Hiv/aids

[ginscpy]

pure invention

 

[LA RAM FAN]

yep.

 

[ginscpy]

HIV/Aids - combo of other diseases and toxic meds......

and somehave supeioror genes...........................

 

[waltky]

Dirty needles spreadin' AIDS in Africa...

Injection Drug Use Helps Drive HIV/AIDS in Africa
April 29, 2011 - Injection drug use has long been a driving factor in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. But now, there are signs it’s a growing problem in sub-Saharan Africa, as well.

The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS, sent a team to Kenya and Tanzania to study the relationship between injection drugs and HIV / AIDS. “Globally, we know that it is quite a serious problem. And we know that one in every three new infections is attributable to injecting drug use. We know that in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the former Soviet Union, it continues to be the major driver of the epidemic there. What we’re seeing happen on a parallel track is that in many countries, where the new HIV incidence is starting to stabilize and level off, that the proportion of IDU-related infections is continuing to increase,” said CSIS team member Lisa Carty, who co-wrote a report on the problem. Carty is deputy director at the Global Health Policy Center at CSIS. “I think the whole question of injecting drug use and HIV prevention has been one that’s really been under resourced and not really paid adequate attention to, either from a policy or a programmatic point of view,” she said.

White heroin

The report said, “While it’s clear the number of people injecting drugs is large and growing, the kind of epidemiological data needed for planning and implementing effective prevention and treatment programs remain uncertain.” Epidemiology is the who, what, when, where, why and how of the matter. “White” heroin became readily available in East Africa starting in the late 1990s, resulting in an increase in HIV infections through drug use. Carty said, “It relates to drug trafficking routes coming out of South Asia and the fact that those routes have actually expanded and, you know, a lot of the sort of coastal cities of East Africa – Mombasa and Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam – have become more and more an entry point for drug trafficking out of the South Asia region in through Africa and then very often up through Europe and on to the United States.”

Getting high, getting infected

Dr. Phil Nieberg, senior associate with the Global Health Policy Center, is co-author of the CSIS report. He said the sharing of syringes by drug addicts is a very easy way to transmit HIV. Far easier than sexual transmission. “The reason is that usually with needle sharing there’s blood left in the syringe or in the needle. So, basically, the second person to use the needle is getting an injection of someone else’s blood that has a lot of virus in it,” he said.

Women bear the brunt

 

[thinsey]

actually, its punishment for having sex with monkeys

 

[waltky]

Fewer people dying from AIDS due to more people being on treatment...

Report: More People with HIV on Treatment, Fewer People Dying from AIDS
November 21, 2016 — In advance of World AIDS Day on December 1, a new report finds that more people with HIV than ever before are receiving life-saving treatment, leading to fewer deaths from AIDS-related illnesses around the world.

The report says just over 1 million people died from AIDS-related causes last year, compared to twice that number a decade ago. UNAIDS says this is because of the large number of people with HIV — 18.2 million — who now have access to antiretroviral treatment. The agency also says the world is on track to reach the target of 30 million people with treatment by 2020.

The disease can be conquered if the necessary investment is made in scaling up HIV treatment and prevention programs, according to Peter Ghys, director of the UNAIDS Strategic Information and Evaluation Department. "We estimate that if, indeed, the funding is there and the coverage targets that are set out to be achieved by the year 2020, then that will lead to ending the HIV epidemic by 2030,” Ghys said. “If the money is not there, then it is almost impossible to achieve that end." Currently, the agency has $19 billion to spend on HIV-AIDS annually. UNAIDS estimates it will need $26 billion for each of the next seven years to achieve its goal of ending the epidemic by 2030.

As in previous years, sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest prevalence of HIV-AIDS. Ghys says young girls transitioning to womanhood, particularly in that part of the world, are at high risk of becoming infected with the virus that causes AIDS. "There is evidence presented in the report that shows that young women between the ages of 15 and 19 represent a very large majority of new infections in that age group, ranging up to 90 percent in some studies in southern Africa,” he said.

These young women usually do not know they are HIV-positive, Ghys says, so they do not get treatment and are likely to spread the disease to others. The report finds that nearly 37 million people are living with HIV and, worldwide, 2.1 million people became newly infected in 2015. There have been no declines in new HIV infections among adults since 2010 but, the report notes, new HIV infections among children have decreased by 50 percent since 2010, to 150,000 last year.

Report: More People with HIV on Treatment, Fewer People Dying from AIDS

 

[waltky]

New antiretroviral drugs can reduce the viral load in the blood and semen...

Drug Speeds Up Reduction of HIV Levels in Semen, Research Shows
November 22, 2016 - New antiretroviral drugs can reduce the viral load in the blood and semen of HIV-positive individuals more quickly than older treatments, new research shows.

In most cases of HIV infection, the virus is transmitted sexually through seminal fluid. While antiretroviral agents usually suppress the virus in the blood to undetectable levels within six months, researchers say HIV remains detectable in semen in up to 25 percent of patients after that time. Researchers at Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute in Spain have evaluated the time it takes a new antiretroviral drug, called Dolutegravir, to dampen the virus in semen.

Known as an integrase inhibitor, Dolutegravir suppressed the viral load in seminal fluid to virtually undetectable levels more quickly than older antiretroviral drugs, including in patients for whom the process took longer. The findings are published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

According to experts, more than 2 million people contracted the virus that causes AIDS in 2015. The Spanish researchers said Dolutegravir has the potential to reduce the chances of sexual transmission of HIV and it is now recommended as a first-line treatment, as part of a drug cocktail, in HIV positive patients.

Drug Speeds Up Reduction of HIV Levels in Semen, Research Shows

 

[Lewdog]

Yes I just wrote a research paper that was partially about HIV/AIDS. With new laws that provide more education on STIs/STDs and provide free condoms... and more drug needle programs, etc. It has decreased the spread greatly.

 

[The Professor]

pure invention

There are a lot of professionals who agree with you, including a few Nobel Prize winners. The two best books ever written about the HIV/AIDS hypothesis are:

Inventing the Aids Virus by Peter H. Duesberg. This book is written for the layperson and explains why the HIV/AIDS hypotheses is unproven. Duesburg makes the case that the correlation between AIDS and certain behavioral factors, especially long term drug use, is much stronger than the purported correlation between AIDS and the HIV virus.

AIDS:Virus - or Drug Induced, edited by Petter H. Duesberg. Peter Duesberg invited experts working with HIV and AIDS to publish their opinions. There are about two dozen contributors to this book, but only one of those experts supported the HIV/AIDS hypothesis. This book is written for those with a background in virology/retrovirology. I purchased the book about 15-20 years ago and it took me a long time to read it and understand it. I spent months on the internet looking up technical words and terms, but finally it all came together. The book is a little pricey, especially for a paperback. The price on Amazon today was $139.

To all other readers: The sole purpose of submitting this response is to point out that not everyone agrees with the HIV/AIDS hypotheses. The problem is that those who do agree are getting all the press – and government funding. Duesberg explains it all. Please don't ask me questions about HIV/AIDS. Sometime down the road I may publish an article on the subject, but at this time I don't want to discuss the matter. Sorry.

 

[waltky]

JAMA Cardiology finds Higher Heart Disease Risk Seen in People with HIV...

Higher Heart Disease Risk Seen in People with HIV
December 22, 2016 - Current methods of predicting heart attack and stroke risk vastly underestimate the problem in patients with HIV, according to a new study published in the journal JAMA Cardiology.

Based on a study of 20,000 people infected with HIV, investigators found their risk of heart events is nearly twice that of the general population. Researchers at Northwestern University School of Medicine found the elevated risk even in those in whom the virus was undetectable because of the use of antiretroviral drugs.

Matthew Feinstein, a cardiovascular fellow at Northwestern, says it appears chronic inflammation — caused by continued viral replication even in treated HIV patients — contributes to the higher incidence of heart attack and stroke. The disease activity causes the formation of plaque 10 to 15 years earlier in HIV patients than in the uninfected population, he said. The data analyzed in the study of HIV patients at a number of centers was compared to the predicted heart disease rates in the general population.

Investigators found the risk of heart disease was higher in those infected with HIV regardless of age, sex or race. HIV, said Feinstein, appears to accelerate aging in those with the AIDS virus, thus increasing the risk for heart disease. As individuals taking antiretroviral drugs live longer, researchers expect heart disease in this group will become more common. An estimated 35- to 40-million people around the globe are infected with the AIDS virus or living with the disease.

Investigators said more research is needed to include a larger pool of HIV patients to get a more accurate picture of the problem. That’s because predicting heart disease risk in the general population is generally based on more than 200,000 individuals. A study published earlier this year found individuals with HIV had more scarring in the heart muscle after an attack, suggesting that they don’t heal as well as uninfected people. A trial is underway to see whether drugs commonly used to manage heart disease in the general population, like statin medications, benefit people infected with HIV.

Higher Heart Disease Risk Seen in People with HIV

 

[Likkmee]

Stomach acids destroy the virus. Get to it gurlz !

 

[yiostheoy]

Bushmeat hunting and butchering is probably how this monkey virus got into the human species. Direct entry from small wounds in the hands of the hunter or butcher from the contaminated monkey meat is the most likely avenue. Health workers are at the same risk with infected patients. This nature of the vector has not changed.

Because Negroes are extremely promiscuous it is erroneously believed that sex with monkeys was the reason. Sex between infected humans spreads it but sex was not involved in its cross-species infection.

Negro promiscuity is what then transferred it to the white race, who also have element of extreme promiscuity especially non-Christianized whites.

So you can think of it as the scourge of God for non-Christian behaving peoples. If all people avoided extramarital sex and were then faithful to their spouses then there would be no AIDS pandemic.

While some people like Earvin Magic Johnson Jr can afford the expensive drug cocktails to treat it, most with AIDS will die from it. There is a 100% mortality rate among the poor. Johnson is currently a sales promotion rep for the drug companies that manufacture anti-AIDS drugs.

 

[yiostheoy]

Fewer people dying from AIDS due to more people being on treatment...

Report: More People with HIV on Treatment, Fewer People Dying from AIDS
November 21, 2016 — In advance of World AIDS Day on December 1, a new report finds that more people with HIV than ever before are receiving life-saving treatment, leading to fewer deaths from AIDS-related illnesses around the world.

The report says just over 1 million people died from AIDS-related causes last year, compared to twice that number a decade ago. UNAIDS says this is because of the large number of people with HIV — 18.2 million — who now have access to antiretroviral treatment. The agency also says the world is on track to reach the target of 30 million people with treatment by 2020.

The disease can be conquered if the necessary investment is made in scaling up HIV treatment and prevention programs, according to Peter Ghys, director of the UNAIDS Strategic Information and Evaluation Department. "We estimate that if, indeed, the funding is there and the coverage targets that are set out to be achieved by the year 2020, then that will lead to ending the HIV epidemic by 2030,” Ghys said. “If the money is not there, then it is almost impossible to achieve that end." Currently, the agency has $19 billion to spend on HIV-AIDS annually. UNAIDS estimates it will need $26 billion for each of the next seven years to achieve its goal of ending the epidemic by 2030.

As in previous years, sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest prevalence of HIV-AIDS. Ghys says young girls transitioning to womanhood, particularly in that part of the world, are at high risk of becoming infected with the virus that causes AIDS. "There is evidence presented in the report that shows that young women between the ages of 15 and 19 represent a very large majority of new infections in that age group, ranging up to 90 percent in some studies in southern Africa,” he said.

These young women usually do not know they are HIV-positive, Ghys says, so they do not get treatment and are likely to spread the disease to others. The report finds that nearly 37 million people are living with HIV and, worldwide, 2.1 million people became newly infected in 2015. There have been no declines in new HIV infections among adults since 2010 but, the report notes, new HIV infections among children have decreased by 50 percent since 2010, to 150,000 last year.

Report: More People with HIV on Treatment, Fewer People Dying from AIDS

They are just dying slower.

 

[Lewdog]

Bushmeat hunting and butchering is probably how this monkey virus got into the human species. Direct entry from small wounds in the hands of the hunter or butcher from the contaminated monkey meat is the most likely avenue. Health workers are at the same risk with infected patients. This nature of the vector has not changed.

Because Negroes are extremely promiscuous it is erroneously believed that sex with monkeys was the reason. Sex between infected humans spreads it but sex was not involved in its cross-species infection.

Negro promiscuity is what then transferred it to the white race, who also have element of extreme promiscuity especially non-Christianized whites.

So you can think of it as the scourge of God for non-Christian behaving peoples. If all people avoided extramarital sex and were then faithful to their spouses then there would be no AIDS pandemic.

While some people like Earvin Magic Johnson Jr can afford the expensive drug cocktails to treat it, most with AIDS will die from it. There is a 100% mortality rate among the poor. Johnson is currently a sales promotion rep for the drug companies that manufacture anti-AIDS drugs.

Craziest shit I've ever heard. Black promiscuity caused them to transfer HIV/AIDS to white people. You know it takes two to tango?

 

[yiostheoy]

Bushmeat hunting and butchering is probably how this monkey virus got into the human species. Direct entry from small wounds in the hands of the hunter or butcher from the contaminated monkey meat is the most likely avenue. Health workers are at the same risk with infected patients. This nature of the vector has not changed.

Because Negroes are extremely promiscuous it is erroneously believed that sex with monkeys was the reason. Sex between infected humans spreads it but sex was not involved in its cross-species infection.

Negro promiscuity is what then transferred it to the white race, who also have element of extreme promiscuity especially non-Christianized whites.

So you can think of it as the scourge of God for non-Christian behaving peoples. If all people avoided extramarital sex and were then faithful to their spouses then there would be no AIDS pandemic.

While some people like Earvin Magic Johnson Jr can afford the expensive drug cocktails to treat it, most with AIDS will die from it. There is a 100% mortality rate among the poor. Johnson is currently a sales promotion rep for the drug companies that manufacture anti-AIDS drugs.

Craziest shit I've ever heard. Black promiscuity caused them to transfer HIV/AIDS to white people. You know it takes two to tango?

It's code for bisexuality. Negroes are hyper bisexual. As are Mexicans. Check google.

 

[waltky]

PrEP doesn't protect against MDR-HIV...

HIV Infection Reported in Patient Who Was Taking PrEP?
April 13, 2017 - The first case of HIV contracted by a person taking the PrEP drug regimen has been reported. PrEP is designed to prevent HIV infection, but one man in Canada reportedly contracted a rare, multi-drug-resistant strain of HIV in spite of taking PrEP.

“Does this ‘failure’ change anything at all?” asks ER Physician Dr. Travis Stork. Gastroenterologist Dr. Jorge Rodriguez was at the International AIDS Conference in Boston when the news broke, and explains, “PrEP is a technique, it isn’t a pill. It stands for ‘pre-exposure prophylaxis.’ You’re taking something before you’re exposed to it. For people at high risk for HIV, if they take one pill a day they’re 97 percent less likely to catch HIV if they engage in the most unsafe sexual habit.” Because many people are now on PrEP, the incidence of new infections and the number of people becoming HIV positive has dropped tremendously. “All of these studies are showing it’s 97 percent effective -- not 100 percent,” notes Dr. Rodriguez. “So this wasn’t a surprise.”

Dr. Stork observes that one of the concerns when PrEP was introduced was that patients would no longer practice safe sex. And this does seem to be happening – rates for most STDs have gone up. Urologist Dr. Jennifer Berman is concerned about the drug-resistant HIV strain. She asks, “Did that guy trace back who he had slept with who may have carried the resistant strain?” Dr. Rodriguez says they don’t know who he contracted the virus from. Finally, Dr. Rodriguez cautions that HIV isn’t the only virus people need to worry about. “I’m pro-PrEP, don’t get me wrong …” “… because it’s an additional layer of protection,” finishes Dr. Stork. “For one particular virus, not for all the STDs out there.” People on PrEP still need to take precautions.

Dr. Berman wonders about monogamous couples where one partner is infected with HIV and the other isn’t. “That would be a great situation for PrEP,” agrees Dr. Rodriguez. The final word is that PrEP is highly effective, but it’s not a magic bullet. The safest thing to do is to combine it with standard safe-sex practices – and lower your odds of contracting all STDs, including HIV.

HIV Infection Reported in Patient Who Was Taking PrEP?

 

[waltky]

Macrophages apparently can harbor HIV...

Second Immune Cell Found to Harbor HIV During Treatment
April 17, 2017 - The challenge of finding a cure for AIDS may have gotten harder. Scientists have discovered another cell in the body where HIV — the virus that causes AIDS — hides from therapy designed to suppress it to undetectable levels in the blood.

The cells — called macrophages — are part of the immune system and are found throughout the body, including in the liver, lungs, bone marrow and brain. After other immune cells have done their job of destroying foreign invaders, these large white blood cells act as the cleanup crew. They surround and clean up cellular debris, foreign substances, cancer cells and anything else that is not essential to the functioning of healthy cells. In addition, they apparently can harbor HIV.

A new target

While antiretroviral drugs can drive the AIDS virus down to virtually undetectable levels, scientists know if therapy is interrupted, an HIV infection can come roaring back. That's because of a viral reservoir that until now has been thought only to inhabit immune system T-cells — the cells that are attacked and destroyed by the AIDS virus. Much research is dedicated to trying to find ways to eradicate the T-cell reservoir. This may mean researchers must find ways to eliminate HIV from macrophages, as well. The finding was published in Nature Medicine by researchers in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

A Cambodian health agent pricks the finger of a woman who sought an HIV blood test service in Peam village, Muk Kompoul district, Kandal province,​

Investigators demonstrated in a mouse model that in the absence of humanized T-cells, antiretroviral drugs could strongly suppress HIV in macrophages. However, when the therapy was interrupted, the virus rebounded in one-third of the mice. This, say researchers, is consistent with persistent infection in the face of drug therapy. Researchers say their work demonstrates that any possible therapies must address macrophages in addition to T-cells to eradicate viral reservoirs. Investigators say they now have more information pointing to the complexity of the virus, and that targeting the viral reservoir in T-cells in the blood will not necessarily work with tackling HIV persistence in macrophages, which reside in tissues and are harder to observe.

Senior author Victor Garcia said it’s possible there are other HIV reservoirs still to be discovered. The lead author of the study, Jenna Honeycutt, called the discovery "paradigm changing" in the way scientists must now try to eliminate persistent infection in HIV-positive individuals. Investigators say their next step is to figure out what regulates HIV persistence in infected macrophages. They are also interested in finding HIV interventions that completely eradicate the AIDS virus from the body.

Second Immune Cell Found to Harbor HIV During Treatment

See also:

Scientists Tout Possible Cure for HIV Infection
April 12, 2017 - Scientists are touting a discovery that they think might cure HIV infection. They’ve engineered an antibody that blocks the virus from entering and infecting key immune system cells.

The process, developed at the Scripps Researcher Institute in California, involves tethering an antibody, which fights infection, directly onto T cells, the immune system cells that are targeted by the AIDS virus. Eventually, if enough immune cells become infected and destroyed by HIV, the disease progresses to AIDS, which leads to certain death. The antibodies, however, block the receptor on the T cells that HIV uses to enter and destroy them. It’s what immunochemist Richard Lerner called a form of "cellular vaccination." He said the genetic alteration of the T cells with tethered antibodies does not interfere with the immune cells' ability to fight other pathogens.

Lerner is the senior author of a study describing the work in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Experimental HIV vaccines attempt to stimulate an immune response, creating HIV-specific antibodies to attack and destroy infected cells. But Lerner says the concentration of antibodies flowing freely in the bloodstream is too low to reach every infected T cell.

‘Survival of the fittest’

This approach is different, protecting only some healthy T cells. "You don’t really care about the rest of the body," Lerner explained. "You would just like to shield those cells from viruses and a virus attack. So that’s the chemical principle. Never mind immunizing the whole body. Just immunize the cells that are the real victims." His team added a gene to T cells which instructed them to synthesize antibodies that would bind with the cellular receptor called CD4. That is the doorway to the cell for HIV. Having antibodies hanging on to the cell surface blocks that doorway. It's hoped that eventually in humans, these HIV-resistant cells will multiply into the millions, passing on the protective gene, as the unprotected, infected cells die off, eradicating the AIDS virus from the body and affording a long-lasting cure.

A scientist works with a laboratory petri dish. Scientists have engineered an antibody that blocks the HIV virus from entering and infecting key immune system cells.​

At least that’s what experiments in the laboratory suggested when both genetically engineered and unprotected human T cells were exposed to HIV. Lerner said the engineered T cells would be introduced into a patient’s bone marrow, which would produce protective cells en masse. "We hope to, after securing their safety and so on and so forth, in a patient with HIV, [the engineered cells] can harm their [infected] cells with [the] resistance of ours, and ... hopefully the good cells will be selected over the bad cells. And that will be the end of HIV in that patient," Lerner said.

It's an approach that Lerner calls a Darwinian "survival of the fittest." Scripps investigators are working with City of Hope, an independent research and comprehensive cancer treatment center in Duarte, California, that has a lot of experience with bone marrow transplantation. The center will carry out clinical trials of the engineered, HIV-resistant T cells with an eye toward advancing what scientists hope will be a cure for AIDS.

Scientists Tout Possible Cure for HIV Infection

 

[waltky]

US HIV Diagnoses Improving, But Progress Varies...

CDC: US HIV Diagnoses Improving, But Progress Varies
November 28, 2017 — Delays in the time between becoming infected with HIV and getting a diagnosis are shortening, helped by efforts to increase testing for the virus that causes AIDS, U.S. health officials said.

The report, released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that 50 percent of the 39,720 people diagnosed with HIV in 2015 had been infected for at least three years, a seven-month improvement compared with 2011. Nevertheless, 25 percent of people diagnosed with HIV in 2015 were infected for seven years or more before being diagnosed. CDC Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald said the report shows the nation is making progress in the fight against HIV, but the gains are uneven, and challenges remain. "Too many people have HIV infections that go undiagnosed for far too long," Fitzgerald said in a conference call with reporters.

Shortening the time between HIV infection and diagnosis is key to prevention. The CDC estimates that about 40 percent of new HIV infections are caused by people who did not know they were infected. Although testing rates increased overall, an estimated 15 percent of people living with HIV in 2015 did not know they were infected, and half of people who were unaware of their infection in 2015 lived in the South. The report found many other disparities, with delays in diagnosis varying significantly by race/ethnicity and gender.

[/URL]
A nurse takes blood for a free HIV test during an HIV prevention campaign marking the World AIDS Day in Lima, Peru​

For example, the estimated time from HIV infection to diagnosis was a median of five years for heterosexual men, twice as long as heterosexual women. The median was three years for gay and bisexual men. "The report tells us some groups, particularly heterosexual men and racial and ethnic minorities, live with HIV longer than other groups before they are diagnosed," Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, told the briefing.

Among high-risk individuals, many reported not being tested in the prior year, including 29 percent of gay and bisexual men, 42 percent of people who inject drugs and 59 percent of heterosexuals at increased risk for HIV. Two-thirds of those who had not been tested for HIV in the prior year had seen a health care provider, which Mermin considered a missed opportunity for testing. People who are diagnosed and take medications to control HIV are significantly less likely to spread the disease.

CDC: US HIV Diagnoses Improving, But Progress Varies

 

[waltky]

Coalition of advocacy groups worried about Trump's commitment to AIDS fight...

Health Groups Urge Congress Not to Allow AIDS Fight to Wane
November 29, 2017 - A coalition of nearly 40 advocacy groups said Wednesday they're concerned about the Trump administration's commitment to the global fight against AIDS so they're urging senior members of Congress to make sure money for key prevention programs isn't cut back.

The groups wrote in a letter sent to Wednesday to congressional leaders that they have "profound concern" about the direction the Trump administration appears to be taking in the response to AIDS. "We are writing to sound the alarm," said the letter, delivered just ahead of World AIDS Day on Friday. In a news release accompanying the letter, the groups said the Trump administration had called for an $800 million cut in the 2018 budget from efforts to combat HIV and AIDS. Those proposed cuts led the State Department to develop a new strategy for a program known as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.

While the groups credited Congress for moving to dismiss the administration's proposed reductions, they said they are still worried about the trajectory of PEPFAR and other programs to combat the disease. The 2018 government budget isn't law yet, however. "By focusing on achieving control of the epidemic in 13 'priority' countries, while only maintaining life-saving treatment in other countries, this strategy runs the risk of forfeiting gains in some of the highest burden countries in the world," according to the letter.

Community advocates protest the defunding of two local community HIV clinics, in Baton Rouge, La.​

The advocacy groups warned that there will be millions more AIDS-related deaths and HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa over the next 15 years if Congress doesn't head off the proposed budget cuts. "At a moment when we're finally getting ahead of the disease and its impact on communities, a reduction in funding like the administration proposed — and implementation of PEPFAR's new strategy, which aligns with those budget cuts — would directly result in cuts to the number of people accessing HIV prevention, care, and treatment, and likely trigger a resurgence of the global epidemic."

The letter was sent to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. One the groups that signed the letter, The ONE Campaign, also issued a report Wednesday that said for the first time in 15 years the United States is "showing signs of retreat" from the campaign against HIV and AIDS. "The Trump administration appears ready to unilaterally trade the iconic red ribbon for a white flag of surrender in the global fight against AIDS," according to the report.

Health Groups Urge Congress Not to Allow AIDS Fight to Wane

See also:

Rising HIV Infections See Iran Challenge Notions About Sex
November 29, 2017 — In a square in a poor eastern Tehran neighborhood known for its drug addicts and dealers, psychologist Atefeh Azimi draws another drop of blood from a worried passer-by's finger. She works on a nearby bench, where a sign next to her in English and in Farsi urges the public to receive free voluntary counseling and HIV testing.

But her worries, as well as those of her aid group called Reviving Values, are not confined these days just to those sharing needles to inject heroin that comes across the border from Afghanistan's thriving opium trade. Iran has seen a surge in the number of HIV infections spread by sex, especially among its youth. What's more, authorities say many have no idea that they are infected. That has led to growing uncomfortable questions in the Islamic Republic, where sex outside of marriage is prohibited and those who practice it can face arrest and severe punishment.

Some have dared challenge the long-standing taboos in Iran surrounding sex, speaking publicly about the need for safe sex, sex education and regular HIV testing. "Everybody has a very bad attitude toward this disease," said Mahboobeh Zeinali, an HIV-positive woman living in Tehran. "They even think if they wash their hand where I do they can be infected, but they can't." According to government estimates, 66,000 people out of Iran's 80 million people have HIV, though about 30,000 of them have no idea they have the virus. Iranian authorities blame that on how little general knowledge many have about the virus. By comparison, in the United States, government statistics suggest 1.1 million people live with HIV, with one in seven not knowing it.

Mahboobeh Zeinali, who is HIV-positive, attends an acting class at Reviving Values aid group institute in Tehran, Iran. 'Everybody has a very bad attitude toward this disease,' she says.​

More than 50 percent of those with HIV in Iran are between 21 and 35, said Parvin Afsar Kazerouni, the head of the Health Ministry's AIDS department. That's despite that age group representing about 28 percent of Iran's population as a whole. The number of those infected through sex continues to rise. "If we look at five or six years ago, the rate of infection through sex was around 16 or 17 percent, to 20 percent at the most. ... Now it is up to 40 percent or even more in some provinces," Dr. Mohammad Mahdi Gouya, Iran's deputy health minister, told The Associated Press. "This is an alert for us, the people and the officials. They are addressing this issue very seriously."

Societal mores play a part in the rise of HIV infections. As a Muslim country, Iranian clerics preach against sex outside of marriage and sex isn't often discussed among children and parents. Schools offer little sexual education as well. Sex outside of marriage is illegal and some have been prosecuted for merely shaking hands with a member of the opposite sex under Iran's strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Shariah. However, police rarely interfere with young couples in Tehran walking hand-in-hand and whispering to each other. The government blames drugs in part for the increase in HIV infections — though not those narcotics that are injected with a needle. "Ecstasy drugs, synthetic addictive drugs and amphetamine combinations dramatically and abnormally raise sexual desire," Gouya said.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Fewer men get tested for the fatal disease or have access to treatment....

Report: More Men Than Women Die from AIDS
December 01, 2017 — A new report issued on World AIDS Day finds more men than women are dying from AIDS because fewer men get tested for the fatal disease or have access to treatment.

The report finds men have, what it calls, a blind spot when it comes to getting tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. And, if they do not know their HIV status, the report says men are unlikely to get treatment and will die. UNAIDS says this situation is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa, where men and boys living with HIV are 20 percent less likely than HIV-positive women and girls to know their status. The report says even larger numbers are less likely to seek treatment and warns that people who are not being treated are more likely to transmit the AIDS virus.

Children light candles during an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign on the occasion of World AIDS Day in Kolkata, India​

While more women are likely to be living with HIV, more men are likely to die from this fatal disease, says Peter Ghys, the chief strategy officer at UNAIDS. He says the reason is that fewer men than women receive antiretroviral therapy - citing a figure of 47 percent for men compared to 60 percent for women. “Then also once people are on treatment, we find that men are actually less likely to be fully observant or adherent to their treatment," said Ghys. "And, so it results actually in a higher mortality of men living with HIV than women living with HIV. And so, about 58 percent of all the AIDS-related deaths that were observed in 2016 are occurring among men, even though there are more women living with HIV.”

Global trends on the HIV/AIDS epidemic are generally positive. New data show AIDS-related deaths have declined by nearly half since a peak in 2005; but, the epidemic is far from over. UNAIDS reports nearly 2 million people worldwide became newly infected with HIV last year and more than one million people died from AIDS-related illnesses. The report shows fewer men than women visit health care facilities and so are less likely to be diagnosed with life-threatening conditions. It says many men avoid getting tested because they fear being stigmatized by knowing their HIV status. Many others, it says refrain from receiving life-saving treatment because they believe they are invincible.

Report: More Men Than Women Die from AIDS