Hiv/aids

[waltky]

AIDS Crusader Mathilde Krim Dies at Age 91...

Prominent AIDS Crusader Mathilde Krim Dies at Age 91
January 16, 2018 — Mathilde Krim, a prominent AIDS researcher who galvanized worldwide support in the early fight against the deadly disease, has died. She was 91.

Krim was founding chairman of The Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR. The nonprofit says she died at her home in King's Point, New York, on Monday. amfAR Chief Executive Officer Kevin Robert Frost says in a statement "so many people alive today literally owe their lives" to her.

amfAR Founding Chairman Dr. Mathilde Krim attends amfAR's annual New York Gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York​

Krim was a geneticist with experience in cancer research when AIDS first surfaced in the early 1980s. Over the next several decades, she mobilized a vast army of celebrities and others to help raise money and to lessen the disease's stigma. In 2000, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S.

Prominent AIDS Crusader Mathilde Krim Dies at Age 91

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Scientists: Conflict in Ukraine Escalated Spread of HIV
January 15, 2018 — Fighting in Ukraine that erupted in 2014 escalated the spread of HIV throughout the country as millions of infected people were uprooted by violence, a study published Monday found.

Conflict-affected areas such as Donetsk and Luhansk, two large cities in the east of Ukraine, were the main exporters of the HIV virus to other parts of the country such as Kyiv and Odessa, the report found. Ukraine has among the highest HIV rates in Europe, with an estimated 220,000 infected in a country of about 45 million. An international team of scientists led by Oxford University and Public Health England analyzed viral migration patterns and found a correlation between the war-related movement of 1.7 million people and the spread of HIV. "The war changed a lot of things in Ukraine and the HIV epidemic is one of them," said lead author Tetyana Vasylyeva of Oxford University's Zoology department. "When we conducted our analysis, we were able to show that the viral spread from the East to the rest of the country had been intensified after the war."

A doctor takes an AIDS/HIV blood test in a mobile laboratory in Odessa, Ukraine​

The HIV epidemic has shifted from being associated with drug injections in the 1990s to most new infections now being spread by sexual transmission, Vasylyeva told Reuters. Half of HIV-infected people in Ukraine are unaware of their infection status and around 40 percent of newly diagnosed people are in the later stages of the disease, she added. Almost 37 million people worldwide have the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. Since the first cases of HIV were reported more than 35 years ago, 35 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses, according to the United Nations AIDS program (UNAIDS), which is seeking to end the public health threat by 2030, in line with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. A Russia-backed insurgency erupted in Ukraine's industrialized east in 2014 and the bloodshed has continued despite a cease-fire deal brokered by Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict, with casualties reported on a near-daily basis. Russia denies accusations from Ukraine and NATO that it supports the rebels with troops and weapons. The health study also found an alarmingly high resistance, compared to the rest of Europe, to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) a common treatment for HIV, said senior author and medical virologist, Gkikas Magiorkinis. "It's a worrying development and the policymakers should be alerted because it's going to be very, very difficult to use it [PrEP] in the near future in Ukraine," Magiorkinis told Reuters. Ukraine must scale-up interventions to prevent further transmissions of HIV, and seek international support to prevent a new public health tragedy, he said.

Scientists: Conflict in Ukraine Escalated Spread of HIV

 

[waltky]

Where HIV is most prevalent...

Eastern, Southern Africa Most Affected by HIV Epidemic
July 21, 2018 — A report by UNAIDS, "Miles to go—closing gaps, breaking barriers, righting injustices", warns that the global response to HIV is at a critical point. Eastern and southern Africa remain the regions most affected by the HIV epidemic, accounting for 45 percent of the world's HIV infections and 53 percent of people with HIV globally.

An estimated 800,000 people in eastern and southern Africa acquired HIV in 2017, and an estimated 380,000 people died of AIDS-related illness, the report indicated. Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania accounted for more than half of the new HIV infections and deaths from AIDS-related illness in the region last year. The survey also indicated that there was discrimination against HIV positive persons in healthcare settings, especially towards key populations. Key populations include men who have sex with men, drugs users, transgender persons and sex workers, considered to be most at risk at contracting HIV.

There are nearly 1 million sex workers estimated to need services in the region. "For us it is important in fact we do have within NASCOP, a key population program, mainly targeting the key populations, the female sex workers, men who have sex with men and injecting drug users," said Dr. Kigen Barmasai, the director at Kenya's National Aids and STI Control Program, NASCOP "One, we know that this contributes to 33 percent of new infections in Kenya, from this key populations, of course the prevalence varies, we have prevalence from 29 percent in female sex workers to 18 percent among the injected drug users. So as a program we are working on this and we are spearheading the HIV prevention, treatment and care efforts to reverse the epidemic. For the last ten years we have been working on that."

Patients with tuberculosis (TB) and HIV wear masks while awaiting consultation at a clinic in Cape Town's Khayelitsha township, South Africa.​

More than half of the people surveyed who inject drugs said they avoided health-care services, citing discrimination or fear of law enforcement authorities. In Kenya homosexuality is illegal and being found guilty can lead to a sentence of up to 14 years in prison. Sex work is also illegal in Kenya. "The criminal nature of Key populations, and the acts of Key populations that make people shy away from accessing health care and even organizing, coming together so that they can organize," said Grace Kamau, chairperson of the Key population consortium in Kenya. "The main thing is the criminal nature. People fear to be arrested" The report said about two-thirds of all people living with HIV in the region were accessing antiretroviral therapy in 2017.

Kamau attributes the successes in reaching large numbers of Key populations in Kenya to availability of HIV resources made possible by donor funding, but she says more people are yet to be reached. "One of the things we have in Kenya is private clinics that are donor funded," said Kamau. "That is where the sex workers feel comfortable and that is where they access their services. And that is what has made the number to go high." The report indicates that there were 19.6 million people living with HIV in eastern and southern Africa at the end of 2017. Out of this number 81% were aware of their HIV status, an increase from 77% in 2016. West and central Africa continues to lag behind as statistics indicated AIDS-related deaths have fallen by only 24% in western and central Africa, compared to a 42% decline in eastern and southern Africa. Nigeria has more than half of the HIV burden in the region and there has been little progress in reducing new HIV infections there in recent years.

Eastern, Southern Africa Most Affected by HIV Epidemic

 

[waltky]

HIV Infects 1 Teen Girl Every 3 Minutes...

UN: HIV Infects 1 Teen Girl Every 3 Minutes
July 25, 2018 - One girl between the ages of 15 and 19 is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, every three minutes of every day, a United Nations report found.

The report, released Wednesday at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, said teenage girls are bearing the brunt of the AIDS epidemic, largely due to gender inequality. Henrietta Fore, head of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), called it a "crisis of health." "In most countries, women and girls lack access to information, to services, or even just power to say no to unsafe sex," she said. "HIV thrives among the most vulnerable and marginalized, leaving teenage girls at the center of the crisis."

School girls light candles in the shape of a ribbon during a HIV/AIDS awareness campaign ahead of World Aids Day, in Ahmedabad, India​

The report said while there was significant progress in the battle against AIDS in other age groups, it is notably lacking among adolescents. While AIDS-related deaths among all other age groups have been falling since 2010, those among children aged 15 to 19 have seen no reduction.In 2017, 1.2 million 15- to 19-year-olds were living with HIV, three in five of them were girls, according to UNICEF. Actress and activist Charlize Theron addressed the issue in her speech at the conference.

The AIDS epidemic is "not just about sex or sexuality," she said. It is also about "the second-class status of women and girls worldwide." The solution, according to Angelique Kidjo, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador who contributed to the report, is education and economic empowerment. "We need to make girls and women secure enough economically that they don't have to turn to sex work," she said. "We need to make sure they have the right information about how HIV is transmitted and how to protect themselves."

UN: HIV Infects 1 Teen Girl Every 3 Minutes

 

[fncceo]

actually, its punishment for having sex with monkeys

The terrible pillow talk and morning breath was punishment enough.

 

[waltky]

$431,119: NIH Funds HIV Intervention Among Heroin, Crack Users on US-Mexico Border

August 7, 2018 – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Lehigh University $431,119 in taxpayer funds for HIV intervention among heroin and crack users along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The project is a collaboration between the University of Texas at El Paso, The Alliance for Border Collaborative and Program Comparers “to adapt, implement, and evaluate a multi-level, community-based, HIV prevention intervention (Project Encuentro).” “The intervention was developed in an area severely affected by violence and stigma towards drug users, El Salvador, which makes it particularly suitable for adaptation to meet the needs of drug users living in the proposed intervention site, the U.S.-Mexico border,” the grant abstract stated.

According to the grant, “the proposed intervention site also has been severely affected by violence, which has curtailed any prior attempts” to reduce drug addicts’ HIV risk. “Violence has worsened structural factors which affect HIV risk such as, increasing police persecution and stigma and reducing access to resources. In our proposed project, we will engage in formative research to understand the context of HIV risk of drug users in the border region post violence and adapt the intervention accordingly,” it stated.

Researchers will conduct “parallel research on the effectiveness of interventions shown to be effective in Latino drug users in two very different contexts: El Salvador and the U.S.-Mexico border.” The findings of the study will allow researchers to “tailor intervention components to meet the needs of drug users in the region.” The project start date is listed as April 5, 2016, and it ends on Jan. 31, 2021. Funding began on Feb. 1, 2018 and ends on Jan. 31, 2019. Attempts to reach project leader Julia Lechuga went unanswered by the time the article was published.

$431,119: NIH Funds HIV Intervention Among Heroin, Crack Users on US-Mexico Border

Hmmm, must be headed by a Democrat.

 

[waltky]

Experts Warn of a Return of the AIDS Epidemic...

Experts Warn of a Return of the AIDS Epidemic
August 24, 2018 | WASHINGTON — Thirty-six million people currently live with AIDS, a disease that claimed the lives of nearly 1 million people last year. Experts predict that by 2030, 100 million people will have been infected with the HIV virus.

Despite the alarming numbers, there have been great strides in treatment. HIV is no longer a death sentence, and researchers say people receiving treatment for HIV are able to live normal lives and do not pose a risk to others when they are being treated proactively. But success carries a price: complacency. Funding for AIDS research and treatment has declined, and in some places, so has government interest. “When we talk to ministers of finance, they always say to me, ‘I thought HIV was over because I don’t see anybody dying,’” said Dr. Deborah Birx, a U.S. Global AIDS coordinator who oversees the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Students with their faces painted with messages pose during an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign to mark the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, in Chandigarh, India​

J. Stephen Morrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, “We’re not reaching goals.” He added, “There’s going to be a struggle to hold ground. ... There’s a widening deficit of political will and financial capacity that we face some really daunting challenges in prevention.” Dr. Chris Beyrer, with Johns Hopkins Medicine, predicted that things will get worse if governments and civilians continue their complacency. “We are not done with AIDS,” he said. “It is much too early to declare victory, and the risks of a resurgent epidemic are real.”

British musician Elton John raises his fist as he delivers a news conference at the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018), the largest HIV/AIDS-focused meeting in the world, in Amsterdam, Netherlands​

Birx, Morrison and Beyrer discussed the challenges in ending AIDS at a program in Washington to evaluate the messages from this year’s International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam. New infections are down from 3.4 million a year, but they’re stuck at 1.8 million per year. And there are 17 million people living with HIV who cannot be reached. They are in high risk groups: young women, particularly young African women; men who have sex with men; IV drug users; those in prisons and other closed settings; sex workers and their clients; and transgender people. “Those key populations and young women account for over 50 percent of new infections, and they are really hard to reach,” Morrison said.

A man walks past a banner tied on a bus before the start of a charity walk on HIV/AIDS at the Ebute Mata district in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos​

Though it’s relatively easy to prevent HIV transmission during childbirth, Beyrer said about 30 percent of all infants born with HIV worldwide are born in Nigeria. In the U.S., HIV is increasingly an infection in communities with high rates of poverty and in black and Hispanic populations. The National Institutes of Health announced Aug. 20 that getting these groups into care is critical to ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S. NIH also announced an international program to reduce the stigma around the virus so more people with the disease can seek treatment. Experts agree it is possible to end the HIV pandemic, even without a vaccine. But to do this, governments and communities need to be involved, funding needs to be continued, and everyone with HIV needs to be treated.

Experts Warn of a Return of the AIDS Epidemic

 

[Wolfstrike]

it was a disease in apes that suddenly infected humans.
it is now probably the most modified disease in history


most likely intended as population control