who treat patients at high risk of HIV are advised to suggest testing
WASHINGTON, May 30 (UPI) -- President Bush on Wednesday called for a record $30 billion in spending to fight AIDS, an expansion he said would more than double the number of patients receiving drug treatment under U.S. programs in poor countries. The spending would ostensibly double the president s Emergency Plan for AI
WASHINGTON, May 30 (UPI) -- U.S. President George W. Bush urged the U.S. Congress Wednesday to approve a $30 billion plan to fight AIDS for the first five years he is out of office. The increase in the President s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief would double the current monetary commitment to the program, allowing it
BETHESDA, Md., May 30 (UPI) -- A U.S. study suggests it might be possible to develop a vaccine that protects people against the myriad strains of the human immunodeficiency virus. Scientists at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences note HIV is extremely variable, so an effective vaccine would need to
NEW YORK, May 30 (UPI) -- U.S. firm Enzo Biochem said Wednesday its subsidiary Enzo Life Sciences will buy privately held Axxora Life Sciences for about $16.3 million in cash. After the acquisition is complete, Axxora will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Enzo Life Sciences, Enzo said. Axxora s Lausen, Switzerland-based
WATERTOWN, Mass., May 29 (UPI) -- A new class of AIDS drug in development appears less likely to develop resistance than common protease inhibitor medication, say U.S. doctors. Researchers at Panacos Pharmaceuticals of Watertown, Mass., said that laboratory tests indicated that bevirimat -- a drug that prevents human i
BANGKOK, May 29 (UPI) -- There are more than 50,000 places to eat in Bangkok. That s nearly one for every 100 people who live in Thailand s capital. But if you only have the chance to go to one, pick Cabbages & Condoms. It will give you more to discuss back home than the classic Thai dishes and regional food on its
GENEVA, Switzerland , May 29 (UPI) -- Switzerland-based Doctors Without Borders has determined human immunodeficiency virus treatments can be delivered even in settings of armed conflict. The study suggests humanitarian health agencies shouldn t wait until a conflict is ended before launching HIV care programs. Hea
TRIPOLI (UPI) -- A Libyan court has acquitted five Bulgarian nurses, already sentenced to death in another trial, on slander charges. Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov in Sofia Sunday welcomed the Libyan court s ruling as a positive move giving hope for a just outcome of the nurses ordeal, the Sofia News Agency repor
PHILADELPHIA, May 25 (UPI) -- U2 singer Bono and the advocacy organization he co-founded will receive the 2007 Liberty Medal, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia said. The medal will recognize Bono and DATA -- Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa -- and the effort to raise global awareness and response to poverty and
UNITED NATIONS May 25 (UPI) -- To mark Africa Day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Friday called for more international effort to bolster African healthcare. Africa has made efforts for its own renewal, Ki-moon said, but extreme poverty -- together with lack of access to basic education, healthcare and ade
WASHINGTON, May 25 (UPI) -- Animal rights groups are celebrating the National Institutes of Health s recent decision to permanently end breeding of government-owned chimpanzees, but researchers say the move could be detrimental to biomedical and pharmaceutical research. The NIH s National Center for Research Resources,
ROME, May 25 (UPI) -- Surgeons in Palermo, Italy , have performed the first lung transplant in a patient with HIV. The operation at the Mediterranean Institute for Transplants and High Specialization Therapies was performed this week on an adult patient with terminal respiratory problems, the Italian news service ANSA
LONDON (UPI) -- Documents show a British government panel knew of the HIV risk from imported blood products as early as 1983. The Committee on Safety of Medicines ruled against a ban on imported blood at the time because of fears of a supply shortage, The Guardian newspaper said Friday. The newspaper said 1,757 patient
ALBANY, N.Y. (UPI) -- New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has decided to back a bill that would require HIV testing for suspects in rape cases. A majority of other state lawmakers are also supporting the bill but its chances of passing are up to the Assembly leadership, The New York Times reported Friday. The bill already has
LONDON, May 24 (UPI) -- Greater social support is needed to meet the needs of the growing number of disadvantaged British residents suffering from tuberculosis, a study says. TB has risen considerably in major European cities in the last 10 years and London is no exception, lead researcher Dr. Gill Craig, of The City U
UNITED NATIONS (UPI) -- A Macedonian businessman with extensive experience in the diplomatic world was chosen as the new president of the U.N. General Assembly. Srgjan Kerim is currently the general manager of South-Eastern Europe for WAZ Media Group. He was chosen by the Eastern European delegation to be its candidate
LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- U.S. AIDS advocacy group the AIDS Healthcare Foundation blasted what it says are fear-based ads for HIV drugs by GlaxoSmithKline . In the group s cross-hairs is a widely disseminated print ad by the drug giant designed to draw attention to evidence of a link between HIV and HIV drugs and a higher r
OSTEND, Belgium , May 23 (UPI) -- A Belgian man has accused an ex-lover of trying to kill him by not divulging his HIV-positive status during their relationship. Jean-Michel, 44, claims his former boyfriend did not adequately inform him of his health status while they repeatedly engaged in unprotected sex, Expatica rep
WASHINGTON, May 23 (UPI) -- In an effort to head off a potential worldwide flood of so-called compulsory drug licenses -- where foreign countries skirt intellectual-property laws and make generic versions of a patented drug -- the head of the U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers trade group met with Thai officials this we
UNITED NATIONS (UPI) -- The President of the U.N. General Assembly earlier this week opened a mandated review of efforts to stem the AIDS epidemic with some pretty sobering statistics and some advice on what to do about the continuing emergency yet voiced optimism the battle could be won. Sheikha Haya al-Khalifa of
BERKELEY, Calif., May 22 (UPI) -- Flash-heating breast milk infected with HIV successfully inactivated the free-floating virus, according to University of California researchers. A study led by researchers at the Berkeley and Davis campuses of the University of California say the technique -- heating a glass jar of exp
WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) -- Peginterferon or peginterferon plus ribavirin will cure hepatitis C, say researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. The team led a study on the effectiveness of pegylated interferon alfa-2a -- sold as Roche s Pegasys -- that involved more than 1,000 patients with HCV or HCV
RUGBY, England, May 21 (UPI) -- Most Britons would be happy to lend their toothbrushes to somebody else, even a celebrity, but experts say this is not a good idea. The National Smile Month Survey, commissioned by the British Dental Health Foundation, found that more than 60 percent of men and women would be willing to
WASHINGTON, May 17 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush Thursday praised outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a strategic thinker. In opening comments at a news conference in the White House Rose Garden, Bush said he and Blair talked about numerous issues since the prime minister s arrival for a final visit bef
WASHINGTON, May 17 (UPI) -- Sixty percent of hospital emergency room patients agreed to routine HIV screening in a study conducted in Washington. Researchers at George Washington University Medical School say the high percentage of patients agreeing to the screening may have been influenced by an ongoing districtwide c
MONTREAL, May 17 (UPI) -- Bristol-Myers Squibb said Thursday Health Canada approved a once-daily, 300 mg pill of Reyataz for treating HIV infection. The new dose of the protease inhibitor can be taken once daily as part of combination therapy, replacing two Reyataz 150 mg capsules. Bristol-Myers Squibb is committe
TUSTIN, Calif., May 17 (UPI) -- U.S. firm Peregrine Pharmaceuticals said Thursday it has launched a trial of bavituximab in patients co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C. The dose-escalation study will involve about 24 patients and will take place initially at Newark, N.J.-based Saint Michael s Medical Center, under th
SAN FRANCISCO, May 17 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have created a cannabis-vaporizing device to produce the same biological effect as does smoking marijuana but without harmful toxins. The University of California-San Francisco research focused on delivery of the active ingredient delta-9-tertrahydrocannibinol, or THC.
HOUSTON, May. 15 (UPI) -- HIV patients who have stopped seeing their physician do not live as long as those who remain under a doctor s treatment, a U.S. study has found. Baylor College of Medicine and Veterans Affairs researchers looked at 2,619 men with HIV for more than four years -- most were diagnosed between 1997
WARSAW, Poland , May, 14 (UPI) -- With 10 percent of HIV infections worldwide due to drug injections, a U.N. agency urges improved prevention and treatment services for drug users. Evidence shows that HIV prevention programs are particularly effective among people who inject drugs, but they are regularly denied access
NEW DELHI, May. 14 (UPI) -- Actress Shilpa Shetty Monday reportedly asked India s Supreme Court to stay an obscenity charge arising from Hollywood star Richer Gere kissing her cheeks. The kiss incident occurred last month when Gere kissed Shetty s cheeks during an AIDS awareness program in New Delhi, the Press Trust of
LA JOLLA, Calif., May. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have found cytomegalovirus in salivary glands can be reduced or even killed by use of antibodies to enhance immune system function. The researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology said their findings, based on controlled laboratory studies of mic
LONDON, May. 11 (UPI) -- Africa faces an epidemic of cancer, health ministers were told at a conference in London. The International Agency for Research on Cancer predicts 16 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed around the world each year by 2020, up from 11 million in 2000. The agency said 70 percent of those
BOSTON, May. 10 (UPI) -- More drug manufacturers are turning to natural substances as sources for new drugs, even though the road from plant to pill can be a bumpy one, industry executives said this week. However, the big market potential for some of the new drugs makes it worth the effort, said the executives at the B
NEW YORK, May 9 (UPI) -- A foundation headed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton will lead a new effort to provide cheaper generic drugs to HIV/AIDS patients in 60 countries. The Clinton Foundation said the drugs to be made by Indian drug companies Cipla Ltd. and Matrix Laboratories Ltd. will be what are called secon
BOSTON, May 9 (UPI) -- Scientists are zeroing in on discovering vaccines to control malaria, tuberculosis and HIV in poorer nations, say health experts involved in the effort. The diseases kill more than 6 million people each year and impact hundreds of millions of lives, many of them children in Latin America, Africa,
TORONTO, May 8 (UPI) -- More than half of children with an HIV-infected parent are not consistently in that parent s custody, according to a U.S. study. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles and the Rand Corp. found that during the two-year study period, 42 percent of children were not in the HIV-i
NEW YORK, May 8 (UPI) -- Unilateral monogamy is not an effective prevention strategy for HIV infection for women, according to a study of Mexican men. We might find men s persistent and widespread participation in extramarital sex to be troubling -- but it s a deeply rooted aspect of social organization, and one that i
RICHMOND, Va., May 8 (UPI) -- Three years after Virginia public health officials thought syphilis was almost eradicated, the disease has surged, with the number of cases doubling. In 2006, the number of cases rose 31 percent to 352, The Washington Post reported. In the first quarter of 2007, the number of cases was 39
CINCINNATI May 7 (UPI) -- University of Cincinnati researchers have received a two-year grant to study how U.S. religious groups respond to AIDS victims. Dr. Joel Tsevat and Magdalena Szaflarski, both researchers at the university s Institute for the Study of Health, will examine how religious organizations treat peopl
BALTIMORE, May 5 (UPI) -- Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates , has agreed to make a large gift to Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. The size of the gift has not been disclosed, but officials at Hopkins describe it as transformational, The Baltimore Sun reported.
BRASILIA, Brazil , May 4 (UPI) -- A torrent of praise and criticism Friday met Brazil s anticipated decision to break the patent on Merck s AIDS drug Efavirenz . Just days after Brazil was recognized for improving its enforcement of intellectual property rights, its government has made a major step backward, said
JAIPUR, India , May 3 (UPI) -- The Indian judge who issued a warrant for U.S. actor Richard Gere and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty for their public kiss and embrace has been transferred. Dinesh Gupta was moved, effective immediately, from the city of Jaipur to the town of Kishangarh, the Times of India reported Thursday
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The Indian government Wednesday launched a partnership to tackle one of the most vexing problems in the search for an AIDS vaccine. Until now, no candidate vaccine has been able to elicit neutralizing antibodies against HIV, a critical part of an effective vaccine. To overcome this challenge, the co
CHANDIGARH, India (UPI) -- A newly-opened bar in India is so set on promoting HIV-AIDS awareness that instead of small change for bills, patrons are given packs of condoms. The condom logo is featured on everything inside the aptly named Condom Bar in the northern city of Chandigarh -- from the glasses used for serving
WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- Vigorous efforts are under way to increase racial and ethnic diversity in clinical trials, but more needs to be done, researchers and advocates say. We need to know the right dose and side effects (of drugs) for these patients, said Howard McLeod, director of the Institute for Pharmacogenomic
BANJUL, Gambia , May 2 (UPI) -- Medical experts are criticizing the Gambia government for asking human immunodeficiency virus victims to stop taking anti-retroviral medications. The western African nation s government wants the HIV victims to, instead, try an unproven herbal remedy. The HIV Medicine Association, ba
BALTIMORE, May 2 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have discovered a drug-resistant virus passed mother-to-child can quickly establish itself in infants T-cells where it can hide for years. The study, conducted by Dr. Deborah Persaud and colleagues at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, analyzed human immunodefici
ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 29 (UPI) -- The University of Michigan has honored former U.S. President Bill Clinton with an honorary degree. Clinton received an honorary doctor of laws degree for his work in public service while president and for his founding of the William J. Clinton Foundation -- which address internationa
WASHINGTON, April 28 (UPI) -- The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the Bush administration to ensure that abstinence-only sex education materials provide accurate information. The ACLU made the request in a letter that accompanied a 20-page document put together by Dr. John Santelli, a pediatrician at the Mailm
WASHINGTON, April 27 (UPI) -- Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Randall Tobias, the former AIDS czar, resigned Friday after admitting he used the services of a Washington escort service. Tobias -- in his former position as ambassador for the President s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief -- was known for advocating sexual abs
DAKAR, Senegal , April 27 (UPI) -- A Senegalese scientist has contradicted a claim by Gambian President Yayha Jammeh, who said he had found a cure for AIDS. In a statement released through the International AIDS Society and the Society for AIDS in Africa, University of Dakar professor Souleyman Mboup said Jammeh s inte
NEW DEHLI, India , April 27 (UPI) -- U.S. actor Richard Gere, trying to blunt criticism over his public kiss with Indian star Shilpa Shetty in New Delhi, said he didn t mean to offend Indian mores. During an AIDS awareness campaign for truck drivers earlier this month, Gere hugged Shetty on-stage, bent her over and kis
BOSTON, April 27 (UPI) -- A generation of female teens born with HIV who are now reaching sexual maturity have a higher number of cervical abnormalities, a U.S. study found. Researchers monitored the rate of first-time pregnancies, genital health and Pap test results of 638 girls, ages 13 and over, who became infected
ATLANTA, April 27 (UPI) -- HIV rates were higher among African-American and Hispanic men, according to U.S. HIV diagnosis rates from 2001-2004 for gay and bisexual men. In addition, black men who have sex with men were significantly less likely to be alive three years after AIDS diagnosis than were Hispanic or white me
BOSTON, April 27 (UPI) -- Homosexual and bisexual men who were victims of childhood sexual abuse are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors, says a U.S. study. Those who reported regular childhood sexual abuse were at significantly greater risk for being HIV positive, were 7 times more likely to have ever exch
ATLANTA, April 26 (UPI) -- The rate of syphilis has risen sharply among U.S. homosexual and bisexual men, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. The agency said the overall syphilis rate rose 19 percent between 2000 and 2003, and this increase was exclusively in men. Although the gender of infect
ATHENS, Okla., April 26 (UPI) -- One out of three sexually active older U.S. adults infected with HIV has unprotected sex, according to a study by researchers at Ohio University in Athens. Past studies have shown that up to 65 percent of U.S. adults ages 60 to 71 have sexual intercourse. Among older adults who are HIV-
HOLLYWOOD, April 25 (UPI) -- The anthem American Idol contestants will sing during Wednesday s Idol Gives Back benefit in Hollywood was written by U2 s Bono and musician Dave Stewart. The rockers tune, American Prayer, is about the AIDS epidemic in Africa, the Irish Examiner reported Wednesday. Bono will also meet with
ATHENS, Ohio, April 25 (UPI) -- A U.S. scientist is starting a study to determine the effectiveness of telephone support groups for older people with the human immunodeficiency virus. Ohio University psychologist Timothy Heckman has received a $1.5 million, four-year federal grant to test the effectiveness of such a te
BOSTON, April 24 (UPI) -- Boston researchers found that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is also associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction, or heart attack. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, found that while rates of several cardiovascular risk factors were also
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., April 24 (UPI) -- Officials of the International AIDS Society Tuesday urged caution over reports that treatment derived from natural herbs in Gambia can cure AIDS. The purported cure is administered directly to the patients by the president of Gambia, an African nation with a population of 1.6 mi
LOS ANGELES, April 21 (UPI) -- A new survey finds that 85 percent of U.S. doctors believe religious faith can help patients have a good outcome. Researchers polled 1,144 doctors for the study, which was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, The Los Angeles Times reported. Only 1 percent said they believe reli
WASHINGTON, April 19 (UPI) -- Gilead s first-quarter earnings jumped 55 percent primarily due to strong sales of its HIV products, and analysts expect the company to maintain that performance for the rest of the year. Anyway you look at the first quarter, it was solid from top to bottom, Lazard analyst Joel Sendek told
BEIJING - People in China coping with HIV/AIDS face discrimination and shame, as a lack of information has led to misunderstandings about the disease. To combat misinformation about the epidemic, the National Basketball Association and the U.N. Development Programme have launched a campaign featuring Chinese celebritie
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (UPI) -- U.S. biologists have, for the first time, observed a critical step in membrane fusion -- the process that allows viral infection and nerve communication. Brown University researchers said cells constantly exchange miniscule membrane- enclosed vesicle packages of proteins and other chemicals. B
LONDON - Documents obtained by the BBC suggest British authorities ignored warnings about the risk of contaminated blood in the 1970s and 1980s. BBC s Newsnight said Tuesday it had obtained a letter from the head of Britain s public health surveillance center in 1983 that called for a ban on blood from the
UNITED NATIONS - Lower prices are partly responsible for a dramatic increase in the worldwide availability of anti-retroviral therapy to treat HIV, the United Nations says. Countries in every region of the world are making substantial progress in increasing access to the treatment, according to a joint report from thre
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The world has made great strides toward its pledge of getting HIV treatment to everyone who needs it, but there is still a long way to go, a new report says. In many ways we are still at the beginning of this commitment, said Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization ,
NEW YORK, April 16 (UPI) -- James Lyons, a film editor whose portfolio included Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven and The Virgin Suicides, died in New York at the age of 46. Lyons turned heads for his work on both sides of the camera in Poison, director Todd Haynes s 1991 effort that won the grand jury prize at the 1991
TORONTO, April 14 (UPI) -- Canadian social activist June Callwood, best known for founding the AIDS hospice Casey House, died Saturday at 82 after battling cancer for years. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said that despite being diagnosed in 2004 with inoperable cancer, Callwood continued to remain active in social pr
MELBOURNE (UPI) -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard said people who are HIV positive should not be allowed to immigrate to Australia. Speaking during a talk show on Southern Cross Radio in Melbourne, Howard said, I would like to get more counsel and advice but his initial reaction on allowing HIV positive migrants
BARCELONA, Spain - Researchers meeting in Spain said Thursday that hepatitis C patients who achieve a complete response to treatment can be considered completely cured of the disease that can result in cirrhosis, liver failure and death. I tell my patients who achieve a sustained virologic response to go home and get o
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that bottles of HIV drug Ziagen may have been mislabeled as Combivir , another HIV drug. The FDA and GlaxoSmithKline , which makes both drugs, said it ap
SEVAGRAM, India - The oral fluid-based OraQuick HIV1/2 test is 100 percent accurate and preferred by patients, a study in India found. Though OraQuick had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, some previous studies had indicated it might not be sufficiently precise. The Centers for Disease Control and
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The HIV market will grow to $10.6 billion by 2015, driven in part by new drugs from Merck, Pfizer and Tibotec, according to an analyst report released Wednesday. The market, which was worth about $7.1 billion in 2005, will undergo significant changes over the next several years, including the introd
WASHINGTON, April 10 (UPI) -- Pressing healthcare problems are on the rise just as the Chinese healthcare system is reaching its weakest point in recent history, experts said Tuesday. The country s ability to shore up its healthcare safety net could have a dramatic impact on China and the rest of the world. The
SOFIA, April 9 (UPI) -- Bianca Jagger, a political activist who works with several human rights groups, visited Sofia campaigning for the release of Bulgarian nurses in Libyan prisons. After meeting Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev in Sofia Sunday, Jagger said she supported the You Are Not Alone initiative thr
LOS ANGELES, April 9 (UPI) -- Handling family conflicts may prevent the more than 2 million U.S. teen runaways each year, experts say. The University of California s Project Strive -- Support To Reunite, Involve and Value Each Other, a project targeting teens who leave home and their families -- offers five short-term
NEW YORK, April 6 (UPI) -- Health officials say New York City-themed condoms have been a big hit. The campaign for the NYC Condom, which has a subway design, was launched on Valentine s Day. Officials said 5 million were snapped up in a month, more than three times the average number given away in a month, The New York
GLASGOW, April 6 (UPI) -- An Italian chef was sentenced in Glasgow, Scotland, to nine years in prison for recklessly infecting his lover with HIV. The court found Giovanni Mola refused to wear condoms while in a relationship with a woman in Edinburgh in 2003, even though he was diagnosed with human immunodeficiency vir
BOSTON, April 5 (UPI) -- Multivitamins given to non-HIV positive pregnant women in developing countries reduced risks of low birth weight and small birth size, says a U.S. and Tanzanian study. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences in Dar es Salaam, Tanz
SAN FRANCISCO, April 5 (UPI) -- Twenty years ago this month, the Food and Drug Administration approved the anti-HIV medicine AZT , the first ray of hope for people living with HIV/AIDS. AIDS community advocates in the San Francisco Bay Area, who campaigned tirelessly for effective treatments, played a key role in makin
PHILADELPHIA - U.S. scientists have used a weakened rabies virus to vaccinate laboratory primates against an AIDS-like disease. Researchers at Jefferson Medical College used a drastically weakened rabies virus to ferry HIV-related proteins into animals, in essence vaccinating them against an AIDS-like disease. The stud
WASHINGTON - A U.S. study says people with HIV who have strong religious ties are less likely to spread the virus that causes AIDS. The RAND Corp. study says HIV-positive people who say religion is an important part of their lives are likely to have fewer sexual partners and engage in less high-risk sexual behavior.
WASHINGTON - The $15 billion fund that is the major source of U.S. global AIDS giving should abandon its system of earmarking funding -- especially for abstinence-based programs -- according to a new report from the Institutes of Medicine. We are recommending Congress to remove budget allocations, said Jaime Sepulveda,
WASHINGTON - In poor countries where women with HIV must breastfeed at least part of the time, exclusively breastfeeding is the best way to avoid passing the disease on to their children, a new study says. In the past, women with HIV have been advised to avoid breastfeeding their children, but the new finding suggests
LONDON - A South African study said breast-feeding can significantly reduce the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child in infants less than 6 months old. The research, published in The Lancet, said infants who were exclusively breast-fed between the age of 6 weeks and 6 months of age had a 4 percent risk of post
MONTREAUX, Switzerland - The World Health Organization , following a conference in Switzerland, says male circumcision should be seen as a means of reducing the risk of HIV infection. After meeting with representatives of the UNAIDS Secretariat in Switzerland earlier this month, WHO officials r
WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) -- More should be invested in low-cost, low-tech interventions that save babies lives, global health advocates said at a news conference Wednesday in Washington, D.C. Most of the 10 million children who die each year die from very common infectious diseases, said Peter Salama, chief of health
WASHINGTON, March 27 (UPI) -- Gender inequalities are contributing to the twin epidemics of HIV/AIDS and domestic violence, experts said Monday. The connection between AIDS and violence is especially evident for African women, whose social and legal status leaves them dependent on their abusive husbands, said Valentine
WASHINGTON - United Press International interviewed Celia Lescano, a researcher at Bradley Hasbro Children s Research Center and lead author of a recent study on HIV transmission in adolescents and young adults -- who now account for half of new HIV cases each year. Without helping young people manage the feelings and
GENEVA, Switzerland - The Switzerland-based World Health Organization Friday called for the introduction of Wyeth s pneumonia vaccine in developing countries. The WHO s recommendation that countries include Wyeth s 7-valent vaccine in their national immunization programs could lead to the inoculation reaching the world
LOS ANGELES - A type of anal-canal Pap smear has been found to detect precancerous changes in the anal canals of HIV-positive men, a U.S. study found. The University of California at Los Angeles study found abnormal anal cytology -- anal-canal Pap smear -- was highly predictive of anal cell abnormalities that were subs
NEW YORK, March 21 (UPI) -- Routine screening for oral signs of disease can save lives, but only 7 percent of dentists offer mouth and neck exams, according to a U.S. dentist. Dr. Gwen Cohen-Brown, an assistant professor of dental hygiene at New York City College of Technology, says hygienists, physicians, physician as
GABORONE, Botswana , March 21 (UPI) -- A European telemedicine task force has proposed using satellite technology to deliver health information and communication services to sub-Saharan Africa. Three specific activities were proposed by the task force that met recently in Botswana: increasing that area s health workfor
SHYMKENT, Kazakhstan - Nearly two dozen Kazakhstan doctors are accused of contributing to the country s AIDS epidemic by ordering unnecessary blood transfusions. The 21 physicians are on trial on medical malpractice charges they ordered transfusions from which they benefit financially, The New York Times said Tuesday.
NEW YORK, March 19 (UPI) -- A U.S. human rights group on Monday said a proposed Polish ban on discussing homosexuality in schools amounts to discrimination. Polish authorities claim to be protecting families but in fact they are trying to deny children free speech and lifesaving information on HIV/AIDS, said Scott Long
KABUL, Afghanistan - Health officials caution that surveys showing a minuscule rate of HIV infection in Afghanistan are inaccurate. The New York Times reported that surveys show that Afghanistan has 69 recorded cases of HIV and three deaths. That figure is absolutely unreliable, even dangerous, Nilufar Egamberdi, a Wo
BANJUL, Gambia , March 17 (UPI) -- An herbal AIDS/HIV treatment used in Gambia has become a medical shuttlecock batted between its proponents and global health officials. Gambian Health Minister Tamsim Mbowe defends the treatment, which Gambian President Yahya Jammeh claims came to him in a dream, CNN reported Saturday
WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- The gap in life expectancy between African-Americans and has narrowed, according to a study to be published next week. Researches said the study points to some progress in mitigating racial health disparities, pegged as an ongoing and major challenge for public health policy in the
NEW YORK, March 16 (UPI) -- There is not yet a cure for AIDS, the United Nations said Friday in response to Gambian claims an herbal cure has been found. Gambian President Yahya Jammeh said recently he has discovered a cure for the disease, but the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the Wor
ATLANTA, March 15 (UPI) -- The three most common U.S. cases of hepatitis -- A, B and C -- dropped sharply in the last 10 years, the U.S. government said Thursday. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the three forms of the infection fell off dramatically from 1995 to 2005, with hepatitis A and B
WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- Billionaire financier George Soros is taking on the dual epidemics of tuberculosis and AIDS, he announced Wednesday. In coalition with non-governmental organizations, Soros is funding an effort to develop new treatment for people with drug-resistant tuberculosis and AIDS -- a particularly
HARARE, Zimbabwe - A growing number of older children and adolescents are living with undiagnosed HIV and AIDS in Africa, according to Zimbabwean researchers. The study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, says a delay in diagnosing these teens reflects a strongly held assumption that HIV in late childhood is un
WASHINGTON - AIDS activists and other groups are protesting Abbott s surprising decision to stop launching new medicines in Thailand , but so far the company is remaining steadfast in its position. Abbott s move was a response to Thailand government s announcement in January that it would make or buy generic versions o
UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations says while the world s population is expected to increase 2.5 billion people in the next 43 years -- an increase equal to the global population of 1950 -- the inhabitants will get much older. The Population Division of the U.N. s Department of Economic and Social Affairs Tuesday rele
GENEVA, Switzerland - The World Health Organization Monday released data on the top causes of death in high-, middle- and low-income countries. In high-income countries, coronary heart disease accounted for about 17 percent of deaths, making it the leading killer, followed by stroke and lung disease.
UNITED NATIONS - Two weeks ago, about 4,000 women from advocacy groups around the world converged at U.N. World Headquarters in New York for the 51st Session of the U.N. Economic and Social Council s Commission on the Status of Women. The priority theme was The elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence ag
BANJUL, Gambia , March 9 (UPI) -- The president of Gambia claims that he can cure AIDS by a combination of prayer and herbal medicine. Yahya Jammeh has also announced that he can cure asthma, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported. Jammeh has ruled the country since a 1994 coup. Gambia, a strip along the River Gambia
SOFIA, Bulgaria - A senior Libyan official said death sentences handed down on five Bulgarian nurses by a Libyan court won t be carried out, Sofia media said. Suleiman Shahoumi, secretary of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Libya s General Peoples Congress told a Bulgarian non-governmental organization in Tripoli last
NEW YORK - A conflict between scientists working with the human immunodeficiency virus and those working with tuberculosis is being reported in Africa. The controversy stems from the fact TB is the leading cause of death among those infected with HIV and, in some African countries, about 60 percent of those with TB are
NEW YORK - A U.S.-based human rights group is marking International Women s Day with a call for greater protections for girls. Girls are at risk of violence on the streets, in schools, at home, where they work, and in government institutions, said Jo Becker, advocacy director for Human Rights Watch s children s rights
WASHINGTON - Researchers say public health efforts promoting circumcision as a weapon against HIV in Africa must include warnings for women. World Health Organization scientists and policymakers meeting Tuesday in Switzerland expressed concern that women could face a high risk of infection if they resume sexual activit
NEW YORK - A book for teens written by U.S. first daughter Jenna Bush should be thought-provoking, not political, she said. HarperCollins in New York said it will publish this fall Bush s Ana s Story: A Journey of Hope, about a 17-year-old single mom in Panama living with HIV. It will be illu
SACRAMENTO, March 6 (UPI) -- Bob Hattoy, a former Clinton aide and the first openly gay person with AIDS to speak at a national political convention, has died in California at 56. Hattoy died Sunday at UC Davis Medical Center of complications of AIDS, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times reported. Hattoy was workin
MONTREAL, March 6 (UPI) -- The risk of HIV transmission may be highest in the earliest stages of infection, according to a Canadian study. Bluma Brenner and Mark Wainberg of the McGill AIDS Centre in Montreal and colleagues studied HIV transmission through phylogenetic analysis, or mapping the virus via a family tree.
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Dutch medical researchers reported discovering a protein that acts as a natural barrier to the human immunodeficiency virus. Teunis Geijtenbeek and colleagues at Vrije University Medical Center in Amsterdam say the protein -- langerin -- prevents HIV transmission by capturing the virus and targ
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. agencies are calling on governments everywhere to include refugees in their national HIV/AIDS policies and program. They want the refugees to be given the same access to treatment as their own citizens. The call came following a newly released four-page policy brief focusing specifically on action
NEW YORK, March 4 (UPI) -- Queen Latifah is known for playing comedic roles in Hollywood films, but the HBO film Life Support opens up a whole new world for the U.S. actress. In the film, Latifah plays a wife and mother who is a reformed drug user living with AIDS in New York, the New York Daily News reported. Latifa
WASHINGTON, March 2 (UPI) -- A coalition of California Latino, African-American and Asian state legislators has launched a campaign against AIDS healthcare disparities. The group is calling for new strategies to build awareness of racial differences in AIDS testing and more state funding to reduce HIV cases in communit
GABORONE, Botswana , March 2 (UPI) -- The AIDS epidemic in Botswana is fed by the country s low circumcision rate and its high rate of multiple concurrent sex partners, experts say. That s the lethal cocktail, Harvard University epidemiologist Daniel Halperin, a former U.S. AIDS prevention adviser in Africa, told The W
LOS ANGELES - Few primary-care practitioners in Los Angeles offer HIV tests or safer-sex advice to their Hispanic patients, according to a study. The study, published in the Journal of the National Medical Association, found 41 percent of the primary-care doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants had regula
LOS ANGELES - On average, people who become infected with the virus that causes AIDS lose about 16 years of life, researchers said this week. And if a person delays getting early treatment for human immunodeficiency virus infection, that individual forfeits another 5.1 years or more of life, said Elena Losina, associat
LOS ANGELES - A bout of measles among children dramatically lowers levels of the virus that causes AIDS, say U.S. researchers. Doctors said Wednesday they observed universal and profound but transient decreases in circulating human immunodeficiency virus while the children in Uganda were battling co-infection with
KAMPALA, Uganda , Feb. 28 (UPI) -- South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang -- criticized for telling those with HIV to take garlic, beets and lemon -- has been replaced. Transport Minister Jeff Radebe was appointed interim health minister, although AIDS activists say it is unlikely the ailing Tshabalala-
LOS ANGELES - U.S. researchers say promising new medicines are headed to the market that can help overcome increasing resistance to some HIV therapies. The annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Los Angeles revealed several promising drugs -- including Merck & Co. s MK-518,
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Two new drugs appear to give patients who are running out of medical options potent weapons against advanced, resistant infection with the virus that causes AIDS. I would not be going out on a limb to say these results are as exciting for experienced patients as were the results of the ori
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- African children infected with the virus that causes AIDS reduce their risk of malaria if they take antibiotics and sleep under mosquito nets. Incredibly, researchers reported Tuesday a 97-percent reduction in bouts of malaria among the children with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), com
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- An experimental drug seems to help reduce abdominal fat in patients infected with the virus that causes AIDS, U.S. doctors said this week. The drug, a growth hormone-releasing factor analog called TH9507, made by Theratechnologies in Montreal, appears to shift visceral fat, known to cause
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- The AIDS epidemic in the United States has taken at least a temporary turn for the worse, health experts said this week. After years at a plateau of 40,000 new AIDS cases a year, there were 45,669 cases estimated in 2005 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Harold Jaffe
LOS ANGELES - A cascade of human and natural events literally tumbled out of the sky, turning programs designed to help mothers prevent infecting their children with the virus that causes AIDS into chaos. Instead of saving children, the intersection of floods, formula supply shortages and the uptake of anti-breastfeedi
TRIPOLI, Libya - Five Bulgarian nurses, sentenced to death by a Tripoli court, pleaded innocent to charges of slander at another trial in Libya, media said. The nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death by the Tripoli court in mid-December for deliberately infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV, the virus
LOS ANGELES - A deadly form of tuberculosis -- resistant to virtually all drugs -- has spread across South Africa and continues to be rapidly fatal to people living with the virus that cause AIDS. The strain had been reported in all nine provinces of South Africa, expanding from an outbreak at one local hospital to a n
POMEZIA, Italy - Italian researchers say they ve developed an AIDS drug that attacks the disease in a new way. The molecule, MK518, has a wholly new mechanism, Gennaro Ciliberto, head of a molecular biology research institute run by drug company Merck, told ANSA. Ciliberto said MK518 and other integrase inhibitors ma
CHICAGO - Circumcision significantly reduces the risk of acquiring HIV in young African men, a study from the University of Chicago found. Researchers followed 2,784 young men from Kisumu, Kenya , circumcising half of them. Forty-seven of the 1,391 uncircumcised men contracted HIV, compared to 22 of the 1,393 uncircumc
CHICAGO - Male circumcision significantly reduces the risk of picking up an HIV infection in young African men, say U.S. researchers. Robert Bailey and colleagues at the University of Illinois at Chicago conducted a clinical trial in Kisumu, Kenya , that involved 2,784 HIV-negative, uncircumcised men between the ages o
SAN FRANCISCO - Medical marijuana activists in San Francisco are suing the federal government saying regulators should retract statements that marijuana has no medical value. Citizens have a right to expect the government to use the best available information for policy decisions, lawyer Alan Morrison told the San Fran
FLORENCE, Italy , Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A criminal investigation has been launched in Florence, Italy, as to how three patients received transplanted organs from a woman infected with the HIV virus. Mauro Marabini, head of the Careggi University Hospital, said the donor was a 41-year-old woman who died of a brain hemorrhage
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Treating people infected with the viruses that cause genital herpes and AIDS with anti-herpes medication appears to upset the synergy between the microbes, reducing herpes attacks and lowering HIV viral loads in patients. Researchers said Wednesday the risk of a herpes attack was
NASHVILLE - A leading U.S. ethnomusicologist and the Smithsonian Institution have teamed up to fight AIDS -- with music. Vanderbilt University professor Greg Barz compiled a CD entitled, Singing for Life: Songs of Hope, Healing and HIV/AIDS, which has just been released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. All proceeds
OTTAWA, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The Canadian government and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates are committing $118 million to develop a vaccine to fight HIV/AIDS. The government is committing up to $94 million (U.S.)to the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will provide up to $24 mil
LONDON, England - British singer Kelly Osbourne, daughter of heavy metal star Ozzy Osbourne, says a member of her family has tested positive for HIV. The pop singer was speaking during a weekend benefit for the HIV support organization Body and Soul in London, Sky News said. This charity is really important to me becau
SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. bioengineers and public-health researchers have developed a spraying method for delivering the most common tuberculosis vaccine. It could provide a new low-cost technique that offers needle-free delivery and greater stability at room temperature than existing methods, according to David Edwards, an
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. - U.S. firm Merck said Friday it would distribute its three-in-one HIV drug Atripla to countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS. The drug maker said it has begun to file registrations for the once-daily treatment -- comprised of efavirenz 600 mg, emtricitabine 200 mg, and
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. - In the wake of the Thai government s claim that it would start making its own versions of several AIDS drugs, Merck announced lower prices. The drug manufacturer said it will make its drug efavirenz , sold under the brand name Stocrin, available to poor countries and those with high HIV rates
PROVIDENCE, R.I., Feb. 14 (UPI) -- A U.S.-led study suggests labor migration played a critical role in the spread of HIV across South Africa . Researchers from Brown University, the Harvard Medical School and Imperial College London collected data from nearly 500 South African men and women and then created a mathemati
BETHESDA, Md. - U.S. scientists have generated an atomic picture of part of the human immunodeficiency virus in a move that could greatly help AIDS vaccine design. The researchers, led by a team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., say the atomic-level picture of a key portion
WASHINGTON - A U.S. AIDS group said Wednesday it would ask regulators to stop Pfizer from selling erectile dysfunction drug Viagra over the counter. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, an AIDS education provider that operates free clinics in the United States and overseas, said it would petition the Food and Drug Admi
WASHINGTON - Large mobile-phone companies and the U.S. government are teaming up to strengthen health systems in the developing world. Through a new $10 million public-private partnership called Phones for Health, health workers in developing countries -- where mobile phones are becoming more and more common -- will be
RIO DE JANEIRO - The Brazilian government has begun its nationwide condom giveaway ahead of annual Carnaval festivities, O Globo reported Tuesday. The Health Ministry will give out millions of condoms to Brazilian revelers in hopes of stemming HIV and AIDS contractions during the days-long Carnaval in which sexual inhi
NEW ORLEANS - U.S. scientists say the absence of a specific marker in the blood and tissues of certain monkeys might be part of the key to understanding AIDS resistance. Tulane University pathologist Ivona Pandrea and colleagues are investigating why monkeys infected for years with simian immunodeficiency virus, the pr
WASHINGTON - The global vaccine market is expected to top $10 billion this year and $23.8 billion by 2012, according to an analyst report released Friday. Pediatric vaccines have historically dominated this field, but adult vaccines will see a big spike due to increased uptake of influenza and hepatitis vaccines, predi
TAKOMA PARK, Md. - A U.S. women s rights group is asking global health agencies to help bring female condoms to areas heavily affected by HIV/AIDS. The rapid spread of HIV among women and adolescents underscores the fact that we must do everything in our power to make prevention methods available and affordable to all
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Undiagnosed HIV infection is hanging over a generation of adolescents in Zimbabwe, causing organ damage, ill health and stunted growth, says a study. We suspect that there is a substantial and growing burden of long-standing HIV infection and AIDS in this age group especially in countries where HIV p
WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The launch of the first large-scale AIDS vaccine trial could bring the world one step closer to the elusive goal of preventing the disease s spread, researchers say, but there is still a long road to a marketable vaccine. The trial is part of a complex and multi-faceted strategy, said Anthon
SEATTLE - The first large-scale study of a candidate HIV vaccine in Africa has been announced by study collaborators in the United States and South Africa . The four-year trial will involve up to 3,000 participants at five sites across South Africa as part of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, which is headquartered and c
LOS ANGELES - A major U.S. AIDS healthcare organization said Thursday it has banned Pfizer sales representatives from its health clinics. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is in the midst of a lawsuit against Pfizer, charging that the drug giant has used questionable marketing tactics in promoting its erectile-dysfunctio
WASHINGTON - The generic-drug industry is objecting to user fees for generic-drug reviews proposed in President Bush s 2008 budget, saying the measure won t bring generics to market any faster. The budget proposes generic user fees that the Food and Drug Administration estimates would bring in $15.7 million in fiscal y
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. - U.S. drug maker Tibotec said Tuesday it is recruiting black, HIV-positive women for a study assessing race/gender differences in drug response. The company, a division of Ortho Biotech Products, said its GRACE (Gender, Race And Clinical Experience) study is designed to evaluate treatment-experienced
BEIJING - The Chinese government has stopped a 79-year-old doctor from traveling to the United States to accept an award for her AIDS activism, a report said. Friends of Dr. Gao Yaojie told a New York Times correspondent Gao has been under guarded house arrest in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou since Feb. 1, and
TEHRAN (UPI) -- Iran s Ministry of Health claimed to have made a medical breakthrough with a formula to control symptoms of AIDS. The state-controlled IRNA news agency quoted an unidentified ministry employee as saying, The research studies to find out a formula to cure AIDS was initiated during the tenure of two forme
SANTA MONICA, Calif., - A U.S. study finds few unmarried, HIV-positive parents make legally documented guardianship arrangements for their children. The Rand Corp., a non-profit research organization, analyzed interviews with 222 unmarried parents with a total of 391 children from a nationally representative sample of
ADELAIDE - An Australian man, convicted of endangering the lives of three women through unprotected sex, is arguing in court that HIV does not exist. Andre Parenzee, 36, who is HIV-positive, was convicted by a jury last year of endangering the lives of the women -- one of whom he infected through unprotected sex. In
MORRISVILLE, N.C. - U.S. firm BDSI said Friday the Food and Drug Administration has accepted its marketing application for its anti-fungal Bioral Amphotericin. The company said the treatment for which it is seeking FDA approval is an oral version of its intravenous-administered Amphotericin B (CAMB), which it said is a
LOS ANGELES - Natalie Cole will guest-star on NBC s Studio 60 (on the Sunset Strip) performing a song recorded especially for the show, filmed in Los Angles. The Grammy-winning singer s new version of the Burt Bacharach-Hal David classic, Say a Little Prayer, was created through the SaveMyLive.org charitable organizati
WASHINGTON - Clinical trials of cellulose sulfate, one of the most promising anti-HIV microbicide compounds, have ended in disappointment, researchers announced late Wednesday. But advocates for microbicides -- gels that can be applied to the vagina to discreetly protect against HIV and other sexually transmitted infec
GENEVA, Switzerland - Trials of a treatment to stop the spread of HIV in women were stopped after those using the treatment had higher rates of infection, the U.N. health agency says. Officials from the World Health Organization and the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS said Thursday they don t know why there were more in
PRINCETON, N.J. - Indian firm Ranbaxy said Thursday it has been approved for U.S. sales of a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline s herpes drug Valtrex. The company said the Food and Drug Administration approved valacyclovir hydrochloride tablets in 500-mg strength. The company estimated Valtrex sales at $1.26 billion, q
ARLINGTON, Va. - U.S. researchers say they have halted a Phase III clinical trial of cellulose sulfate -- a topical microbicide gel being tested for HIV infection in women. Conrad, a reproductive health research organization, said it halted the trial when preliminary data indicated cellulose sulfate could lead to an in
SOFIA, Bulgaria - Sofia prosecutors filed charges against 10 Libyans for allegedly torturing five Bulgarian nurses into confessing to infecting children with HIV. Sofia city prosecutor Nikolay Kokinov said Bulgaria is not expecting Libya will cooperate in the case but nevertheless he will seek permission to question th
BALTIMORE - A U.S.-led international study finds the rate of HIV-related dementia is so high in Africa it might be among the world s most common forms of dementia. In the first study of HIV dementia on Africat, researchers led by Johns Hopkins University scientists found HIV dementia rates are challenging Alzheimer s a
CANBERRA, Australia - The Australian government is considering a $7.7 million sexual health campaign to combat a rise in HIV infections. Health Minister Tony Abbott says the campaign would target the general community but be specifically designed to include gay men. Latest figures on the number of new HIV infections in
SOFIA, Bulgaria - Libya suggested five Bulgarian nurses may be released from death row in exchange for damages paid to families of children infected with HIV, a report said. Seif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in an interview with the Bulgarian 24 Hours daily said Monday the five Bulgarian medics and a
WASHINGTON - Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are staying away this year, but for business executives and others on the world s A-list of wheelers and dealers, Davos remains a place to network on a global scale. The question remains, though, whether the hobnobbing actually translates into achieving the objectives that orga
SEATTLE - U.S. and African researchers say they found a significantly increased risk of HIV infection among women with a sexually transmitted disease. The common STD, trichomoniasis, is caused by the parasite Trichomonas vaginalis, which infects more than 170 million people worldwide each year. On its own, it usually d
WASHINGTON - U.S. President George Bush Tuesday hailed his AIDS relief effort as the largest international health initiative in history for a single disease. Bush pledged $15 billion over five years as part of the President s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, $2 billion of which has been allotted through 2008. Domestical
DURBAN, South Africa - South African researchers recommended the country force patients suffering from a highly drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis into isolation. Researchers at the Center for the AIDS Program of Research in Durban said the extreme drug resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB, needs to be contained to pre
MIAMI - Daily selenium supplements may suppress the progression of viral load in patients with HIV infection, a University of Miami study finds. Barry E. Hurwitz and colleagues conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of selenium supplements in patients with HIV. Some 262 patients took a capsule c
BRUSSELS - An EU commissioner says Brussels is working to persuade Libya to release five Bulgarian nurses from death row, Sofia media said. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU commissioner for external relations, said the European Union also hired advisers to arrange assistance needed by families and children infected with HIV
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - An Iranian fugitive referred to as the HIV man by the media in Sweden has contacted his lawyer for the first time since 1998. Mehdi Tayeb, who is HIV-positive, is wanted in Sweden on charges of having unprotected sex with 130 women and two men, The Local reports. Lawyer Peter Althin says he was
SOWETO, South Africa - A cell phone company s ad on the side of a South African hospital building carried the unfortunate message: You ve come to play. We ve come to bury. To make matters worse, the building at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto where the Vodacom ad was placed houses two AIDS clinics, the Pr
ALBANY, N.Y. - There is nothing fair about when and where a natural disaster occurs, and whom it affects and sickens. In a natural disaster, not everyone experiences the same damage. I ve seen a house devastated by a storm and the house next door come out unscathed. It seems totally unfair that a damaged house takes th
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - General Electric Co. plans to buy core laboratory diagnostics businesses from Abbott Laboratories of Illinois for $8.13 billion, the companies said Thursday. GE will get Abbott s primary in-vitro diagnostics businesses and Abbott s Point-of-Care diagnostics business, GE and Abbott said in separate st
LONDON - A British computer screening of herbs commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine suggests some may be useful in treating modern diseases. David Barlow and colleagues at King s College London found a wide variety of the compounds have the potential for use in treating HIV-AIDS, cancer, Alzheimer s, arthritis
LOS ANGELES - U.S. scientists say a World Health Organization plan to track transmitted resistance to HIV drugs in Botswana might fail due to unrealistic goals. UCLA researchers studied the WHO s Botswana antiretroviral program that aims to treat 85,000 patients by 2009 -- roughly 30 percent of all those infected in Bo
ST. PAUL, Minn. - About 90 percent of prescriptions written for the Actiq painkiller lollipop -- OK d for cancer/AIDS patients -- are off-label. So concludes a study by pharmacy benefits manager Prime Therapeutics, which found significant off-label prescribing of the product, in spite of a risk of serious side effects.
SAO PAULO - Brazilian scientists have developed a gel made from indigenous algae they say could help protect women from HIV, Folha de Sao Paulo reported Tuesday. Though initial tests said it was 95 percent efficient, researchers said it would not be on the market for up to seven years. The algae tests are part of a wid
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Population Fund says the highest number of donors gave the largest total amount since the organization began its operations in 1969. The $360 million contributed from 180 countries is to promote a raft of activities from ensuring safe births to reducing poverty, the agency said Monday. We ar
RALEIGH, N.C. - U.S. researchers at Duke University Medical Center have developed a test to identify which drug-resistant strains of HIV are in a patient s bloodstream. As a result, doctors may be able to guide patient care by predicting if a patient is likely to develop a resistance to a particular HIV drug, Feng Gao,
NEW YORK - As part of its bid to lose the status as the U.S. HIV/AIDS capital, New York is giving away free condoms, color-coded like its subway lines. The condom packets will be modeled after the New York City subway system. Every foil will have a color, said Carol Carozza, spokeswoman for Ansell, the firm producing t
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- If Congress allows a funding shortfall in a key global AIDS relief program to continue, more than 100,000 people could die, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Mark Dybul said this week. The President s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, is a five-year, $15 billion program designed with yea
KAMPALA, Uganda , Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Ugandan men are seeking circumcision, officials said, after reports that the procedure could cut in half the HIV infection rate among heterosexual men. Of the 2,500 males in Uganda circumcised last year, nearly half were adults, the BBC reported. Fewer than 400 adult males were circumc
ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 2 (UPI) -- There is a stigma associated with hepatitis C, or HCV, and that stigma is keeping people from getting tested and getting the treatment that could save their lives. The stigma comes because most people get HCV from illegal drug use -- even inhaling drugs through a straw, tattoos done under
United Press International - Tuesday, January 2, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- AIDS researchers said a new drug shows promise for inhibiting the HIV virus in patients new to treatment or those currently taking a drug cocktail. Clinical studies of the drug, called an integrase inhibitor, showed that, when combined with two existing drugs, it reduced the virus to unde
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