Circumcision Reduces HIV Risk

Trials and studies have been conducted in Kenya and Uganda since last year and today they finally came a conclusion that male circumcision will reduce the risk of HIV infection as high as 50% The reason of uncircumcised men are easily to get the HIV virus because the foreskin has Langerhans cells which attach easily to the virus and most of the time the foreskin often tears during sexual intercourse which gives a passage to HIV.

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HIV Cases In China Jumped By 30%

China’s reported number of HIV/AIDS cases already is nearly 30 percent higher than for all of last year. China has now providing annoymous blood testing, free treatments and also ban on discrimination against people infected with the HIV virus.

HIV cases have been steadily increasing at a rate of about 30 percent annually since 1999, but according to the prediction figure, the real number of HIV cases in China is likely four to five times than the reported figure. An annual of 39.5 million people are now living with the AIDS virus worldwide as infection rates and deaths from the disease continue to mount.

HIV and Malaria boost HIV virus replication

A malaria attack can substantially reduce the CD4 cell count of an HIV-positive person, while successful treatment of malaria can result in large CD4 cell increases, a study in Zambia has shown. The authors of the study say that malarial status needs to be determined in all patients deemed eligible for treatment where CD4 counts are being used, in order to avoid premature initiation of treatment.

HIV-infected individuals are at an increased risk of malaria attacks and experience higher treatment failure rates. Malaria, on the other hand, increases HIV viral loads in HIV-infected patients and might accelerate disease progression to full blown AIDS.

More information at AIDSMAP

A Pill That Can Prevent HIV

A pill which called Viread (tenofovir) has proved effective against HIV in human clinical trials. The first test of Viread as an HIV preventative, was in Africa, and from what they have found, fewer people became infected when they took the drug. The problem was that very few people in the control group became infected either. More studies will be conducted to prove the effectiveness of Viread drug, tenofovir.

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Drink Tea to Fight HIV ?

This is an interesting discover news that Japanese researches has found a new way to fight off the HIV infection by preventing the virus from spreading throughout the body. Scientists at the University of Tokyo, led by Kuzushige Kawai has found a compound called epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG, the element which believed to contain most of the health benefits found in green tea, rapidly attaches to the doorways that the AIDS virus uses to invade cells. HIV infects cell called CD4 T-cells. EGCC prevents HIV virus from attaching to the CD4 T-cells. Tea already has proven to lowe the cancer rate, heart disease, cholesterol and rheumatoid athiritis.

More News about the research can be found here

Is french kissing a risk of contracting HIV?

Deep or open-mouthed kissing is a very low risk activity in terms of HIV transmission. There has been only one documented case of someone becoming infected with HIV through kissing which a result of exposure to infected blood through open mouthed kissing. If you or your partner has open wounds in your mouth, you should avoid kissing until the wound has healed.

Ask your partner if he/she has open wonds in mouth before kissing or you're going to taste their blood.

Is there a risk of HIV transmission when having a tattoo?

I wouldn't say no because if the needle contaminated with infected blood and not sterilized properly, it can pass to you. You should also be aware that other blood borne diseases such as Hepatits C or B may also pass to you. The best way to overcome this is ask your tatoo artist to get a new needle or sterlized it properly before you get your own tattoo. You don't want to get your health in trouble for a mere a tattoo don't you?

Where and when does AIDS/HIV occured?

The origin of AIDS and HIV has puzzled scientists ever since the illness first came to light in the early 1980s. For over twenty years it has been the subject of fierce debate and the cause of countless arguments, with everything from a promiscuous flight attendant to a suspect vaccine programme being blamed. So what is the truth? Just where did AIDS come from?

The first recognised cases of AIDS occurred in the USA in the early 1980s. A number of gay men in New York and San Francisco suddenly began to develop rare opportunistic infections and cancers that seemed stubbornly resistant to any treatment. At this time, AIDS did not yet have a name, but it quickly became obvious that all the men were suffering from a common syndrome. The discovery of HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that causes AIDS was made soon after.

In February 1999 a group of researchers from the University of Alabama¹ announced that they had found a type of SIVcpz that was almost identical to HIV-1. This particular strain was identified in a frozen sample taken from a captive member of the sub-group of chimpanzees known as Pan troglodytes troglodytes (P. t. troglodytes), which were once common in west-central Africa.

The researchers (lead by Paul Sharp of Nottingham University and Beatrice Hahn of the University of Alabama) made the discovery during the course of a 10-year long study into the origins of the virus. They claimed that this sample proved that chimpanzees were the source of HIV-1, and that the virus had at some point crossed species from chimps to humans.

Find out more about HIV/AIDS origin Source Here

U.S. experiment uses AIDS to fight AIDS

This is a good news that US has finally came a solution that uses genetically engineered AIDS to fight other AIDS in human body. It has reported that it worked better than expected, suppressing the virus and renewing the immune systems of a few patients. This study has carried out on 5 patients and will be explore completely within next few years as reported. More can be studies here

This is indeed a good news for all AIDS patients. Let's hope that they will succeed in completing a new drug that will cure AIDS one day.

For your news head up about AIDS infections around the world:
The AIDS virus infects close to 40 million people worldwide and has killed 25 million. A cocktail of drugs can help control infection, but there is no cure and no vaccine.

Kenya receives US$70 mln to fight AIDS

Considering Kenya is the highest population that has infecte with AIDS diesease has granted a US$70 mln to fight AIDS.

Kenyan Finance Minister Amos Kimunya said the funds would complement the government's efforts in reducing the impact and effects of the HIV/ AIDS scourge in the country.

"This program seeks to scale up voluntary counseling and testing services and also provide full range of care services including anti-retroviral drugs for mothers, spouses, infants and medical workers who are HIV positive," the minister said.

"We note with appreciation the numerous successful interventions from the Global Fund, other development partners, and the civil society in the health sector," said Kimunya.

Kenya has a population of 32 million with an adult HIV/AIDS prevalence of 5.9 percent. There are 1.2 million orphans as a result of the epidemic.

HIV infections in Australia surge

New HIV cases in Australia surged more than 40 percent from 2000 to 2005, according to study results released Thursday, prompting fears that drug treatment advances are making people lax about practicing safe sex.

The annual survey report, issued by the National Center in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, found that new HIV infections reported in Australia rose from 656 in 2000 to 930 in 2005 - a 41 percent leap. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.

They concluded thay gay men accounted for about 70 percent of the new cases. Heterosexuals made up 19 percent, while intravenous drug users and unknown transmission paths accounted for the rest.

Australia had 22,361 reported cases of HIV as of the end of 2005. A further 9,872 people have been diagnosed with full-blown AIDS, and around 6,700 have died from AIDS.

To read more about the news, please go to http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Australia_HIV.html

More Insight of AIDS

The first cases of AIDS occurred in the USA in 1981, but they provide little information about the source of the disease. There is now clear evidence that the disease AIDS, is caused by the virus HIV.

HIV is part of a family or group of virus called Lentiviruses. Lentivbiruses other than HIV has been found in a wide range of non-human primates. These other lentiviruses are known collectively as Simian (Monkey) viruses (SIV) where a subscript is used to denote their spices of origin.

It is generally accepted that HIV is a descendant of Simian (Monkey) immuno-deficiency viruses bear a very close resemblance of HIV-1 and HIV-2, the two types of HIV.

So, from the above information, one could ask what is the meaning of this HIV?

HIV – means Human Immuno Deficiency Virus. HIV is a virus that is found in the body fluids especially blood and semen. It is a microscopic ball of protein that contains the virus genetic material. The virus has molecules on its surface that allows it to attach to lymphocytes in the immune system.

Once this happens, it enters the cells and effectively hides from the immune system while it reproduces before spreading to infect other lymphocytes.

HIV does not cause any symphotes for up to several years as it spreads through the lymphocytes that controls the immune system. Eventually, the virus destroys these cells and their body is left unprotected against other diseases.

This stage is called Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and lung infections like pneumonia or a rare skin cancer called kaposis sarcoma develops. It is these diseases that ultimately cause the AIDS sufferer’s death.

AIDS is a syndrome caused by infection by the HI virus (HIV); Only after infection by the virus can a person become HIV positive which will develop into full blown AIDS. This means that HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.

A person will not know when he/she has been infected and will not see the signs for as long as 2-12 years if he/she is healthy.

There are various stages of HIV/AIDS before it gets to the final stage which is the full blown stage. And they include; The Win dow Stage. If a person goes for a test at this time, the test will be negative because the body has not developed any antibodies especially in the first six months.

The second stage is the Acute Stage. At this stage, the person may suffer a severe illness, e.g. continuous cough, cold, swollen parts of the body and in some causes there are no signs present.

The third stage is the Asymptomatic Stage. At this stage, the person is going to be sick more often as the body is losing all its defenses to the virus. STDs are also obvious at this stage eg. Gonorrhea and syphilis etc.

If one does not observe this and immediately call for medical attention, these signs will increasingly develop and this will develop to the forth stage called the Symptomatic Stage. At this stage, the person has a lot of virus in the blood, and many more signs and symptoms show up because of the low immune system in the body.

All signs at this stage are called opportunistic infections. e.g. skin diseases, diarrhea, night sweat, pnaemonia, Tuberculeosis etc begins to show up.

The final stage is the last stage. At this stage, if the person has not gotten treatment, then the person will surely die from the disease, as the body is now too weak to fight on its own.

These notwithstanding, being this positive is not a death wish and not everyone who has HIV/AIDS will die from it, it just means for a change in behavioural attitude and lifestyle to maintain a healthy life, going for voluntary counseling and conducting test allows you to know your status early enough.

There is currently no cure for HIV/AIDS. World-wide, there are an estimated 42 million people who are infected with the virus. Treatments, like the antiviral medicine A2T, can slow the progress of HIV infection to full-blown AIDs.

HIV/AIDs is a disease that is not easy to contract. Infections are mainly passed on during unprotected sex, either between a man and a woman or a man and a man.

Injecting drug users transmit the virus if they share infected hypodermic syringes, through unscreened blood transfusion, the virus can cross the placenta in HIV positive pregnant mothers to her unborn child, but medicines are available that can reduce the chance of the baby been born HIV positive.

Prevention is better than cure they say. This means that knowing that certain things can and will happen is not enough, but finding ways to stop these things from happening is making sure that it never happens.

HIV/AIDS does not have a cure, it kills but it can be prevented.

There are many different prevention methods that can manage HIV/AIDS, but to prevent it, the following options are available.

1. Abstinence from sex = A

2. Be faithful to one partner = B

3. Consistent use of condoms = C

Prevention method most used by people is a personal choice but as a point to note, the simplest way to determine the best choice for a person depends on the person’s lifestyle and behaviours.

Some people are more at risk than others and as such their choice of prevention might be a collection of different methods including the use of condoms.

Applying the prevention method is a personal commitment to constantly maintain a healthy lifestyle and stay HIV negative. No one can make you stay negative, but you can get help in staying negative through accessing correct information about the deadly diseases HIV/AIDS, going to VCT, behaviour change and learning about HIV.

Iran claims to have found AIDS cure

Isfahan (Iran): Iran has claimed that its scientists have discovered a treatment for AIDS, with the formula having a two-year effect on patients using it for a three-month period.

Iranian Minister of Health and Medical Education Kamran Baqeri Lankarani said on Wednesday that the use of the formula for a three-month period will have clinical effects on patients for a two-year term, comparing it with other medicines which are only effective while being administered.

He said that Iranian doctors have experimented the formula on patients and its two-year effect on the body is "guaranteed."

"For the time being, we cannot say that effects of the newly-discovered medicine will remain in the body for the whole life time," the health minister said.

Lankarani is in Isfahan to attend the 53rd Regional Committee of the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the East Mediterranean.

Source: CNN

What is a therapeutic HIV vaccine?

A therapeutic HIV vaccine (also known as a treatment vaccine) is a vaccine used in the treatment of an HIV infected person. Therapeutic HIV vaccines are designed to boost the body's immune response to HIV in order to better control the infection. cure HIV?

Currently, there are no therapeutic HIV vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, therapeutic HIV vaccines are being tested in clinical trials to find out if they are safe and effective in treating people with HIV.

Researchers hope that if therapeutic vaccines are able to strengthen the body's natural anti-HIV immune response, people with HIV will not have to rely exclusively on the antiretroviral drugs now used to treat HIV infection. Currently, antiretroviral drugs must be taken for life, and some cause serious side effects.

A Cure For HIV?

There have been reports that a British man with HIV has apparently become clear of the virus.

Mr Stimpson, 25, was diagnosed HIV-positive in 2002 after having an HIV test, but a further test in October 2003 was found to be negative.

Doctors say it is now important that Mr Stimpson undergoes further tests so they can learn more about his case.

It is not clear whether his body has truly cleared the virus or if there is another explanation for the findings.

Scientists hope that further investigation might point a way to develop new HIV treatments. Up to date we havent find out the result yet.

Is there a vaccine for HIV?

Currently, there's no vaccine that can completly wipe out HIV from patient body but the following vaccines have been developed to ease the HIV disease inside the body:

Subunit Vaccines
Subunit vaccines, also known as "component" vaccines, contain only individual proteins or peptides from HIV, rather than the whole virus. Instead of collecting protein or peptide components from the virus itself, they are made in the laboratory using genetic engineering techniques. Most HIV subunit vaccines are based on laboratory-made forms of the HIV envelope proteins that coat the outside of the virus. These envelope proteins can prompt the body to produce an anti-HIV immune response. Another type of subunit vaccine is called a virus-like particle vaccine (also known as a VLP or pseudovirion vaccine). Virus-like particles are non-infectious HIV look-alikes that contain one or more, but not all, HIV proteins

Recombinant Vector Vaccines
Recombinant vector vaccines are based on microorganisms such as viruses or bacteria that do not cause disease in humans or have been weakened so as not to cause disease. The viruses or bacteria are used as vectors, or carriers, to deliver harmless HIV genes into the cells of the body. The body produces proteins from the HIV genes and these proteins stimulate an anti-HIV immune response. Some of the viral vectors being studied for HIV vaccines include ALVAC (a canarypox virus), MVA (a cowpox variant), and ADV5 (adenovirus 5). A modified version of the bacterium Salmonella typhi is also being studied as a vector for HIV vaccines. Most of the recombinant vector vaccines for HIV deliver several HIV genes.

DNA Vaccines
DNA vaccines introduce pieces of laboratory-made HIV DNA into the body. Unlike recombinant vector vaccines, DNA vaccines do not rely on a viral or bacterial vector. Instead, "naked" DNA containing HIV genes is injected directly into the body. Cells take up this DNA and use it to produce HIV proteins. The proteins trigger the body to produce an anti-HIV immune response.

-Source http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/other/whatisvac.asp

How to prevent from getting HIV ?

HIV is spread through some of the body's fluids. HIV is in:

-blood
-semen
-vaginal fluids
-breast milk
-some body fluids sometimes handled by health care workers (fluids surrounding the brain and spinal cord, bone joints, and around an unborn baby)

HIV is passed from one person to another by:
-having sex (vaginal, anal, or oral) with a person who has HIV
-sharing needles with a drug user who has HIV
-during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding if a mother has HIV
-getting transfusions of blood with HIV.

Majority HIV is passed through having unsafe sex, where condom is not used or not properly used and sharing needles where the needle has contaminated with HIV virus.

See your doctor if you think you have HIV. Seek medical help right away. It doesnt hurt you.

Use condom for sexual intercourse can prevent from getting HIV by 90%. Always Say no to RAW SEX!

What is AIDS / HIV?

AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS is the result of damage to the immune system. A damaged immune system is unable to protect the body against certain specific 'opportunistic' infections and tumours. These are called opportunistic because they are caused by organisms which are normally controlled by the immune system but which 'take the opportunity' to cause disease if the immune system has been damaged. The opportunistic infections which are considered to be 'AIDS-defining' are listed in the HIV & AIDS Treatments Directory. Unlike most other diseases, different people with AIDS may experience different clinical problems, depending on which specific opportunistic infections they develop. This is what a syndrome means – a collection of different signs and symptoms that are all part of the same underlying medical condition.

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It was originally isolated in Paris in May 1983 by Luc Montagnier. It belongs to a group of viruses called retroviruses. Viruses copy their genetic material into the genetic material of human cells. This means that infected cells stay infected for the rest of their lives. Through mechanisms which are still not fully understood, HIV prevents the immune system from working properly. Normally, the body's immune system would fight off infection. But HIV is able to infect key cells (called CD4 cells) which co-ordinate the immune system's fight against infection. Many are actually destroyed by being infected. Others, including CD4 cells which are not themselves infected, no longer work properly.

Scanning electron micrograph of HIV-1 budding from cultured lymphocyte.