Living Near Normal Life Spans with HIV
The results of a new study are being published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and it relates different issues dealing with the AIDS epidemic and drugs that were introduced to fight the symptoms of the disease in the 1990's. The most notable item to come out of this study is that the life expectancy of people with HIV is nearing that of people without the disease. Experts agree that HIV medication cocktails are the reason HIV life expectancies are getting longer. Read more in this article from EON of Canada.
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National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
December 7, 2010 is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. African Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. While making up only 13 percent of the U.S. population, they account for more than 49 percent of AIDS cases. AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African American women ages 25 to 34, and the second leading cause of death for African American men ages 35 to 44. This year marks the tenth year of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Organizations celebrate the day in hopes of raising awareness of the problem of HIV/AIDS in the African American community.
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A New Warning for Users of Videx and Videx EC (didanosine)
The Food and Drug Administration is alerting HIV specialists and medical providers about a serious liver problem that could arise in those people taking Videx or Videx EC. Also known as didanosine, the drug is now being linked to a rare disorder of the liver called non-cirrhotic portal hypertension. Portal hypertension is caused by the slowing of blood through the liver's venous system. As the blood slows, back pressure can occur throughout the venus system, causing enlarged blood vessels in the esophagus called varices. Varices are dangerous because if they rupture, a person can have massive amounts of bleeding that could cause death if not stopped immediately. Most often portal hypertension is caused by liver cirrhosis, a hardening of the liver that slows blood flow. Experts are now reporting cases of portal hypertension in patients taking Videx or Videx EC who do not have cirrhosis. While experts agree that the benefits of didanosine outweigh the risks of developing portal hypertension, patients on didanosine should be monitored for signs of portal hypertension and people should be made aware of the connection between didanosine and portal hypertension before beginning a regimen containing the drug.
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New Study Suggests Abstinence Only Teaching May Work After All
As an HIV educator, I have taught people that abstinence only teaching doesn't help slow the rate of HIV infection or the spread of other sexually transmitted diseases. Well, I may have to change my tune. A federally funded study has provided us with the first evidence that abstince only teaching can have a positive influence on the sexual behavior of teens. The study published in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine showed that 33% of sixth and seventh graders who took an abstinence only course had sex within two years of the course compared to 52% who were taught only safer sex and 42% of those taught abstinence and safer sex. While President Obama cuts $170 million dollars for abstinence only programs, experts feel the results of the study prove that abstinence only programs should receive federal monies. Critics aren't convinced. They say the program used in the study was not typical of abstinence only teaching and was like comparing apples to oranges. Most who have reviewed the study's findings agree it does prove that programs covering safer sex and abstinence probably work best.
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Raising AIDS Awareness
Both on a global level and in your own community, raising AIDS awareness lifts the veil of mystery and ignorance from a disease that can be prevented. All people have to do is be willing to learn about HIV. If that happens, prevention is a natural next step. The resources assembled here are perfect places to start.
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The Dangers of Crystal Meth
Methamphetamine or Crystal Meth has its roots in some unexpected places. Military pilots used amphetamines to stay awake during the long flights to their bombing targets during the wartime. College students used them to stay awake all night to study for exams. In the 1960's people used amphetamines for entertainment. Then, in the 1970's as laws made getting amphetamines more difficult, their use all but disappeared. But now the use of amphetamines has returned in full force, primarily in the form of the supercharged version called methamphetamine. Manufactured in makeshift "meth labs" in apartment complexes. houses, and garages, Crystal Meth use is booming, and in its wake people are dying. What is Crystal Meth? What does it do and what is being done to halt its march across our cities?
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Should You Worry About Ziagen Hypersensitivity?
Abacavir (Ziagen) is one medication prescribed to treat HIV. In the vast majority of people, Abacavir is perfectly safe, but there is a small percentage of people who are at risk of having an allergic reaction to the drug. Until now, there was no way to identify those people at risk for a hypersensitivity reaction. Now there is. It's called the "HLA-B*5701" (HLA) test, a genetic test that looks at an individual's HLA type for the presence of the HLA-B*5701 allele.
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Detroit Woman Claims to Have Intentionally Infected 500 People
UPDATE
The Detroit woman who claims to have infected over 500 men with HIV has now admitted her claims were a hoax designed to raise awareness of HIV. Arrested by Detroit police at the University she attends, she was taken to the Detroit Health Department for an HIV test. While her results are confidential, the woman assures us that she is HIV negative; Detroit Police have confirmed her story and have released her.
ORIGINAL STORY
During an 11-minute online video, a woman thought to be from Detroit admits to intentionally infecting more than 500 people with HIV. The woman, who has yet to be identified, says in the video that she has been "upset" about having to suffer since her diagnosis in the late 1990's. She says she has set out to "destroy the world". While the woman has yet to be positively identified, tips to the Detroit Police Department suggest she is a Detroit resident. If so, and her claims are proven true she could face some real jail time; knowingly infecting someone with HIV is a felony in Michigan.
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Men with HIV Appear More Likely to Develop Heart Disease
A study that will appear in an upcoming issue of AIDS presents data that suggests HIV positive men have a significantly higher risk of plaque accumulation in the coronary arteries than do HIV negative men. This trend is a particularly important finding since people with HIV are living longer because of HIV medications. Ironically, many of those HIV medications have been found to increase the risk of coronary heart disease in HIV positive men. Over all, the study found the presence of coronary atherosclerosis (plaque) was higher in HIV-positive men than their HIV-negative counterparts. Fifty-nine percent of HIV-positive men had coronary atherosclerosis compared with 34.4 percent of HIV-negative men. This information means HIV specialists should be aggressive when identifying and treating other risk factors for heart disease. Some of these include elevated cholesterol and triglycerides; smoking; obesity; high blood pressure; and diabetes.
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Can HIV Positive Women Breastfeed?
Breastfeeding continues to be one of the primary routes of HIV transmission in the developing world. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 150,000 babies around the world are infected via breastfeeding each year. In the western world, including the United States, the risk associated with breastfeeding has a lesser impact because other options exist, namely commercially available baby formulas and access to clean water. In addition, scientists have worked extensively to develop methods of decreasing the risk of mother to child HIV transmission. And thus far their work is paying off.
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