Tag Archives: HIV/AIDS

NEW YORK CITY: Harlem Group Begins Study On HIV Prevention Using Truvada

Over the objections of some activists, in July 2012 the FDA approved the use of Truvada as a daily HIV preventive for some high-risk populations. Harlem Prevention Center has launched a study which will evaluate if taking the drug less frequently will also be effective. Via press release: HPTN 067, also known as The ADAPT Study, is a unique study …

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NEW YORK CITY: Broadway Cares To Host Public Meeting On AIDS Survivorship

On May 9th in New York City, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will hold a public meeting to address the issues of the generation of gay men who survived the plague. The Medius Working Group presents a free community forum to assess what it’s like to be part of the “AIDS Generation,” to have lived through the epidemic in the 1980s …

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TODAY: Youth HIV Awareness Day

Via press release: In the United States, one in four new HIV infections is among youth ages 13 to 24. Every month 1,000 young people are infected with HIV and over 76,400 young people are currently living with HIV across the country. Young people and their allies are determined to end this epidemic once and for all – but they …

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SOUTH AFRICA: Government To Offer Combination HIV Med For $10 Per Month

In what is being called a revolutionary development in the treatment of HIV, the South African government will begin offering a daily three-in-one anti-retroviral pill that will cost only $10 per month. In South Africa, where 5.6 million people live with HIV/AIDS, treatment options were bleak at best — until now. The country has announced a new regimen that combines …

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KANSAS: Legislature Considers Bill That Calls For Quarantining The HIV+

The Kansas legislature is expected to pass a bill that provides for quarantining people living with HIV and AIDS. This story is NOT from thirty years ago. The bill is allegedly meant to help emergency response workers (firefighters, EMTs, etc) who presently must get a court order to test the blood of patients to whom they have been exposed. Kansas …

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FRANCE: Researchers Claim Early HIV Drugs Functionally Cures One In Ten

Researchers at France’s Institute Pasteur claim that early HIV drug treatment may functionally cure about 10% of the newly infected. Their report follows similar news out of the United States, where an toddler remains HIV-free after robust early treatment as an infant. The French study only involves a small number of patients. Dr Asier Saez-Cirion, from the Institute Pasteur in …

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At The 1996 AIDS March In DC

I was going through my ex’s photo albums here in Fort Lauderdale last night and found this shot I took at the 1996 National AIDS Candlelight March in Washington DC.  That’s NAMES Project founder Cleve Jones near the center, with Judith Light to his left.  Further to the right in the grey jacket is Betty Buckley.  On the far left …

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Bee Venom Kills HIV

Interesting research out of Washington University. Nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while leaving surrounding cells unharmed, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown. The finding is an important step toward developing a vaginal gel that may prevent the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. …

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MICHIGAN: State Health Department Secretly Collecting Names Of HIV+

In what could completely upend all attempts to get at-risk members of the public to be tested for HIV, the Michigan Department of Community Health has been accused of storing the identities of HIV+ residents for possible use in criminal prosecutions for exposing others to the virus.  Todd Heywood reports at American Independent: While MDCH claims the database does not …

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MISSISSIPPI: Baby Reportedly “Cured” Of HIV By Rigorous Drug Treatment

A Mississippi infant born with HIV may have been effectively cured by her doctor’s decision to treat her with large doses of antiretroviral medications. Typically a newborn with an infected mother would be given one or two drugs as a prophylactic measure. But Dr. [Hannah] Gay said that based on her experience, she almost immediately used a three-drug regimen aimed …

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Quote Of The Day – Bill Donohue

“The most common effect of amorality, they said, is narcissism. Narcissism is the only word that adequately explains the reaction of gays to AIDS: it was everyone’s fault but theirs. If anyone has any doubt about this, he should watch How to Survive a Plague.  The documentary, which is up for an Oscar, is the work of David France, a …

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Presidential AIDS Council Calls For Repeal Of HIV Criminalization Laws

Earlier this month the Presidential Advisory Council On HIV/AIDS passed a resolution calling for the federal government to help states repeal HIV criminalization laws. (I missed this story when it first came out.)  Todd Heywood reports at American Independent: While the resolution is only advisory, it recommends that the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services issue guidance and …

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Swag Tuesday

Courtesy of the film’s producers, this week’s Swag Tuesday prize is the DVD of the Oscar-nominated AIDS documentary, How To Survive A Plague, which goes on sale nationwide on February 26th. HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE is the story of the brave young men and women who successfully reversed the tide of an epidemic, demanded the attention of a fearful …

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AIDS Group Files OSHA Complaints Against Bareback Gay Porn Companies

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which successfully lobbied for a condoms-in-porn law in Los Angeles County, has filed workplace safety complaints against several California-based gay porn companies that specialize in unprotected sex scenes.  Via press release: AHF this week filed formal ‘Notice of Safety or Health Hazards’ complaints with Cal/OSHA (California’s Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health), …

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Love Is In Their Blood

Gay Star News reports on a Valentine’s Day campaign from the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Elton John and a host of singers, artists, writers and sportspeople including Jessie J, Florence Welch, Ben Drew, Ai Weiwei, Elizabeth Hurley, Paulo Coelho, George Takei, Kelly Osborne, Lara Stone, Stephen Fry, David Walliams, Jamie Oliver and Shane Warne are showing their love by pricking …

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Broadway Bares: Coming Attractions

Possibly not work-friendly.

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TODAY: Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Today is the annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. From the website: February 7, 2013 marks the 13th year for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a national HIV testing and treatment community mobilization initiative targeted at Blacks in the United States and the Diaspora. There are four specific focal points: education, testing, involvement, and treatment. Educationally, the focus is to …

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Ed Koch Dies At Age 88

Former New York City mayor Ed Koch died this morning at the age of 88. As mayor from 1978 to 1989, the forceful, quick-witted Koch, with his trademark phrase “How’m I Doing?,” was a polarizing figure and the city’s constant promoter. Koch died at about 2 a.m. (0700 GMT) at New York-Presbyterian hospital, the spokesman for Koch said. Koch was …

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FLORIDA: World AIDS Museum Proposed For Tourism Mecca Wilton Manors

Wilton Manors, Florida is arguably the hottest gay vacation spot in the nation and it may one day be home to the World AIDS Museum & Education Center. The proposed museum is the brainchild of local long-term HIV survivor Steve Stagnon, who unveiled the plans at a ceremony this week. Tony Adams reports at South Florida Gay News: Having managed …

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Honey Boo Boo’s Uncle Poodle Sent His Boyfriend To Prison For Giving Him HIV

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo cast member Lee Thompson, who is known on the show as Uncle Poodle and who gained praise last year for being out on the program, has revealed that he had his former boyfriend charged with HIV transmission after learning that he himself was HIV-positive last year. I was adamant about getting my HIV status checked …

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