Newspaper Takes A Look At HIV Epidemic In Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday examined how estimates indicate that new HIV infections in Philadelphia are occurring at a rate more than five times the national average.

According to the Inquirer, approximately 1,400 Philadelphians contract HIV each year, and those who are not aware of their HIV-positive status are believed to be responsible for transmitting the majority of new infections. There currently are more than 16,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the city. More than half of new cases in Philadelphia are transmitted through heterosexual contact, a third among men who have sex with men and 13% from injection drug use.

According to experts, "the local picture is of a disease that is transmitted largely by people who do not think of themselves as being at high risk and have not until recently been primary targets for prevention efforts," according to the Inquirer. For example, rates of HIV nationwide are highest in black communities, and Philadelphia has the second-highest percentage of black residents of the 10 most populous U.S. cities at 43.2%, according to the 2000 census. Consequently, the Inquirer reports that public health workers are "trying to get past cultural barriers that contribute" to high HIV/AIDS rates among minority communities with initiatives such as needle-exchange programs and efforts by the city's Department of Public Health to offer HIV testing in emergency departments, city prison intakes, homeless shelters and mobile units that travel to neighborhoods and social gatherings. The number of HIV tests performed in Philadelphia is expected to double by the end of 2008 from the 30,000 tests typical of previous years.

Nevertheless, research suggests that more than one-fifth of HIV-positive people are not aware of their status, and CDC believes this demographic is responsible for the majority of new cases. Karam Mounzer, medical director of the Jonathan Lax Center, said, "There is no question in my mind that we are seeing a younger population of African-American kids with the virus," adding, "We are also seeing more young African-American females."

Courtesy Philadelphia Inquirer via The Kaiser Foundation.

Time Is Of The Essence When It Comes To Treating HIV (And Saving Lives)

Hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved if treatment for HIV-infected patients were started earlier than current guidelines suggest, according to a study released by the University of Washington in Seattle.

The guidelines now call for initiating antiviral therapy in any person who develops symptoms of AIDS or whose CD4 T-cell count -- a measure of how much damage HIV has done to the immune system -- drops to less than 350 cells per cubic millimeter of blood.

But in a study of 8,374 patients in the U.S. and Canada, those without symptoms who started therapy when their CD4 count was between 351 and 500 cells per cubic millimeter of blood were less likely to die than those who waited until the count was lower, says Mari Kitahata, MD, of the University of Washington.Thirty percent of study participants started taking HIV drugs right away, while the others waited until their CD4 counts fell.

"There was a meaningful, 70% improvement in survival among patients who started therapy when their CD4 count was between 351 and 500," Kitahata tells WebMD.

"The data strongly support initiation of antiretroviral therapy in all patients with CD4 counts of 500 or below, regardless of whether they have symptoms," she says. "We're waiting too late to treat people."

Kitahata presented the findings at a joint meeting of the American Society for Microbiology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Since the mid-1990s, potent drug cocktails -- called highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) -- have transformed HIV from a death sentence into a chronic manageable disorder, like diabetes.

But the drugs have their own set of problems. They can cause diarrhea, nausea, high cholesterol, heart problems, and other toxic effects. Skipping doses can cause resistance to develop, which means the drugs will stop working. As a result, some doctors starting delaying treatment.

In recent years, new combinations that minimize side effects and require patients to take fewer pills have become available. And research has suggested that delaying treatment can seriously damage the immune and nervous systems.

Kitahata says there's no doubt that under the current guidelines, deaths due to AIDS have dramatically declined. But the new data support growing evidence that starting treatment earlier might help cut deaths due to other causes among HIV-infected people. "Unfortunately, patients are coming in for treatment at a later stage of disease. Part of our message is that you need to find out your HIV status and enter care sooner so you can benefit from antiretroviral treatment." Courtesy WebMD

Chile's Health Minister Resigns Over HIV Scandal

Chile's Health Minister Dr. Maria Soledad Barria resigned Tuesday over a scandal in which a hospital in northern Chile had failed to notify 25 people who had tested positive for HIV.

A TV station reported earlier this month that a hospital in Iquique in northern Chile had failed to inform 25 patients that they had tested positive for HIV, which can cause AIDS. The hospital had hidden the facts from the patients since 2004. Four of them later died due to HIV-related causes, it was revealed two weeks ago.

It was alledged Barria knew about the situation since early August and sent commissioners to investigate, but it was not until recently that she admitted the incident.

Barria told reporters that she decided to resign because the incident had seriously effected Chilean people's confidence in the health system. She said further investigations were still underway and the government had tracked most of the patients and started treatment on them, but some foreign patients had already left Chile. Courtesy China View News

Gates Foundation Announces HIV Research Grants

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last week announced 104 grants to explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve global health. The grants of US$100,000 each will be made to scientists from 22 countries and five continents. They mark the first round of funding from Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help lower the barriers for testing innovative ideas in global health.

The initial set of grants will inject fresh perspective into research for preventing or curing infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and TB. Successful applicants showed how their project falls outside current scientific paradigms and could lead to significant advances if successful—in just two pages.

104 grants were selected from nearly 4,000 proposals. The applicant details were not provided to reviewers, helping them to focus on the innovation of the idea instead of a scientist’s credentials, geographic location, or organization’s reputation.

Projects cover a wide range of innovation, including numerous proposals that may prove to advance HIV treatment and prevention. Examples of proposed research include;

Elijah Songok at the Kenya Medical Research Institute hopes to better understand preliminary findings from studies of sex workers that natural resistance to HIV may be linked to genetic markers for type 2 diabetes.

People born with a natural resistance to the HIV virus have a genetic mutation in the CCR5 gene. Karthikeyan Kandavelou of Pondicherry Biotech Pvt. Ltd. in India will attempt to achieve targeted disruption of CCR5 genes, making an important first step in a new strategy to make people permanently resistant to HIV.

And Yue Chen of the University of Pittsburgh will attempt to develop an oral HIV vaccine based on Clostridium perfringens, a bacteria able to withstand upper GI conditions to deliver large amounts of antigens to gut-associated lymphoid tissue, a major site of HIV activity.

To see the complete list, log onto foundations website at; www.gatesfoundation.org. Information courtesy gatesfoundation.org

Atlanta Police Department Sued Over HIV Discrimination

"Richard Roe” wanted to be an Atlanta Police officer. Instead, he is suing the Atlanta Police Department (APD), the City of Atlanta and an occupational medicine group for allegedly disqualifying him because he has HIV.

Roe is a pseudonym used to protect the plaintiff’s privacy in a federal lawsuit filed Sept. 5. The lawsuit charges the defendants with “improper testing and employment discrimination based upon [Roe] having tested positive for the HIV virus” and claims that the city of Atlanta has “a policy and/or custom” of not hiring police officers with HIV.

According to his lawsuit, Roe applied to join the Atlanta Police Department in January 2006. The process went smoothly until August of that year, when he was referred to defendant Caduceus Occupational Medicine for a physical and drug screening. Roe claims he was not told by Caduceus or Dr. Alton Greene, also named as a defendant, that his blood would be tested for HIV.

On Sept. 7, 2006, according to the lawsuit, Greene told Roe that the APD would not hire him as a police officer because he tested positive for HIV. Roe never heard from the police department after that date, the lawsuit claims.

Roe seeks a ruling that the APD cannot discriminate based on HIV status, a job as an Atlanta police officer, lost wages and benefits that he would have received if hired, and damages for “humiliation” and “mental anguish.”

In answers filed with the court, attorneys for the city, the police department, the medical practice and the doctor involved all denied any wrongdoing.

In an answer filed Sept. 25, defendant Caduceus denied the bulk of Roe’s claims including “that it made any decision whatsoever about who would or would not be considered for employment as an Atlanta police officer.” Dr. Alton Greene also denied Roe’s claims in an answer filed the same day.

The City of Atlanta filed its response Oct. 3. It claims that Roe never used internal procedures for claims of discrimination, and argues that the city “had a bona fide reason for the actions taken regarding Plaintiff and did so regardless of his disability.”

Attorneys for the city denied that there was a policy not to hire people with HIV as police officers, but admitted that HIV testing is part of the “routine physical exam.” Courtesy Southern Voice News.

HIV Scare At Missouri High School

Students at a suburban St. Louis, Missouri high school this week are undergoing testing for HIV after an individual infected with the virus told health officials that as many as 50 of the school's teens may have been exposed to the virus that causes AIDS. Officials have thus far refused to give any details on who the person was, or how the students at Normandy High School may have been exposed.

Officials haven't revealed whether the person is a student or how they are otherwise connected to the school. Officials have also not stated how the exposure may have occurred. Possibilities include sexual activity, piercings, tattoos, and intravenous drug use.

In the midst of the HIV scare, the school district is consulting with several national AIDS organizations in an attempt to minimize the fall-out, and prevent the spread of mis-information and the disease itself. None of the students are forced to undergo testing, and all of the 1,300 students at the school are being tested voluntarily. They've also made it so that no one will know who has or has not been tested.

School officials believe that they are the first district to be faced with such a large-scale AIDS scare. They will also never know how many students were infected or even tested, and once testing is completed it will become an issue between the student and their family. Courtesy The Cleveland Dealer

Prezista Gains Full Approval By FDA

The FDA has granted Johnson and Johnson approval for expanded use of their drug Prezista, a protease inhibitor. Prezista can now be prescribed as a 'first time' drug.for treatment naive patients. Prezista had previously been conditionally approved by the FDA in treatment experienced patients. The FDA has lifted that conditional approval, allowing Prezista to be used in all HIV patients. Prezista is paired with ritonivir in treatment of HIV. The only difference in dosage is Prezista is given twice daily to treatment experienced patients and only once for first time patients.

According to the manufacturers 48 week study, 84 percent of treatment naive patients reached an undetectible viral load (less than 50 copies/mL) versus78 percent of patients who were given the drug lopanavir. Additionally the drug has a much less chance of causing diarrhea (6 percent) versus lopanivir (13 percent). The drug also saw modest gains in improvement of other adverse effects including abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. But the greatest advantage of Prezista over lopanavir was the greater numbers who achieved undetectible viral loads and the significant lowering of incidences of diarreah

The manufacture cautions that Prezista must be co-administered with 100 mg ritonavir and food to achieve the desired antiviral effect. Failure to correctly administer Prezista with ritonavir and food may result in a loss of efficacy of the drug. J and J also cautions that homeopathic drugs like St. Johns Wort may impair the efficacy of the drug. Information courtesy Johnson and Johnson.

Clarifying Changes In ADA Act May Help HIV Persons

Eighteen years after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed, clarifying changes designed in part to benefit those living with HIV have amended the Act's coverage. Changes take effect January 1st 2009.

To be clear, much about the ADA has not changed. Companies with 15 or more employees are still prohibited from discriminating against a qualified individual because of a disability. Likewise, employers must still provide reasonable accommodations to qualified disabled individuals, in so far as the accommodation does not create an undue hardship.

However, because of the Act's relatively vague definition of disability, employers have often found it difficult to determine who is covered, and who is not. The amendment attempts to clarify that as well as overturning previous U.S. Supreme court decisions that had served to insulate and protect employers by restricting who are considered disabled under the act.

The new amendment expands and clarifies the definition of "disability" in serval ways.

It asserts that even when a persons illness has been arrested by drugs (ie retrovirals), the person is still considered disabled.

The ADA has always defined a disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a "major life activity". The new amendment clarifies and broadens that definition to include caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working.

Congress also created a subset of "major life activities" - "major bodily functions", that includes (in part) functions of the immune system and normal cell growth which seems to indicate intent to confirm that persons with HIV and AIDS are covered under the ADA.

The amendment carves out a notable exception however. It clarifies that employers do not have to accommodate someone who is only "regarded as" having a disability. Although discrimination is still prohibited against persons who are dsabled, Congress recognized that it doesn't make sense to obligate employers to accommodate for an impairment that is only "regarded as" being a disability, rather than being an actual disability. Courtesy Zanesville Times Recorder.

Living Quilt Project To Launch Today

Beginning today, The Southern AIDS Coalition (SAC) and Test for Life will launch the Southern AIDS Living Quilt, a website featuring real-life video stories from southern women on the frontlines of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. (http://www.livingquilt.org)

The Living Quilt project brings to life the impact of HIV/AIDS in the South, highlighting the disproportionate impact on women, particularly women of color, and providing critical information about routine testing and prevention services and the importance of early diagnosis. Seventy percent of people living with AIDS in Louisiana are minorities, with AIDS being the leading cause of death for African American women ages 25-34 today.

HIV Twist To Flea Menace

A crude cure for a burrowing flea has proven tragic for people in the Murang's district of Kenya.

Members of 13 families are reported to have contracted HIV from sharing pins to remove the Chigoe flea which burrow underneath the skin. Officials said a seven year old afflicted with the fleas ended up testing positive for HIV. He has since died. The dead child's mother and another male relative were also diagnosed with HIV.

According to officials of the Ahadi Kenya Trust, an organisation campaigning against jiggers, more than 10 people have died of jigger-related health conditions in the recent past and many others are in hospital. The jigger menace has also led school children to drop out.

To avert more infections, the trust providing each family with a dozen pins, which would be replenished regularly. “We estimate that over 2 million people in Kenya need assistance in relation to jiggers. Currently, we are serving about 100,000,” according to Dr Dawson Mbulamberi. Information courtesy Saturday Nation.

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HIV Rates On The Rise In Idaho

The state of Idaho is reporting an alarming increase of HIV infection with a 23 percent increase from last year.The increased numbers are due mostly to a rise in cases in southeastern, which is reporting 19 new cases of HIV to date, with 11 being reported in the last three weeks.

So far 37 cases have been reported statewide including 13 cases among individuals less than 25 years old. One in four Idaho teenagers has a sexually transmitted disease, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

“HIV infections appear to be on the rise in young people in Idaho,” Dr. Christine Hahn, state epidemiologist, said in a press release. “Some people are putting themselves at risk for a preventable infection which is lifelong and can cause serious illness and death.

Officials attribute the spike in infections to people having anonymous sex with strangers from the internet, drug users sharing needles and gay men having unprotected sex. Source Idaho department of Health.

Global Economic Turmoil Likely To Take Toll on AIDS Research Funding

The global economic turmoil is likely to take its toll on AIDS research funding and add to the problems plaguing the search for a vaccine against the virus, scientists warned Tuesday.

Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it was impossible to predict whether scientists would ever be able to develop an effective vaccine, as they have for other killers such as smallpox and measles.

"Will there be a guarantee that we will get a vaccine in the classical sense? Realistically you can't say that," Fauci said. "But that doesn't mean we are going to give up trying."

Nine hundred experts are attending the international AIDS vaccine conference in Cape Town, at the epicenter of an epidemic that has infected an estimated 33 million people, of whom 5.5 million are in South Africa.

The economic downturn has added to the gloom among experts deeply frustrated by research setbacks. A recent trial showed that one potential vaccine not only failed to prevent infection but appeared to increase the risk of contracting the virus.

Now there is added concern that philanthropic organizations, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who have become major players in health and development projects may cut back on funding.

"It's not good news for research in general and vaccine research in particular," Alan Bernstein, head of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, told the Associated Press.

Fauci said the National Institutes for Health total AIDS budget this year was US$1.5 billion of which US$491 million was dedicated to vaccine research. This was up from US$703 million in 1998, with US$115 million for the vaccine, and US$223 million in 1988, with 22 million allocated to developing a vaccine in an era when scientists were still optimistic about success.

Fauci said while he did not expect the U.S. government to cut its spending on AIDS, "the increases in the budget that we had hoped for will not be forthcoming."

And he said he feared the financial downturn would impact on the "enthusiasm and ability of philanthropic research and development."

Fauci rejected criticism from "naysayers" who argue that too much taxpayer money has been spent on the vaccine.

"If you can prevent infection, you are preventing the need for a lifetime of expensive drugs," he said, referring to antiretroviral therapy that can prolong people's lives many years. "If you look historicially, vaccines have been the most cost effective health interventions in history and continue to be so."

And he said it would be wrong to divert funding from vaccine research into male circumcision which can reduce HIV transmission by up to 60 percent.

Dramatic results from trials into male circumcision prompted the United Nations last year to recommend that government embrace it as part of their AIDS prevention armory. But African countries that are keen to embark on mass male circumcision complain they lack the resources and the medical expertise needed. Funding programs from international donors are still in their infancy. Source Huffington Post

Researchers Seek New Ways To Slow Spread Of HIV

Researchers at Meharry Medical College in Nashville TN are developing a cream that could potentially block the transmission of HIV during sex.The cream could give hope to millions of women who have no way of protecting themselves from HIV transmission.

The vaginal cream, described as a "chemical condom," relies on a sugar found in toothpaste and mouthwash to remove cholesterol the HIV virus needs to spread. The cream is odorless and is designed to be undetectable to a woman's sexual partner."In many parts of the world, women are not in the position to negotiate how sex is practiced," including the use of condoms, Hildreth said. "We have been trying to formulate something transparent to the act of having sex.

Earlier this summer, Dr. James Hildreth traveled to Lusaka, Zambia, to see how women and men reacted to the feel and the smell of the cream. About 1.1 million Zambians, 17 percent of the adult population, were living with HIV in 2005, according to the United Nations. Researchers expected men to reject the cream, but most accepted it. "Even among the most rural of Africans now, the word is starting to get out about what a serious and expansive problem the AIDS pandemic is," Hildreth said.

The research is particularly important to Meharry, one of only four historically black medical institutions in the country, given the disproportionate effect of AIDS on the black U.S. population. Although African-Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 50 percent of AIDS cases in the country. They are particularly concerned about black women, who were diagnosed with AIDS at a rate 23 times higher than that of white women in 2005, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hildreth's cream has already proven effective with monkeys and mice, and he hopes to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration this fall to begin the first trials on people early next year.

Hildreth readily acknowledges that there is a chance that the cream, also known as a microbicide, could fail. But Hildreth is not seeking to totally stop the disease. He's just trying to find a way to slow it down. Source Gannetts News Service.

Today Is National Latino AIDS Awareness Day

October 15th is National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD), which helps to increase awareness of the devastating and disproportionate effects of HIV/AIDS in the Latino community. Started by the Latino Commission on AIDS and the Hispanic Federation, in partnership with a variety of faith and community organizations, this observance day provides Latino communities with an opportunity to encourage HIV prevention, testing and treatment.

HIV affects the health of Latinos in the United States. In 2005, HIV/AIDS was the fourth leading cause of death among Hispanic/Latino men and women aged 35 to 44. National Latino AIDS Awareness Day provides these communities with an opportunity to encourage HIV prevention, testing and treatment.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic is a serious threat to the Hispanic/Latino community. While this community only makes up about 15% of the US population, Hispanics/Latinos accounted for 18% of the HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2006 in 33 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting. Further, there are cultural and behavioral differences within the Hispanic population that can affect prevention planning. For example, HIV transmission categories among Hispanics have been shown to vary by place of birth. During 2001-2005, HIV infection through male-to-male sexual contact was more common among Hispanics born in the United States, South America, Cuba, and Mexico than among Hispanics born in Central America and the Dominican Republic, who had a larger proportion of infections attributed to high-risk heterosexual contact.

Because the US Hispanic/Latino population is expected to triple from 2000 to 2050, HIV/AIDS prevention is an issue that needs to be continually addressed in this population. Taking into account the differing risk behaviors of different subgroups of Hispanics is an important consideration in developing prevention programs. Source CDC.

Unlocking The Bodies Natural Defense Against HIV

Humans have a built-in weapon against HIV, but until recently no one knew how to unlock its potential.

A study published online by the journal Nature reveals the atomic structure of this weapon – an enzyme known as APOBEC-3G – and suggests new directions for drug development.

APOBEC-3G is present in every human cell. It is capable of stopping HIV at the first step of replication, when the retrovirus transcribes its RNA into viral DNA.

The study's authors, led by Xiaojiang Chen of the University of Southern California, were able to show the atomic structure of the active portion of APOBEC-3G.

The discovery suggests how and where the enzyme binds to the viral DNA, mutating and destroying it. "We understand how this enzyme can interact with DNA," said Chen, a professor of molecular and computational biology at USC. "This understanding provides a platform for designing anti-HIV drugs."

If APOBEC-3G works so well, why do people get AIDS? Because the HIV virus has evolved to encode the protein Vif, known as a "virulence factor," that blocks APOBEC-3G. With APOBEC-3G out of the way, the RNA of the HIV virus can be successfully transcribed to viral DNA, an essential step for infection and for producing many more HIV viruses.

Chen said his group's research offers important clues on where Vif binds to APOBEC-3G. The knowledge could be used to design drugs that would prevent Vif from binding and allow APOBEC-3G to do its job, Chen said. That would unlock humans' innate ability to fight HIV.

"We were born with it, and it's there waiting," Chen said.

Adapted from materials provided by University of Southern California, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Study Finds Our Bodies Are Nearly Defenseless To Hiv Infection

Scientists at Duke University Center for HIV/Aids Vaccine and Immunology have concluded that our own immune systems are nearly worthless in fighting off HIV after the virus first enters our bodies.

Using plasma blood samples that were collected every three days- before, during and after the critical period when HIV reaches acute infection. Researchers were able to track the immune response from the moment of infection until several weeks after transmission.

Georgia Tomaras, PhD and the lead author of the study published in the Journal of Virology, says the earliest immune response occurs eight days after the virus reaches measurable levels in plasma. In most infections, the body forms antibody- coated virus particles to ward off infection. However with HIV, this first line attack appears nearly benign in attacking the invading virus.

"We are conducting additional studies to determine if these early antibodies may actually be encouraging viral replication or if they could be useful in greater numbers to stop the infection" says Tomaras.

When the human body does mount a second attack against the HIV virus, weeks have already passed, long after the virus has irreversibly inserted its genetic code into host genes, which triggers the endless replication of the virus.

Understanding the time frame in which the right kind of immune response might have a chance to be effective in thwarting HIV infection is critical to designing an effective vaccine strategy, says Tomaras. "Most researchers now believe that the window of opportunity for an HIV vaccine to work is very narrow, and we are concerned that this window may close within a few days after transmission"

The study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Information courtesy Webwire.

My Personal Opinion

An Indian doctor is claiming that deep kissing is capable of spreading the HIV virus.

Dr. Manohar Bhandari is alleging that the Indian government was not focusing enough on other sources of HIV infection, which include deep kissing as 'highlighted by some researchers', This despite evidence by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta that there is little to no chance of contracting the virus via kissing, unless bleeding and open wounds were present. Even then, the risk has been blown out of proportion by Dr. Bhandari.

It's sad that in this electronic age there is still such a level of ignorance about HIV, especially among Doctors and radio personalities.

HIV + People Find Love On The Internet

Widowed at 30, HIV positive Chhaya Tope of India had resigned herself to a life of loneliness, but a website for HIV positive people has given her another chance at love.Tope lost her husband to AIDS. Six months ago, desperation drove her to post her profile on www.positivesaathi.com, and she has since been in regular contact with an HIV positive Indian man living in Canada, and they plan on getting married next month.

“When I got to know that my husband had transmitted the disease to me I was angry and bitter. I thought my life was over and even attempted suicide,” Tope said.

“But my fiance is such a caring person. Since he is HIV positive himself he understands my situation. We are getting married next month, thanks to the website that made it possible.”

Since its launch in 2007, around 460 men and women have registered their profiles on the site, and several have found partners who are willing to settle down with them.The website’s founder, Government employee Anil Kumar Valiv, said he had no way of knowing how many marriages his service had created, but added that he was happy to help HIV/AIDS sufferers, who are stigmatised in society.

Valiv said before he started positivesaathi.com, no other mainstream matrimonial website catered exclusively to HIV positive people. Prominent marriage portals such as www.bharatmatrimony.com and www.jeevansaathi.com said they did not have a separate search criteria for people living with HIV/AIDS. Valiv lost a close friend to AIDS and it was this friend’s desire for a relatively normal life that inspired the website.

“In India it is very difficult to find a life partner for an HIV positive person. Internet provides the necessary anonymity to people who prefer to register without disclosing their real names,” he said.

India is home to the world’s third largest caseload of HIV/AIDS, and the eagerness of the website’s users for a chance at normality shows in their profile descriptions. Female registration is low — for every 100 male entries, there are only about 10 female entries..
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The site also hosts basic information about HIV/AIDS. Courtesy ExpressBuzz of India

Disappointing News In Bid To Stop HIV Transmission

Disappointing news from an analysis of data regarding male circumcision and HIV transmission.

After the analysis of data on men who have sex with men, researchers at the Center For Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta have concluded that circumcision does not appear to slow down or stop the rate of HIV infection.

This is in stark contrast to studies of heterosexual men in Africa, where it has been proven that circumcision can cut the rate of female to male HIV transmission by up to 60 percent.

However, there was evidence that circumcision may have had a protective effect in studies carried out before the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 1996.

The researchers said one possible explanation was that the advent of these more effective HIV drugs had encouraged higher levels of risk taking sexual behavior, wiping out any marginal protective effect from circumcision.

Alternatively, the drugs may have helped lower the risk of transmission to the point where circumcision had no further benefit.

A third possibility is that there may have been a smaller proportion of men in the pre-HAART trials who primarily engaged in receptive anal sex, which carries the greatest risk for HIV infection among gay men.

The study analyzed data on 53, 567 men. Of those men, 52 percent were circumcised.

The Journal of the American Medical Association study stressed more work was needed to draw firm conclusions. Information source BBC.

Nobel Awards Reopens HIV Discovery Dispute

The award of the Nobel prize for medicine Monday reopened a 25-year-old controversy over the discovery of HIV by neglecting an American researcher who played a significant role in the early scientific work on Aids.

The prizes can be awarded to a maximum of three people and cannot be given posthumously, but the Nobel committee chose to reward two of the early HIV discoverers and a third scientist who worked on a separate disease.

Half of the prize fund - 10m Swedish kronor or around $1.4 million USD - will be shared between Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Professor Luc Montagnier, two French scientists who discovered HIV.

The issue of who discovered HIV became a bitter dispute in the mid-1980s when it became clear there would be huge revenues from diagnostic tests derived from the discovery. Another scientist, Professor Robert Gallo at the University of the Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, also claimed rights to the discovery.

There was an acrimonious dispute over patent ownership which culminated in an out of court settlement and a joint statement by then US president Ronald Reagan and French president Jacques Chirac in which both sides agreed to split the proceeds evenly.

The chair of the Nobel committee, Professor Bertil Fredholm, dismissed suggestions that Gallo deserved an equal stake. "I think it is really well established that the initial discovery of the virus was in the Institut Pasteur," he said.

Gallo told the Associated Press that not being included was "a disappointment", but he added that all three winners of the award deserved the honour.

The prizes, which were endowed by Alfred Nobel, the Swedish armaments manufacturer and inventor of dynamite, have been awarded since 1901. Courtesy Guardian Uk.

UN Reports Contraceptive Donations Down Worldwide

Donor contributions for contraceptives and condoms for HIV prevention amounted to $223 million in 2007—a mere 5 per cent increase over the 2006 total of $212 million, according to a report from the United Nations Population Fund. This is despite a growing unmet need for such supplies, as more couples use modern methods of contraception and world population continues to increase. The report shows that funding for these supplies has virtually stagnated since 2001, when it peaked at $224 million.

According to the United Nations, globally some 200 million women have an unmet need for effective family planning. Furthermore, the number of contraceptive users is projected to rise by over 25 per cent between 2000 and 2015. Without concerted national and international efforts millions may not be able to exercise their reproductive health choices.

The analysis shows a sixfold increase in donor investments in the female condom, from nearly $2 million in 2001 to almost $13 million in 2007. In addition, 85 per cent of donor support in 2007 was allocated to three types of supplies: male condoms, oral contraceptives and injectables.

Sub-Saharan Africa received 60 per cent of the total 2007 support for contraceptives and condoms for HIV prevention —up from less than 50 per cent in 2006—followed by Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean, and the Arab States and Eastern Europe, respectively.

The availability of free condoms worldwide, especially in developing countries, is crucial as condoms are the only proven way to prevent HIV infection, not counting abstinence. Ironically, free condoms may be more prevalent in the United States, where most users can more easily afford them. Information courtesy United Nations. Additional information provided by author.

HIV + Canadian Facing Trial For Murder By HIV

Jury selection begins today in the long-awaited trial of an Ontario, Canada man accused of fatally infecting two of his sexual partners with the virus that causes AIDS.

Johnson Aziga, 52, is the first person in Canada to be prosecuted for murder in an HIV infection case for allegedly having unprotected sex without disclosing his health status to partners.

He faces two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of two Toronto women who died in 2003 and 2004 of complications from HIV. Aziga is also charged with 11 counts of aggravated sexual assault for allegedly endangering the lives of 11 female sexual partners.

The trial, which is scheduled to run six to eight weeks in Hamilton, will include more than 40 witnesses for the government, including doctors specializing in HIV, public health officials, forensic analysts, and alleged victims.

A first-degree murder conviction would trigger an automatic life sentence with a minimum of 25 years behind bars. A conviction on a count of aggravated sexual assault carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Jury selection is expected to take several days. Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Oct. 20. Courtesy Calgary Herald.

CDC Report: HIV Infected Americans Living Longer

The number of people infected with the AIDS virus, HIV, increased 11 percent in the U.S. from 2003 to 2006 as better treatments have prolonged their lives, according to a study released my the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The HIV-infected population rose to 1.1 million in 2006 from an estimated 994,000 in 2003.

Since combinations of powerful drugs were introduced in 1996, the average life expectancy of 20-year-old HIV patients has risen about 13 years, scientists said in the medical journal Lancet in July. The estimate also reflects CDC's recent study that raised its count of annual new infections by about 40 percent to more than 56,000, the Atlanta-based agency said.

Blacks were the hardest hit racial group, accounting for about 46 percent of cases in 2006. About 1.7 percent of U.S. blacks are infected, compared with 0.6 percent of Hispanics and 0.2 percent of whites.

The agency has pushed HIV testing to encourage infected people to begin life-saving treatment programs and make them aware of the risk of spreading the infection. About half of new infections originate from people who have the virus and don't know it, according to the CDC.

About half of all patients were men having sex with men, or MSM, the study said. About 18 percent of people contracted the virus by injecting drugs with contaminated needles.

About 33 million people are infected with HIV worldwide with 2.7 million new infections last year, according to a July 29 report by UNAIDS, the New York-based agency that coordinates the United Nations response to the disease. The number of deaths dropped about 10 percent to 2 million in 2007 because of increased availability of drugs, the report said. Source Bloomberg news and CDC.

Colonial Clue To The Rise Of HIV

A study published in the journal Nature, suggests that the formation of cities in sub-Saharan Africa at the dawn of the 20th Century may have sparked the spread of HIV. Aids, the illness caused by HIV was first reported by doctors in 1981, but a new study suggests the virus may have crossed from apes into humans between 1884 and 1924.

Research published last year found the viral ancestor of a subtype of HIV responsible for most modern cases in the US and Europe in a blood sample taken in Leopoldville, the capital of Belgian Congo - now Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1959. Now the same team, from the University of Arizona at Tucson, has found another sample containing a different subtype in a 1960 sample from a different patient in the same city.

By analyzing the genetic differences between the two viruses, and calculating the amount of time these differences would take to evolve, they now say that the two probably have a common ancestor dating from at least 50 years earlier. Dr Michael Worobey, who led the research, said: "Now, for the first time, we have been able to compare two relatively ancient HIV strains."That helped us to calibrate how quickly the virus evolved and make some really robust inferences about when it crossed into humans, how the epidemic grew from that time, and what factors allowed the virus to enter and become a successful human pathogen."

HIV was and remains a "relatively poorly transmitted" virus, he said, so the key to the success of the virus was possibly the development of cities such as Leopoldville in the early 1900s.The large numbers of people living in close proximity would have allowed more opportunity for new infections. "I think the picture that has emerged here, is that changes the human population experienced may have opened to the door to the spread of HIV," he said.

HIV is not a single virus - there are a number of different strains and subtypes of strains, some sharing the same "founder event" in history, in which a single human was infected. Scientists believe that these "founder events" may have involved eating monkeys infected with a similar virus.

Professor Paul Clark, a researcher into evolutionary history at the University of Edinburgh, said that while the finding was mainly of "historical interest", it might provide more clues about how the virus changed over time. He suggested that it was likely that all of the early cases of "group M" HIV-1 - the strain causing 19 out of 20 modern infections - happened in the Leopoldville area. He said: "We can now paint a remarkably detailed picture of the time and place of origin of HIV-1 group M viruses and their early diversification, and thus of the prehistory of the AIDS pandemic." Source BBC news.

Unlocking The Key To The Cure For HIV

University of Michigan scientists have provided the most detailed picture yet of a key HIV accessory protein that foils the body’s normal immune response. Based on the findings the team is searching for new drugs that may someday allow infected people to be cured and no longer need today’s AIDS drugs for a lifetime.

“There’s a big hole in current therapies, in that all of them prevent new infection, but none attack the cells that are already infected and hidden from the immune response,” says Kathleen L. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., the studies senior author.

In people infected with HIV, there’s an unsolved problem with current anti-viral drugs. Though life-saving, they cannot root the virus out of the body. Infected cells are able to live on, undetected by the immune system, and provide the machinery for the virus to reproduce and spread. If we can develop drugs that seek out and eradicate the remaining factories for the virus, then maybe we could eradicate the disease in that person,” Collins says.

The new research details the complex actions of a protein, HIV-1 Nef, that is known to keep immune system cells from doing their normal jobs of detecting and killing infected cells.
Collins and her team show how Nef disables two key immune system players inside an infected cell. These molecules are called MHC-1 protein and CD4, the cell-surface receptor that normally locks onto a virus and allows it to enter the cell.

Collins likens MHC-1 to motion detectors on a house, which send the first signal to a monitoring station if an invader breaks in. “The immune system, especially the cytotoxic T lymphocytes, are like the monitors who get the signal that there’s a foreign invader inside the cell, and send out police cars,” she says. “The ‘police’ are toxic chemicals produced by T lymphocyte cells, which kill the cell that harbors the invader.”

By in effect pushing the MHC-I proteins into an infected cell’s “trash bin” so they fail to alert the T lymphocytes, Nef’s actions allow active virus to hide undetected and reproduce. Also, once a cell has been infected, Nef destroys CD4. The result is that this encourages new virus to spread to uninfected cells.

Nef’s activities are variable and complex. But the research team’s findings suggest that the many pathways involved may end in a final common step. That could make it possible to find a drug that could block several Nef functions.

Collins’ lab is now screening drug candidates to find promising Nef inhibitors. Such drugs, which are at least 10 years away from use in people, would supplement, not replace, existing anti-viral drugs given to HIV-infected people. The new drugs would target the reservoirs where the virus hides, which has been shown by research to be the best method to eradicate the virus.

In developing countries, the new drugs could have a huge impact, Collins says. Today, children born with HIV infection start taking the existing anti-HIV drugs at birth. It’s very hard to continue costly treatments for a lifetime. But if children could be cured within a few years, global HIV treatment efforts could spread their dollars further and be much more successful, she says. Source University Of Michigan Health System Newsroom.

New Bill Makes California First In Nation To Require Coverage For HIV Screening

California is now the first state in the nation to require every health care service plan and health insurer to provide coverage for HIV testing, regardless of whether the testing is related to a primary diagnosis. California now becomes the first state to provide routine HIV screening to all patients whether they are showing symptoms or not.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the landmark legislation on Tuesday.

The Governor noted that preventing the spread of the infection made for a healthier California, and the cost-effectiveness of providing coverage for testing compared to the cost of lifelong treatment for someone who contracts the virus from someone who does not know their status.

According to the California Office of AIDS, approximately 40,000 people in California who are infected with HIV are unaware they have the disease. The lack of routine HIV screening results in a lack of treatment to tens of thousands of people who need it, and puts many more people at risk of infection.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta has also reported that only 40 percent of the U.S. population had ever received an HIV test, and that at least a quarter of the estimated one million people in the U.S. living with the virus are unaware of their HIV-positive status. The CDC recommends that 'opt-out' HIV screening become a part of routine clinical care in all health care settings for every person ages 13 to 65.

Ironically, funding for HIV education and prevention programs in California were cut by $7 million in the most recent budget signed by the California legislator and signed by the governor on Tuesday.

Positive News For Patients With Highly Resistant HIV Infections

Advances in antiretroviral therapy have prolonged the lives of many patients with human immunodeficiency virus, transforming the disease from fatal to chronic. But a sizeable number of HIV patients are developing or acquiring highly drug-resistant HIV. But a study led by Roy T. Steigbigel, M.D. - a professor at Stony Brook University Medical Center found that Isentress, when combined with other anti-HIV medications, demonstrated superior suppression of HIV-1 in patients with highly resistant virus compared with placebos.

"This is important because people who have been infected with HIV for a fair amount of time have no control anymore of their bodies and they can get very sick and die...(Isentress) allows patients to get some control for a period of time," Steigbigel said. Isentress is a type of medicine called an integrase inhibitor. Integrase is a protein that HIV needs to insert its viral genetic material into the infected cell, and the inhibitors work by blocking the integrase.

In most patients with highly drug-resistant HIV, the resistance develops from years of using HIV medications and the resulting mutation of the virus. Even people who are newly infected can be infected by a drug resistant strain of HIV, rendering useless many of the front line drug therapies.

In the study, patients who received Isentress had higher rate of virologic suppression than those who received the placebo, and the overall suppression rates of viral suppression are among the highest reported for those infected with highly resistant HIV. "The breakthrough is that the drug acts on new targets," Steigbigel said. Targets are the part of the virus where it replicates itself, resulting in higher chances of replications.

Steigbigel's study evaluated the activity of Isentress among 699 patients infected with HIV. Only patients with severely drug resistant HIV, or those documented with three classes of HIV drugs, were eligible for the study. According to the study, Isentress worked best when combined with two other HIV drugs. Steigbigel also noted that the multi drug therapy helped the immune system to rebound in some patients, with increases in CD4 counts as compared to the placebo group.

However resistance to Isentress requires only a single point of mutation, and among the 94 subjects in the study who experienced drug resistance during the study, about two thirds showed resistance by week 48. As with any HIV medication, Irregular use of the medication can quickly result in resistant strains of HIV, with resistance occuring as quickly as "months.", according to Dr. Steigbigel.

Isentress, a product of Merck and Co. was approved for clinical use on October 12, 2007 by the FDA. Courtesy The Statesman newspaper of Stony Brook University.