Category Archives: HIV news

HIV news

HIV blood test leads to Australian Bali tattoo warning

Posted on by December 10, 2012
1
75% of HIV/AIDS cases in Bali contracted through hetrosexual sex

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has warned Australian tourists that those who get tattoos in Bali take the same risks as having unprotected sex after a HIV blood test indicated an Australian citizen contracted HIV following a tattoo on the Indonesian island. Last week the West Australian Department of Health announced that a HIV blood test on a local resident who had a tattoo while in Bali had returned a positive HIV result, but declined to reveal any further information about the person or the tattooist who is said to have caused the HIV infection. Doctor Paul Armstrong, WA Health Department’s Director of Communicable Disease Control, said: “We would advise that you wait until you get back to this country … Continue reading →

HPTN 052 trial finding antiretroviral drugs cut HIV transmission by 96% the most important science breakthrough of 2011

Posted on by December 10, 2012
Reply
HPTN 052 trial that finds antiretroviral drugs cut HIV transmission by 96% lauded as Science Breakthrough of 2011

A clinical trial by the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine at Chapel Hill that found HIV infected people who took anti- retroviral drugs (ARVs) are 96 percent less likely to transmit the HIV virus to their partner(s) has been proclaimed as the most important scientific breakthrough in 2011 by the prestigious journal Science. Led by distinguished Professor Myron S. Cohen, the HPTN 052 trial, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and others, puts an end to long-standing speculation as to whether ARVs provide a double benefit – treating the HIV virus in infected people while simultaneously cutting transmission rates. The HPTN 052 trial began in 2007 with 1,763 predominantly heterosexual couples from Botswana, Brazil, … Continue reading →

Global Fund to freeze HIV, TB, Malaria grants for two years

Posted on by December 10, 2012
Reply

For HIV / AIDS patients in developing nations the majority of funding for treatment, care, and prevention in recent years has been supplied by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), with more than 200 million people globally benefiting from its grant disbursement programs. However, all of that is set to come to a rapid halt following an announcement last week that the Global Fund will only be able to finance essential services for on-going programs that come to their conclusion before 2014. Though nicely dressed up in gobbledygook double-speak, the sudden announcement has sent NGOs and those who work with HIV / AIDS patients into a frenzy, with no new programs to be funded for … Continue reading →

HIV tests finds rare HIV group N virus

Posted on by December 10, 2012
Reply

French doctors fear the rare “group N” strain of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has spread outside of Cameroon, where it was first diagnosed in 1998, after blood samples taken from a man admitted to Saint Louis Hospital Paris in January reacted positively to HIV tests for the strain. The 57-year-old presented with a rash, fever, swollen lymph glands and genital ulceration, and on January 9, developed facial paralysis. Initial HIV tests detected high levels of a virus in the HIV-1 family, with additional HIV tests finding the blood samples reacted to an antibody essay of the group N strain. When doctors traced the man’s sexual history they concluded he more than likely became infected with the HIV-1 group N … Continue reading →

Fear of Australian jail-based HIV infection “epidemic”

Posted on by December 10, 2012
Reply

A voluntary testing program inside one of Australia’s prisons in Canberra, ACT, in August found 40 per cent of prisoners testing positive for Hepatitis-C, with former prisoners, health experts and warders warning of an “epidemic” of HIV infection inside the country’s jails. The high number of hepatitis-C infection and HIV infection is being blamed by prison staff on prisoners sharing needles, with one claiming the ACT prison system now has more dirty needles than ever before. The alarming comments and statistic comes at a time when the ACT Government is mulling a trial needle exchange program inside ACT jails, with the trade union that represents the 10,000-plus correctional officers, the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), remaining firmly opposed to … Continue reading →