July, 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic: "The HIV epidemic is worse than ever." "As the AIDS pandemic enters its 24th year,
the number of people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection continues to increase steadily. Two thirds of infected persons are in Africa, where the epidemic exploded during the 1990s, and one fifth are in Asia, where the epidemic has been growing rapidly in recent years." A
new report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS shows that "
"in short, the epidemic is outstripping efforts to contain it." "We're talking about more than 8,000 deaths every single day and in the war against AIDS we know the tools that work, we know the sorts of intervention that work,
and if an administration is choosing other than these, and is doing less than it ought, then they're absolutely responsible." As prevention fails and more people die,
some are "still insisting that only brand-name AIDS drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, most of them manufactured by big U.S. pharmaceutical companies, can be bought by beneficiaries of U.S. aid, despite the fact they are as much as five times more expensive as their generic equivalents manufactured in poor countries."
posted by fold_and_mutilate
on Jul 8, 2004 -
11 comments
Journal of a Schizophrenic
Over the next several weeks I heard the voice every once in a while, but always in the house, when I was by myself. I became used to it, looked forward to it on occasion. I started playing pool with it. We would play a regular game of eight ball, me with the right hand and the voice with the left. I had never shot with my left hand before, but the voice won as often as not.
posted by moonbird
on Feb 21, 2004 -
32 comments
New form of mousepox developed. A scientist has created an extremely deadly form of mousepox (a relative of smallpox) through genetic engineering. The new virus kills mice even if they have been given antiviral drugs as well as a vaccine that would normally protect them.
posted by Irontom
on Oct 30, 2003 -
42 comments
STD-ster is an online community that connects people through networks of sexual partners for tracking STD contraction. (flash)
posted by LexRockhard
on Aug 1, 2003 -
4 comments
Disease Cube A rather extraordinary applet. Find out about the reportable communicable diseases in the US. Many hidden features.
posted by kablam
on Mar 5, 2003 -
12 comments
I guess it trumps dying a horrible death (but not by much) ... "A young calf has his belly shaved. Many slashes are made in the skin. A prior batch of smallpox vaccine is dropped into the slashes and allowed to fester over a period of days. During this period of time, the calf stands in a head stall so that he can’t lick his belly. The calf is led out of the stock to a table where he is strapped down. His belly scabs and pus are scraped off and ground into a powder. The powder is the next batch of smallpox vaccine."
(Excerpt from Vaccines : A Second Opinion, and link swiped wholesale from Randomwalks.)
posted by crunchland
on Apr 10, 2002 -
34 comments
Stalking Dr. Steere Over Lyme Disease -- Dr. Allen Steere was the man who first investigated and discovered Lyme Disease in 1975, but now he is troubled that doctors nationwide are misdiagnosing other conditions as Lyme disease. He has been influential in reducing the number of Lyme diagnoses, only to be attacked by angry patients who hate and threaten him for not letting them have their chosen disease -- Dr. Steere now says, "We've come to have the idea in America that it is possible to cure anything and that everyone could be well, and it's even their right to be well, and they should be angry if the medical profession doesn't make you well."
posted by palegirl
on Jun 16, 2001 -
6 comments
