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Texas Senate approves bill to allow needle-exchange programs

The Texas Senate on Wednesday voted 23-7 to approve a bill (S.B. 188) that would allow local state health agencies to run needle-exchange programs to help curb the spread of HIV and other bloodborne diseases among injection drug users, the Dallas Morning News reports. Texas is the only state that currently prohibits needle-exchange programs, according to the Morning News.

23 Mar 2009

Record number of HIV diagnoses reported in New Zealand

New Zealand reported 184 HIV diagnoses last year, the highest on record, according to recently released statistics from University of Otago's AIDS Epidemiology Group, the NZPA/New Zealand Herald reports.

23 Mar 2009

U.S., South African scientists launch $60 million HIV/TB research initiative

Scientists from the U.S. Howard Hughes Medical Institute and South Africa's University of KwaZulu Natal on Wednesday announced the launch of a $60 million, 10-year initiative to establish a new research facility to examine the associations between HIV and tuberculosis, the Boston Globe reports.

23 Mar 2009

Kansas House Committee approves bill that would require HIV testing among pregnant women

The Kansas House Committee on Health and Human Services last week approved a bill (S.B. 147) that would require doctors to test pregnant women and some infants for HIV, the Kansas Health Institute News reports.

23 Mar 2009

Key trends 'lost amid alarm' over District of Columbia HIV/AIDS report

A recent report that showed an HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of about 3% in the District of Columbia "brought new attention to AIDS" in the city, but several "key trends shown in the report got lost amid the alarm," Washington Post reporter Craig Timberg writes in a recent article.

23 Mar 2009

Christian Science Monitor examines effect of economy on U.S. foreign aid targets

The Christian Science Monitor on Monday examined how the Obama administration is "hinting that the economic downturn means the president is unlikely to reach his goal of doubling foreign aid by the end of his four-year term.

23 Mar 2009

Increased schooling slowing HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa

Increased schooling across sub-Saharan Africa may be lowering new HIV infections among younger adults, according to sociologists, suggesting a shift in a decades-long trend where formal education is considered an AIDS risk factor.

22 Mar 2009

New tuberculosis test dramatically cuts diagnosis time

Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and The University of Pittsburgh have developed an onsite method to quickly diagnose tuberculosis (TB) and expose the deadly drug-resistant strains that can mingle undetected with treatable TB strains.

20 Mar 2009

Interventions helped reduce MRSA rates up to 62% in study hospitals

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the Plexus Institute (Plexus) has announced 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.

20 Mar 2009

MRSA study suggests strategy shift needed to develop effective therapeutics

USA300-the major epidemic strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) causing severe infections in the United States during the past decade-inherits its destructiveness directly from a forefather strain of the bacterium called USA500 rather than randomly acquiring harmful genes from other MRSA strains.

17 Mar 2009

Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid 'turns on' latent HIV

HAART (highly active anti-retroviral therapy) has emerged as an extremely effective HIV treatment that keeps virus levels almost undetectable; however, HAART can never truly eradicate the virus as some HIV always remains dormant in cells.

16 Mar 2009

Ultraviolet light cuts spread of tuberculosis

Ultraviolet lights could reduce the spread of tuberculosis in hospital wards and waiting rooms by 70%, according to a new study, published in PLoS Medicine today.

16 Mar 2009

Lethal risks associated with preparing dog meat

Eating dog meat is common in many Asian countries, but research conducted as part of the South East Asian Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Network has discovered a potentially lethal risk associated with preparing dog meat: rabies.

16 Mar 2009

Discrimination against Jamaican HIV-positive MSM hinders efforts to seek health care

Men who have sex with men in Jamaica continue to experience difficulty in seeking health care because of discrimination and a law that criminalizes homosexuality, the Jamaica Gleaner reports.

16 Mar 2009

New HHS grant will allow Pennsylvania HIV, STI education program to continue

The Community Prevention Partnership of Berks County, Pa. -- which runs a program that provides Hispanic women with education about HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention, as well as domestic violence -- has received a five-year, $335,000 grant from HHS to continue the program, the Reading Eagle reports.

16 Mar 2009

HIV/AIDS in Haiti - progress made, challenges remain

There is "some good news" in the fight against HIV in the Americas, Cesar Chelala -- an international public health consultant -- writes in a Miami Herald opinion piece, adding that "most surprisingly, it's coming from Haiti, one of the countries hardest hit by the epidemic." Chelala writes that United Nations data show that about 2.2% of Haiti's population -- or 120,000 people -- are living with HIV/AIDS and that AIDS-related deaths in the country have decreased in recent years.

16 Mar 2009

Lexington Herald-Leader examines funding issues in Kentucky HIV/AIDS clinic

The Lexington Herald-Leader on Thursday examined funding issues faced by the Bluegrass Care Clinic, a Kentucky-based HIV/AIDS clinic that has seen a twofold increase in the number of patients over the last eight years, despite receiving no federal funding increases.

16 Mar 2009

UNITAID working with travel web sites to raise donations for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria

Philippe Douste-Blazy, former French foreign minister and head of UNITAID, announced recently that he is in talks with online travel industry CEOs to allow air travelers booking online to make a $2 per-flight donation to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria efforts worldwide, the Financial Times reports.

16 Mar 2009

Continued HIV/AIDS progress could lead to increased life expectancy, population among developing countries, U.N. report says

Life expectancy in developing countries could increase to 69 years by 2050 if the global health community sustains progress in controlling HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, according to a report released Wednesday by the United Nations Population Division, Montreal's Gazette reports (Edwards, Gazette, 3/12).

16 Mar 2009

European Commission pledges to increase support for HIV/AIDS efforts in southern Africa

The European Commission plans to increase support for efforts to prevent HIV transmission in southern Africa, Alessandro Mariani, the European Union's ambassador to Malawi and chair of the E.C.'s regional HIV/AIDS group, said Thursday, AFP/Google.com reports.

16 Mar 2009