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Reps. introduce bill to expand Medicaid coverage to some HIV-positive people

Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have introduced a bill (H.R. 1616) to allow states to expand Medicaid coverage to low-income HIV-positive people, CQ HealthBeat reports.

30 Mar 2009

AHF delegation meets with WHO and UNAIDS, urges action on access to AIDS treatment, testing and condoms

An international delegation from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest AIDS group in the US which currently provides medical care to more than 98,000 individuals in 21 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia, met today with officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to call for action and partnership to vastly increase global access to HIV/AIDS treatment, testing and condoms.

29 Mar 2009

Researchers look at how the host reacts to a flu virus infection

"Where there are many scientific works dealing solely with the flu virus, we have investigated how the host reacts to an infection," says Klaus Schughart, head of the Experimental Mouse Genetics research group.

29 Mar 2009

China to open malaria control center in Cameroon

Chinese officials plan to open a malaria research center in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde, Shen Yi, a Chinese embassy official, said recently ahead of an opening ceremony for the center, Xinhuanet reports. The center is expected to cost three million Chinese yuan, or about $440,000, Xinhuanet reports.

25 Mar 2009

Health official releases HIV, STI data for Maryland County

Prince George's County in Maryland has the second-highest rate of reported HIV/AIDS cases statewide, County Health Officer Donald Shell announced on Tuesday, the Washington Post reports.

25 Mar 2009

Latin American HIV/AIDS advocacy group launches magazine for women

The Inter Press Service on Monday examined a new magazine published by the Latin American branch of the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS.

25 Mar 2009

Southern African development community should do more to fight HIV/AIDS, official says

Parliamentarians across the Southern African Development Community should do more to address HIV/AIDS in the region, Kasuko Mutukwa, SADC Parliamentary Forum secretary-general, said recently at a media briefing in Zambia's capital of Lusaka, the Inter Press Service reports.

25 Mar 2009

About 25% of tuberculosis deaths occur among HIV-positive people

About one-quarter of tuberculosis-related deaths involve an HIV-positive person, twice as high as previous estimates, according to the Global Tuberculosis Control Report 2009, which the World Health Organization released Tuesday to coincide with World TB Day, the Wall Street Journal reports.

25 Mar 2009

Africa's ongoing cholera epidemic "unconscionable"

Although illness rates and mortality from cholera have been drastically reduced in a vast majority of the world, Africa remains plagued by soaring cases and deaths from the waterborne intestinal disease.

24 Mar 2009

Staggering new data shows TB-HIV co-infection a bigger threat

The World Health Organization released staggering new data about the threat of tuberculosis and the toll it takes on people with HIV/AIDS today, in recognition of World TB Day.

24 Mar 2009

Global map identifying areas at high risk of malaria transmission could help efforts to control disease

It might be easier than previously thought to eradicate malaria in some high-risk areas worldwide, according to a study published Tuesday in PLoS Medicine, Reuters India reports. For the study, led by Simon Hay of Oxford University, researchers created a global map that identifies areas at high risk of malaria.

24 Mar 2009

Lancet opinion piece examines progress made against HIV/AIDS

"Nearly 30 years into the AIDS epidemic, we are able to access our progress in tackling the disease with both increased knowledge and the benefit of hindsight," former UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot of Imperial College London, who also serves as an adviser on global health strategy to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Mark Dybul of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University and former U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator; and Julian Lob-Levyt of the GAVI Alliance write in a Lancet opinion piece.

24 Mar 2009

New HIV/AIDS data released in Latvia

Latvia's Public Health Agency recently released data about HIV/AIDS in the country in 2008, indicating that the spread of the virus through heterosexual contact is increasing, the Baltic Times reports.

24 Mar 2009

USAID switching to cheaper condoms produced overseas

USAID -- which has distributed an estimated 10 billion U.S.-manufactured condoms worldwide -- is switching to less-expensive condoms made overseas, the Kansas City Star reports.

24 Mar 2009

Formal education curbing spread of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

Formal education is helping to curb the spread of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa after having opposite effects during the early stages of the pandemic, according to a study by researchers from Pennsylvania State University and published recently in the UNESCO journal Prospects, UPI/RedOrbit reports.

24 Mar 2009

HIV-related tuberculosis deaths higher than past estimates

The total number of new tuberculosis (TB) cases remained stable in 2007, and the percentage of the world's population becoming ill with TB has continued the slow decline that was first observed in 2004, according to a new report released by WHO today.

24 Mar 2009

Clostridium difficile infection in primary care

The epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is changing rapidly and has been marked by a significant increase in incidence and severity.

23 Mar 2009

CDC analysis finds unique social and behavior intervention helps reduce MRSA rates up to 62 percent

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the Plexus Institute (Plexus) today announce results from an analysis of a multifaceted methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) prevention program that employed positive deviance (PD), a novel approach to social and behavioral change, to trigger significant reductions in MRSA incidence ranging from 26 to 62 percent at participating hospitals.

23 Mar 2009

Vietnam to include input from HIV-positive people for new prevention project

An institute in Vietnam is formulating a new HIV/AIDS prevention project that will include input from people living with the disease, the Vietnamese News Agency reports.

23 Mar 2009

Ugandan Army to make HIV/AIDS education part of military training

The Ugandan army plans to include HIV/AIDS prevention and care information as part of its training curriculum, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, chief of defense forces, said recently, the New Vision reports. "In the 1990s, the army was affected by HIV/AIDS," he said, adding, "Our resolve then and now has been to learn to leave in the spirit of togetherness to fight the epidemic."

23 Mar 2009