via:PubADict

Two questions come to mind. First, why are young men facing a greater AIDS infection? Second, why are the blacks amongst them the most vulnerable?

The answer to the first question is that the current rise in AIDS is the infection of ‘the second generation’ of young Americans. They are so aware of the dangers of AIDS. The rise of antivirals has made them bold enough not to be careful. They feel there is treatment available and act heedlessly.

Why are black young men suffering the most? Studies have noted that they are less likely to have sexual partners than white males. They use less injected drugs. And they are well aware of the need for ‘protected sex’. Then why the higher prevalence amongst black youths? The answer is that the black community suffers more (than other communities) from diseases like syphilis and gonorrhoea, diseases that enhances chances of contracting AIDS.

But there is hope yet. A study by the American Journal of Public Health showed that prevention messages specially made for gay black men can work. Researchers recruited “opinion leaders” in the gay communities of three cities in North Carolina. Their message of the importance of protected sex showed results. There was a decline in the high-risk unprotected sex in the target areas.

Education and information focused on blacks will prove to be the key to solve this problem.

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Via: Washington Post

For one thing, every person needs pre-test counseling. They have to be informed about the whole test procedure and the implications of a positive or negative result. This in itself is a significant task considering the varied health problems of the people. If a person comes to a doctor for spraining his ankle, the whole HIV testing procedure will be a nuisance for the person. Their will be hardly any people ready to invest so much of their time, when it wouldn’t have any bearing on the present problem.

If we look on the other side, even doctors will be hard pushed to follow this rule, considering the therapeutic uselessness of the test. But the benefits of such a system are difficult to ignore. This mandatory testing will bring out a significant number of undiagnosed cases into light. Not only does this help to consolidate HIV stats, but it is helpful to the patient to start anti-retroviral therapy in the pre symptomatic stage itself. Studies have shown that starting anti-retroviral therapy before onset of symptoms has decreased the morbidity associated with this disease. Even if anti-retroviral therapy is not started, behavioral modification keeping in view the nature of the disease is possible.

Moreover, this policy will decrease the disease phobia in the people, because they would have been counseled at least once in their lives. This will remove the many wrong conceptions about the disease. And that in turn will eliminate the social stigma around this disease.

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Source: usatoday

AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is a fatal disease that attacks the human immune system and makes it completely non operational leading to death. However, what makes the disease even more lethal is the stigma attached to it. Intravenous drug users, homosexuals, sex workers and prostitutes are usually the victims of this disease. This is largely attributed to the lack of information about AIDS amongst these sections of the society. Even after being diagnosed with the disease they are left untreated due to the fear on the part of doctors and nurses of contracting the disease. These people lack even the basic healthcare and preventive facilities which adds to their woes.

Perhaps this is the reason that the International federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent decided to term the disease a global disaster. With this they have taken a step ahead in ensuring better care for the AIDS patients and removal of some of the stigma attached to the disease in the society. Speaking on the issue Federation specialist Mukesh Kapila said,

Government services are overwhelmed by the need for support and treatment, stigma still prevents access for many, even where services exist, and communities are devastated by its effects.

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Via: Reuters

AIDS, the killer disease that has orphaned millions of kids and widowed thousands of women may not be a global epidemic as once predicted, according to a WHO expert. Kevin De Cock, the WHO expert is of the opinion that the threat may be confined to gay men, drug addicts and prostitutes and their clients. He also says that the large-scale heterosexual spread was unlikely to occur anywhere outside sub-Saharan Africa whereas the experts were concerned about the growing number of HIV cases in Asia earlier. The United Nations had predicted that the number if people with HIV worldwide as 40 million and later slashed the estimate to 33 million. Nearly 3 million people are now receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in low- and middle-income countries, according to a new report jointly launched by WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF. There are criticisms that the organizations were spending huge amounts educating people in places where the threat is less instead of working in countries that had high-risk groups. Though De Cock’s statement comes as a relief for all those who are concerned, the fact that it continues to be a deadly disease with no cure cannot be overlooked.

Via: Dailymail

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Keeping these aspects in view, Stephen Kent along with his colleagues from the University of Melbourne, Australia developed the Overlapping Peptide-pulsed Autologous Cells (OPAL) treatment which is an immunotherapy technique. In the laboratory experiment, the AIDS virus cells termed peptides (protein fragments) were placed along with blood cells and isolated immunity cells from the infected person, in lab dishes. It was observed that the immunity cells were able to recognize the viral cells better. This vaccine is to be introduced into the blood of HIV patients. Consequently, the immune cells will be able to combat the virus and take control of it more efficiently than the other types of AIDS/HIV treatments.

According to the information from PLoS Pathogens journal of the Public Library of Science, this experiment was conducted on monkeys with SIV(Simian Immunodeficiency Virus that is similar to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus in functionality and effect). It was observed that the CD4-T cells (the main immunity cells for combating the HIV/SIV virus) that are generally incapacitated by the HIV/SIV virus were found to increase in number in leaps and bounds after the administration of this vaccine. The viral levels were ten times lesser in the SIV infected monkeys that were administered the vaccine compared to the SIV infected monkeys that were not given the vaccine. The good news is that the effect lasted for almost over a year after the initial vaccinations. The plans to conduct this immunotherapy experiment on humans are under development.

This treatment seems to be more effective than other forms of treatment as vaccines can definitely work better than drugs (as they fight the enemy by starting off as a part of it). However, the OPAL treatment is again just a way to control the AIDS pathogen and not a complete cure. So, we still have to look for something that can cure the disease completely. Moreover, this form of treatment requires administration of the vaccine as soon as the virus infects the human being. This proves to be a grave limitation for OPAL treatment because it is almost impossible to detect the virus before three weeks of the onset of the infection (even in the HIV 1 stage).

via: REUTERS

The Notwane Netball Club hosted ‘HIV/AIDS Youth Under-20 tournament’ that will be played in Gaborone. It is a tournament played with a noble mission of fighting HIV/AIDS. Other than Notwane, you can watch out for the performances of the Moshupa Lovers, Phikwe Prisons, Flying Hawks, BDF Cats and Jungle Queens. The tournament will begin at midday and it will last for two days.

What makes this tournament a must-watch is that you have a chance of educating yourself immensely on HIV/AIDS which happens to be one of the major life-threatening diseases of the globe today. You will appreciate the efforts the Notwane Netball Club is putting in fighting this disease. The agenda of their noble mission includes conducting tests for diagnosing aids and also imparting awareness education. Their objective to eradicate HIV/AIDS from Botswana by 2016 shows their commitment to the cause of their nation. Their efforts to spread their message across through sports are worth-congratulating. This is because sports events attract huge crowds and hence are apt for conveying information on important social issues to the masses.

The Botswana Netball Association says that the tournament aims to expose girls to the hazards of HIV/AIDS and develop a disciplined and responsible attitude towards life. In agreement with the opinion of the Project Manager of the event, Ntebo Mocuminyane(“I think the discipline prize is the most important as the fight against HIV/AIDS is most about behavior”), the best answer to HIV/AIDS is to be disciplined in one’s behavior.

The Notwane Netball Club’s choice of holding the tournament for young players is again a praiseworthy decision. Being in line with Gracious Koaone Seru’s opinion (“The future of the sport lies with young players and this is a good development for our sport and players”), the young of today will be the responsible citizens of tomorrow and making them aware of potential threats to their population will be rewarding in future. Moreover, the under-20 age group is highly vulnerable to social ills and hence the one that needs to be shown proper direction in life the most.

Another criterion that reveals the dignified character of the Notwane Netball Club is that there is no prize money awarded. There are trophies for the best three teams and miniature trophies for the best and the most disciplined players. Medals and certificates will be awarded to the worthy players.

You can also take HIV/AIDS information from PSI and YOHO and avail counseling services from Tebelopele. Don’t miss out on the motivational discourse of politician and musician Gomolemo Motswaledi and also the narration of an HIV/AIDS activist.

Via: allAfrica, The Voice online

Approximately 5 to 6 million South Africans are infected with HIV. Nineteen percent of the country’s adult population aged between 15 and 49 carries the deadly virus. Unfortunately, only one-third of the HIV infected South Africans have access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) despite of an AIDS prevention program supported by the South African government in collaboration with US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS. According to a study by researchers of Massachusetts General Hospital, more than 1.2 million deaths from AIDS could be prevented in South Africa in the next five years by accelerating efforts to provide access to ART.

The researchers had shown in their study that by maintaining the current treatment capacity there would be 2.4 million AIDS-related deaths by 2012. By rapidly increasing access to ART and by 2011 if all patients have access to ART, then the number of AIDS-related deaths would drop to 1.2 million by 2012. If immediately full access to ART were provided then in the same period the number of deaths would fall drastically to 800,000.

The life cycle of the HIV can be as short as 1.5 days – from the time the virus enters a cell, its replication, assembly, release of additional virus to infection to other cells. The HIV are known to mutate very rapidly with the resulting mutants often being more superior to the parent virus and even have the capability of being resilient to the antiretroviral drugs. ART primarily consists of a combination of antiretroviral drugs, as no individual antiretroviral drug is known to suppress an HIV infection for long.

Source:Biology News Net
Image:Sci Elo Public Health

The HIV virus works in the body by invading a cell and using it to replicate itself. The Class I Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) is the most important gene that when inflicted by the HIV determines the rate of progression of AIDS in the body. However, genetic composition of certain variants of the HLA, HLA-B*57 or B*5801 alleles has the ability to force mutation of HIV virus damaging its reproductive ability and weakening its progression. This mutant of HIV virus that escapes being targeted by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) are weaker that the wild-type virus and when transmitted even to individuals without the beneficial HLA gene considerably slows down the progression of AIDS in the body.

Source: Yahoo

In the latest issue of the British Medical Journal two doctors Geoff Hinchley, a consultant with the British National Health Service and Kristen Patrick have hotly debated over the issue.

Hinchley believes that circumcision, despite of its medical benefits like preventing sexually transmitted disease is not a harmless traditional practice and could cause mental and physical damage to young boys.

He contends that the decision should be left to individuals until they were old enough to make individual health care choices.

However, circumcision proponent Kristen Patrick argues that the process involves little risk if carried under proper medical supervision. It is done under local anesthesia and the pain is comparable to that from an injection for immunization.

The added benefits from male circumcision involve reduction in transmission in sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, human papilloma virus, chancroid and syphilis.

However, strict adherents of religious faiths that prescribes circumcision will continue with the ritual and as for those philandering adult males of other religious beliefs, they might give this ritual a thought.

Image: istockphoto

Source: altpenis

Homeopathy is often observed as second fiddle to allopathic treatment and Saturday’s workshop in south London that will be attended by 80 homeopaths will be attempting to wipe out that notion. The homeopaths will try and convince the medical world that homeopath can be as effective as allopath in the treatment of HIV and AIDS!

The event is being organized by the Society of Homeopath and is believed to be marked occasion in the further development of homeopathy. The vent will focus on the AIDS epidemic in Africa and will try and justify the significance of homeopathy in the eradication of the HIV virus from Africa.

But, medical officials and doctors have severely criticized the event and its ideology. Medical charity ‘Healthwatch’ has said that it opposes the idea of using homeopathy in Africa, since, they believe, this will only aggravate the escalating AIDS problem in the continent. Like other homeopathy-bashers, they too deny that homeopathic treatment of AIDS is scientific.

Can homeopathy cure AIDS? No one knows for sure and it seems that few are eager to discuss on this matter. The war between the two modes of medical treatment is not new and doesn’t look like it’s going to stop for sometime. The workshop in London is going to be just another chasm that lets out the volatile hostility between the opposing streams of medical treatment and one can safely assume that, as in other times, no one will win.

Image: Homeopathy Council

Source: BBC

During an interview with Reuters, a Kenyan woman Kanotu Mumo revealed the condition in which she has to fend for her grandchildren and lives in Kiberia, which is the one of the biggest slums in Africa. There are a many such grandmothers in Africa who have to fend for their grandchildren who are left behind after their parents have died of AIDS.

While talking about the UN figures, the fact is that there are almost 12 million children in Africa who have lost one or both of their parents due to AIDS. This is about 80 percent of the AIDS orphans of the developing world. It is since 1990 that the numbers of orphans have increased by 50 percent.

The story of Kanto Mumo is similar to a number of grannies who had to leave their home town and fend their grandchildren. She lives in a hut that is 10 by 8 feet and you cannot see more than few inches inside the hut because it is staked with charcoal because she sells charcoal for her living. She lives there with four of her grandchildren, two great grand children and a child of a dead relative. There is no toilet facility or running water.

Like many other grandmothers interviewed by Reuters, Kanto Mumo cleans up the Stara School in Kiberia twice a week. Their grandchildren are allowed to attend the school and are fed with steaming porridge and beans. This project was started by a group of Kibera mothers, seven years ago with the help of UN World Food program and Kenyan aid agency feed the children.

This project is supplied and funded by Dutch charity ChildsLife International. The health of the children is also looked after by a nearby clinic, which supplies against the vouchers from the School. Josephin Mumo, a resident of Kibera has also supported in the raising of the School.

The project is even backed up by singer Harry Belafonte, Barabara Bush, mother of President George Bush and actress Drew Barrymore.

Many of the grandmothers are themselves suffering from HIV or old age problems. Some of them sell charcoal or wash clothes and earn to survive with their grand children. When they are not well, no one is there to even feed them. They are outcast by their villages and can’t go back. Most of them are worried about what will happen to the children if they died.

Via: News

Do you know, among all US cities, Washington D.C has the highest rate of AIDS?! It has been reported by city health officials, released on Monday. People living in Washington are not being tested for HIV and come up with the infection at advanced stage that quickly develops to AIDS.

According to the report, Washington with a population of 600,000 has 128 cases of AIDS per 100,000 of its people in 2006. The rate is higher than the national average of 14 AIDS cases per 100,000 people. More and more babies are born with HIV infections every year, with the city accounting for 9 percent of all pediatric AIDS cases in USA during 2005.

The black population accounts for 80 percent of HIV infected in Washington. More than 8,300 had fully progressed AIDS and 224 died of it in 2006. 37 percent of the infections result from heterosexual contact.

It seems that the US government is less concerned about the health of its citizens and more concerned with fighting wars on foreign lands.

Image: ysop

Source: reuters

After more than a decade of researching better treatments for HIV patients, a new drug had been found in UK to lengthen the life expectancy of the victims. The recent introduction of Pfizer’s Celsentri (Maraviroc) is truly helpful for the HIV patients as it guards the entrance of the immune system and blocks the virus, which in turn delays the process of developing into AIDS.

Although the drug is not a cure-all treatment, this is an alternative that patients can look forward to, since not all symptoms are remedied by other available HIV drugs in the market. Many AIDS organizations have shown interest in the drug saying this is a good sign of giving cure to the victims and will aid in reducing the progression of HIV into AIDS.

Maraviroc comprised three drugs collectively made into one creating highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), which lengthens the lifespan of HIV patients.

But, recent findings showed that some patients have resistance to the product making it not advisable for them to take. The drug was approved in August for public use in the U.S. under the brand name Selzentry. It is taken orally in combination with the other anti-retroviral drugs.

The drug’s mode of action works as it becomes a microscopic blockade of the CCR5 receptor, which the HIV virus usually strikes, as it enters the immune system particularly the CD4-T-cells. When the cell receptor is blocked, it makes the body more resistant to infection of the cells and slows down the process of developing the virus into full-blown AIDS.

As this happens, complications are being delayed making the HIV-positive patients to live longer.

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BBC News

Already struggling with HIV for decades, trying to snatch life from the deadly ailment, the sub-Saharan Africans now have yet another monster to fight away — tuberculosis.

The region being undoubtedly the most affected by the virus, inhabited by just over 12 percent of the world’s population, Africa is estimated to have more than 60 percent of the AIDS-infected population! The poor areas of the sub-Saharan Africa are more vulnerable.

To worsen the situation, the rates of drug-resistant TB in rising in areas where the prevalence of HIV is high. HIV itself is to be blamed for the TB outbreak. With the immune systems of at least a quarter of the population in some areas being destroyed by the virus, more and more people are not only developing TB, but also are spreading across its healthy neighbors.

In the slums of the country, people live crammed together in tin shacks, and this eventually lead to the spread of TB. What adds to the graveness of the crisis is the existing tests’ failure to spot TB before it is too late. The health care systems and infrastructure in the region there cannot cope with it.

Today, lack of proper treatment kills 90 percent of HIV-infected people within months of contracting TB! It seems, proper health care systems and effective awareness programs can effectively answer the prevailing, rather worsening, scenario in the sub-Saharan Africa.

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