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Church of England appoints first HIV-positive, gay priest

A Church of England assistant bishop has appointed the first HIV-positive gay priest to head a congregation in the United Kingdom, London's Times reports.

13 Sep 2006

Thailand urges married couples to regularly test for HIV

Thailand's Ministry of Public Health is urging hospitals nationwide to encourage abstinence, faithfulness, condom use and regular HIV testing for married couples after the country recorded an increase in new HIV cases among married women, Sombat Tanprasertsuk -- director of the country's AIDS, Tuberculosis and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Bureau -- said on Friday, the Bangkok Post reports.

13 Sep 2006

Government officials worldwide should become more involved in international AIDS conferences

"Time To Deliver" -- the theme of last month's XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, which was the "largest ever on AIDS" with 26,000 participants -- in part was a "call for everyone responsible for AIDS work to explain what they had done and not done to achieve the goal of stopping AIDS," New York Times reporter Lawrence Altman writes in a Times opinion piece titled "Bright Spots, Lost Chances on AIDS."

13 Sep 2006

Zimbabwe's new four-year plan to address the HIV/AIDS

Zimbabwe's National AIDS Council has drafted a new four-year plan to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic that will be launched soon, Amon Mpofu, NAC evaluation and monitoring manager, said on Sunday, Xinhua/People's Daily reports.

13 Sep 2006

First step to developing effective therapy against Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis virus

Biomedical researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) have taken an important early step toward developing effective drug therapies against Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE) virus, a potential bioterrorist weapon.

12 Sep 2006

Live H5N1 avian flu virus vaccines show protection in animal studies

When tested in mice and ferrets, experimental vaccines based on live, weakened versions of different strains of the H5N1 avian influenza virus were well-tolerated and protected the animals from a deadly infection with naturally occurring H5N1 flu viruses.

12 Sep 2006

Bird flu tests on Maryland wild Mallard ducks confirm low-pathogenic H5N1

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior today announced final test results, which confirm that an H5N1 avian influenza virus detected in fecal samples collected last month from resident wild mallard ducks in Maryland is a low pathogenic subtype.

12 Sep 2006

Bird flu death toll in Indonesia now up to 48

According to the Ministry of Health in Indonesia a new case of the H5N1 avian influenza virus has been confirmed in a young girl.

12 Sep 2006

Post-9/11 travel restrictions delayed 'bird flu'

The onset of the flu season in the USA has been shown to be influenced by air travel. After flights were restricted following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the flu season started about two weeks later than usual.

12 Sep 2006

SARS: Systematic review of treatment effects

The SARS virus set alarm bells ringing across the world when it first appeared in 2002, but now a review of the effectiveness of the treatments used against it has found no evidence that any of them worked.

12 Sep 2006

Was the "ABC" approach responsible for Uganda's decline in HIV?

The much-publicized "ABC" approach to HIV prevention continues to be mired in controversy, partly because of its focus on abstinence-only sex education programs over condom promotion, a focus that pits political and religious conservatives against their liberal counterparts.

12 Sep 2006

When inequality pays dividends

When there are limited treatments for serious diseases, such as bird flu and HIV-AIDS, city residents should be first in line for the drugs ahead of those in rural areas to most effectively contain the risk to the community, according to research led by a University of New South Wales (UNSW) academic.

12 Sep 2006

Allocating HIV drugs to cities prevents the greatest number of infections

The most effective way to control the AIDS pandemic in hard-hit South Africa would be to concentrate the allocation of scarce antiretroviral drugs in urban areas.

12 Sep 2006

Western nations have not adequately addressed Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic because of 'subterranean racism'

Western nations have not taken sufficient action to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa because of "some kind of subterranean racism," U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis said in Ottawa on Wednesday, the Ottawa Citizen reports.

11 Sep 2006

Kenya approves first clinical trial of herbal product used to treat HIV/AIDS

The Kenyatta National Hospital Ethics and Research Board recently approved the first human clinical trial in Kenya of an herbal product to treat HIV/AIDS, Kenya's Nation reports.

11 Sep 2006

Death rates increasing in South Africa primarily because of HIV/AIDS

The death rate among adults in South Africa increased significantly from 1997 through 2004, according to a government report released on Thursday by Statistics South Africa, the New York Times reports.

11 Sep 2006

Pope urges Catholics to combat HIV/AIDS

Catholics need to rely on faith, in addition to science, to deal with the problems of the world, including HIV/AIDS, Pope Benedict XVI said on Sunday during an outdoor Mass in Munich, Germany, the Los Angeles Times reports.

11 Sep 2006

UNAIDS Executive Director Piot urges China to include HIV-positive people, NGOs in efforts to combat spread of HIV

Although China should be commended for some of its HIV prevention policies -- including providing antiretroviral drugs at no cost, clean needles to injection drug users and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment information to migrant workers -- the government must involve HIV-positive people and nongovernmental organizations in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

11 Sep 2006