MetaFilter posts tagged with aids

HIV vaccine shows promise

borkencode — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:48:35 -0800

A new HIV vaccine is showing promising results, reducing the risk of contracting the virus by 32 percent. While further tests are still needed, the vaccine is a combination failed HIV vaccines AIDSVAX and ALVAC, based on the Canary Pox virus. The study itself faced criticism from the outset.

A Whole New Meaning to 'Forefathers.'

Lutoslawski — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:58:03 -0800

The Circumcision v. HIV debate rages on. [previously and previously-er and previously-er still] The debate has been rekindled due to new findings. It is expected to be one of the main topics during the CDC's National HIV Prevention Conference this week, as the CDC is considering endorsing routine circumcision. The American Academy of Pediatrics is also considering revising their circumcision policy, thus making it covered under Medicaid. Naturally, there is a lot of criticism of the evidence. In related news, it appears that there is a modicum of the so-called 'Birthers' who believe Obama's citizenship can be proven by his penis.

Publicizing HIV cases in the porn industry

hpliferaft — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:54:53 -0800

After one performer tested positive this week, 16 previously unpublicized cases of HIV in the porn industry have emerged. Last time this happened, government officials called it an outbreak and porn production grinded to a halt for two months.

We Will Illuminate Dark Places

netbros — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:57:36 -0800

Live Hope Love — Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica.

Intended Consequences: Rwanda's Children of Rape

itchylick — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:28:59 -0800

Intended Consequences. It is estimated that 20,000 children were born as the result of rape during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide that claimed the lives of over 800,000 Tutsis. Many of these women also contracted HIV/AIDS as a result. Not only do the mothers have to live with memories of this incredibly horrible event, but they along with their children are shunned by other Tutsi survivors. Photographer Jonathan Torgovnik photographed and documented the stories of several of these women and their children in his new book Intended Consequences. He has also created Foundation Rwanda to help these families pay the $150 annual fee for their children's educations. Disclaimer: The title of this post and some of the content is based on an article in the current issue of American Photo which is currently only in print and not yet online.

The Doctor Will Sue You Now

xchmp — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:11:34 -0800

"If you’re ever looking for a warning sign that you’re on the wrong side of an argument, suing Medecins Sans Frontieres is probably a pretty good clue." Science journalist and blogger Ben Goldacre has released the missing chapter of his book, Bad Science, telling the story of Matthias Rath, vitamins and the AIDS crisis in South Africa. [Previously. Also.]

AIDS Prevention Strategies in Africa

Roach — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:32:52 -0800

According to Senior Harvard AIDS Prevention Researcher Dr. Edward Green, condoms not only are not helping to prevent the AIDS crisis, but are actually making the problem worse.

Ig Nobel

Skeptic — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 04:42:57 -0800

Professor Luc Montagnier, 2008 Nobel Prize Laureate for Medicine, is no stranger to controversy. Recently, he has been touting his approval for the ignominiously debunked "water memory" theories of the late French immunologist Dr. Jacques Benveniste. This is not altogether surprising, given that Montagnier has filed a patent application for a method for characterising "biologically active biochemical elements" based on Benveniste's more outlandish theories. But there's more... First of all, the patent examiner who has drafted the International Search Report, in his Written Opinion on patentability, seems less than impressed by Montagnier's invention. The killer quote comes in page 10: "This is all the more problematic since: (i) the invention is based on phenomena which contradict the basic principles of physics and of chemistry, i.e. the existence of a biological activity or effect without an active molecule, and (ii) no explanation or theoretical basis makes it possible at the current time to explain the results obtained." Secondly, a man called Bruno Robert claims that Montagnier stole the invention from him. Most disturbingly, Robert filed a nearly identical patent application right before Montagnier. BTW, this may not be Montagnier's first brush with quackery.

Are We About to Eliminate AIDS?

andoatnp — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 23:40:53 -0800

New Scientist:

What if we could rid the world of AIDS? The notion might sound like fantasy: HIV infection has no cure and no vaccine, after all. Yet there is a way to completely wipe it out - at least in theory. What's more, it would take only existing medical technology to do the job.

Here's how it works. If someone who is HIV positive takes antiretroviral-drug therapy they can live a long life and almost never pass on the virus, even through unprotected sex. So if everyone with HIV were on therapy, there would be little or no transmission. Once all these people had died, of whatever cause, the virus would be gone for good. It's a simple idea, but the obstacles to implementing it worldwide are enormous. Persuading everyone with HIV to start therapy purely for public health reasons could be ethically dubious. To identify everyone who is HIV positive would require such widespread testing that some may feel it breached their civil liberties. Then there is the question of who would fund such a massive undertaking.

Much much more in the article.

AIDS woo

fatfrank — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:24:39 -0800

Yet more AIDS w o o in Africa. First, Thabo Mbeki's AIDS policy lead to an estimated 300 000 additional deaths in South Africa. Now, magic water peddler Jeremy Sherr proposes testing homeopathic remedies for AIDS with two groups, one group on ARV and one on homeopathy, as "Placebo treatment is considered unethical in AIDS" (note: archived link from here via here) . After a number of science bloggers pointed out in the comments that, due to the nature of homeopathy, the trial would be inherantly unethical under the terms of the Declaration of Helsink, not to mention morally questionable, the re-write began. Via the ever wonderful Gimpy. Much, much more in the links, including serious questions raised about funding recieved for this trail and the ethical standards in place at some higher education and CAM institutes.

Christine Maggiore has died

lalex — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:52:23 -0800

HIV/AIDS denialist Christine Maggiore has died. Maggiore, who tested HIV+ in 1992, was a prominent skeptic of the scientific consensus that HIV causes AIDS. In 2005, she sparked a debate on parental medical obligations after her 3-year-old daughter was found to have died of AIDS-related pneumonia. Orac at Respectful Insolence mourns both the personal tragedy of the Maggiore family and the larger public health tragedy of HIV/AIDS denialism. Sympathetic journalist Celia Farber, who defended Maggiore in 2005, offers a personal recollection. (previously)

Out of Africa

netbros — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:55:43 -0800

Out of Africa. As award-winning Globe and Mail Africa correspondent Stephanie Nolen bids farewell to a place she's come to love, she reflects on how it has changed, and how it changed her. Africa photo gallery

Access to Life.

chunking express — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:08:16 -0800

Eight Magnum photographers portray people in nine countries around the world before and four months after they began antiretroviral treatment for AIDS.

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty

Surfin' Bird — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:32:53 -0800

AIDS Orphans in Kenya: a disturbing video report about the lives of Kenyan children forced to live on the street after their parents die of AIDS. The Kibera Slum where the disease spreads like fire and the incredible follow-up story, all submitted to raise awareness about poverty.

Imported beats domestic

dances_with_sneetches — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:41:42 -0800

Luc Montagnier, Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen take the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discoveries of the AIDS virus and HPV, respectively. Take that Gallo.

Help

hadjiboy — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:07:19 -0800

A photo-essay of life in a Cambodian Aids Ward. [images are distressing] (via)

Bullshit Easier To Swallow In Pill Form

christonabike — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:17:15 -0800

Vitamin purveyor Matthias Rath^ has dropped his libel case against Ben Goldacre^ and the Guardian. Goldacre's take. Background: Goldacre originally wrote about Rath in two consecutive columns in January 2007 (1 2) and was barred from discussing the case until now (including in his recent book.) Rath previously successfully sued the British Medical Journal for libel and has a history of litigation. Rath was also ordered to stop defamatory remarks against the Treatment Action Campaign, an AIDS treatment organization, and has had multiple conflicts with their leader Zackie Achmat. Goldacre's book was covered recently, but this story isn't really related.

Not cool Rome, not cool at all.

Lizc — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:46:56 -0800

New Scientist reports today that inhabitants of the former Roman Empire have much lower levels of a gene variant that protects against the virus that causes AIDS - CCR5-Delta32 to be exact. Previously, this genetic mutation had been attributed to the spread of the Black Death.

Remember the AIDS pandemic?

falameufilho — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:40:53 -0800

Remember the heterosexual AIDS pandemic? There isn't one outside of Africa. Actually, there never was. Well, at least not for straight people.

The plague is over, lets party.

seanyboy — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:26:41 -0800

The plague is over, lets party. Article by Elizabeth Pisani describing the troubling consequences of a gay scene in a world where HIV is treatable and AIDS is avoidable.

We Have a Nutcase

Skeptic — Thu, 22 May 2008 04:19:12 -0800

His Excellency Alhagi Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh , President of the Gambia and American Biographical Institute 2000 Millennium Medal of Honour, has reportedly called for the murder of all homosexuals. But it's all good, because he can cure AIDS (or so he says).

Hot or not? No, Pos or not!

ThePinkSuperhero — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:13:00 -0800

Think you can guess HIV status just by looking? Via NYTimes article

Tales of the City

loquacious — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:20:49 -0800

In 1974 - or 1976, depending who you ask - Armistead Maupin began writing "an extended love letter to a magical San Francisco” in the form of a serialized, fictional drama published originally in the Pacific Sun, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner, originally called "The Serial" which then became collectively known as Tales of The City. It is a suprisingly beautiful, deep, emotional, cosmopolitan and lasting tale about life in San Francisco in the turbulent, heady days of the 1970s and 1980s. Widely credited with and cherished for helping spread a little of the openess, tolerance and acceptance that San Francisco is now famous for. It then became a series of books - Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Babycakes, Significant Others, Sure of You - and lastly, the spin-off tale of Michael Tolliver Lives. Almost exactly twenty years after first publishing, it then became an excellent miniseries from the United Kingdom's Channel 4, which aired in the United States on PBS, but not without protest or limitations. San Francisco... this post is for you. All of you. More than the Mission burritos, more than the diverse weather, more than the beautiful, breathtaking views and the odd experience of falling deeply in love with a place - and only slightly less than the many real people I've met - this has touched me the most. Thank you. (Get your YouTube samples here.)

If after 20 years you don't succeed.

three blind mice — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:58:38 -0800

Maybe it's time to give up. Last year's failed clinical trial for Merck's HIV vaccine (which once appeared so promising) led many to claim that AIDS vaccine research is in crisis. According to an unprecedented poll conducted by The Independent most scientists involved in AIDS research believe that a vaccine against HIV is further away than ever and some have admitted that effective immunisation against the virus may never be possible. Nearly two thirds believed that an HIV vaccine will not be developed within the next 10 years and some of them said that it may take at least 20 more years of research before a vaccine can be used to protect people either from infection or the onset of Aids. Worse, the animal model – which uses genetically engineered simian and human immunodeficiency viruses in a combination, known as SHIV – failed to predict what will happen when a prototype vaccine is moved from laboratory monkeys to people. "We've learnt a few important things [from the clinical trial]. We've learnt that one of the animal models, the SHIV model, really doesn't predict very well at all." Of course animal advocates have been saying this for years.

A Shot of Bleach Ought to Dew It!

ericb — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:34:39 -0800

"Some Florida teens believe drinking Mountain Dew or smoking marijuana will prevent pregnancy and that swallowing a capful of bleach will prevent HIV/AIDS."^* As a result, lawmakers are pushing "for an overhaul of sex education in the state. State lawmakers said the myths are spreading because of Florida's abstinence-only sex education"^* "On Tuesday, a bill that would 'require a more comprehensive approach' to sex education narrowly won approval from a state Senate committee."^*