HIV/AIDS continues to dramatically affect people all over the world despite preventive measures such as educational awareness and testing programs and treatment initiatives such as drug research and development. Even in the United States, where government funding, medical technology, and education would seemingly defeat this disease, the epidemic continues. According to the United States Center [...]

AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome it causes a destruction of the immune system. It is the most advanced stage of the HIV virus (HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus). AIDS is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the presence of a positive HIV antibody test and one [...]

In a significant shift in strategy in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the Centers for Disease Control recently recommended that tests for HIV be extended to all patients entering hospitals and clinics in the U.S. The CDC also recommended that doctors begin offering routine voluntary HIV tests to patients between 13 and 64.
It is estimated that [...]

In one of the most promising developments in more than 20 years, scientists claim that drugs used to control HIV/AIDS in patients may also be effective in preventing the disease in the first place.
The drugs in question are tenofovir (Viread) and emtricitabine, or FTC (Emtriva), sold in combination as Truvada by Gilead Sciences Inc. Gilead [...]

Introduction
The first cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) were reported in the U.S. in June of 1981. The occurrence of the syndrome among homosexual men, intravenous (IV) drug abusers and, later, blood transfusion recipients and persons with hemophilia suggested a transmissible agent as the cause. In 1984, scientists identified a retrovirus, human immune deficiency [...]

AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, a condition first reported in the United States in 1981, that has since become a major worldwide epidemic.
AIDS is caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). By killing or damaging cells of the body’s immune system, HIV progressively destroys the body’s ability to fight infections and certain cancers. The term [...]

“It’s very real and it’s real stories and real heartache and also real opportunity to focus on a solution that is very cost effective and has an extraordinarily meaningful impact in the lives of young people”
Ashley Judd says education and prevention is the best way to combat AIDS and HIV, which disproportionately affect women [...]

A targeted campaign of testing and counseling aimed at those who are at high risk for HIV would be more effective than the mass patient screening proposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to an analysis by David Holtgrave, PhD, an expert on HIV prevention at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School [...]

I think the opt-out system of HIV testing is a fairly good idea.  Of course, it will have to be looked at carefully, and checks put in place to ensure confidentiality and avoidance of stigma.  That is something I am not sure South Africa is ready for, but I’m also not sure that it isn’t [...]

In the recent August 2006 Transcript, the newsletter of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, the following article by Supreme Court Judge Edwin Cameron caught my attention.  I’ve posted it here with his permission.

Normalising HIV Diagnosis and Treatment
By Judge Edwin Cameron
My friend Ronald Louw was dean of the law school at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, [...]

Abstract Travellers engaging in sexual contact with a new partner abroad may be at high risk of acquiring a sexually transmitted infection. This review examines the impact of travel on sexual health and provides prevention, management and treatment recommendations to practising occupational health physicians.

Abstract The use of antiretroviral therapy as post-exposure prophylaxis against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is now routine following high-risk exposure to the HIV virus. This article summarizes the management of health care workers and others exposed to HIV in an occupational setting, and the evidence behind it.