HIV

Indian health minister says homosexuality remark was misquoted

Indian Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad recently sparked outrage among gay rights activists and the gay community with his remarks on ‘Homosexuality,’ calling men having sex with men (MSM) an unnatural "disease."

HIV-positive US airman gets 8 years

An HIV-positive airman and swinger party organizer David Gutierrez has been sent to jail after a military court found him guilty of a slew of charges.

South Africa records progress in fight against AIDS--report

According to the latest U.N. Report, the spread of AIDS has decreased by 25 percent in Africa.

Study finds Truvada beneficial in AIDS prevention

A recent study has found that the drug, Truvada, which till now was given to AIDS patients to prolong their life, is also useful in providing protection against HIV infection among gay men. The drug is being seen as a major development in AIDS prevention.

Text messages help Kenyan HIV carriers

Nairobi, Kenya -- Cellphone text messages are being used to help Kenyans infected with HIV stay healthy and stick to their medication regimens, health researchers say.

A study led by a University of British Columbia researcher and published in the U.K. medical journal The Lancet shows that patients in Kenya who received weekly text-message "check-ins" were 12 percent more likely than a control group to have an undetectable level of the human immunodeficiency virus a year after starting antiretroviral treatment or ART, a university release said Tuesday.

Undetectable viral loads are associated with better health outcomes in people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and with decreased transmission to new partners, the release said.

Wife: Roberto Alomar exposed me to HIV

Tampa, Fla. -- Roberto Alomar's wife accuses the former MLB star of having unprotected sex with her even though he is HIV-positive, Florida divorce papers indicate.

Maria Del Pilar Rivera Alomar, 33, says the former all-star second baseman "intentionally, with corrupt intent, concealed from (her) his physical condition" to get her to have unprotected sex with him, the New York Post reported.

Alomar, 42, "knew prior to his first sexual contact with (her) that he was HIV-positive" but not only did he not tell Rivera about his condition, he assured her he had been "tested for sexually transmitted diseases and the tests were negative," the divorce filing states.

Study: HIV likely to remain deadly

Tucson -- An ancestor of the AIDS virus is thousands of years older than previously thought, suggesting HIV will be around for some time yet, U.S. scientists say.

Simian immunodeficiency virus or SIV, which infects monkeys, took thousands of years, not hundreds as previously believed, to evolve into a mostly non-lethal state, suggesting HIV will remain deadly to humans for a long time, University of Arizona researchers say.

SIV, unlike HIV, does not cause AIDS in most of its primate hosts. If it took thousands of years for SIV to become non-lethal, it would likely take a very long time for HIV to follow the same path, scientists say.

$21 million for new AIDS/HIV study

La Jolla, Calif. -- The Salk Institute in California will lead a $21 million study on the human immune system's response to initial exposure to the AIDS virus, officials said.

The study is intended to provide clues to a process that is poorly understood despite the existence of drugs that have been found effective in fighting the disease in many people, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Monday.

Research groups from six institutions will join the Salk research into how proteins work at the cellular level to create a defense against the virus.

The National Institutes of Health is funding the project, to be led by Salk immunologist John Young, which is intended to yield new and better therapies.

Painless microneedle patches may replace conventional flu jabs

Traditional flu jabs may soon be replaced by a hi-tech stick-on skin patch that will allow vaccines to be painlessly absorbed by the skin. Scientists believe this painless skin patch could increase influenza vaccination rates in developing countries where there is a shortage of medical staff.

AIDS vaccine possible now with newly discovered antibodies

The National Institute of Health announced Thursday that U.S. scientists have successfully discovered 2 potent human antibodies that can stop more than 90 percent of known global HIV strains from infecting human cells.

Viagra linked to high risk of STDs

Erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra may raise the risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), says a new study. Men who take these drugs are at double the risk of contracting STDs as compared to their non-medicated peers.

Complaint ties porn to HIV

Miami -- Miami-Dade health officials say they will investigate a complaint alleging adult movies fuel the spread of human immunodeficiency virus and similar diseases.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation filed a complaint in January against several makers of adult entertainment, The Miami Herald reported Friday. The foundation says the filmmakers, by not requiring actors to wear condoms, are violating a Florida statute against behavior that might spread disease.

Those named in the complaint include Bang Brothers Films, Josh Stone Productions and Reality Kings Productions, all based in Miami, and Hustler Video of Beverly Hills, Calif.