WASHINGTON (AP) - A group of Oklahoma neurosurgeons that refused to operate on a man infected with HIV can no longer turn away HIV patients and must pay $50,000 under an agreement with the Justice Department. The agreement, approved Friday by a federal judge in Tulsa, Okla., resolves a government lawsuit that had charg
WASHINGTON (AP) - A ``extremely dangerous batch of an experimental drug produced in goats and intended as a treatment for HIV/AIDS has been stolen, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday in a warning to doctors and patients. The sponsor of the product, Dr. Gary R. Davis, said in a letter to the government that th
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Trials of the first AIDS vaccine specifically designed for Africa were delayed Wednesday as researchers awaited government approval. Trials of the vaccine, developed jointly by British and Kenyan scientists, will not begin until January or February, Health Minister Sam Ongeri said. The International A
NEW YORK (AP) - The president of a Las Vegas, Nev., company pleaded guilty Thursday to securities fraud for issuing press releases last year claiming his company had developed an AIDS cure. Alfred Flores, 50, president of New Technologies & Concepts, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, admitting h
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton on Wednesday signed a bill creating lifetime sanctuaries for chimpanzees that the federal government has finished using for medical research. The law requires the Department of Health and Human Services to contract with a nonprofit organization to ensure a secure retirement for feder
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Trials of the first AIDS (news - web sites) vaccine specifically designed for Africa were delayed Wednesday as researchers awaited government approval. Trials of the vaccine, developed jointly by British and Kenyan scientists, will not begin until January or February, Health Minister Sam Ongeri sa
KARLSRUHE, Germany (AP) - Germany s supreme court on Tuesday overturned a 1995 ban on Benetton advertisements focusing on AIDS , child labor and ecological disasters, saying a lower court had violated free speech guarantees by imposing the ban. Germany s federal appeals court ruled five years ago that the fashion ad ca
GABORONE, Botswana (AP) - In this African nation where about a third of all adults are infected with HIV - the highest rate in the world - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (news - web sites) hugged a singing star and praised her bravery Monday after the entertainer revealed she was infected with the AIDS virus.
GABORONE, Botswana (AP) - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright listened quietly Monday as one of Botswana s most celebrated singers revealed for the first time that she was infected with the AIDS virus that is so ominously threatening the country. Mayoress Molefi-Mochangana told Albright and a small group of women mee
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Friday praised the role South African women have played in transforming the country since apartheid ended, but she said more work needs to be done to empower women. Albright arrived in South Africa on Thursday, the beginning of a visit to three Afr
SOWETO, South Africa (AP) - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright toured a South African AIDS (news - web sites) research clinic Friday to draw attention to the pandemic ravaging the continent and the effort to fight it. This disease knows no boundaries, knows no particular people, it s just an equality killer, she sa
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- Declaring the AIDS epidemic a test of leadership, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and African leaders on Thursday pledged to unite their political and economic resources to conquer the disease. We are here because we are determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of AIDS, whic
MILWAUKEE -- Nearly 18 percent of American women and 8 percent of American men carry the sexually transmitted virus that causes half of all cases of cervical cancer, according to the first national study on the prevalence of the virus. Dr. Judith Wasserheit, director of the STD Prevention Program at the Centers for Dis
ATLANTA--A survey of what people know about AIDS found that four out of 10 mistakenly believe it is possible to get the disease by sharing a drinking glass or being coughed or sneezed on by an infected person. The survey, released Thursday, was conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It
ST. GEORGE S, Grenada -- As the socially conservative Caribbean struggles to deal with a staggering AIDS problem, activists on Sunday debated a nagging dilemma: whether it is better to preach abstinence or condom use to stem the disease. Winston Duncan of the Grenada Planned Parenthood Association said during the final
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- With AIDS hitting Africa harder than any other continent, African leaders, international donors and the U.N. secretary-general will discuss a common front to curb the epidemic during a five-day conference that opens Sunday in the Ethiopian capital. The U.N. Economic Commission for Africa has in
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - The U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has agreed to provide the drug Fluconazole free of charge to HIV and AIDS patients at government hospitals and clinics in South Africa, the health minister said Friday. Pfizer and the government signed a memorandum of understanding Friday on the
WASHINGTON (AP) - American Red Cross blood processing centers have repeatedly failed federal inspections over the last 15 years and continue to have problems that present a potential for harm to patients, federal officials said Friday. The Red Cross (blood operation) is not in compliance with the current laws and regul
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton on Friday declared AIDS a severe threat to international security, noting the spread of the disease has eclipsed the worst-case scenario of just 10 years ago. In a speech at Howard University to commemorate World AIDS Day, the president said the fastest-growing infection rates are in Eas
LONDON -- Activists planted flowers, organized condom convoys and smashed down walls Friday on World AIDS Day, to drive home the message that ignorance and complacency are fueling the epidemic. In Britain, pop star Robbie Williams spearheaded high-profile efforts to raise awareness about AIDS. I ve seen the way AIDS is
ATLANTA -- A survey of what people know about AIDS found that four out of 10 mistakenly believe it is possible to get the disease by sharing a drinking glass or being coughed or sneezed on by an infected person. The survey, released Thursday, was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It s scary t
GENEVA -- AIDS campaigners across the globe prepared to mark World AIDS Day on Friday with a message to men that they must take responsibility for their behavior to stop the spread of the deadly virus. Broadly speaking, men are expected to be physically strong, emotionally robust, daring and virile. Some of these expec
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Botswana , which has the world s highest rate of AIDS virus infection, can halt its epidemic by 2016 if there is a social revolution in sexual behavior, a U.N. report said Thursday. The report, released on the eve of World Aids Day, said the main hope for achieving that goal rests with stopping th
GENEVA -- Anti-AIDS campaigners were heartened Tuesday as a report showed the number of Africans becoming infected with the disease dropped slightly for the first time. However, they warned, the worst is still to come for the continent, with even that progress fragile and the economic effects only beginning to bite.
GENEVA -- The world s richest countries are growing alarmingly complacent about the global AIDS epidemic as infections reach new levels, the United Nations said in a report Tuesday that noted the number of cases in Russia alone will more than double this year. It s very striking that in the wealthy countries there is a
GENEVA--HIV cases in the former Soviet bloc will rise by 60% this year as the worldwide number of people infected by the virus that causes AIDS tops 36 million, the World Health Organization said Friday. The U.N. health body said there are an estimated 250,000 new cases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia this year, bri
GENEVA (AP)--HIV cases in the former Soviet bloc will rise by 60% this year as the worldwide number of people infected by the virus that causes AIDS tops 36 million, the World Health Organization said Friday. The U.N. health body said there are an estimated 250,000 new cases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia this year
GENEVA (AP) - More than 36 million people worldwide will be infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, by the end of this year, including an estimated 5.3 million new cases, the World Health Organization said Friday. The biggest impact of the disease was in Africa again, according to figures released by the U.N. he
WASHINGTON--The AIDS virus uses a protein complex that does housekeeping chores inside cells to spread disease to other cells of the body, researchers say. Studies published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences report that a group of proteins called proteasomes are used by HIV, the AIDS virus,
WASHINGTON (AP) - The AIDS virus uses a protein complex that does housekeeping chores inside cells to spread disease to other cells of the body, researchers say. Studies published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences report that a group of proteins called proteasomes are used by HIV, the AIDS
BERLIN (AP) - Bayer AG , Germany s biggest drugmaker, said Tuesday it will join the search for new AIDS treatments as part of a shakeup of its drug research activities. The Leverkusen-based company, best-known for developing aspirin, will look for substances effective against resistant viruses, said Wolfgang Hartwig, h
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Danny Glover appealed to South Africans on Monday to join together to fight AIDS (news - web sites) raging throughout the country. It s going to take all of us to fight this and deal with this. The need is enormous, the Lethal Weapon star said. Glover, a goodwill ambassador for the
SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) - The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has approved a program that will allow a northern California county to give away government-grown marijuana to 60 AIDS patients in a study to assess drug s potential health benefits. The 12-week study in San Mateo County could begin as early as Januar
WASHINGTON (AP) - In the latest effort to trim the number of pills HIV-infected patients swallow, the government on Wednesday approved Glaxo Wellcome s Trizivir - a combination of the company s older AIDS drugs AZT , 3
BOSTON (AP) -- Bill Gates has donated $25 million to the Harvard School of Public Health for an AIDS prevention program in Nigeria . The money will be used to support a program to profile the nature of HIV infection in Nigeria, then target prevention programs similar to those the school has done in
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - The jars of leftover AIDS (news - web sites) medications Moses Alicea plucked from his stash of pill bottles and vials were bound for the dump. Alicea no longer uses them, and reselling them in the United States would be illegal. But the work of two Cambridge groups has changed their course, and
BOSTON (AP) - A form of the herpes virus that causes an AIDS -related skin cancer appears to spread through kissing. Herpes virus 8 was discovered six years ago and causes a skin cancer called Kaposi s sarcoma. In the United States , the cancer occurs almost exclusively in people with AIDS. Some had suspected that
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - An AIDS epidemic is ravaging Latin America, and to stop it nations must learn to deal frankly with homosexuality and invest heavily in AIDS prevention, a top U.N. official said. Twenty-years of epidemic have taught us that investment in prevention campaigns is the best weapon against AIDS,
BEIJING (AP) - Chinese officials, trying to combat a surge in sexually transmitted diseases, will crack down on quack doctors and set up a new center to oversee treatment, a state-run newspaper said Monday. Sexually transmitted diseases were virtually eliminated in China in the 1960s and 70s, but they have made a comeb
WASHINGTON (AP) - Calling it good for our souls, President Clinton on Monday signed a foreign aid bill that supplies $435 million to forgive debts of the world s poorest countries. By lifting the weakest, poorest among us, we lift the rest of us as well, Clinton said. Clinton said the bill would free poor nations from
WASHINGTON (AP) - Medicaid programs in the four states with the greatest number of AIDS patients are failing to deliver proper drug treatments to large numbers of their patients, government-funded research finds. Among them, Texas fared the worst, with almost two-thirds of its patients not getting the powerful AIDS dru
MINNEAPOLIS -- Dozens of people were sent phony, official-looking letters telling them they are infected with the AIDS virus. Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton s name and City Hall address appear as the sender on the envelopes, but it is unclear who sent them or why. About two dozen people sent their letters to her or called
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress has directed the National Institutes of Health to establish a center to study health disparities among the nation s minority populations. The House late Tuesday approved the bill by voice, sending it to the president for his signature. The Senate passed it earlier this week. Sponsors noted th
WASHINGTON (AP) - The AIDS epidemic in Africa is reducing life expectancy, raising mortality, lowering fertility, leaving more men alive than women and producing millions of orphans, according to an analysis by an environmental research group. Worldwatch Institute chairman Lester Brown said that unless a medical miracl
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A condom for women that never quite caught on in the United States is being studied to see if reusing it can make it more economical and help fight AIDS (news - web sites) in developing countries. The United Nations (news - web sites) AIDS program has been distributing the Reality Female Condom to w
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - South Africa s main opposition party said Friday it was negotiating with pharmaceutical companies for cheap anti-retroviral drugs, which it plans to supply free to pregnant women infected with the AIDS (news - web sites) virus and rape victims. The move by the Democratic Alliance runs cou
WASHINGTON (AP) - A bill to protect health care workers from pricking themselves with used needles passed the Senate without dissent Thursday and is now headed to the president for his signature. The legislation was praised by the nation s largest union of health care workers. Today we saved the lives of thousands of h
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Parks Mankahlana, who served as Nelson Mandela s spokesman after the first post-apartheid elections and was President Thabo Mbeki s spokesman, died Thursday after a long illness. He was 36. Mankahlana died at his parents home Thursday, said Nat Serache, spokesman for the African Nation
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Cracking a glass ceiling for women in the Arab world s most conservative nation, the U.N. chief on Wednesday appointed Thoraya Ahmed Obaid of Saudi Arabia to head the U.N. agency that promotes family planning, sexual health and women s equality. Obaid, an American-educated expert on women s is
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Hundreds of people used the Internet to buy an HIV home test kit that lacks federal approval and doesn t yield accurate results, authorities said Wednesday. The online sites selling the Ana-Sal kit claimed it produced results in five minutes that were more than 99 percent accurate. However, tests by
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) - President Thabo Mbeki said Wednesday that he did not believe his controversial views on AIDS or his refusal to criticize the political chaos in troubled Zimbabwe had frightened foreign investors away from South Africa. Although foreign investment has fallen substantially since Mbeki to
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House passed a foreign aid spending bill Wednesday that gives President Clinton the full $435 million he requested to forgive debts of the world s poorest countries. Rep. John Kasich said the support for debt relief was a historic act of grace. The agreement on debt relief, part of the $14.9 billi
BOSTON (AP) - A Massachusetts law banning tattooing except by physicians has been deemed unconstitutional by a judge who suggested the state would be better served by licensing and regulating the industry. The tattoo ban dates to the 1960s and was challenged this year by Martha s Vineyard residents John R. Parkinson an
WASHINGTON (AP) - A far-reaching trade bill approved by the House would suspend tariffs on HIV-combating drugs while banning the import of products made with dog and cat fur. The House passed the bill Tuesday by voice vote and sent it back to the Senate, where a slightly different version was approved earlier this mont
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States would establish a network of chimpanzee sanctuaries under a bill passed by the House Tuesday. The sanctuaries would care for the animals after they are no longer needed for biomedical research. The measure, which passed on a voice vote, would allow spending up to $30 million to set u
SOWETO, South Africa (AP) - South Africa introduced government guidelines on AIDS treatment Tuesday that recognize the link between HIV and AIDS but make clear that there are no immediate plans to offer anti-retroviral medications to pregnant women. The announcement comes after months of angry debate over the governmen
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - President Clinton signed legislation Friday authorizing more than $1 billion a year for AIDS prevention and treatment. Clinton signed a bill reauthorizing for five years the Ryan White Care Act, which expired when the new fiscal year began Oct. 1. The original law was passed in 1990, the same
WASHINGTON -- An AIDS vaccine tested in monkeys fails to keep the animals from becoming infected but prompts their bodies to mount a powerful defense that keeps the disease in check, researchers report. In a study appearing Friday in the journal Science, researchers report that rhesus monkeys inoculated with the vaccin
CHICAGO (AP) - A leading health policy expert says the government should no longer compel HIV-infected doctors to tell patients about their disease, reopening a debate that raged a decade ago after Kimberly Bergalis got AIDS from her Florida dentist. Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University Law Center said the current
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - After months of withering criticism over his AIDS policies, President Thabo Mbeki has decided to scale down his involvement in South Africa s AIDS debate. The decision comes amid several recent government initiatives to increase the intensity of South Africa s fight against the disease
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Toys litter the playroom at Hope House, books such as Jiggle, Wiggle, Prance fill the shelves. Outside, children climb the jungle gym and push each other on the swings. The sights and sounds are typical of any day-care center, but not so the clientele. Hope House is one of a handful of centers in the
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A researcher s plan to infect 120 cats with the feline version of HIV and then inject them with methamphetamine to study the effects has outraged animal rights activists and is raising questions about the need for the federally funded study. Ohio State University professor Michael Podell received
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress has agreed to provide more than $1 billion a year for AIDS prevention and treatment in a bill that for the first time factors in HIV infection as well as AIDS cases in determining how federal money will be distributed. The legislation, which the House passed 411-0 Thursday and sent to the pre
WASHINGTON (AP) - Spurred by new drugs that may block HIV infection if taken quickly, the House passed a bill that would compel people charged with rape to submit to an HIV test if the accuser asks for one to be done. The legislation passed 380-19 on Monday night, getting overwhelming support despite concerns about req
NEW YORK (AP) - They carry their life s possessions on withering backs and hide death within their broken bodies. Some are veterans of the streets, seeking a home under a molding cardboard box in an alleyway. Some are teens who ran from something but stumbled into a life far worse; they trade sex for a night in a bed.
A small number of patients stopped taking their AIDS drug cocktails and still managed to keep the virus under control, researchers say in one of the first studies to suggest that people with HIV may not have to be on medication for the rest of their lives. The study involved just eight people, all of whom began taking
WASHINGTON (AP) - The government should do a better job of tracking the spread of AIDS and battling the complacency that allows the deadly disease to spread, a new report said Wednesday. While the spread of AIDS among gay men has declined over the last 15 years, there has been an increase among women, minorities and ad
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most American parents want more practical information to be taught in sex education and many students and teachers feel some important topics like AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases are neglected, a new study reported on Tuesday. Parents, simply put, want it all, said Tina Hoff of the Kaiser
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A girl in Matthew Wentzel s class of ninth-graders at Minnie Howard School wanted to know who gets HIV/AIDS . Gay people do, said a 15-year-old classmate in the back. When Wentzel told them no, statistics show that the sexually transmitted disease is afflicting mainly female, minority adolescents
WASHINGTON (AP) - A government crackdown on unapproved AIDS tests sold to Americans over the Internet has uncovered another complaint: Such tests routinely are exported to other countries with no guarantee they work, officials say. The Federal Trade Commission this week announced its fourth legal action against unappro
NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge has ruled the city mistreated poor people with AIDS by subjecting them to bureaucratic mismanagement and delays in housing, health and other benefits. In a decision handed down Monday, U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson said officials violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by ch
JERUSALEM (AP) - A French scientist described a new type of diabetes in people infected with HIV and suggested Monday it could be linked to anti-retroviral drugs used to treat the virus that causes AIDS. In the last few years, scientists have reported seeing HIV patients with diabetes who also have a condition where fa
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - In a country where roughly 10 percent of the population is HIV positive, South Africa s health minister on Monday joined the president in saying that she questions whether HIV alone causes AIDS . President Thabo Mbeki, who has drawn fire for courting views of fringe AIDS theorists, has st
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The World Bank has warned that Thailand risks a resurgence of an AIDS epidemic that has already infected nearly one million people due to a decline in condom use, a Thai newspaper reported Sunday. The World Bank report, due for official release next month, highlights the impact of a decline in
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Under a new state law, California HMOs will soon be required to let HIV-positive patients get standing referrals to doctors with expertise in treating AIDS. While HMOs are required to have specialists for many conditions, from allergies to urology, the treatment of HIV and AIDS isn t a certifi
WASHINGTON (AP) - Patients with the AIDS virus are about to get a new option that may help those who have failed standard therapy: a drug called Kaletra . The Food and Drug Administration approved Kaletra late Friday, for use by both adults as well as HIV-infected infants and children who are older than 6 months of age
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) - Government scientists narrowly rejected a proposal to ease the ban on gay male blood donors Thursday, citing uncertainty over whether the move would increase the AIDS risk to the nation s blood supply. All men who seek to donate blood are asked if they have had sex, even once, with another man
A small study found no heart damage in babies whose mothers had been given AZT to keep their infants from getting the AIDS virus. Several recent studies had suggested that prenatal exposure to zidovudine, marketed as AZT or Retrovir, might damage babies hearts. The study by Dr. Steven E. Lipshultz of the Universit
WASHINGTON (AP) - The World Bank has approved $500 million in credits to help Africa combat the AIDS epidemic and will propose an additional $85 million to $100 million in loans for countries in the Caribbean. The bank said the first two African countries to benefit will be Ethiopia and
NEW YORK (AP) - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright joined with 12 women foreign ministers Monday to lend momentum to a worldwide campaign to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS. Albright presented staggering figures of the toll the disease exacts worldwide: almost 3 million people die each year; each day, more than 10,0
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - All of Rwanda s efforts to rebuild its genocide-shattered nation are threatened by two more common African scourges: poverty and AIDS, President Paul Kagame said Monday. In a speech at the University of Maryland s suburban Washington campus, Kagame said his government has made significant advan
LONDON -- Independent laboratory tests have found no evidence to support the theory that an experimental polio vaccine used on about 1 million Africans in the 1950s inadvertently triggered the AIDS epidemic. The findings, presented Monday at a conference at the Royal Society in London, found no evidence that the vaccin
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Health and social services for child victims of sexual abuse are grossly inadequate in Asia, where the flesh trade and exploitation of minors is rife, the United Nations said Monday. Two U.N. studies set for release this week find that sexual abuse of children is one of the most hidden and unde
PRETORIA, South Africa -- South Africa s president, already under fire for courting fringe AIDS theorists, said he doesn t think HIV alone causes AIDS in an interview to be published Monday in Time magazine. In the interview, conducted earlier this month in Pretoria, President Thabo Mbeki was asked whether there was a
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Burdened by debt, war, poverty and AIDS, Africa is getting special attention at the U.N. Millennium Summit with world leaders calling for a new commitment to bring the continent out of its misery and give its people hope. One more day of delayed action is a day too late for our people, pleaded Bot
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - An HIV-positive man charged Thursday with sexually assaulting a 4-year-old boy faces several counts, including one based on his HIV status. Gabriel Pugsley, 22, was charged with kidnapping, two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of first-degree assault and one count of attempte
OXFORD, England (AP) - Researchers began clinical trials Thursday with a vaccine targeted at an African strain of AIDS. The vaccine is the first specifically designed to combat the Clade A HIV-1 virus, the most prevalent strain in many parts of Africa. Eighteen people volunteered to receive injections of the vaccine at
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - More than 50 physicians here are accused of testing people for HIV without their knowledge or consent - and then passing on the result to the patients employer, media reported Saturday. The University of Witwatersrand s AIDS Law Project has filed complaints against the doctors with the
ABUJA, Nigeria -- Africans must break the silence about AIDS or risk losing hard-fought democratic and economic gains, President Clinton said Sunday as the White House highlighted more than $20 million in U.S. aid to fight AIDS, malaria and other diseases devastating Africa. In every country, in any culture, it is dif
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad -- When Jemma Taylor discovered she was HIV positive - infected by a boyfriend who hid his condition - she began avoiding people, slinking through back alleys to her job as a seamstress in a small Trinidadian town. Once (people) know you are HIV or have AIDS they don t look at you, she said in
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- President Clinton signed a bill Saturday that sets up a global trust fund to provide funds for AIDS prevention, health care and education to countries hardest hit by the disease, which killed 2.8 million people last year. Today alone, African families will hold nearly 6,000 funerals for loved ones
LOS ANGELES (AP) - President Clinton ordered the government Saturday to cooperate with nonprofit groups, church organizations and others to give teen-age parents safe, supportive second-chance homes. The homes help teen mothers who cannot live with their own parents. They teach teen mothers how to be good parents and g
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Thousands of black Baptists are calling on governments and churches to make sweeping changes to rescue the African-American community from a national state of emergency. An estimated 10,000 members of the Progressive National Baptist Convention attended the group s annual meeting Thursday and Fri
ATLANTA -- Teen-agers are having babies at the lowest rate in at least 60 years, and everyone is taking credit - from religious groups that push abstinence to advocates for contraceptives and sex education in schools. Analysts from several viewpoints agreed Tuesday on this much: Teens are more terrified than ever of se
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A pair of New York firms have announced recalls of about 25,000 tons of hot dogs, sandwich meats and chicken nuggets, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday. Levonian Brothers Inc. of Troy, N.Y., is voluntarily recalling 19,000 pounds of hot dogs, ham, salami, roast beef, corned beef and
TORONTO (AP) - Thousands of people who sued the Canadian Red Cross over a tainted blood scandal that left more than 11,000 infected with HIV or Hepatitis C will vote on whether to accept a $53 million compensation package. Accepting the package would force them to abandon further legal action. About 5,400 people are be
ATLANTA -- Health clinics should look more carefully for the AIDS virus among people who have close contact with tuberculosis patients because HIV-positive people are much more vulnerable to TB, the government said Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied the screening practices of clinics in 11
LOS ANGELES, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc. (NasdaqNM:GILD - news), leading a surge in the biotechnology sector, rose more than 15 percent on Tuesday, as investors bet that the company s new flu drug would attract strong demand this winter. The Foster City, Calif.-based company s stock was up 10-7/8 a
TORONTO -- Ontario s highest court has declared the law prohibiting the possession of marijuana unconstitutional and has given Ottawa one year to amend it. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled Monday that Canada s marijuana law fails to recognize that people who suffer from chronic illnesses can use pot as medicine. As
NEW YORK (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton s Senate campaign won the endorsement of two gay advocacy organizations Thursday, the Empire State Pride Agenda and the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign. Mrs. Clinton is the clear leader on every single issue of importance to the lesbian and gay community, said Tim Sweeney o
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House passed a measure Thursday establishing a trust fund to help AIDS-devastated Africa. The measure now goes to the White House for President Clinton s signature. The White House has said Clinton will sign the measure. The world today is confronted with the greatest health crisis in human histor
WASHINGTON (AP) - Legislation committing up to $600 million in U.S. aid for fighting HIV and AIDS in Africa and developing countries elsewhere was passed Wednesday by the Senate. On a voice vote, the Senate approved a bill by Sens. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Jesse Helms, R-N.C., authorizing $300 million in each of the ne
CHICAGO (AP) - People who use the Internet to find real-life sex partners are more likely to have had sexually transmitted diseases or engaged in risky intimate behavior, a government-led study found. But the news isn t all bad. Another study, based on San Francisco s handling of syphilis cases linked to an Internet ch
GENEVA (AP) - A campaign against killer diseases announced Sunday by leaders of the Group of Eight industrial countries will cost at least $25 billion over the next five years, a U.N. health agency said. The World Health Organization welcomed the commitment by leaders of the G-8 meeting in Nago, Okinawa, to work to sla
LONDON (AP) - While new medicines have dramatically reduced the chances of HIV patients developing AIDS, a new study indicates the percentage who contract non-Hodgkins lymphoma has quadrupled since the drugs were introduced six years ago. People infected with HIV are defined as having AIDS when their immune systems bec
WASHINGTON -- The United States plans to offer sub-Saharan African nations $1 billion in annual loans to pay for American AIDS drugs and medical services, the U.S. Export-Import Bank said Wednesday. Officials at the agency said Bank President James A. Harmon planned an announcement of a special program to help poor nat
ATLANTA -- New genetic tests have made the nation s blood supply safer, allowing donation banks to detect viral infections sooner and keep them from slipping into transfusions, scientists said Tuesday. Dr. Michael Busch of Blood Centers of the Pacific said nucleic acid testing, which can detect tiny amounts of viruses
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The Security Council adopted its first resolution on a health issue Monday, urging countries to consider developing long-term strategies to combat AIDS and to educate troops who may be deployed on U.N. peacekeeping missions. The unanimously adopted resolution, sponsored by the United
LOS ANGELES -- A 3-year-old boy brought from Thailand as a pawn in an immigrant smuggling scheme will remain in the United States indefinitely, a federal judge ruled Monday. It was the second time U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian extended an order to block repatriation of Phanupong Khaisri, who has HIV, to assure
LOS ANGELES -- Susan Gutierrez had just overcome a 13-year addiction to heroin in 1995 when she tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS. Despite the risks and challenges, she decided to start a new life and family. Her daughters, 2-year-old Ryanna and 6-month-old Rebecca, tested negative for the virus, but Gutie
DURBAN, South Africa -- The 4-month-old gurgling and smiling baby boy was so unwanted by his HIV-infected mother she could not wait for his birth to get rid of him. She demanded a Caesarean section and then abandoned the infant to the only place that would have him, a home run by missionaries. Not one person wants to
DURBAN, South Africa -- The high-profile International AIDS Conference, held for the first time at ground zero of the epidemic, ended Friday as it began, dominated as much by questions of money and political will as of medicine. More than 12,000 people from around the world came together for a week to look for solution
DURBAN, South Africa -- Former President Nelson Mandela called Friday for a stepped-up government fight against mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS virus, a topic that has brought South Africa under a crush of international criticism. We need bold initiatives to prevent new infections among young people, and large
DURBAN, South Africa -- David Ho, one of the world s leading AIDS researchers, stood in front of thousands of experts at the International AIDS Conference and made a statement few would have thought necessary a few months ago: HIV is the cause of AIDS. At previous AIDS gatherings that statement would have been so obvio
DURBAN, South Africa -- An entirely new class of AIDS drugs on the horizon may offer just-in-time help to many patients whose treatment options are running out, researchers said Thursday. The latest data suggest these drugs may dramatically restore health - at least temporarily - to people dying because the virus has g
DURBAN, South Africa -- Nearly 28 million African children are expected to lose at least one parent to AIDS by 2010, leaving a continent plagued by a generation of devastated youth, according to a report released Thursday. The potential for social ... instability is pretty significant, said John Williamson, co-author
DURBAN, South Africa -- Life expectancy in countries worst hit by Africa s staggering AIDS epidemic is expected to fall to around 30 within a decade - the lowest in a century - as the disease kills tens of millions more in its sweep across the continent. The new estimate, released Monday, is the latest attempt to quant
DURBAN, South Africa -- U.S. teen-agers are clearly getting the message about AIDS, new data show. Compared to a decade ago, they wait longer to have sex, use condoms and have fewer partners. The data, released Monday, are part of a generally encouraging view of the AIDS epidemic in the Uni
DENVER -- Although Episcopalians are still debating the role of homosexuals in their denomination, it hasn t deterred some church members who have extended a hand to AIDS victims for more than a decade. The National Episcopal AIDS Coalition was formed in 1987, when there wasn t a lot of discussion in the church about t
DURBAN, South Africa -- Bill Gates charity and the pharmaceutical giant Merck announced plans Monday to give tens of millions of dollars to help Botswana fight its crippling AIDS epidemic. Nearly 36 percent of adults in Botswana are HIV infected, the highest rate of infection in the world. The Bill and Melinda Gate
LONDON (AP) - Offering free sex counseling and HIV tests to people in the developing world would curtail unsafe sex and could slash infection rates by more than 10 percent a year at a reasonable cost, new research suggests. Funding agencies have been reluctant to finance such programs, which are widely used in the West
DURBAN, South Africa (AP) - South Africa needs to struggle against HIV and AIDS with the same commitment it used to fight apartheid, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela told a crowd demonstrating Sunday for affordable access to AIDS drugs. Thousands of protesters gathered a few hours before the 13th International AIDS Conference
DURBAN, South Africa -- President Thabo Mbeki defended his government s AIDS policies Sunday by telling thousands of AIDS experts from around the world that he is simply looking for an African solution to the scourge that is ravaging the continent. Mbeki has endured a hail of criticism since he convened a panel of scie
CHICAGO--Adding a cancer-fighting substance appears to boost the effectiveness of AIDS drug cocktails, government researchers say. The researchers hope interleukin 2 will translate into better survival rates for AIDS patients. The treatment is still experimental. The findings appear in next week s Journal of the
DURBAN, South Africa -- World Bank officials proposed $500 million in grants and loans Saturday to help African countries fund efforts to fight the AIDS pandemic devastating the continent. Callisto Madavo, World Bank vice president for Africa, said bank officials would ask the bank s board of directors to approve the f
DURBAN, South Africa -- Roughly 5 million Americans have sex and drug habits that put them at a high risk of catching AIDS, according to new U.S. figures, and experts fear an upsurge of the disease after a decade of stability. While AIDS infections in the United States have fallen dramatically since their pe
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- With the AIDS pandemic sweeping across Africa, thousands of the world s top experts on the disease are gathering for the 13th International AIDS Conference - the first time the meeting has been held on the continent most ravaged by the disease. Seventy percent of the 34 million people infe
UNITED NATIONS -- Declaring AIDS a truly global risk to military forces, the United States introduced a Security Council resolution Thursday urging all countries to provide education and voluntary testing for their troops. The resolution is aimed primarily at nations providing U.N. peacekeepers, but notes that all unif
SOWETO, South Africa -- Vusi Thiwane never told his family he was infected with the AIDS virus. They just guessed. His twin brother, Allen, moved out of their bedroom to sleep on a couch in the dining room. His family warned neighbors to stay away from him. His childhood friends seemed to disappear. He is petrified
KATLEHONG, South Africa -- A group of 20 teen-age boys jostle for the ball during a carefree afternoon soccer game. In the coming years, half of those exuberant children will die a slow death from AIDS if statistics hold, triggering a devastating demographic catastrophe. The population is projected to stop growing, bus
NEW YORK -- Glaxo Wellcome PLC will become the world s largest drug maker this summer when it completes its purchase of SmithKline Beecham. The merger, which will give Glaxo an infusion of new blockbuster medicines, comes not a moment too soon for the British company. After a bright start to 2000, Glaxo now faces probl
LONDON -- Earthquakes and other natural disasters may have captured donations and headlines, but preventable diseases killed far more people - 13 million people in 1999, according to a report published Wednesday by the Red Cross. An estimated 150 million people have died from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria alone since
WASHINGTON -- Four new partnerships were announced by a federal health agency Tuesday to provide funding to groups attempting to bring an AIDS vaccine to market. These partnerships, called HIV vaccine design and development teams, were prompted by a presidential directive to increase public-private cooperation in devel
GENEVA (AP) -- An estimated 19 million people have been killed and a further 34 million infected by the AIDS virus, which is wreaking social and economic devastation in the most stricken African nations -- with the worst still to come. A report Tuesday by the U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS said that tough campaigns in countr
Regional breakdown of HIV/AIDS epidemic as estimated by UNAIDS : -- North America: Estimated 900,000 people living with AIDS virus at end of 1999. United States has infection rate of 0.61 percent of adult population, and Canada 0.30 percent. Concentrated among injecting drug users and homosexual men.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- About 100 picketers demonstrated Monday outside the offices of the Pfizer drug company, saying its offer of free treatment for an AIDS-related brain infection was insufficient. The offer they are making will not do anything to dent the epidemic, said Mazibuko Jara, spokesman for the HIV-A
ROME -- The AIDS epidemic in rural areas has been underestimated, a U.N. agency says, urging governments to pay more attention to prevention and care in the countryside. Rural HIV often remains silent and invisible because of poor health services, a new study by the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization sai
SAN FRANCISCO -- The state Supreme Court has unanimously upheld a man s claim for AIDS-related disability insurance despite his decision not to disclose testing positive for HIV in his policy application. The court s decision Monday strongly encourages insurers to ask about medical conditions before a disability policy
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Brazilian bishops have reaffirmed the traditional Catholic Church position against the use of condoms, countering a report that some church leaders were considering allowing their use to check the spread of AIDS. But the bishops statement irritated government officials who have been campaignin
ATLANTA -- The vast majority of people diagnosed with the AIDS virus begin using condoms or curtail their sexual activity after testing positive, the government said Thursday. Ninety percent of those interviewed in the 1997-98 study said they changed their sexual behavior after learning they were infected. Among them,
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- In a break with Vatican doctrine, some Roman Catholic bishops in Brazil are proposing allowing the use of condoms in some cases to check the spread of AIDS. We are reflecting whether the use of condoms is less serious, morally speaking, than getting infected or infecting other people with the
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania -- Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers pulled a crinkled dollar bill out of his pocket Wednesday and told a gathering of puzzled AIDS orphans and HIV-positive Tanzanians that his job was to sign bank notes. Trying to explain the connection, he told the group that had gathered at the Wamata AIDS
TOKYO -- A Japanese court on Monday ordered a company and a hospital to pay damages to a man fired from his job after he was found to be HIV-positive. The Chiba District Court, near Tokyo, awarded $61,600 in damages to the 35-year-old man, a Brazilian of Japanese descent, a court official said. The man, whose name was
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Atop a candy vending machine in Tom Jacobs barber shop sits a glass jar with freebies for customers. But it s not filled with free combs or candy. Jacobs is giving away condoms. Customers at LaPorsha s Hair Studio are invited to take as many as they need - part of a program adopted by hairstylists in
WASHINGTON -- AIDS evolved from a benign simian infection into a human-killer in the early 1930s, long before it was recognized as a disease, but it stayed in remote Africa until jet travel, big cities and the sexual revolution spread it worldwide, a new study suggests. Researchers measuring the rate of genetic change
LOS ANGELES -- A syphilis outbreak primarily among gay men in Los Angeles County has been contained, officials said Wednesday. No new cases were reported since the first week of April, said Diane Goodwin, spokeswoman for the county Department of Health Services. The outbreak raised fears that HIV might spread at a fast
GENEVA -- The spread of the AIDS virus is likely to curb the size and quality of the labor force, increase employers costs and reverse economic progress in the worst-hit countries, according to a study released Wednesday by the International Labor Organization. The U.N. agency said sub-Saharan African nations - where a
UNITED NATIONS -- Five years after a major international conference pledged to seek full equality of the sexes, more women are working and more girls are going to school - but women remain underpaid, under-represented in governments and under threat of physical and sexual abuse. Two U.N. reports released Wednesday pain
SAN FRANCISCO -- Defending his controversial views on AIDS, South African President Thabo Mbeki said his country must consider basic problems of poverty and nutrition in confronting the epidemic. Mbeki has been criticized for entertaining the theories of University of California virologist Peter Duesberg, who claims th
TUSKEGEE, Ala. -- Many blacks know little about AIDS and HIV because of a deep mistrust of white health care workers that stems partly from the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study, black church leaders said Wednesday. About 350 clergy members from around the country met this week to address AIDS in the same town where the
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton met today with South African President Thabo Mbeki, who appealed for U.S. support whatever our differences over how best to combat AIDS on the African continent. Clinton greeted Mbeki, successor to the storied Nelson Mandela, with a formal ceremony in the White House East Room. The t
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- A vaccine against the HIV virus may lie in a plant blamed for millions of deaths each year: tobacco. Researchers at CropTech Corporation, a biotechnology firm, are working to genetically alter the leaf to clone a protein found in two strains of HIV. When the protein, gp120, is given in a vaccine, res
TRENTON, N.J. -- AIDS is spreading faster among blacks because prevention programs are underfunded and lingering stigmas about the disease prevent frank discussions, experts at a three-day summit on the subject concluded Saturday. Dozens of government and medical officials, clergy and community activists attended An Ho
BALTIMORE -- An oral AIDS vaccine is expected to undergo human tests in Uganda in as little as 18 months, and could provide an inexpensive form of prevention in poor countries hit hard by the disease. The vaccine, which could cost $1 per dose or less, is being developed by the institute headed by Dr. Robert Gallo, one
GENEVA-- World Health Organization members are debating how to move forward in tackling the AIDS epidemic, with Brazil urging the U.N. health agency to set up a global database of drug prices. At a meeting Wednesday of WHO s annual assembly, Brazilian Health Minister Jose Serra proposed that WHO establish a computeriz
Washington-The House moved yesterday to set up a Marshall Plan for AIDS-devastated Africa. The action comes days after both the White House and major drug companies took steps to ensure access to cheaper drugs for the continent s exploding AIDS-stricken population. The disease kills 6,000 people a day in Africa, has or
WASHINGTON -- The House moved Monday to set up a Marshall Plan for AIDS-devastated Africa. The action comes days after both the White House and major drug companies took steps to ensure access to cheaper drugs for the continent s exploding AIDS-stricken population. The disease kills 6,000 people a day in Africa, has or
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Kiyoshi Kuromiya, a social activist who helped to inform and empower AIDS patients, died from the disease Wednesday, one day after his 57th birthday. Kuromiya was diagnosed with AIDS in 1989 and quickly wanted to know everything about his illness. He became a self-taught AIDS expert who believed tha
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton issued an executive order Wednesday making it easier for AIDS-ravaged Africa to obtain inexpensive drugs and medical technologies. The president took the action after nearly identical language in the order was taken out of an African trade bill that Congress is likely to pass and sen
CHICAGO -- Tests that help identify drug-resistant strains of the AIDS virus should be routinely used in most infected patients to help doctors customize their treatment, an advisory panel says. Patients with drug-resistant strains are at greater risk of developing full-blown AIDS. Because the AIDS virus tends to mutat
PRETORIA, Johannesburg -- Amid a growing AIDS crisis and criticism of his handling of it, President Thabo Mbeki opened a meeting of scientists Saturday to debate such concepts as whether AIDS is spread by unprotected sex. Even organizers of the two-day conference of so-called AIDS dissidents don t expect the gathering
WASHINGTON -- In 10 years, the AIDS epidemic could be sweeping through Asian and Pacific Rim countries even faster than it s going through sub-Saharan Africa today, an intelligence official says. Right now, sub-Saharan Africa led the world in AIDS deaths in 1998 with 2 million - four-fifths of the world s HIV-deaths, s
WASHINGTON -- Jamie Fox, a top aide to Sen. Robert Torricelli who has been running the Democratic campaign effort for Senate, will become executive director of a national group dedicated to fighting AIDS later this year. Fox, who took the helm of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee after Torricelli became its
KIGALI, Rwanda -- AIDS is running rampant in Rwanda and its victims are swamping the country s hospitals and overtaxing its medical workers, Rwanda s health minister said. Some 500,000 Rwandans, or 6 percent of the population, are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, Health Minister Ezechias Rwabuhihi said Tu
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania -- President Benjamin Mkapa said Monday that AIDS is taking a heavy toll on Tanzania s economy as large numbers of the country s trained work force are succumbing to the disease. Some ministries lose about 20 employees each month to AIDS, and 365 workers of the Tanzania Electric Supply Company d
WASHINGTON -- Clinton administration officials Sunday defended their decision to classify AIDS as a threat to national security - a designation aimed at garnering more attention and funding toward combating the disease worldwide. Sandy Thurman, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, said AIDS has b
LOS ANGELES -- A medical center that serves primarily poor neighborhoods in Los Angeles has halted hundreds of clinical research studies after federal investigators found more than 24 violations of rules designed to protect patients. The Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and its affiliated county-run h
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- In a letter to world leaders published Wednesday, President Thabo Mbeki compared the criticism of his AIDS policies to the censorship of political ideas under apartheid. Mbeki also argued that since HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is spread mostly through heterosexual contact in Africa, t
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Mutual of Omaha is eliminating its medical coverage cap for policyholders infected with HIV or AIDS. Such clients will receive the same medical coverage as those with other ailments, effective May 1, company spokesman Jim Nolan said Wednesday. The insurance giant, which has policyholders in nearly ever
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- The South African government is drawing a chorus of criticism for linking deaths in a clinical drug trial to an anti-AIDS drug that has proved highly effective in blocking mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus. On Wednesday, Health Minister Mantao Tshabalala-Msimang implied that Nevir
GENEVA (AP) - More than half of the world s countries fail to perform full tests on donated blood, increasing the risk of spreading AIDS and other diseases, the World Health Organization said Friday. From 5 to 10 percent of people with the AIDS virus are estimated to be infected via blood transfusions, said Yasuhiro Su
GENEVA (AP) - A cheap and widely available antibiotic will likely be given to the 2 million Africans showing symptoms of HIV or AIDS because it could dramatically curb side infections and save lives, a U.N. expert said today. Dr. Badara Samb, a care adviser to the U.N. Joint Program on HIV/AIDS, said
CHICAGO -- Mandatory HIV screening of pregnant women would not only reduce the number of newborns with the virus, it would also cost less than voluntary testing or no tests at all, a University of Illinois analysis shows. While the study looked at the potential benefits in Chicago, the researchers said similar benefits
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Pfizer Inc. is offering to give away an expensive AIDS drug to poor South Africans, a move that follows a series of protests and raises hopes other pharmaceutical companies will follow suit. The drug, Diflucan, treats cryptococcal meningitis, a lethal brain infection that occurs in nearly
BALTIMORE -- An AIDS study conducted in Uganda has raised ethical concerns about whether uninfected sexual partners were put at risk by researchers. Johns Hopkins University researchers tracked 415 heterosexual couples in several rural villages in which one partner was infected with HIV and one was not. Despite receivi
BEIJING -- New cases of Chinese with the AIDS virus grew by more than 40 percent last year, with women increasingly at risk, the newspaper of China s Health Ministry reported Wednesday. Health experts detected 4,677 new cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, last year - a 41.5 percent rise over 1998, the Health News
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Gay men have a constitutional right to donate blood, the South African Human Rights Commission has ruled. The commission said in a ruling issued Thursday that it was no longer gays who were most at risk for HIV infection in South Africa, but people in their early 20s. The commission de
WASHINGTON -- Blacks and Hispanics with AIDS are getting inferior care compared with whites who have the disease, government auditors concluded in an assessment of how government funding on AIDS programs was spent. Compared with whites, African Americans and Hispanics receive less appropriate care for their HIV disease
LOS ANGELES -- Scientists have found at least four significant errors in a newly issued patent of a human gene that plays a role in AIDS infection, the Los Angeles Times reported today. The mistakes in the description of the chemical makeup of the gene raise questions about the rush to patent genes and could loosen Hum
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- President Thabo Mbeki s office on Monday bitterly accused Western drug companies of enriching themselves from the AIDS epidemic and compared them to warmongers who propagate fear to increase their profits. The blistering comments, carried in a newspaper column, come as Mbeki s administrati
FRANKFORT, Kan. -- Asked to devise a bill to send to the state Legislature, students at Frankfort High School wanted to pick a subject that would make people think. Their bill to distribute condoms in public high schools has become a hot topic in this rural community of 900, about 60 miles northwest of Topeka, the stat
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton said Thursday he will work to get more money for vaccines and drug research at home and abroad to eradicate the leading infectious killers of our time. The president welcomed leaders of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, public health foundations and international organizations
WASHINGTON -- Heeding a White House call, four major drug companies donated millions of doses of vaccines to combat malaria, hepatitis B, polio and other dreaded diseases in Africa and other troubled regions of the world. Today we re beginning a partnership to eradicate the leading infectious killers of our time, Pres
MOSCOW (AP) - Registered HIV cases in Russia are rising steeply and there are now more than 30,000 infected people, with more than 50 percent of them contracting AIDS last year, a health official said Thursday. Irina Savchenko, a Health Ministry specialist on AIDS prevention, announced the rapid increase as the ministr
CHICAGO (AP) - The number of infants who get the AIDS virus from their mothers could drop by more than 40 percent if infected women avoided breast-feeding, researchers reported today. The authors, led by researcher Ruth Nduati in Nairobi, studied 401 HIV-infected women and their infants in Kenya . Their findi
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- When Annie Newton puts her twins to bed, there are no goodnight kisses after nightly prayers. She washes her hands before hugging the 10-year-old girls, and won t let them in the kitchen while she s cooking, for fear they might touch her blood if she cuts herself. Newton doesn t have AIDS and she has te
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands -- Homophobia, sex tourism, infidelity and poverty are major factors causing a rapid spread of AIDS and increasingly infecting women in the Caribbean, international and regional health officials said Friday. Societal norms encourage homosexuals to have heterosexual relationships, a
BUCCOO, Tobago -- Every Sunday, when the sun goes down on Buccoo village on the southwest coast of Tobago, the tourists start to gather. The locals, mainly young men, show up later. By mid-evening, thousands are mingling. A steel band strikes up sweet pan music. Driving soca, dance hall, reggae, even hip-hop, spills ou
WASHINGTON -- In an experiment that could significantly expand federal benefits to patients with the AIDS virus, the Clinton administration is allowing Maine to provide Medicaid payments to people are HIV-positive but do not yet have AIDS. Previously, patients could not qualify until they had full-blown AIDS. Health Se
WASHINGTON -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson stuck a cotton swab between his cheek and gums Thursday to demonstrate how easy it is to take an oral test for the virus that causes AIDS and to encourage other black Americans to be tested. The crisis has not left. It is no longer front-page. It s not gunfire. It s not cocaine, cra
TOKYO -- Three former drug company executives were sent to prison Thursday in the first convictions in a tainted-blood scandal that left hundreds in Japan infected with the AIDS virus. Renzo Matsushita, 79, Tadakazu Suyama, 72, and Takehiko Kawano, 69 - all former top executives at Green Cross Corp. - were accused of p
NAIROBI, Kenya -- The Ugandan government could run out of condoms by the end of next year as demand for protection against AIDS soars, a newspaper reported Friday. Demand for condoms in the country will soon reach 90 million per year - a fourfold increase since 1995 - due to increased awareness of AIDS, the government-
WASHINGTON -- Citing thousands of triumphs, large and small, President Clinton today defended his Africa policy and pressed African nations to work harder on AIDS prevention before the disease cuts into their own productivity. In a speech before the National Summit on Africa, the president said the Unite
CHICAGO -- The former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention s HIV vaccine unit awarded an $8 million research grant to a company that hired him only a few months later, a newspaper reports. In January, former CDC official Dr. William Heyward became the vice president for international clinical studies
WASHINGTON--The Food and Drug Administration is trying to determine if a small group of children dying from cancer might have been accidentally exposed to the AIDS virus in a gene therapy experiment. Suggestions that the children were exposed to HIV are highly questionable, FDA officials stressed Friday. In fact, t
LONDON (AP) - St. John s wort, a popular herbal remedy used to relieve mild depression, can interfere with drugs used to treat HIV-infected people and heart transplant patients, new research shows. Scientists said the findings add to growing concerns that the herb may interact dangerously with prescription medicines.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - South Africa s Department of Health said it plans to start testing schoolchildren for HIV in an effort to gauge how quickly the disease is spreading. The tests would be voluntary and require parental permission, the Saturday Star newspaper of Johannesburg reported. Nearly 10 percen
PARIS (AP) - A week before three former ministers go on trial for their roles in an AIDS-tainted blood scandal, the parents of a young woman who died of AIDS have filed a complaint against a fourth former official, judicial sources said Wednesday. The complaint, also brought by an association representing victims of ta
The Los Angeles Times - Wednesday, February 2, 2000
Daniel Q. Haney, AP Medical Editor
SAN FRANCISCO--Powerful new AIDS drugs in development should help relieve one of the biggest problems of treatment -the pill burden. Over the past four years, new treatment combinations have revolutionized AIDS care, changing HIV infection from a death sentence to a disease that is treatable, if not curable. However, p
SAN FRANCISCO -- The worldwide AIDS pandemic has been traced to a single viral ancestor who emerged perhaps around 1930. Earlier research had suggested that the outbreak began in the first half of the 20th century, but the latest analysis, done at the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico, appears to be the most defini
SAN FRANCISCO -- Oral sex, long regarded by many gay men as a low-risk practice, appears to be a surprisingly frequent way of spreading AIDS. A study released Tuesday found that oral sex was probably the cause of 8 percent of recent HIV infections among a group of homosexual men examined in San Francisco. In the past,
SAN FRANCISCO -- Doctors say they can improve the chance of successfully treating AIDS by measuring how each patient s virus stands up to the drugs intended to kill HIV. Through evolution, HIV can grow resistant to any of the standard AIDS drugs, and often it is invulnerable to several at once. The specific combination
SAN FRANCISCO -- The medicines that transformed the treatment of AIDS also may be slowing its spread, but health experts worry this victory will be wiped out by a new complacency among those at risk. Protease inhibitors and other drugs have changed AIDS from a death sentence to a treatable chronic disease over the past
WASHINGTON -- Scientists have become increasingly frustrated in the hunt for novel ways to attack the AIDS virus, but now they re getting some encouraging news: Drug giant Merck & Co. has mapped the way toward a long-elusive target. It will take years of additional research to turn the finding into a usable medicat
WASHINGTON -- Scientists at drug giant Merck & Co. have opened a long-awaited target in the hunt for new ways to attack the AIDS virus. It will take years of additional work to create a usable medication from the finding, experts cautioned. But Merck s research with an enzyme called integrase gives scientists a lon
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - The number of new HIV and AIDS cases in Wyoming increased last year, according to the state s HIV surveillance coordinator. Cheryl Corbin said the number of new HIV cases increased from eight to nine and the number of new AIDS cases rose from two to four. When you say it doubled it looks dramatic,
TOKYO -- The number of people in Japan testing positive for HIV or developing AIDS in 1999 reached a record high of 780, the Health and Welfare Ministry said. A total of 491 people tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in 1999, up 16 percent from 1998, the ministry said. Also, 289 cases of full-blown
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court today let a few states continue, at least for now, segregating inmates who have the AIDS virus from most activities available to their general prison populations. The court, without comment, rejected an appeal in which Alabama inmates with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus argued that the
WASHINGTON -- Aiming to step up AIDS treatment and prevention programs, President Clinton will ask Congress to increase federal spending against the disease by $175 million in his 2001 budget. Administration officials said on Monday that Clinton will request $125 million over this year s spending level for Ryan White C
LONDON -- The British pharmaceutical company Glaxo Wellcome PLC plans to buy rival SmithKline Beecham PLC for about $76 billion in stock in a deal that would create the world s largest drugmaker. The deal announced today would create a company to be called Glaxo SmithKline that would hold a 7.3 percent share of the glo
KIGALI, Rwanda -- Callixte Rucamihigo and his wife escaped death at the hands of screaming militiamen in Rwanda s 1994 genocide, only to fall victim to a silent killer that knows no ethnic differences. Last year, a doctor told the 34-year-old former government worker he d contracted the virus that causes AIDS. When blo
ATLANTA -- For the first time since the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic in the United States in the 1980s, more black and Hispanic gay men were diagnosed with the disease in 1998 than white homosexuals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that one reason is that homosexuality carries a greater stigma
UNITED NATIONS -- African countries say wealthy nations should make HIV-fighting drugs available and affordable to residents of the continent, which has been hardest hit by AIDS yet has virtually no access to treatments saving lives in the industrialized world. Many African health ministers and ambassadors attending a
NAIROBI, Kenya -- AIDS killed Caroline Akinyi s parents 11 years ago, when she was 3. Yet even today, she cannot fathom a disease - let alone a sexually transmitted one - that killed her mother and father. Instead, she believes her parents were bewitched. Education is a cornerstone of a new $150 million U.S. effort to
CHICAGO -- When potent drugs fail to keep HIV in check, the reason might not be that the virus has become drug-resistant, as some doctors and patients fear. Instead, the AIDS virus may rebound because patients have stopped taking their drugs properly or because their bodies have lost the ability to use the medicines ef
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court, rejecting allegations of illegal bias, today let an insurance company provide less health care coverage for AIDS-related illnesses than for other conditions under the same policy. The court, without comment, turned down an appeal in which two HIV-positive men argued that the limit o
The Associated Press - Monday, Jan. 10, 2000; 5:56 p.m. EST
Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS -- With AIDS the No. 1 killer in sub-Saharan Africa, killing 10 times more Africans than war, Vice President Al Gore pledged Monday to put the continent s AIDS crisis on the world s security agenda and outlined a new U.S. effort to fight the epidemic. Presiding over the first Security Council meeting to
UNITED NATIONS -- Africa s wars have long been on the agenda of the U.N. Security Council, but never before has the council considered AIDS a threat to peace on the continent. But today the 15-member council was expected to debate a health issue for the first time, and Vice President Al Gore was scheduled to address th
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Two U.S. medical firms and a Dutch organization have offered to pay up to $2.36 million to Dutch hemophiliacs infected with the AIDS virus during blood transfusions in the 1980s, officials said Wednesday. The offer is intended to help the remaining survivors of the 130 people infected with HIV
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- A proposal to order bars and nightclubs to hand out condoms to high-risk customers has been soundly defeated before the city council. Voting 5-0 on Monday night in this tolerant Southern California enclave, the council decided unanimously to continue instead with a voluntary giveaway program a
READING, Pa. -- No one disputes Juan Carlos Isabel committed a robbery in the New York subway several years ago. He s already served his six-month jail sentence for the crime. Now the 40-year-old father of five, who has tested positive for HIV, is in the Berks County Prison facing deportation to his native
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