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Infants treated with certain HIV medication more likely to experience adrenal dysfunction

Infants of human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) infected mothers who were treated before and after birth with the protease inhibitor lopinavir-ritonavir were more likely to experience adrenal dysfunction, including life-threatening adrenal insufficiency in premature infants, compared with a zidovudine-based regimen, according to a preliminary report in the July 6 issue of JAMA.

6 Jul 2011

New GHI research examines conflicts between donor and recipient countries

In the early 2000s, the international aid community started to fund health programs through Global Health Initiatives (GHIs) which provide aid and support for tackling infectious diseases, and for implementing immunization programs against childhood diseases. However priorities set by GHIs and by governments are not always the same.

4 Jul 2011

Science should inform global AIDS policy

Thirty years have passed since the first reported case of AIDS, and "we now have an unprecedented opportunity, based on solid scientific data, to control and ultimately end the AIDS pandemic," after decades of the idea being "a distant aspiration because we lacked sufficient evidence-based tools to convert the hope to reality," Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, writes in a Science editorial.

2 Jul 2011

Infected astrocytes can cause neuroAIDS

A longstanding medical mystery - why so many people with HIV experience memory loss and other cognitive problems despite potent antiretroviral therapy - may have been solved by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

2 Jul 2011

TB fight must break from status quo

"As WHO prepares for reform, it is also adjusting to a new financially constrained environment. WHO's STOP TB department, like others, has to downsize and refocus its activities. With increasing demand for guidance, technical support, and capacity-building in countries, the STOP TB department and partnership will have to do more with less in the future," a Lancet editorial states.

2 Jul 2011

Study identifies key virus-sensing mechanism necessary for successful immune response against HIV

Although our body's defense mechanisms are usually capable of detecting and destroying many types of pathogens, some viruses are able to evade the immune system and make us sick. In particular, "retroviruses," such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), are notorious for eluding host immune defenses and causing disease.

1 Jul 2011

UAB receives $31.7M award for Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has received a five-year, $31.7 million award for its Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN), formed in 2001 to respond to the HIV epidemic in youth.

1 Jul 2011

Improving health vital to good governance in Nigeria

In a Daily Independent opinion piece, U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Terence McCulley writes that after "truly historic" elections in April, "the Nigerian Government faces complex challenges in the post-election environment. Security, electricity, good roads, education and reliable health care top most people's lists of immediate concerns."

30 Jun 2011

Swaziland's supply of antiretroviral drugs running low

"Cash-strapped Swaziland's state hospitals have only two months' supplies of AIDS drugs, the country's health minister has told parliament in an assessment that AIDS patients and activists took as a death sentence," the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports. More than 60,000 Swazis receive antiretroviral medicine at no cost from state-run hospitals.

30 Jun 2011

Goosby discusses global AIDS fight at CSIS event

Ambassador Eric Goosby, the U.S. global AIDS coordinator, said that a recent $75 million pledge from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Chevron and Johnson & Johnson could help "eliminate new HIV-infected children by 2015 and keep mothers alive," McClatchy/News & Observer reports.

30 Jun 2011

Global Fund reports mid-year results

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Tuesday announced that programs it supports have distributed 190 million insecticide-treated bed nets to protect families from malaria since 2003, according to mid-year results, a Global Fund press release notes.

30 Jun 2011

Physicians urge FDA not to approve Truvada as an HIV prevention pill

Last week, a group of 55 U.S. physicians sent a letter to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), urging the agency not to approve the use of Gilead's HIV/AIDS treatment drug Truvada for use as an HIV prevention pill - also known as "pre-exposure prophylaxis" (PrEP).

30 Jun 2011

Girl's Book Project delivers critical information about puberty and health

The onset of puberty is a critical moment for reaching girls with health messages and information, and the stakes are particularly high in countries where the HIV/AIDS epidemic rages and where threats to female reproductive health abound. Yet to date, the healthcare community in low-resource countries has tended to neglect this opportunity and instead concentrate efforts on young women who are older and of reproductive age.

30 Jun 2011

South African circumcision program moving forward with support from Zulu king

NPR's Morning Edition on Monday examined how a circumcision program in South Africa's Kwa-Zulu Natal, run by the Society for Family Health at the Boom Street Community Health Clinic, "is gaining momentum" because of a decree issued last year by King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu about the importance of circumcision in helping to reduce the risk of HIV infection.

29 Jun 2011

Prototype small molecule drugs could suppress hepatitis C

Targeted multi-drug treatments for hepatitis C patients that could stop the virus in its tracks have come a step closer, thanks to researchers at the University of Leeds, UK.

29 Jun 2011

Voluntary medical male circumcision is a cost-effective, safe way to prevent HIV

Emmanuel Njeuhmeli, a senior biomedical prevention advisor in the USAID Office of HIV/AIDS, discusses efforts to raise awareness about male circumcision as a "cost saving and effective form of HIV prevention" in a post on USAID's "Impact Blog."

29 Jun 2011

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Mylan expand access to HIV drug Reyataz in sub-Saharan Africa and India

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company today announced a new agreement to expand access to Reyataz (atazanavir sulfate). The immunity-from-suit agreement signed with Matrix Laboratories Limited, a Mylan Company, enables the generic company to manufacture and sell atazanavir, as well as stavudine and didanosine, in sub-Saharan Africa and India.

29 Jun 2011

Tibotec, Gilead Sciences enter license agreement for new combination product of PREZISTA and cobicistat

Tibotec Pharmaceuticals today announced that it has entered into a license agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc., for the development and commercialization of a new once-daily single tablet fixed-dose antiretroviral combination product containing Tibotec's protease inhibitor PREZISTA® (darunavir) and Gilead's cobicistat, an investigational pharmacoenhancing or "boosting" agent.

28 Jun 2011

Health care providers brace for new round of Medicaid cuts

But the one Medicaid cost that states have usually been able to cut without worrying too much about the federal government is reimbursement to the providers themselves. And that is what most of them are doing this year. At least 33 states have reduced provider fees for the fiscal year that starts July 1, according to a report by the National Association of Budget Officers.

28 Jun 2011

Australian Nobel Prize winner closer to delivering vaccines in food after positive first study in humans

The Australian scientist who won a Nobel Prize for identifying a cancer-causing stomach bacterium, today said a clinical trial had shown that some strains of the bacteria (Helicobacter pylori or H. pylori) were safe and well tolerated in humans.

27 Jun 2011