Washington Blade - July 4, 2003

WASHINGTON (AP) - A crash program to develop an AIDS vaccine may be the only way to reduce a worldwide death toll that could reach 70 million by 2020, according to some of the world's leading researchers. Twenty-four scientific leaders advanced a formal proposal in the journal Science last month calling for a network of coordinated research centers dedicated to the sole purpose of developing and testing an AIDS vaccine. Co-authors of the proposal include two Nobel Prize winners, the heads of major public health departments of the U.S. government and AIDS researchers from several nations. In concept, said co-author Dr. David Baltimore, the proposal is rather like a Manhattan Project against AIDS. The Manhattan Project produced the world's first atomic weapon. "In the sense it is a commitment to use the skills of the scientific community to solve a problem, it is like the Manhattan Project," said Baltimore, a Nobel laureate. "But the Manhattan Project depended on secrecy and we're doing the exact opposite."

Bisexuality linked to HIV spread among minority women, study says

DETROIT (AP) - Black and Hispanic women are being infected with HIV at a higher rate than the rest of the population in part because many of them don't know their sex partners are bisexual, a new study shows. "I run into so many women who say they were infected by their husbands and significant others," said Paula Sirls, 40, of Detroit, who contracted HIV from a man who had a relationship with her for 20 years before telling her he was HIV-positive. "So I want to talk to the ladies: You need to get documented proof that he has been tested," Sirls, now an HIV/AIDS educator and counselor, told the Detroit News. Black and Hispanic men are more likely than white men to engage in bisexual behavior, according to a study by the Michigan Department of Community Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. "We interviewed these men, and this is very real," said study leader Eve Mokotoff, chief of HIV/AIDS epidemiology at the state health agency. "What underlies this problem is our unacceptance of homosexuality."

Study shows high numbers of gay men having unsafe sex

NEW YORK - Almost half the gay and bisexual men interviewed for a recent health study reported having unprotected anal sex in the past six months, according to Reuters. The study by the American Journal of Public Health looked at 4,295 men from six cities. The findings "emphasize the continued need for effective behavioral strategies designed to prevent HIV infection among men who have sex with men," wrote Dr. Beryl A. Koblin of the New York Blood Center in New York City. The interviews were part of an ongoing effort to identify risk behaviors that may be increasing HIV transmissions in the U.S.

Federal health officials to provide 250,000 rapid HIV tests

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention recently contracted to purchase 250,000 quick-test kits to try and slow down the HIV infection rate, according to Reuters. Researchers said 25 percent of people with HIV are unaware of it. The CDC plans to send the tests to the 50 state health departments in hopes it might slow down the current rate of 40,000 new infections annually. The test gives the result in only 20 minutes. Researches stressed the benefits of people learning they are infected early and said people who wait until they are sick are more likely to be black, Hispanic and heterosexual with a high school education or less.

Researchers report break in seeing through AIDS disguises

LA JOLLA, Calif. - Researchers said they may have a break in understanding how a rare antibody can identify the disguises of the AIDS virus, which they hope will lead to a vaccine, according to Reuters. The antibody was taken from a patient whose body can resist the virus and recognizes and attacks the human immunodeficiency virus. "Nothing like this has ever been seen before," lead researcher Ian Wilson of the Scripps Research Institute said in a statement. AIDS is responsible for the deaths of 25 million people around the world. Dozens of potential vaccines are currently being tested, but none so far has shown it can be effective. Antibodies are an important part of the body's defenses against germs. They are usually able to recognize an invader by structures on its surface, called antigens, and can either call in help or neutralize the invader themselves by pasting themselves against it. The problem has been that AIDS has many looks, and it has been hard for vaccines to identify.

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