AUSTIN, Texas - A Swiss drug firm that pleaded guilty to deceptive marketing of an AIDS drug has been fined and barred from U.S. healthcare programs. Geneva-based Serono Laboratories made Serostim, a once-popular anti-wasting drug sold to doctors treating AIDS patients. But as demand for Serostim fell, the firm promote
CHICAGO - Starting in January, Illinois will track HIV-infected people who go to a doctor or hospital for care by name rather than anonymous codes, a report said. While people still will be able to get tested for HIV anonymously, doctors and hospitals must report names of HIV-infected people who seek treatment to local
TRIPOLI, Libya , Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Libya s Supreme Court has ordered new trials for six condemned heathcare workers convicted of infecting children with HIV. The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were convicted of infecting 426 children with HIV in Benghazi, Libya, and sentenced to death by firing squad in
ST. LOUIS, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- St. Louis scientists say they ve determined how HIV invades healthy cells -- and that could lead to improved drug therapies to fight the deadly disease. The researchers at the Saint Louis University Institute for Molecular Virology demonstrated the molecular mechanism by which the HIV virus
WASHINGTON - With polio soon likely to become the second disease to be eradicated, researchers are trying to ensure it will not reappear. Two studies in The Journal of Infectious Diseases look at virus shedding in the stool in people infected with AIDS and at the use of vaccines with killed virus. Virus shedding could
LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- The rapid oral HIV test will no longer be used by the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center because it says the test produces too many false positives. The Los Angeles center found 13 people in November had tested positive for HIV from the oral swab test, but further tests showed they were not infecte
NEW HAVEN, Conn., Dec. 12 (UPI) -- A Yale University study suggests there may be a relationship between incarceration and race disparities in American HIV rates. Led by Kim Blankenship, associate research scientist, the investigators reviewed existing studies and secondary data on trends of incarceration rates and HIV
SAN FRANCISCO - University of California-San Francisco scientists have discovered how the human immunodeficiency virus can be kept dormant and hidden in immune cells. The findings suggest new potential therapeutic approaches for viral eradication from infected patients, lead author Dr. Warner Greene, professor of medic
LOS ANGELES - Immune response to HIV varies even in identical twins, a new study shows. The research, conducted at the AIDS Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles, explains in part why an HIV vaccine is so hard to develop. Researchers found that the immune systems in two HIV-positive identical twins r
LOS ANGELES - Scientists in California have found that identical twins infected with AIDS shortly after birth have a different immune responses. The brothers received blood transfusions from the same donor in 1983. They continued to live in Los Angeles and were subjected to the same environmental factors. In spite of h
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (UPI) -- Haiti patients with HIV who received anti-retroviral therapy had a one-year survival rate triple the regular 30 percent one-year survival rate. The study -- authored by researchers of Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York and the GHESKIO Center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti -
BEIJING (UPI) -- China will begin clinical trials of its first AIDS drug after it was approved by the state Food and Drug Administration. The official Xinhua news agency reports the Academy of Military Medical Science will begin production of the drug IBE-5. He Fuchu, vice president of the academy, said the drug has ha
GENEVA (UPI) -- The 18th annual World Aids Day was observed Thursday around the theme Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise. One of the most dramatic efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS was announced in the South African nation of Lesotho , which said it will launch the world s first plan to have every person in the country kn
The AIDS epidemic officially turns 25 next year, counting from the first report from the Centers for Disease Control in June 1981. On this World AIDS Day it s worth taking a moment to reflect on how the epidemic has changed since those early deaths of gay men in New York and Los Angeles. -- A column in Thursday s Chica
TRIPOLI, Libya (UPI) -- Hundreds of Libyan children staged a sit-in at Tripoli s airport on International AIDS Day Thursday to protest their peers being infected with the HIV virus. The children distributed badges and stickers to travelers as they brandished placards demanding capital punishment for Bulgarian nurses co
BEIJING, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Since admitting to the serious problem two years ago, China is discussing openly about the need to check the spread of AIDS and HIV in the country. Among the efforts is a docudrama on HIV/AIDS, inspired by real stories of people living with the disease, which is receiving much public attention
GURGAON, India , Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Ranbaxy said Wednesday it would launch two HIV drug combination products in India Thursday to mark World AIDS day. The products -- Virolis-E and Virocomb-E -- provide highly active anti-retroviral therapy in daily use packs. Brian Tempest, Ranbaxy s CEO and managing director, said the
LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- Circumcision, once a routine procedure for newborn boys, is falling out of favor in the United States . In recent years, many doctors and medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have stopped recommending routine circumcisions because they believed there wasn t enough evidence
MOSCOW (UPI) -- Russian health officials say that a beauty contest for young HIV-positive women will help change attitudes about AIDS. The Miss Positive-2005 contest is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 1, which happens to be World AIDS Day, Mosnews reported. With this small action we are trying to change the general public
MASERU, Lesotho (UPI) -- Lesotho, a small poor African country with the world s third-highest rate of HIV infection, plans to offer universal testing for the virus. King Letsie III is expected to become the world s first monarch to get HIV testing publicly in order to reduce any perceived stigma, the Times of London re
TORONTO (UPI) -- A Canadian AIDS activist says that the AIDS Committee of Toronto s new safe-sex campaign actually encourages risky behavior. Richard Churchill resigned from the organization s board, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported. He cited tours of bathhouses during last year s SEXploration Week and a deck of car
LAKE FOREST - Dr. Rick Warren and his wife Kay, who pastor the Saddleback Church, will host the first annual Disturbing Voices Conference on HIV/AIDS at Saddleback Valley Community Church November 28-29, and concluding Thursday, December 1, which is World AIDS Day. The conference will culminate in a headliner concert f
PITTSBURGH, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- A team of Pittsburgh scientists say the development of effective vaccines for people with compromised immune systems may be feasible. The researchers say they ve developed an approach that protects against pneumocystis pneumonia in mice lacking the same population of immune cells that HIV d
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- A health-advocacy group Wednesday accused the Bush administration of hindering an anti-AIDS effort in Africa. The Center for Health and Gender Equity, a Washington-based health-policy advocacy group, said in a statement that on the eve of World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, the administration has imposed a glob
UNITED NATIONS (UPI) -- Adult HIV/AIDS infection rates are declining in some countries, but the overall global trend for disease transmission is increasing, according to the latest Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and World Health Organization annual report. AIDS Epidemic Update: December 2005, released in G
WASHINGTON - GlaxoSmithKline said Friday it has received approval for updated labeling for its HIV protease inhibitor Lexiva. Glaxo and its partner Vertex Pharmaceuticals said the Food and Drug Administration has approved GSK s application to add to Lexiva s prescribing data that simultaneous administration of the HIV
DUBLIN, Ireland - Abbott said Friday that a seven-year study of its HIV drug Kaletra showed undetectable viral loads in patients. The Phase 2 study -- which Abbott said is the longest ever for an HIV therapy -- showed that Kaletra, taken with other antiretroviral a
NEW YORK - Indications that avian influenza may soon take root in Africa are of grave concern to health experts. East Africa is a key point along the migratory routes of many wild birds, and it is only a matter of time before outbreaks occur on the continent, said participants at a flu conference in New York. In additi
NEW YORK - A U.S. doctor is concerned bird flu could easily adapt to human transmission once it reaches large populations of people with AIDS, such as Africa. Speaking at a New York conference, Dr. Robert Webster of St. Jude Children s Research Hospital in Memphis said because those with the HIV virus have depressed im
LONDON (UPI) -- The British clinic that initially told a man his body had rid itself of HIV now says the man did not have the virus in the first place. It is probably there was never any evidence of him having the HIV virus, the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust admitted. We don t know exactly what happened. The clini
MOSCOW - A Muscovite arrested for raping two women may also be charged with infecting his victims with the human immunodeficiency virus. Sergei Paladyev, who has been HIV-positive since 1999, will be given the additional charge if either or both of his victims tests positive for HIV, The Moscow Times reported Wednesday
BOSTON (UPI) -- The Massachusetts House has passed a bill that would allow the over-the-counter sale of hypodermic needles. Backers of the measure say it will help stop the spread of the HIV virus and other diseases by drug users sharing needles, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday. Critics say the measure encourages dru
NEW YORK - Nearly 1,000 celebrity items are going to be sold to benefit LIFEbeat, which provides AIDS information to young people. The eBay auction, called BID 2 BEAT AIDS, will feature the original artwork from a Joni Mitchell album, a 2006 Vespa signed by Kanye West and others and signed scripts from The Simpsons an
GUANGZHOU, China - China s southern province of Guangdong has said it will build two prisons especially for inmates with HIV/AIDS, China Daily reported Monday. Provincial authorities made the decision based on increasing numbers of prisoners infected with the HIV virus. The sites for the prisons have not been determine
LONDON - A British man who tested positive for HIV may have shaken off the virus with his own immune system. If proved, the National Health Service has said the case would be medically remarkable, the Sunday Times of London reported. The Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS trust, which treated 25-year-old Andrew Sti
SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- As early as the birth process, parents can take steps to help prevent health problems in their children, including AIDS, cavities or even death, scientists say. A review of studies shows delivery by a preplanned Caesarian section can avert the mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS virus, HIV,
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- People taking highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, for HIV infection may be less susceptible to tuberculosis, say U.S. researchers. Although opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis can be fatal for immunocompromised patients, HAART not only reduces the viral load of HIV, but it also
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The Food and Drug Administration is mulling new condom warnings that condoms are less effective against some sexually transmitted diseases. The devices are less reliable against STDs like herpes and human papilloma virus, the agency said this week in a proposed rule. The FDA is also co
WASHINGTON - U.S. drug regulators want condom makers to include information that their product cannot eliminate the risk of some sexually transmitted diseases. The recommendation from the Food and Drug Administration would require the condom labels to say they greatly reduce, but do not eliminate the risk of some STDs,
BEIJING - AIDS epidemic in China is far more extensive than previously known, but profit-hungry doctors there reportedly are making it worse by exploiting patients. After years of denial about the extent of AIDS, the government in the world s most populous country now acknowledges the epidemic afflicts 840,000 people,
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration has given tentative approval to the first generic version of GlaxoSmithKline s AIDS drug Epivir . The agency said it has approved Lamivudine oral solution 10 mg/ml, manufactured by Aurobindo Pharma Ltd.
LOS ANGELES - HIV-infected people of low socioeconomic status are more likely to die from AIDS more quickly than their wealthier counterparts, California researchers say. Even though medical treatments have improved, HIV infections are increasing most rapidly among people on the lowest end of the economic ladder, said
COVINGTON, La. (UPI) -- Research with monkeys at the Tulane National Primate Research Center has shown three anti-viral agents in a vaginal gel protect against an HIV-like virus. Scientists say the results suggest a microbicide using compounds that inhibit the processes by which HIV attaches to and enters target cells
NEW YORK - Drug giants Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb said Monday they have separately licensed new AIDS drugs specifically for women. Both firms said they have granted to the International Partnership for Microbicides royalty-free deals to develop, produce and distribute its compound for use as microbicides in poor co
NEW YORK - Actress and activist Angelina Jolie is helping build a pediatric AIDS hospital in Ethiopia and planning to adopt more children. The mother of Maddox, 4, and Zahara, 9 months, told People magazine at the Worldwide Orphans Foundation benefit in New York the event inspired her to add to her family. Most of
WASHINGTON - An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration will meet Nov. 3 to consider whether a rapid HIV test should be available for sale in drugstores. The panel will review the OraSure Technologies Oraquick HIV test, which currently is available through physicians offices. The test, cleared for market by
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Confronting the growing AIDS epidemic among children, the United Nations launched the largest global campaign ever to help millions affected by the disease. Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS, a five year plan announced Tuesday, will provide pediatric treatment, infection prevention
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Circumcision reduces males risk of contracting the AIDS virus by 61 percent, South African researchers said in a study greeted with muted reactions. The South African National Institute of Communicable Diseases study, reported in the Public Library of Science Medicine, arrived at its conclu
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The United Nations has launched a global campaign to help children with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Fewer than 5 per cent of HIV-positive children have received treatment and millions of children who have lost parents to AIDS go without support, said the U.N. Children s Fund,
CHENNAI, India - The introduction of lower-cost generic HIV drugs in India has encouraged more people to seek treatment, substantially dropping the rate of HIV deaths. Many of the more than 5 million HIV-infected people in India have been unable to obtain treatment due to the high cost. But with the introduction of gen
TRIPOLI, Libya (UPI) -- Thousands of Libyans demonstrated in Tripoli, asking U.S. President George Bush to apologize for demanding pardon for Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death. The nurses were convicted of injecting HIV into 380 Libyan children, 47 of whom have died so far. The protesters, including families of the
PARIS - French actress Charlotte Valandrey has revealed she has been HIV positive since age 17 and had a heart transplant two years ago. Valandrey, 36, is only one of a handful of French celebrities to talk about AIDS, let alone reveal they are HIV positive, the Telegraph reported Monday. She hit the big time at age 16
SAN FRANCISCO - University of California, San Francisco, scientists say they have disproved the so-called fat re-distribution syndrome among men taking HIV drugs. The researchers noted 22 published, peer-reviewed papers that posited the existence of lipodystrophy or fat re-distribution syndrome, in which HIV therapy su
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Scientists said Wednesday they have discovered a new class of antibiotics in a fungus that is as powerful as penicillin and vancomycin, and it may prove useful in the battle against emerging strains of drug-resistant bacteria. The antibiotic, called plectasin, showed activity in lab tests a
MOSCOW, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- The issue of how to control the spread of AIDS in the Russian Army was discussed at a Russian-American HIV prevention conference held at the end of September outside Moscow. This is a huge problem for the military (and not only the military) in many countries, and Russians and Americans found a
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Gender equality and access to family planning are indispensable to ending global poverty, and a renewed focus on women s rights will improve the lives of all, the U.N. Population Fund said Wednesday. In its annual report on the state of world population, released Wednesday at U.N. World
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Vaccines have helped curb or even eradicate some of the worst outbreaks in history, but their potential as cures for other diseases remains strong, a new report suggests. The report, Vaccine development: Current Status and Future Needs, which was prepared by the American Academy of Microbio
There doesn t seem to be standard practice for doctors to deliver medical or laboratory test results, so often the patient -- or the caregiver -- is left to wonder: Is no news good news, or did the doctor forget? Actually, no news may mean something has fallen through the cracks -- test results are often given by mail,
WASHINGTON -- A new study suggests that POZ parties -- events where HIV-positive men meet other HIV-positive men for unprotected sex -- could spread strains of the deadly virus that are resistant to treatment. The study is the first to take a close look at the POZ parties, which first surfaced in the mid 1990s in New Y
BOSTON (UPI) -- Boston scientists say drug-resistance testing in HIV-infected patients at the time of diagnosis is cost-effective and may increase life expectancy. A cost-effectiveness analysis indicates performing genotype resistance testing at initial HIV diagnosis -- prior to treatment -- can effectively guide a phy
EDMONTON, Alberta (UPI) -- An international study, conducted in part in Edmonton, Canada , indicates pneumonia doesn t harm HIV-positive patients any more than those without HIV. In a two-year study that included the University of Alberta, researchers documented the outcomes of cases at 26 hospitals in 11 nations invol
SEATTLE (UPI) -- An experimental AIDS vaccine of Merck & Co. has exceeded expectations and led to a double enrollment in the trial to 3,000, researchers said. The trial, conducted in healthy volunteers to determine their immune response to the vaccine, might indicate whether the immune reactions could prevent or co
BUFFALO, N.Y., Sept. 23 (UPI) -- University of Buffalo researchers are seeking to understand more about the roles of alcohol use and risky sexual behavior in the rise of HIV among U.S. women. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has awarded a $2.4 million grant to Kurt H. Dermen, a researcher at the u
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (UPI) -- Researchers in Northern Ireland are investigating a new approach to fighting HIV, a vaginal vaccine that would work over the course of a year. The research is being conducted by a team from Queen s University in Belfast and is funded by a $2.3 million grant from funds given to St.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A University of Florida researcher says she s discovered an unexpected link between the viruses that cause feline and human AIDS. Researcher Janet Yamamoto, a professor at the University of Florida s College of Veterinary Medicine, found cats vaccinated with an experimental strain of the human AIDS
CLEVELAND -- U.S. teenagers report increased knowledge concerning sexually transmitted diseases after sexual abstinence education, but no reduction in sexual intercourse. The Case Western Reserve School of Medicine study examined the effectiveness of For Keeps, an abstinence-until-marriage sex education program present
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- The World Health Organization has warned countries to monitor the use of anti-malarial medications to ensure the malaria parasite does not develop resistance to the drugs. It is crucial that these medicines be used correctly, said Dr. Pascal Ringwald, a medical officer in the WHO s Roll Bac
LONDON, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is accepting pledges of nearly $4 billion to further the work of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The pledges made here today will go a long way towards ensuring the longer-term sustainability of the Global Fund. They will help it plan f
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Teens in the handful of states allowing medical marijuana are no more likely to use the drug than those in other states, according to a study released Tuesday. The study shows widespread reductions in marijuana use have occurred generally at the same rate among all the states, including tho
NEW DELHI, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- India has the world s second-largest pool of carriers of the lethal Hepatitis B virus that has emerged as a bigger problem than AIDS in the country. One in every 20 people in India is a carrier of this deadly virus, which causes 80 percent of all liver cancer cases and about 1 percent of all
NEW YORK (United Press International via COMTEX) - HIV is often regarded as a disease of young people, but researchers say the number of people over age 50 infected with HIV is significant and growing. An article in the Sept. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online, said the increasing number of
CHICAGO, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- The Internet is helping staunch the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, experts tell UPI s The Web. A report last week by the San Francisco-based Kaiser Family Foundation indicated that gays who are HIV-positive have been using online dating services to find new sex partners
BEIJING, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Shanghai s Fudan University plans to offer a course on homosexuality to undergraduates next fall, the first by a Chinese school for non pre-med students. Sun Zhongxin, an associate professor of sociology at the university told state-run media the class will cover topics related to homosexualit
A potentially huge breakthrough in fighting AIDS tops the consumer-health beat this week -- but so do lung-cancer deaths and diagnoses that remind us how tough our opponents can be. The words AIDS and cure seldom share the same sentence, unless to point out that there isn t one for a disease that has killed 25 million
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Enforcement reports released on a weekly basis by the Food and Drug Administration highlight a slew of blood products recalled because they were potentially contaminated with HIV, malaria or other deadly diseases, and some consumer advocates worry the products are being transfused into patients in s
These days, medical advances come so quickly they raise unanticipated issues, uncertainties and medical dilemmas. For the first years of the AIDS epidemic, there was almost no good news. Now the life-saving effects of drugs are clearer than ever -- that is, for people who know their HIV status and can afford to get tre
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 28 (UPI) -- British researchers said they have sifted through the hundreds of possible combined therapies and established the best first-line regimen for HIV infections. With more than two dozen drugs available to treat patients with HIV infection, in five different classes, the number of possible
RIO DE JANEIRO (UPI) -- A potentially life-saving drug for people living with the virus that causes AIDS can now be injected through the skin with a device that does not require needles. Our patients love this device, Dr. Julio Montaner, professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, told Uni
RIO DE JANEIRO (UPI) -- In the first study of its kind, researchers said they were able to reduce the risk of contracting the virus that causes AIDS by medically performing circumcision on healthy young men. Numerous observational studies had suggested AIDS might be less prevalent in men who had been circumcised, but d
RIO DE JANEIRO (UPI) -- U.S. doctors said they have identified the patient who is the source of a mystery strain of human immunodeficiency virus that sent waves of alarm through the AIDS community last February. Public-health officials in New York City issued a warning because the patient apparently had developed a vir
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 25 (UPI) -- A unique collaboration between business, charity and government is bringing anti-retroviral therapy to tens of thousands of patients in AIDS-ravaged Botswana -- achieving what many critics thought was impossible in resource-poor settings. Botswana -- an African nation of 1.8 million tha
NEW YORK, July 14 (UPI) -- Emerging medical innovations soon could include pain relief that lasts days instead of hours, an oxygen-loaded therapeutic that helps save heart-attack victims lives on the way to the hospital, and a contraceptive gel that also fights HIV, experts told United Press International. The gel alon
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- As the AIDS pandemic sweeps across Asia and Africa, many Muslim nations on those continents have been slow to set up HIV/AIDS surveillance and outreach programs, U.S. researchers have found. By 1986 the Persian Gulf states and most Muslim nations in North Africa and South Asia had identified HIV/AID
KOBE, Japan - Japanese researchers have developed a durable new drug that blocks HIV from entering human cells and causes almost no side effects. The new drug, code named AK602, was unveiled by Hiroaki Mitsuya, leader of the research team at Kumamoto University, at the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pac
ORANGE FARM, South Africa - A South African study finds that circumcised men are far less likely to be infected with AIDS through heterosexual sex than the uncircumcised. The Wall Street Journal reports that French and South African researchers followed 3,000 HIV-negative men in a South African township, with half the
KOBE, Japan - The United Nations AIDS director warns the disease could explode in Asia if governments there do not take steps quickly to contain the epidemic. Peter Piot, speaking at a conference in Kobe, Japan, predicted that 12 million people will be infected in the next five years if nothing is done, the BBC reporte
WASHINGTON, July 1 (UPI) -- Africa is suddenly receiving a degree of attention it seldom has enjoyed, with the health of its people the subject of both entertainment and politics. Saturday will bring Live 8, a simultaneous array of 10 concerts on two continents designed to raise money and persuade world leaders to sto
The 7th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific opened Friday in Japan in the wake of a prediction by Dr. Peter Piot, of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, that unless there is a vigorous response to the Asian AIDS threat by 2010 more than 20 million people there will become infected or die.
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Television and movie actress Ashley Judd took center stage in Washington this week to promote an issue she said is her passion and purpose: AIDS awareness. As the global ambassador for YouthAIDS -- a global initiative designed to educate and protect young adults from HIV/AIDS -- Judd recently travel
GAOUA, Burkina Faso , June 20 (UPI) -- What disease kills the most children in West Africa? The question was posed by Joan French, UNICEF s representative in Burkina Faso, during dinner Thursday night at a ramshackle hotel in this southwestern city. A fascinating array of insects paraded past platters of omelet, French
WASHINGTON, The U.S. FDA has given tentative approval to the generic version of an AIDS drug, allowing it to be used to treat patients in poor countries. The generic version of Lamivudine is manufactured by Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. Of Hyderabad, India .
ATLANTA, June 16 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have found that many HIV-positive men are using the Internet to negotiate safety -- make attempts to find partners for unprotected sex without risking further transmission of the disease. In a series of reports at the 2005 National HIV Prevention Conference, researchers warned
ATLANTA, June 15 (UPI) -- About 250,000 women in the United States are infected with HIV and the epidemic disproportionately has hit women of color, women who are poor and women involved in the sexual trade. Actually, sex has become the leading path of transmission for women, researchers at the Centers for Disease Cont
ATLANTA, June 13 (UPI) -- The number of people in the United States living with HIV has risen to more than 1 million, due to a combination of new infections and longer lifespans of those already infected, public-health experts said Monday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates that by the end of
WASHINGTON, June 10 (UPI) Genocides - two in ten years - wars and insurgencies have plagued Africa, both north and south of the Sahara, since the promising days of independence almost half a century ago. Now second generation jihadists have surfaced in two oil-producing states - Nigeria and
WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- Dr. Paul Nunn, coordinator for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS for the World Health Organization , stopped in Washington for two days this week to lobby members of Congress for increased funding for worldwide disease-control efforts. United Press International interviewed Nunn during his visit. He
BEIJING, June 9 (UPI) -- China and the United States do not agree on many issues -- everything from trade to Taiwan -- but the bilateral relationship sometimes can shine when it involves fighting a common foe. Randall Tobias, Washington s top diplomat in the war against HIV/AIDS, has begun a t
BRUSSELS, June 9 (UPI) -- European Union leaders may still be smarting from last week s rejection of the EU s first-ever constitution by Dutch and French voters, split over whether to scrap the treaty or continue with its ratification and at one another s throats over the bloc s budget for the next seven years, but the
WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- Researchers have developed a method to help women self-test confidentially for chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases while providing public-health authorities information on the spread of STDs using the Internet. The researchers, at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said
WASHINGTON (UPI) - India has reached a decisive stage in its fight against AIDS, an international health expert said Thursday. We are at a point where the HIV/AIDS epidemic could go either way, John Liden, communications director at the Global Fund to Fight Aids, a health organization in Geneva,
Irish rocker and political activist Bob Geldof announced plans Tuesday that he will launch five free concerts in July, sequels to his groundbreaking 1985 Live Aid concerts that raised $250 million for victims of famine in Ethiopia . The shows will be billed Live 8, in reference to the Group of Eight summit that will br
NEW DELHI (UPI) - India s leading pharmaceutical companies that export AIDS drugs to Africa will soon have to cater to the domestic market as well with the deadly virus making inroads across the country. According to government-released statistics, India is home to more AIDS patients than the population of several coun
At the start of the 21st century, disease continues to take a toll on America s young. United Press International compiled some statistical highlights of what ails the nation s 73.3 million children under 18, using data from the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in
WASHINGTON - The pharmaceutical industry s enthusiasm for vaccine research and development does not seem to match fears by healthcare providers and analysts of an avian flu pandemic or supply shortages in the United States . Ed Howard, of the non-profit, non-partisan Alliance for Health Reform, said 18,000 people die e
TARTU, Estonia (UPI) - The Russian Federation s leading specialist on sex issues has denounced the Russian Orthodox Church for conducting what he says is a crusade against sex and thereby contributing to the rise of sexually transmitted diseases in that country, an attack that has brought a sharp rejoinder from the Pat
BALTIMORE, May 17, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Two new retroviruses related to HIV have been found in men who hunt apes in Cameroon by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. The research team collected and examined blood samples from more than 900 people living in Cameroon who reported exposure to
BEIJING (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Chinese scientists administered an experimental AIDS vaccine Saturday to sex volunteers, the official news agency Xinhua reported. The vaccinations launched the second phase of clinical testing for AIDS DNA vaccine in south China s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
LOS ANGELES, May 6 (UPI) -- Last month, researchers in Atlanta launched a clinical trial to determine if the drug tenofovir, already in wide use to treat HIV/AIDS, also can be taken by uninfected people to protect them from HIV. This is the strategy we use with malaria and other diseases: We take preventative medicatio
BALTIMORE (United Press International via COMTEX) - An antibiotic in use for 30 years might help relieve brain and nervous system effects of the AIDS virus, U.S. researchers said. Researchers at The Johns Hopkins University found monkeys treated with the antibiotic minocycline had less brain damage and inflammation and
BALTIMORE, (United Press International via COMTEX) - Birth control hormones do not impact the effectiveness of highly active anti-retroviral therapy for HIV infections, Baltimore researchers report. Using data from the Women s Interagency HIV Study -- the largest, ongoing study of HIV-infected and high-risk HIV-negativ
BALTIMORE, (UPI) - A Zimbabwean study finds HIV-positive mothers are less likely to transmit AIDS to their infants if they breast feed exclusively. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University, the University of Zimbabwe and the Harare City Health Department tracked more than 2,000 infants from birth to the age of 2, comp
WASHINGTON, (UPI) -- Most of the poorest people on the planet have no access to essential drugs. And with some diseases flourishing -- such as malaria and HIV/AIDS -- one would have thought that politicians in these countries would have done everything they could to help their citizens. The problem is that many develop
WASHINGTON, April 21 (UPI) -- Armed with alarming statistics about unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases among sailors and Marines, the U.S. Navy s doctors are advocating that commanders promote the use and availability of condoms, and even offer them for free to their troops. The Navy office s advoca
NEW YORK, April 18 (UPI) -- Energy production and storage top the list of the 10 nanotechnology applications deemed by experts to be the most likely to benefit the developing world in the next decade. When you look at the list, you will not see sunscreen or nanopants, Peter Singer, director of the University of Toronto
WASHINGTON (UPI) - There is no argument among supporters and opponents of Pope John Paul II over the impact he had on the world of politics, religion and social morality. In fact, a majority of American Catholics believe John Paul II deserves sainthood. Chances are he will most likely be canonized. Both those who appro
WASHINGTON (UPI) - Compared to the 1979 conclave that elected the archbishop of Krakow to St. Peter s throne, the cardinals now converging on Rome to choose the pope s successor face a more complex and challenging task. Twenty-six years ago, the church was looking for the right pope to fight the holy battle against com
The pope died Saturday, the Vatican reported. Pope John Paul II, leader of the Roman Catholic Church and a pillar of moral conservatism, was a man of many accomplishments, letting neither failing health nor a would-be assassin s bullet deter him from carrying his message and concerns to all corners of the Earth. Born
ATLANTA (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Primary health care providers should add routine HIV testing to patient care for all sexually active individuals, U.S. researchers say. The group of physician/researchers at Emory University School of Medicine, Brown Medical School and the Johns Hopkins School of Medic
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Can the tide of peaceful, democratic revolution that has been rising over Eurasia and the Middle East work its magic in central Africa? A growing number of people in Zimbabwe certainly hope so. But it appears to be unlikely yet. The impoverished central African nation and former British colony of 13
NEW DELHI, March 24 (UPI) -- The lower house of the Indian parliament has passed a controversial patent bill making it illegal for domestic pharmaceutical companies to make generic copies of patented drugs, but international health aid groups have slammed the new law, saying it would deprive millions of people across t
BALTIMORE, (United Press International via COMTEX) A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study suggests women who are HIV-positive or have been abused are more likely to consider suicide. Researchers from Johns Hopkins, George Washington University and St. Michael s Hospital, in Toronto, C
TARTU, Estonia , March 23 (UPI) -- Dramatically increasing rates of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and especially TB s antibiotic resistant variety among the Russian prison population are spreading to the broader society as well, according to two of the Russian Federation s leading specialists on prison conditions. In lect
NANNING, China , (United Press International via COMTEX) -- China has begun trials of a new AIDS vaccine. Xinhua, the official government news agency, reported that eight volunteers received the vaccine Saturday after signing waivers and receiving medical checkups. Chen Jie, vice director of the disease prevention and
LOS ANGELES (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A Los Angeles study finds that drug abuse treatment helps methamphetamine-dependent gay and bisexual men avoid HIV infection. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, followed the progress of 162 men. They were assigned to four groups who received
United Press International - Friday, March 11, 2005
Charles Q. Choi
NEW YORK, March 11 (UPI) -- The poor of the world, who make up nearly 80 percent of the global population, might benefit most from emerging nanotechnologies, but not unless nations commit the funding and policies necessary to spread those benefits, experts told UPI s Nano World. The complexity of ... nanotechnology and
NEW YORK - Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York report they have found a key to controlling the HIV infection. That key, they say, is alpha-defensin-1, a protein found in immune cells, that can control HIV, which can lead to AIDS by at least two mechanisms. Earlier studies have primarily looked at
MERCER ISLAND, Wash., March 2 (UPI) -- The national news media is abuzz with a story linking the tragic death of an infant Jewish boy and his circumcision. The boy and his surviving twin were infected with a herpes virus which may be lethal in infants. New York City officials suspect a cold sore type herpes virus may h
BOSTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Medical researchers and public-health officials are still trying to sort out the implications of a patient carrying an extremely dangerous new strain of HIV, the AIDS virus. The case attracted attention several weeks ago when authorities in New York City announced the case, which at first look,
UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Women s rights groups gather at U.N. World Headquarters in New York Monday for a two-week meeting marking the tenth anniversary of the Beijing declaration of women s rights. The Ten-Year Review and Appraisal meeting next week will bring together more than 100 government ministers and th
BOSTON - Researchers at a New York medical school say that a vaginal gel can prevent women with AIDS or herpes from infecting their sexual partners. The team from Mount Sinai School of Medicine reported on the study Friday at the 12th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston. There is an urgent
BALTIMORE - A research team at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore says using two tests for HIV does a better job of separating old and new cases of infection. The distinction is important in tracking the spread of the disease, especially because many of the false new infections are likely to be among patients taking anti-retro
LA JOLLA, Calif., - U.S. researchers have mapped the structure of a rare human antibody that could neutralize the human immunodeficiency virus, the organism that causes AIDS. The body makes many neutralizing antibodies -- proteins that are produced by the immune system -- against HIV. For various reasons, however, most
United Press International - Friday, February 18, 2005
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Widely used drugs to keep the HIV-virus from progressing to AIDS may cause potentially lethal heart rhythm disturbances in some patients, a study says. The researchers made the discovery about a class of prescription drugs known as HIV protease inhibitors . Though the researchers said they co
NEW YORK, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. pharmaceutical giants are investing almost no money and talent in nanotechnology, experts told UPI s Nano World. The impact of nanotechnology on pharmaceuticals is not 10 years from now -- it s two or three, said Matthew Nordan, vice president of research at Lux Research, a nanotech
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Saliva tests could begin replacing blood and urine tests within the next two years for everything from drugs to diseases, the benefits of which include ease of collection, not requiring needles and doable without the embarrassing need of having a doctor or drug tester watch the process. An employer
UNITED NATIONS (UPI) - The U.N. Special Envoy to Zambia said Monday the southerly country s program to fight HIV/AIDS has greatly improved over the past two years, due in part to laudable government efforts and more reliable funding. The collective, cumulative sense I had was of a country on the move against the pandem
SANTA MONICA, Calif., (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A study by the RAND Corp. of Santa Monica, Calif., suggested Monday more than a quarter of HIV-infected parents avoid physical contact with their children. Researchers said parents avoid hugging or kissing from fear of transmitting the disease or of catch
BRISBANE (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Tests of a U.S. vaccine for the human immunodeficiency virus have shown it to be ineffective in preventing HIV, which can lead to AIDS. Results of the multi-centered trial, conducted in the United States and the Netherlands and completed in 2003
NEW YORK, Feb 02, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A rare sexually transmitted disease reportedly has been found in New York City, leading officials to renew their effort to teach safe sex to the public. The disease -- called Lymphogranuloma venereum -- is caused by a strain of Chlamydia and infects lymp
William M. Reilly, UPI United Nations Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- The U.N. relief chief Thursday told the Security Council that victims of Africa s conflicts are just as innocent and just as needy as Indian Ocean tsunami victims. U.N. Undersecretary-General Jan Egeland, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, who has called the African humanitarian cri
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Had Spain s Popular Party been re- elected last March this was to have been the year of Queen Isabella. To honor King Ferdinand s wife, who died in November 1504 and was known as Isabella the Catholic because of her part in driving the Muslims out of Spain, the outgoing conservative governm
DAVOS, Switzerland , Jan. 27 (UPI) -- The problems of Africa seem a very long way from Davos, the Swiss ski resort that hosts the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum every January. In this up-market Alpine getaway, 2,200 of the world s richest and most powerful people are meeting to schmooze, ski and hold earne
CALCUTTA, India , Jan. 11 (UPI) -- For India s over $5 billion drug industry, consisting of 24,000 large, small, and very-small manufacturers, about 500,000 chemists, and over one billion plus people using medicines, the year 2005 could be a momentous year that could change the face of the drug industry. After a ga
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court Monday refused to hear a challenge to Florida s ban on adoption by gays and lesbians, passing up what appeared to be a golden opportunity to say whether relatively recent rulings on gay rights are narrow or far-reaching. Florida is the only state that specifically bans gay
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- At their summit in Canada following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States , the G7 countries agreed that terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and nuclear proliferation were the greatest threats to world security. The rest of the world, however, sees different urgencies.
United Press International - Tuesday, January 04, 2005
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka , Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Deprived of the safety of their homes, hundreds of thousands of women and children in the tsunami refugee camps in southern Sri Lanka live in absolute fear of sexual abuse. Rising incidents of sexual assault on displaced women and children has become a serious problem for the author
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail in 1963. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. As a boy growing up in Zaire , I watched with dismay the images of c
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