The AIDS Awareness Blog

February 2008

Here's Gov. Eliot Spitzer explaining after this moring's ABNY breakfast that his "budget for one New York" unity message isn't an attempt to undercut the Senate GOP's argument that upstate will be ill-served if the Democrats take control of the chamber because it will be dominated by downstate interests. Spitzer insists this all-for-one theme is nothing new, and said he's been talking about since his "very first moment as governor," adding: "I've said to the public, 'We need to view this as one entity, one family...This is all of us together." .

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No impact on HIV employees if CL withdrawn : Labour Ministry

The Social Security Office pays for their treatment and drugs," Uraiwan said. The Public Health Ministry is currently reviewing the compulsory licensing of several lifesaving drugs for HIV/Aids and cancer that was enforced by the previous government in order to make affordable, generic versions available. According to Uraiwan, about 15,000 employees covered by the social security scheme are living with HIV/Aids. They make up just 3 per cent of the 500,000 HIV/Aids patients in the country. SSO secretarygeneral Surin Jirawisit said his office spent Bt625 million on treatment for HIVinfected employees last year. The social security scheme covers 9 million employees. Uraiwan and Surin were attending a ceremony at the Labour Ministry to extend a project on prevention and management of HIV/Aids and tuberculosis in the workplace.

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SSO 'pays for HIV patients'

"The Social Security Office pays for their treatment and drugs," Uraiwan said. The Public Health Ministry is currently reviewing the compulsory licensing of several life-saving drugs for HIV/Aids and cancer that was enforced by the previous government in order to make affordable, generic versions available. According to Uraiwan, about 15,000 employees covered by the social security scheme are living with HIV/Aids. They make up just 3 per cent of the 500,000 HIV/Aids patients in the country. SSO secretary-general Surin Jirawisit said his office spent Bt625 million on treatment for HIV-infected employees last year. The social security scheme covers 9 million employees. Uraiwan and Surin were attending a ceremony at the Labour Ministry to extend a project on prevention and management of HIV/Aids and tuberculosis in the workplace.

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Scientists find gene that can block some forms of HIV

OTTAWA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Canadian researchers have discovered a gene that can block certain forms of HIV and may perhaps one day be used to prevent the onset of AIDS. Scientists from the University of Alberta identified a human gene called TRIM22 that can block HIV infection by preventing the virus from replicating. When researchers prevented human cells from turning on TRIM22, the natural defense system generated by the body when a foreign invader attacks, the cells could not protect themselves against HIV. "This means that TRIM22 is an essential part of our body's ability to fight off HIV," Dr. Stephen Barr, a researcher in the department of medical microbiology and immunology at the University of Alberta, said in a release issued Thursday.

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Anti-HIV gel, a gleam of hope of women

BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- A vaginal microbicide gel, which keeps HIV from replicating, is safe for HIV-negative women to use every day, a six-month study has shown as quoted by media reports Thursday. The study, involving 200 sexually active HIV-negative women, looked at whether women were able to adhere to a regimen of either daily or sex-dependent use of the gel. Both regimens proved equally safe, and women's adherence to each regimen was similar. Notably, none of the women who used the new gel got HIV during the study period. The results are an advance in efforts to use microbicides to prevent HIV infection in women, the researchers said. "Finding that daily use is both safe and feasible is important, because we believe a daily approach may provide more sustainable protection against the virus in women who can't always predict when they will have sex," study leader Sharon L.

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Anti-HIV gel proven safe, tolerable for women

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A gel using anti-HIV drug tenofovir to shield women from AIDS has been proven safe for daily use and acceptable to women, study findings showed Tuesday. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the University of Pittsburgh to test the gel's safety, involved 200 sexually active HIV-negative women aging from 19 to 50, of whom 64 percent were married. "The gel is safe to use, and well tolerated by HIV-negative women. That's a key message in our findings," said Craig Hoesley, one of the authors of the Phase II trial report. "This sets the stage for larger studies to see if tenofovir can prevent HIV infection." Tenofovir, the active ingredient in the gel, is an antiviral drug called nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor, which acts against HIV by blocking the virus' ability to replicate and grow inside the body.

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HIV/AIDS Patients Protest in Cameroon

People living with HIV/AIDS in Cameroon are against what they describe as government's U-turn on the cost of biological treatment for the disease. Although a decision was made in 2006 to lower the cost from 21 to 3 CFA francs, implementation of the pricing became difficult because funds were not available to continue subsidizing the tests. Irritated by this U-turn people living with the disease demonstrated last week outside the building that houses the national committee for the fight against AIDS. They called for the reinstatement of the lower cost biological tests, arguing that the former minister of public health even promised to further reduce the amount to 1 CFA franc by April of this year. .

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Illinois Lottery Launches Game To Fund HIV/AIDS Awareness, Prevention

The Illinois Lottery on Friday launched a game that will raise money for HIV/AIDS prevention and education programs in the state, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The game, called Red Ribbon Cash, will sell two-dollar tickets and have four top prizes of $20,000. A spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Revenue on Tuesday said the lottery hopes ticket sales will raise $3 million annually, which is the amount a ticket benefiting breast cancer research raised in 2006. According to the Post-Dispatch, all the proceeds will go to support HIV/AIDS programs in the state. Grants will be distributed by the Illinois Department of Public Health. It is not known when enough money will be generated to start awarding grants, the Post-Dispatch reports. Angele Barnes -- executive director of Bethany Place, a not-for-profit HIV/AIDS education and treatment facility in Belleville, Ill.

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Health Notes

Lunch & Learn sessions are offered from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, and March 27 and April 24. Rebecca Peacock, patient navigator for the American Cancer Society, will discuss finding information and resources after a diagnosis of cancer on Thursday. On March 27, Karen Ricagano and Michael Coleman will teach "Laughter Yoga" to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, boost the immune system and help with pain and depression. On April 24, Anne Becker will present an introduction to her workshop, "Writing the Body," for people affected by life-threatening illness - either as patients or caregivers. Admission is free, but registration is required. A new art workshop, "Color My World," offers a chance to play with paints, brushes, papers and pencil to explore color, from 9 a.m. to noon April 5.

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HIV by the numbers

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2005 studies (some of the most recent available) found that more than two-thirds (68 percent) of all men living with HIV were men who have sex with men (MSM), "even though only about five percent to seven percent of men in the United States reported having sex with other men." The CDC says that "HIV/AIDS continues to take a high toll on the MSM population. For example, the number of new HIV/AIDS cases among MSM in 2005 was 11 percent more than the number of cases in 2001. It is unclear whether this increase is due to more testing, which results in more diagnoses, or to an increase in the number of HIV infections. Whatever the reasons, in 2005, MSM still accounted for about 53 percent of all new HIV/AIDS cases and 71 percent of cases in male adults and adolescents." The CDC also reports that "since the beginning of the epidemic, an estimated 517,992 MSM … had received a diagnosis of AIDS, accounting for 68 percent of male adults and adolescents who received a diagnosis of AIDS and 54 percent of all people who received a diagnosis of AIDS." Risks also remain high for those MSM living in urban areas and for youth.

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