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Tag: "hiv" at medical news

Patients With Filariasis More Prone To HIV Infection

According to a report published in the December issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, HIV infection is significantly enhanced in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from individuals with untreated filarial infection compared to PBMCs from infected patients treated with antifilarial agents. According to Dr. Ramya Gopinath and her team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infecti...

International community warns India on HIV situation

The International Community has warned India that it is time to treat the HIV situation as a national emergency. Experts attending the Peoples Health Assembly at Dhaka, Bangladesh , have cautioned India not to be complacent about the looming HIV crisis in the country. Rebuffing the optimistic statement of Union Health Minister, Dr.C.P.Takhur, the experts said if corrective measures are not taken...

Debate Rages over firing of HIV infected health care workers

When we flip through the news papers it isn’t uncommon for us to see news items which tell us that an employee has been fired from an establishment after testing positive for HIV. But rarely do these matters become a major controversy when many sit up and take notice. Especially in the health care industry people don’t bat an eyelid when someone is fired because of ones HIV serostatus. Many nurse...

HIV infected patients can travel safely abroad

Many HIV infected patients, apart from suffering the social neglect and being unwanted even by near and dear ones have this major handicap - they just can’t travel like the other people - wherever they want and whenever they want. Some people just avoid having HIV infected co passengers. Others are just indifferent. Leaving the ethical issues aside, it is very difficult for these victims to trave...

Man against HIV – new vaccine ready for human trials

A new vaccine called the TAT vaccine has been developed in Italy as the latest and most exciting HIV vaccine to date. And more importantly it has had a 71% success rate when tested on monkeys. This vaccine is now ready for human testing and this may be the brightest hope for mankind against the destructive HIV. ..Dr.Barbara Ensoli, Head of the Department of Virology at Italy’s National Health Ins...

Gay capital reeling with rising HIV infection

The gay capital? of the world, San Francisco is now reeling under the shock waves of a rebound epidemic of HIV infection. In the past one-year the rate of infection has actually doubled in most areas and in some select high-risk pockets of gay men, who are also intra venous drug users, the rates are even higher. And what is the cause for this sudden spurt? ..Hold your breath! The successful contr...

Smoking a greater risk than HIV? Yes say health experts!!!!

A research backed by the British government says that smoking will turn out to be the biggest killer in the years to come, surpassing the threat of even HIV. The British broadcasting corporation reported on Monday that in the developing world smoking will kill more people than any other disease in the next 20 years. The report released from the Institute of Development Studies in Sussex, United K...

Alternative medicine more popular among HIV positive patients

Despite significant improvements in anti AIDS therapy, complimentary and alternative medicine seem to be more attractive to the AIDS positive patients, according to a new study. Among 191 HIV-positive outpatients surveyed about their use of complementary and alternative therapies, 67% said they had used alternative therapies at some point to control their HIV infection and 40% reported current us...

HIV did not arise from polio vaccine

Researchers in four countries have unanimously opined that the deadly Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) Epidemic did not arise from an oral polio vaccine used in Africa in the 1950s and say rumours suggesting the contrary have no scientific evidence to back them up. ..The studies, from researchers in the US, UK, France and Germany, should help free the polio vaccine manufactured by the Wistar I...

African HIV strains more resistant to anti HIV drugs

Genetic variations in the HIV strains in Africa make it more difficult for the anti AIDS drugs to act on them according to researchers. This however does not mean that these drugs will be powerless against the virus but these drugs find it difficult to latch on to the protease, which is an enzyme useful in the replication of the virus inside the body. ..If the drug attaches itself to the protease...

Minor mutations in HIV virus

Researchers at massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), published a study-- HIV can mutate key proteins in order to hide from an immune attack. But once these mutations occur they persist. ....When HIV attacks, the cell alerts the immune system by displaying viral protein fragments on the surface. This is a suicide signal to kill the infected cell. The immune response that is generated depends on th...

Hepatitis G May Boost HIV Survival

A form of hepatitis virus not believed to cause illness may improve survival in people who have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In two new studies, HIV-positive people who were also infected with the hepatitis G virus tended to live longer than other people infected with HIV. Researchers suspect that hepatitis G, which is also known as GB virus C, improves survival by keeping HIV from replicatin...

Drugs to stop burgeon of HIV

An Australian research team has discovered a way of preventing HIV from spreading from cell to cell.Professor Henry and colleagues from the John Curtin School of Medical Research have found the drug hexamethylene amiloride (HMA) appears to reduce the ability of viruses to escape from infected cells. This could develop into a new drug to tackle HIV. ...."We have found a drug that blocks the channe...

More about HIV

HIV or human immunodeficiency virus is a retrovirus that binds to receptors found on membranes of immune system T cells. When HIV attacks a cell, the virus is internalized, copied into DNA, then migrates into the nucleus where it inserts itself as part of the host DNA. In many cases, the inserted viral genes remain dormant, sometimes for as long as ten or more years. AIDS or Acquired Immune Defic...

FDA Approves New HIV Drug, Viread

Biopharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences Inc. said it has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its antiretroviral agent Viread (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) for the treatment of HIV in combination with other antiretroviral agents. ....Like Viread, such drugs work by blocking the process needed for HIV replication in the body. But Viread is the first nucleotid...

Garlic Supplements Impede HIV Therapy

Researchers have found garlic supplements can cause harmful side effect when combined with a type of medication used to treat AIDS. Garlic supplements reduced// blood levels of the saquinavir, one of a class of drugs called protease inhibitors that are effective at slowing the progression of HIV infection. In the presence of garlic supplements, blood concentrations of saquinavir decreased by abo...

New HIV cases resist drugs

About 40,000 people are infected with HIV every year in the US, with half the cases in people under 25. More than three-quarters of all U.S. patients with the AIDS virus have an infection that resists one or more of the drugs used to treat it. // Drug-resistant HIV had spread faster and the lifesaving cocktails of drugs that help many patients lead normal lives were becoming increasingly limited...

HIV infections have reached a new high

The number of people infected with HIV in the UK is likely to increase by almost half over the first five years of the 21st century, according to public health experts.// ....New figures released by the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) predict that the number of people living with an HIV diagnosis may rise from around 23,000 in 2000 to almost 34,000 by the year 2005. In 2001, the number of...

Beehives to curb caries

Now scientists are confirming in laboratory studies that one of the substance-propolis, a resinous product collected from beehives--may inhibit the development of tooth decay. Researchers at the University of Campinas, Brazil, found that propolis// considerably reduces dental plaque formation. Propolis is a potent inhibitor of glucosyltransferase (Gtf) enzymes, enzymes that synthesize glucans fro...

Acute Measles Supresses HIV Replication

Replication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is briefly suppressed during acute measles. A study of HIV-infected children found that HIV levels in the blood// were significantly lower while having measles compared to HIV-infected children who did not have measles. ...."We were surprised by these findings, because we expected to see HIV replication increase, not decrease with measles," says...

Elevating Manganese Levels hold back HIV

According to researchers at the Hopkins University, working with yeast have made the unexpected discovery the metal manganese can block the replication of HIV inside cells, a finding that could lead to a whole new class of treatments for the virus that causes AIDS.//..A team of researchers at Hopkins University in Baltimore found that, human immunodeficiency virus depends on an enzyme called rev...

Dementia linked to HIV

According to Italian and Swedish researchers, use of antiretroviral therapy may help guard people with HIV from early development of memory loss and other cognitive problems. According to the statistics, there is about 20 percent of people with AIDS,// who are affected by severe cognitive problems, known as AIDS dementia complex. Most of them have advanced HIV infection and severe immunosuppressi...

Researchers find new HIV hiding place

According to researchers at the National Cancer Institute in Texas, they have found a new place in the body where the AIDS virus can hide out, even in the face of powerful drug therapies.Dr. George N. Pravlak, a senior scientist at the National Cancer Institute in Texas, //found that their findings show a type of NK (natural killer) cell a significant cell of the immune system could be infected b...

Developing HIV fighter

Researchers developed a form of RNA which silencesd the genes that play a role in HIV infection, potentially showing a new way to combat the virus that causes AIDS...The team used short forms of RNA - ribonucleic acid - that turn off genes vital for the production of proteins used by the virus to enter and infect cells. RNA carries the blueprint for constructing proteins.// ....Dr. Phillip Sharp...

Identifying Virus Found To Be Essential for HIV Patients

Before the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy HAART, the cytomegalovirus was a major problem for AIDS patients, causing opportunistic// infections that spread out of control and led to faster progression of the disease and shorter time to death. ..Researchers assessed CMV status in about 375 people infected with HIV using a standard test. Investigators followed the patients for...

A Vitamin A Day May Delay The Life span Of HIV Patients

A vitamin a day could slow down the progression of HIV, according to new research. Researchers say this could be a low-cost way to delay the progression of this deadly disease. Past studies have indicated that // multivitamins may play a role in the progression of HIV. However researchers recently conducted a study to determine if vitamins have an impact on the disease. ..The study included 1,078...

Over Six Million HIV Infected People In South Africa- Finds A Survey

Johannesburg: In South Africa over six million people were infected with HIV by 2004.// This puts the prevalence of AIDS in the country at a high of 14 percent. South Africa 's total population is 46.9 million. .. ..The latest figure announced by South African Health Department is far higher than the estimate of 4.5 million given by the official state statistics agency, Statistics SA, reports X...

20 Men Involved In Gay Sex Network Acquire HIV Infection

The much used Internet that enabled gay men contact in Hong Kong has been in a way responsible for HIV infection among 20 men according to a latest report. // ....Government health officials found all 20, who met between November 2003 and November 2005, had HIV with similar gene sequencing, the South China Morning Post reported. ....The discovery was made when all the men sought medical help af...

Increased Funding For AIDS/HIV Program In Africa

It has been proposed to raise the financial grant for the South African AIDS program from the existing 187 million U.S. dollars to 255 million dollars in the current financial year (2006- 07). //Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, who presented the annual budget in the National Assembly, submitted the proposal. ....The minister also said that care of children orphaned by AIDS/HIV would deserve the u...

Beehives to curb dental caries

Now scientists are confirming in laboratory studies that one of the substance-propolis, a resinous product collected from beehives--may inhibit the development of tooth decay. Researchers at the University of Campinas, Brazil, found that propolis// considerably reduces dental plaque formation. Propolis is a potent inhibitor of glucosyltransferase (Gtf) enzymes, enzymes that synthesize glucans fro...

Alternative Therapy in HIV Patients

As more HIV-infected patients turn to complementary and alternative medicine, researchers have set out to determine the prevalence and factors associated with such use. ....In this study, researchers evaluated CAM use among nearly 3,000 patients enrolled in the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study. Using this sample of patients who received conventional HIV care, researchers determined demogra...

Switching drugs regularly improves HIV treatment

..NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When HIV-infected patients alternated their drug regimen every three months, their virus levels stayed down longer than when one regimen was administered continuously. ..That news comes from the SWATCH (SWitching Antiviral Therapy Combination against HIV-1) study. Dr. Javier Martinez-Picado, of Hospital Germans Trias I Pujol in Badalona, Spain, and others examined th...

Optimum Timing for HIV/AIDS Prognosis

A new study shows the best time to make a prognosis for someone with HIV is six months after treatment begins. Researchers find cell counts //at that time give a more accurate picture of a person’s prognosis than when they are originally diagnosed with HIV. ....Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is a common treatment for HIV patients. HAART has improved the prognosis of HIV patients, ho...

Reducing HIV Transmission

Researchers report encouraging results from a follow-up study of a new drug aimed at reducing the transmission of HIV from infected mothers to their newborn children.// ..Health officials estimate in 2002 about 800,000 children around the world were infected with HIV through mother-to-child transmission. More than 90 percent of these cases occurred in underdeveloped nations. The incidence is mu...

Drugs said to Reduce HIV Transmission to Baby

Research has shown the drugs zidovudine and nevirapine reduce the mother-to-child transmission of HIV in breastfeeding women in Africa. //The treatment is generally given late in pregnancy and continued until early infancy. Researchers conducted a study to determine if the two drugs given together reduced transmission more than just nevirapine alone when given after the baby is born...Recent rese...

New Test for HIV Patients

A new and simple test could be a major improvement for HIV patients in less-developed countries. The test uses dried blood to assess a patient's response to HIV medication.// ....HIV patients are often put on antiretroviral therapy. This treatment is now becoming available in Africa. While on the medication, tests to determine the CD4 cell count are needed. A low CD4 cell count indicates a need f...

HIV Treatment Said to Increase Heart Attack Risk

A common treatment option for HIV patients is associated with an increased risk for a heart attack, according to a new study. However, researchers say the benefit of the treatment outweighs the risk of a //heart attack for most patients. ..Combination antiretroviral therapy substantially improves the prognosis of HIV-infected patients at risk for AIDS. Before this therapy was available, the annu...

Shyness Linked To HIV Progression

Differences in neural activity may be putting shy people at increased risk for HIV and other infectious diseases say researchers according to a new study conducted.// ..Shyness has been linked to infectious disease for centuries. As early as the second century AD, doctors noted people with a "melancholic temperament" were more likely to develop illnesses. Research in modern times has supported th...

Circumcision Found To Prevent HIV Spread

HIV is a virus that infects and destroys T-cells in the immune system. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are between 800,000 and 900,000 people living with HIV.// ..Previous research has shown circumcised men are less likely to be infected with HIV, and a new study helps explain why. ..Researchers examined tissue samples from nine specimens of human foreskin. The...

Drug to stop HIV spread to babies may Indirectly harm The Mother

The World Health Organization estimates that 40 million people are infected with the AIDS virus, 95 percent //of them in developing countries. In some African countries, 40 percent of pregnant women have the virus. Last year, an estimated 700,000 children caught HIV. ....In impoverished areas where the risk is greatest, researchers have settled on a simple, one-time treatment for HIV-infected pr...