Dr James Chin who headed Global Program on Aids unit from 1987-1992 asserted that HIV/Aids activists are circulating ‘misconceptions’ about who is at risk. In his new book, he has advocated that population outside Africa are not likely to catch HIV/Aids because it is limited to certain high-risk groups. He said that HIV pervasiveness is low in most populations throughout the world and can be expected to remain low because the numbers in groups whose behavior puts them at high risk limits infection rates. He further said that HIV rates are higher only in sub- Saharan Africa because of unprotected sex outside the marriage. While in other parts of the world, HIV is seen only in men who have sex with other men, intravenous drug users and female sex workers. Writing in ‘The Aids Pandemic’, Dr Chin says, ‘By refusing to accept the fact that HIV is very difficult to transmit sexually without the highest levels of sexual risk behaviours, Aids programmes have avoided labelling some populations as being more promiscuous than others.’ And he says the failure to recognize this means that scarce public health resources in countries where HIV prevalence is low are being wasted on prevention programs being targeted at the public, when it is the high-risk groups who should be targeted. He added that the facts have been ‘minimised and ignored’ by UNAids and Aids activists because it is ‘politically and socially more acceptable’ to say HIV risk behaviors are present in all populations. Experts from UK who viewed them as incorrect, however, did not accept his suggestions. Dr Purnima Mane, director of policy evidence and partnerships at UNAids has retaliated by saying that, ‘UNAids data is not influenced by political or fundraising agendas.’ Lisa Power, chief of policy at the UK’s Terrence Higgins Trust said Dr Chin’s views may have been accurate 10 to 15 years ago, but were not true now. Read
Iran develops herbal anti-AIDS drug — ‘IMOD’
Herbal drug – ‘IMOD’ is quite effective against deadly AIDS. This statement by Iranian scientists may sound like a sweet warble to millions of HIV/AIDS patients living all round the world. Incidentally, this claim has come at the time when Iranian President Ahmadinejad has made the fact clear that Islamic Republic’s nuclear rights “will be established.” Much has been hurled out praising this so-called anti-AIDS drug called ‘IMOD’. According to Iran’s Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Training Kamran Bagheri Lankarani: The drug named ‘IMOD’ is completely effective and safe with no proved side effects. Harping on the same string, Iranian scientists claimed it to be the result of seven years of long arduous work, which strengthens immune system of the patient with HIV and provides a more qualitative life for the affected population. According to Baqeri Lankarani: The herbal-based medication, called IMOD, serves to control the AIDS virus and increases the body’s immunity. Right now, it is quite difficult to mark that how far this claim, made by Iran, is true since earlier too many fake claims regarding HIV drug have come to the surface. However, if we rely on these claims made by Iranian scientists then we can certainly assert that this so-called drugs ‘IMOD’ is bound to bring a new ray of hope in the lives of thousands of patients with HIV/AIDS because this very drug has been proclaimed quite natural with minimal side effects, while conventional drugs used for HIV/AIDS have become quite notorious due to several side effects, which they keep. However, only time will tell that how far ‘IMOD’ comes out as an effective remedy against HIV/AIDS, since the effectiveness of this drug has been transpired just by conducted tests on about 200 people. Therefore, in order to establish this drug as an ideal remedy against HIV/AIDS further trials on humans are requisite. Image credit: UMC-gbcs Via: Raw story
Researchers jostling to find AIDS resistance secret in the blood
These days Tulane university pathologist Ivona pandrea and colleagues are working on a very significant issue. Actually, they are prying into an intricate matter to find out why monkeys infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), which is the primate version of the human immunodeficiency virus do not develop AIDS for years. In this move Ivona pandrea and colleagues analyzed the presence of CCR5-an important marker found on CD4 cells, which are targeted by HIV and SIV, resulting AIDS virus access to those cells. Still, it would be quite difficult to give an opinion on this issue since; this study is just in its beginning. However, taking this study into consideration, it would not be wrong to say that this study may give way to some significant finding, enabling researchers to come out with a portent weapon to fight HIV/AIDS. Image credit: AIDS-pomoc Via: Physorg
Expenditure on HIV: Sufficient or insufficient?
Are we spending too much on HIV or the amount being spent is still insufficient? The torrent of such questions remained striking this week’s BMJ (British Medical Journal). Moreover, the percussion of these contradicting questions has goaded out new questions like, how far it is right to spend millions of dollars to fight HIV/AIDS, especially when the percentage of people dying of HIV/AIDS is lower than the deaths occurring due to some other reasons. Personally, I believe that following issues might have given way to such questions:- � HIV/AIDS causes 2.8 million deaths a year worldwide, which is fewer than the number of stillbirths, and much less than half the number of infant deaths. � More people die of diabetes than HIV. � According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, in 2004, 21 per cent of all health aid was allocated to HIV, up from 8 per cent in 2000. No doubt, these issues are quite considerable that needs to be addressed earnestly but before that it is more important to have answers of the questions like, has our fight against deadly HIV/AIDS digressed from its main route? Is there any flaw in our strategy, meant to intercept the deluge of HIV/AIDS? Is the money being spent to harness HIV/AIDS, being utilized properly? The galaxy of such questions that has been thrown up through this fresh controversy cries for precise answers. However, still I consider following questions more important: � How far our strategy aimed at total annihilation of HIV/AIDS is pertinent? � How fight against deadly AIDS be revamped more effectively to achieve the target, which is perdition of HIV/AIDS? Image credit: silent swan Via: Medical News Today
Does the Gambian President really has an HIV remedy?
No doubt, researchers all round the world are failing repeatedly in spooring out an effective remedy to fight HIV/AIDS while Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh proudly claims to have found an effective remedy to fight this deadly disease. Strangely enough, the style he uses while prescribing this drugs to AIDS patients is quite interesting. He closes his eyes in prayer, rubs a green herbal paste on to the ribcage of his patient, and then orders AIDS patients to have draught of bitter yellow drug, followed by two bananas. Commenting on the skeptical attitude being meted out to his so-called AIDS drug, President avers: Whatever you do there are bound to be sceptics, but I can tell you my method is foolproof. Mine is not an argument, mine is a proof. It’s a declaration. I can cure AIDS and I will. Interestingly, President is not all alone while defending his claims, as some HIV patients are also there to support him. Supporting such claims of the President Mr. Ousman Sowe, 54, who was diagnosed for HIV in 1996 says: It feels as if the president took the pain out of my body. Harping upon the same string, Lamin Ceesay, thin from a nine-year battle with HIV, remarks: My appetite has come back and I have gained weight. These quotes of HIV patients show that people are finding this so-called medicine effective in fighting HIV/AIDS. May be this medicine is effective and may not be. Therefore, commenting in favor and against this so-called medicine would not be right because it would just make this controversy more intricate. Don’t you think if researchers try to pull out its efficacy in the light of scientific principles then it would easier to uncover the truth? Because irrational use of this drug can also be detrimental as the experts exhibit their concern stating that taking president’s prescribed anti-retroviral drugs may be harmful, since doing so can weaken the body’s immune system, making the patient prone to infection. Image credit: State House Via: MSNBC
Treatment of herpes can be beneficial for people with HIV
While treating HIV/AIDS, doctors would perhaps treat genital herpes first because according to a new study treating genital herpes can be helpful in slackening the progression of the AIDS virus in those infected with both viruses. This conclusion has rolled out after studying about 140 women in the West African country of Burkina Faso. In this study, it was found that when these women were treated with 500 milligrams of the drug valacyclovir twice daily for three months then their chances of shedding or spreading AIDS virus came down. Moreover, level of AIDS virus level also came down in the blood of these patients. This finding is quite significant because among people already infected with HIV, up to 70 percent in Europe and 90 percent in Africa also carry the virus for genital herpes, HSV-2. Image credit: HIV Via: Reuters
New AIDS drugs to enter arena to combat resistant HIV strains
Statement by Dr. John Mellors who is chief of infectious diseases at the University of Pittsburgh that about half of U.S. patients treated for infections with HIV have stopped responding to at least one drug is enough to give us a reason to rethink that how far our fight against HIV/AIDS is pertinent, especially if we keep in mind the fact that this incursion against deadly HIV/AIDS is on the move for more than 25 years. More worst is the fact that the ghost of HIV/AIDS is still holding up its head like a dominant winner despite all our efforts to bridle it. According to an estimate, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS infects more than 1 million people in the United States and nearly 40 million worldwide. More deploring is the fact that just in year this deadly virus infects about 40,000 Americans. To better understand that how HIV/AIDS is fast encroaching upon the whole world, have a look here:- 1. HIV/AIDS on the Rise in Asia 2. Sharp Rise of HIV/AIDS Cases in Shenzhen 3. Alarming Rise In HIV/AIDS Cases in Kazakhstan 4. Rise in HIV/AIDS cases in the southern United States 5. Rise of HIV/AIDS Victims in Middle East 6. Laos: HIV/AIDS Infection Rate on the Rise 7. HIV/AIDS Rates Rise Sharply in Canada 8. HIV/AIDS on the up all over the world 9. China Sees Fast Rise in HIV/AIDS 10. HIV/AIDS on rise for Canadian women 11. India sees big HIV/Aids rise 12. HIV/Aids spread on rise in Tanzania 13. HIV infection in UK increases to 63,500 However, now a ray of hope has also entered the arena, piercing the dark clouds of these gloomy facts mentioned above. Actually, data from clinical trials of several promising new products will be unveiled at a conference of leading HIV researchers in Los Angeles next week. These new products are next-generation versions of longstanding HIV fighters as well as drugs that combat the virus through innovative mechanisms, including blocking it from entering immune system cells. The advent of these new drugs should be looked upon as a good indication and these is none denying the fact that people are very enthusiastic about it as the following words of Dr. Anthony Fauci director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases exhibit: There is a confluence of new drugs in the pipeline that people are pretty excited about. It should be hoped that the introduction of these new drugs would help us revamping out fight against deadly HIV/AIDS and soon we shall be able to vanquish it. Image credit: UN Via: Alert Net
Maraviroc likely to prove as a potent weapon against HIV/AIDS
Researchers’ efforts seem to be coming to fruition as drug giant Pfizer Inc. is planning to bring anti-AIDS drug into the market. Now you may ask what is peculiar about this new drug. Actually, this new drug, called Maraviroc is the result of a long research that got on the track in 1996, when scientists solved a mystery, which was surrounding certain gay men who were immune to AIDS. Interestingly, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Schering-Plough Corp. has also stared working on the same issue by chasing their own CCR5-blockers during 1996 but unfortunately, that drug turned out to be toxic as a result Glaxo had to halt its project. During the course of several clinical trials it has been well established that this drug called, maraviroc, when combined with other medicines, is more effective than existing therapies in treating AIDS patients. The following conclusion based on the data provided by Pfizer brings out drug’s (Maraviroc) efficacy quite precisely: Maraviroc, when used in combination with other drugs, more effectively suppressed blood levels of the virus than the standard three-drug HIV therapy is current use. According to experts, this new drug may gain regulatory approval this year and generate more than $300 million in sales by 2011 for New York-based Pfizer Inc. we must hope that this new drug would emerge as a potent weapon against HIV/AIDS. Image credit: Playfuls Via: Bloomberg
Newly infected; more responsible for HIV transmission: study
Even after taking hard measures to suppress HIV/AIDS, which is clutching the globe under its talon mercilessly, scientists have not been able to intercept its influx into human lives, which is quite a confounding issue. In an effort to loosen this Gordian knot, researchers in a major study have found that half of all new HIV transmissions occur when people are unlikely to know that they are carrying the deadly virus of HIV/AIDS. This very factor provides us with one of the strong reasons, responsible for the rampant growth of HIV/AIDS. According to experts, newly infected are most infectious because the virus in people, passing through this process, called seroconversion, madly replicate, making millions of copies before their systems respond by making antibodies. Moreover, it takes two to four weeks for a newly infected HIV carrier to test positive. However, by that time that newly infected person may transmit that virus into the bodies of many others people. This description makes it clear that how this deadly HIV virus ramifies without coming to the light. Therefore, in order to foil the intrusion of this deadly virus, every one of us should take every possible precautionary measure. Image credit Via: CBC
SA moves ahead with ambitious five-year anti-AIDS plan
In South Africa � HIV virus engulfing approximately 1,500 citizens every day. � Up to 40% of women between the ages, 25 to 29 are HIV positive. � More than 1,000 people die of Aids-related illnesses every day. These figures uncover the horrific mien of the situation, prevailing there for years. Moreover, they rectify the notion that put South Africa in the category of the countries, severely bruised by the apparition called, HIV/AIDS. Perhaps this is the reason why the government of this country has come out launching an ambitious five-year plan (that would go up to 2011), aimed at combating HIV/AIDS more successfully than before. Plan’s aim:- � To change the behavior, especially of young people-the section of the society most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. � To dramatically extend its anti-retroviral drug program. � To cut new infections by half by 2011. � To care and support 80% of all people with HIV within five years. Quite a commendable step it is, but seems taken a bit later. However, well said, it is never too late. More interesting is the thing that this move of the government has highly been applauded by AIDS activists, since they had been accusing government for paying not sufficient heed to fight HIV/AIDS. If both government as well as AIDS activities put their energies together then, in my opinion, results could be more prolific than imagined. In addition, if this massive but ambitious plan moves on the fuel of enthusiasm and firm determination then no stint can put spoke in its wheels. In other words, we can say that success of this plan would mainly depend on the firm determination and zeal of the officials that would enable people of south Africa to see a new dawn that would come, piercing the thick haze of HIV/AIDS, which is enfolding this country for years. Image credit: IST Via: BBC