World AIDS Day 2008 - How Can You Observe the Day?
Friday November 28, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008 marks another Worlds AIDS Day. As part of the worldwide observance, there are a few simple and fun ways you can participate in World AIDS Day 2008 and throughout 2009. Read more about ways to get involved.
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World AIDS Day 2008 – The Theme is "Leadership"
Tuesday November 25, 2008
In a year that sees the election of a new US President, the theme of World AIDS Day 2008 is "leadership". Continuing the theme from 2007, the leadership theme encourages leaders at all levels of government around the world to stop AIDS. The theme leadership highlights the discrepancy between the commitments that have been made in an effort to stop the spread of AIDS and the actions that have been actually taken. "Leadership" empowers; it empowers individuals, organizations, and governments. This year’s World AIDS Day puts leadership in the spotlight; allowing everyone to follow through with their promises to stop the epidemic.
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Michigan's New Marijuana Law - What Does it Mean?
Thursday November 20, 2008
On November 4, 2008, the American people made history by electing Barack Obama as our next President of the United States. In Michigan, on that same day, Michiganders made history as well by passing Proposal 1, Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, legalizing medical marijuana. On November 5, this writer set a record of his own, fielding 15 calls from patients wanting their first prescription for marijuana. It was going to be a long day. What does this new law mean for HIV patients in Michigan?
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Is it Possible a Case of Leukemia Could Lead to an HIV Cure?
Thursday November 13, 2008
While a 42-year-old American is recovering from leukemia in a Berlin hospital, HIV specialists are discussing his HIV that is undetectable despite being off HIV medications for almost 2 years. After a bone marrow transplant to treat his leukemia, the patient’s HIV has been undetectable and doctors think they know why. The donor of the bone marrow has a genetic mutation that has rendered his cells immune to almost all strains of HIV. The reason…the donor’s mutation prevents a molecule known as CCR5 to appear on the surface of CD4 cells. It is this molecule that HIV typically attaches to in order to infect the cell. Without the molecule, HIV can’t attach and therefore can’t infect the cell. Experts feel that this case may give new life to gene therapy as a treatment for HIV. Read more in this article from the Wall Street Journal.
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Medical Marijuana Proposition Passes in Michigan
Saturday November 8, 2008
The voters in the state of Michigan have passed a proposal that would permit the medical use of marijuana for those people suffering from a host of debilitating diseases, including HIV. The day after the election, my clinic received 10 calls from patients who want their prescription. They will have to wait. Much needs to be done before marijuana is available by prescription. The state will have to put a system in place to prescribe, distribute, and monitor users as well as prescribers. But for those who believe medical marijuana should be legal, the passage of Proposal 1 in Michigan is a first step.
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What is Anal Cancer?
Saturday November 1, 2008
It started innocently enough. JL began to feel itching around the anus. Naturally he thought it was his hemorrhoids acting up again. As time passed, the itching gave way to pain and some bleeding. Still believing it was just a bad case of hemorrhoids, JL treated the problem with sitz baths and over-the-counter medication. Eventually a lesion opened, leaking foul drainage. At that point, JL thought he should see his doctor. Unfortunately, the diagnosis was so much more than hemorrhoids: JL had anal cancer.
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10 Year Study Suggests Earlier Treatment is Better
Sunday October 26, 2008
A nationwide study headed by HIV researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle now suggests that earlier HIV treatment equates to a better prognosis in the long term. Experts have gone back and forth for years trying to decide if earlier treatment is better than waiting. Currently, the guidelines state that medications should be started with the CD4 count falls below 350. Actually in the past that value was as low as 300 and in some cases physicians waited until the CD4 reached 250. The concern was the long term toxic effects of HIV medications. But the study out of Seattle is suggesting earlier treatment is the answer. In fact many researchers at the University of Washington feel the new guidelines may suggest treatment for any CD4 count less than 500. Raising the guidelines for HIV treatment would be good news for HIV drug manufacturers because it would mean more people would be on therapy. Read more in this article from Bloomberg.com.
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First HIV Organ Transplant a Reality
Saturday October 25, 2008
In September, Cape Town, South Africa's Groote Schuur Hospital was the site of the first organ transplant of an HIV positive donor to HIV positive recipients. Two HIV positive recipients received a kidney from the same HIV positive donor. Until the last couple years, HIV infected people were typically not eligible to donate or receive an organ. But receiving an HIV positive organ is a risk, even for a recipient who is also HIV infected. There is always the chance that HIV could have damaged the organ. Another concern is that by receiving the positive organ, the positive recipient could contract another mutated strain of HIV, leading to medication resistance and problems with finding an effective HIV medication regimen. But what all this means is that HIV positive people in need of a transplant now have options that were not available as recently as 3 to 5 years ago. I think it's obvious that the benefits certainly outweigh the risks. Read more in this article from Australia's newspaper The Age.
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Share of Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes to HIV Researchers
Monday October 20, 2008
Half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine will be shared by two researchers credited with their discovery of HIV. French researchers Luc Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi will be honored for their discovery of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Missing from the honor is US researcher Robert Gallo who also discovered the virus in separate research in the US. In the early 80's, scientists raced to find a cause of AIDS. Gallo, then at the National Cancer Institute, announced in April 1984 that he had discovered the virus that causes AIDS. He said the virus was different from one identified by the French researchers. It turned out that Gallo was working with a sample contaminated in Montagnier's lab. After years of sharing the discovery, the Nobel committee seems to have settled the argument.
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Crystal Meth Contributing to New HIV Cases
Sunday October 19, 2008
At the 20th. Annual Living with AIDS Conference in Utah, experts warn that the booming crystal meth problem is contributing to new HIV cases around the country. The growing cocaine problem in the late 80's helped fuel the HIV epidemic back then. Today experts believe it is methamphetamine that is contributing to the continuing HIV problem. Users of crystal meth engage in high risk unprotected sex with multiple partners. Often times those partners are anonymous and their HIV status is not known. What's more, because there is a higher meth rate among the minority population, they are at greater risk for HIV as well. Experts fear that because meth is so cheap that use could continue to rise and along with it the number of new HIV cases.
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