Tag Archives: HIV

New York High Court Drops Felony Charge Against Man In HIV Exposure Case

Via the Associated Press: An HIV-positive man who told a partner that they could safely have unprotected sex should face a misdemeanor reckless endangerment charge, not a felony, New York’s highest court ruled Thursday. The Court of Appeals said Terrance Williams didn’t expose his partner “out of any malevolent desire” to give him the virus that causes AIDS, though he …

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FLORIDA: Researchers Announce Possible Breakthrough In Search For HIV Vaccine

Via Science Daily: In a remarkable new advance against the virus that causes AIDS, scientists from the Jupiter, Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have announced the creation of a novel drug candidate that is so potent and universally effective, it might work as part of an unconventional vaccine. The research, which involved scientists from more than a …

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CUBA: Fast-Moving HIV Strain Detected

Researchers have identified a new fast-moving strain of HIV in Cuba. Some patients have reportedly progressed to full-blown AIDS in under three years. Without treatment, HIV infection usually takes 5 to 10 years to turn into AIDS, according to Anne-Mieke Vandamme, a medical professor at Belgium’s University of Leuvan. According to the study, published in the journal EBioMedicine, Vandamme was …

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Researchers Unveil Phone Dongle That Tests For HIV & Syphilis In 15 Minutes

Via Science Daily: A team of researchers, led by Samuel K. Sia, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, has developed a low-cost smartphone accessory that can perform a point-of-care test that simultaneously detects three infectious disease markers from a finger prick of blood in just 15 minutes. The device replicates, for the first time, all mechanical, optical, and …

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FLORIDA: State Supreme Court To Define “Sexual Intercourse” Between Gay People

Via the Associated Press: The Florida Supreme Court will consider the definition of sexual intercourse in a case involving a gay man charged with not letting a partner know he was HIV-positive. A lawyer for Gary Debaun is trying to have a charge dismissed under a 1986 law designed to prevent the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus. The law …

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GMHC To Host PrEP Rally

Gay Men’s Health Crisis will host a “PrEP Rally” on February 2nd to discuss the use of Truvada as a daily HIV preventive. From their Facebook event page: “Heard about PrEP & Truvada? Not sure if it’s right for you? Not sure how to get it with or without insurance? Let’s clear up some rumors and get the facts! Join …

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CALIFORNIA: Health Officials Issue Alert After HIV Transmission During Porn Shoot

Via the Associated Press: California public health officials have issued an alert after finding “very strong evidence” that an adult film actor became infected with HIV as a result of unprotected sex on an out-of-state film shoot. The Department of Public Health said Monday that the male actor tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS after engaging in unprotected …

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All-Time Low For HIV/AIDS In NYC

Via the New York Observer: The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released a new report Monday–coinciding with the 26th annual World AIDS Day–declaring that New York HIV diagnoses have reached an all-time low. The report shows that in NYC in 2013, 2,832 people were newly diagnosed with HIV and 1,784 people were diagnosed with AIDS. These …

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FDA Mulls Gay Blood Ban

Via the Washington Post: The Food and Drug Administration during a two-day meeting starting today will consider lifting the ban that was put into place in 1983 amid fears — and little understanding — of the AIDS virus. An FDA advisory committee last month recommended that the agency lift the restriction, but only for men who hadn’t had sex with …

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Study: HIV Is Weakening Over Time

Via Reuters: Rapid evolution of HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, is slowing its ability to cause AIDS, according to a study of more than 2,000 women in Africa. Scientists said the research suggests a less virulent HIV could be one of several factors contributing to a turning of the deadly pandemic, eventually leading to the end of AIDS. “Overall we …

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Gay Blood Ban May Be Partially Lifted

Via Bloomberg News: A U.S. advisory panel recommended for the first time that the 31-year ban preventing gay and bisexual men from donating blood should be partially ended, placing the nation’s policy in line with other countries. Men who had sex with men anytime since 1977 are barred from giving blood in the U.S., a policy that dates back to …

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Origins Of HIV Traced To 1920s Congo

Researchers have long believed that HIV first jumped from apes to humans nearly a century ago in central Africa. Today comes a more conclusive report. Bustling transport networks, migrant labor and changes to the sex trade in early 20th-century Congo created a “perfect storm” that gave rise to an HIV pandemic that has now infected 75 million people worldwide, researchers …

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Andrew Sullivan Writes About PrEP

“Here are your options: the blue pill or the red pill. Take the one-pill-a-day Truvada and never get HIV; take the often one-pill anti-retroviral pill, and you will never give someone HIV. To make doubly sure, you can always use a condom. Except almost every man who ever had sex hates condoms – and, unlike a pill you take every …

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Ebola Success Seen With HIV Med

Acting out of “desperation,” a doctor in Liberia is reporting success in treating ebola with the HIV medication marketed as Epivir. Dr. Gobee Logan has given the drug, lamivudine, to 15 Ebola patients, and all but two survived. That’s a 7% mortality rate. Across West Africa, the virus has killed 70% of its victims. Outside Logan’s Ebola center in Tubmanburg, …

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CDC Launches New HIV PSA Campaign

The Centers For Disease Control has launched a new PSA series titled “HIV Treatment Works.” More than 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV. This campaign features people from across the United States who are living with HIV talking about how sticking with care and treatment helps them stay healthy, protect others, and live longer, healthier …

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Dot-HIV Internet Domain Launches

The top level domain .HIV has launched as the first-ever cause-related web suffix. Via press release: dotHIV, the new initiative that combines digital innovation and the concept and spirit of the Red Ribbon begins today. The Berlin based organization will provide web addresses with the ending .hiv to companies and non-profits in an effort to raise awareness and funds for …

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AHF Launches Anti-PrEP Ad Campaign

The combative and controversial AIDS Healthcare Foundation is launching a print ad campaign against the use of Truvada as a daily HIV preventive. Via press release: AHF’s ‘PrEP Facts’ ad campaign educating the public about adherence issues and PrEP initially started running this week in a few newspapers, magazines and online outlets in California and will continue and expand to …

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New PReP Efficacy Study Released

A new study on the efficacy of Truvada as an daily HIV preventive was released yesterday at the International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia. According the research, which was simultaneously published in The Lancet, missing an occasional daily dose does not increase the chance of infection, but the drug must be taken at least four times a week in order …

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About That Truvada Study

Josh Barro writes for the New York Times: The sample size (2,500 subjects, half taking a placebo) wasn’t large enough to establish that Truvada is 100 percent effective when taken daily, especially because only 18 percent of subjects who were given Truvada actually had the medication in their blood at levels that were consistent with daily use. But by looking …

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World Health Organization: ALL Gay Men Should Be On Anti-Retroviral Drugs

A stunning declaration from the World Health Organization: The World Health Organization has suggested for the first time that all men who have sex with men should take antiretroviral medicine, warning that HIV infection rates among gay men are exploding around the world. In guidelines published Friday, it said that it “strongly recommends men who have sex with men consider …

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