Washington Blade - Friday, November 21, 2003
Ryan Lee

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - An experimental AIDS vaccine tested in Thailand on some 2,500 drug users failed, biotechnology company VaxGen Inc. announced last week. The poor results were widely expected after the Brisbane-based company announced in February that a much larger experiment testing its vaccine in North America also had failed to prevent AIDS infections. Most AIDS researchers agree that vaccines will be the only effective way to control the pandemic. Now that VaxGen's vaccine has failed, attention has turned to the two dozen other experimental vaccines being tested on 12,000 human volunteers in experiments around the world. But none of those are as advanced as VaxGen's two failed experiments and any successful candidate is years away. The Thai results underscored again how notoriously wily AIDS is in beating the body's immune system, company officials said. "The outcome of this trial is one more reminder of how difficult it is to combat HIV and how important it is for the international public health community to redouble the effort to develop an effective vaccine," VaxGen president Dr. Donald Francis said.

Health officials say syphilis cases up among gay men

ATLANTA - An increase in syphilis cases among gay and bisexual men in 2002 was cited as the primary reason for a 9.1 percent jump in the overall syphilis rate across the U.S., according to data published Wednesday by the federal Centers for Disease Prevention & Control. The CDC does not collect syphilis data by sexual orientation. But health officials compared differences between the rates for men and women, and spikes among men above the rates for women, and estimated that gay and bisexual men represent more than 40 percent of all syphilis cases reported in 2002, according to Ron Valdiserri, deputy director of the CDC's National Center for HIV, STD & TB Prevention. Most troubling, Valdiserri said, is that it appears gay and bisexual men are increasingly engaging in risky sexual behavior based on reports that as many as half of the new syphilis cases are people already infected with HIV.

R.I. doctor wins national kudos for his care of gay patients

CRANSTON, R.I. - Dr. Timothy Cavanaugh is the first recipient of a new award that honors a health care provider who is helpful to gay patients, the Providence Journal reported. The family physician was selected from hundreds of candidates as winner of the LGBT-Friendly Provider of the Year award from the Web site, GayHealth.com, the newspaper reported. Cavanaugh works at the Planned Parenthood teen clinic in Providence and at Cranston's Comprehensive Community Action Program, according to the Journal. He was nominated for the award by Christopher Butler, executive director of AIDS Project Rhode Island, who cited the doctor's "warm and sensitive manner and his commitment to understanding the unique needs of LGBT patients," the Journal reported. Cavanaugh helped create a hepatitis vaccination program specifically for men who have sex with men, and the clinic has served 700 patients in six years, Butler told the Journal.

Denver lesbian alleges clinic denied her fertility treatments

DENVER (AP) - A blind woman accusing a fertility clinic of discrimination testified she was insulted when doctors rejected her request to give a body to "the little person who seemed to be inside my soul." Kijuana Chambers, 33, told a federal jury she had always wanted a child, but it seemed impossible because she is a lesbian. She said doctors at the Rocky Mountain Women's Health Care Center in Englewood performed three rounds of artificial insemination in 1999 but stopped when she refused to hire an occupational therapist to evaluate the safety of her home. "I felt like a little girl who just got disciplined for doing wrong or not having the right answers," Chambers said as the trial began. "At the same time, I was hearing my unborn child in my heart calling my name." The lawsuit claims the clinic violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Gay Scots: Government health service discriminates

EDINBURGH, Scotland - A new report found that one in four gay men and lesbians believe they are discriminated against by the Scottish health service, the Scotsman reported. Those questioned also said they experienced homophobia from National Health Service staff and were given poor advice or treatment because of their sexual orientation, the newspaper reported. As part of the report, "Toward a Healthier LGBT Scotland," 1,000 people were questioned by the Inclusion Project, which stated that the discrimination within the system affects the health of gay Scots. "This report provides much-needed evidence into the health and well-being of Scotland's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population," Alastair Pringle of Stonewall Scotland told the Scotsman. "It is clear the needs of individuals vary and it is vital that everyone gets access to the right health services."

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