A polio vaccine using tissue from primates could have been behind the leap made by the human immunodeficiency virus - HIV - from apes and moneys to humans, a new book claims.
BBC News - Friday, June 11, 1999 BBC Washington Correspondent Philippa Thomas
Just because you are drawing a pension does not mean you are free from the threat of Aids. The over-50s, who account for one in 10 Aids cases in the US, are the latest focus of HIV prevention campaigns in the States.
A team of experts in HIV and antenatal medicine has called for an urgent debate on mandatory testing for mothers-to-be. A report, published in the Royal Society of Medicine Journal, says low uptake of HIV testing in pregnancy in the UK has created a largely avoidable 'legacy' of infected children.
BBC News - Monday, June 7, 1999 East Africa Correspondent Cathy Jenkins
Millicent Akinyi Dula lives in Asembo Bay, a small fishing community on the shores of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya. She is a member of the third largest tribe in the country, the Luo, which is known for strong customs including polygamy and lavish burial ceremonies.
BBC News - Monday, June 7, 1999 Environment Correspondent Alex Kirby
Tackling HIV will be the most urgent task facing President-elect Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, according to a respected US conservation group. The group, the Worldwatch Institute of Washington DC, says South Africa's HIV epidemic is one of the world's fastest-growing, and is 'engulfing' the country.
A new easier-to-take Aids drug which has been hailed as "a major advance in the treatment of HIV infection" has been granted a licence for sale in the European Union. Efavirenz, marketed as SUSTIVA by DuPont Pharmaceuticals, only needs to be taken once a day and is taken in combination with other HIV drugs.
A further 30 people, including a former health minister, could be put on trial over a continuing French scandal in which HIV-infected blood was used in medical treatment. A judge will determine whether the trials will start within the next two years.
British teenagers have the worst sexual health in western Europe and the situation is worsening, says a study. The Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) says figures for England and Wales show that sexual health among teenagers was improving in the early 1990s.
Aids is now the leading cause of death in Africa, overtaking malaria as the continent's main killer disease, the United Nations has said. It said the epidemic was responsible for one in five of all deaths in Africa last year.
HIV organisations in Manchester say they are facing an uncertain future because the local health authority will not allocate them funding. Manchester has the second largest HIV positive population in the country.
Young boys are being targeted by a sex education campaign which aims to increase safe use of condoms. Brook Advisory Centres is launching its Roll With It leaflet on Monday as part of National Condom Week.
A controversial approach to reducing the spread of intravenous drug abuse is still on trial. Corinne Podger, of BBC Science, reports on the progress of the 'harm reduction' programme. Anti-drug campaigns are being run all over the world, but the message is not getting through.
Demonstrators in Johannesburg are demanding access to the latest treatment for pregnant women infected with HIV - the AIDS virus. The hard-pressed South African Health Ministry say they cannot afford the drug AZT, even though the makers of the drug, Glaxo Wellcome, are reported to have offered them a substantial discount.
A "safe" HIV vaccine has been successfully tested, in what researchers say is a major breakthrough in the fight against the virus. The new vaccine uses harmless fragments of HIV and protected monkeys from extremely virulent strains of the virus.
BBC News - Wednesday, April 21, 1999 Greg Barrow in Johannesburg
Aids groups in South Africa have welcomed a decision by a top-ranking judge to reveal that he is HIV positive. Judge Edwin Cameron disclosed that he had the virus which leads to Aids during a hearing for a position on South Africa's constitutional court.
Anabolic steroids can improve the quality of life of kidney dialysis patients and people with HIV, according to two new studies. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports two research projects into anabolic steroids and secondary wasting conditions.
Thousands of adults are still having unsafe sex and have not changed their lifestyle because of Aids, according to a MORI poll. This is despite the fact that new HIV infections reached their highest annual toll in 1998.
The government has announced a £75,000 initiative to help Africans with HIV who live in England. Heterosexually infected Africans are the second largest group affected by HIV in the country, according to the National Aids Trust.
A health authority is considering sharply reducing its social care budget for people with HIV unless the government changes its formula for allocating money for Aids. Manchester health authority says it is £1.5m short on its overall Aids budget for 1999/2000.
The first participants of the biggest Aids vaccine trial to be undertaken in a developing country have received their initial injections. The Thai participants, the first of an expected 2,500 people to join the programme, received the jabs at a Bangkok medical centre on Wednesday.
People infected with HIV could benefit by taking holidays from their medication, it has been claimed. Cocktails of anti-HIV drugs have become the norm to suppress the virus in developed countries.
Russia stands on the brink of an Aids epidemic, according to new figures released by a British Aids charity. As many as 800,000 people could be infected with the HIV virus by the end of this year, says the London-based charity, Body Positive, which is working with Aids education groups in Russia.
The medicinal use of cannabis has been backed by a US government-commissioned report. It says that for some seriously ill people, the benefits outweigh its disadvantages.
Pressure is likely to build on the United States Congress to allow cannabis to be used for medical purposes, following the publication of a government-commissioned report backing such treatment.
The National Aids Trust has warned that people in the UK are becoming complacent about the dangers of HIV and Aids. The number of new cases per year have reached a "plateau", but organisations that work with the disease are concerned because numbers of fresh infections should be falling.
Schoolchildren in Britain have an alarming lack of knowledge about sex, according to a new survey. More than a quarter of pupils in the 14-16 age group believe taking the Pill will protect them from sexually transmitted diseases, while around the same number think that having a steady partner will do so.
Aids is the biggest threat to the health of young and middle-aged black Americans. But they are more likely to be diagnosed later than whites, receive worse care and die earlier.
BBC News - Friday, February 26, 1999 Paris Correspondent Kevin Connolly
The trial of three French politicians facing manslaughter charges arising from a scandal over HIV contaminated blood transfusions more than 10 years ago, has come to an end.
A key witness has refused to testify in the trial of three leading French politicians accused of the manslaughter of seven people who contracted Aids in the 1980s.
A former French Prime Minister and two of his fellow ministers have gone on trial accused of the manslaughter of five people who died after receiving transfusions of tainted blood.
Scientists believe that HIV, the virus that causes Aids, may be a useful tool in the emerging technology of gene therapy. This type of medicine aims to cure disease by fixing or replacing faulty genes.
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.