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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Shots - Health News

Dangers of 'Whoonga': Abuse Of AIDS Drugs Stokes Resistance

A whoonga smoker near Durban, South Africa, shows a crushed AIDS pill in the palm of his hand before mixing the drug with marijuana.

December 18, 2012 In South Africa, drug users are crushing HIV medications and mixing them with marijuana, heroin and other illicit drugs. Public health workers worry that people who smoke so-called whoonga are helping to fuel the rise of drug-resistant HIV.

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Shots - Health News

Clinton Reveals Blueprint For An 'AIDS-Free Generation'

United Nations Aids Executive Director Michel Sibide hugs Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after they they presented the a road map for stopping HIV around the world.

November 29, 2012 HIV has been declining in many parts of the world over the past decade. Today the U.S. unveiled an ambitious plan to stop most new HIV infections around the world. But some health leaders question whether their goals are realistic, especially with impending budget cuts.

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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Shots - Health News

HIV Infections Rise Among Young Black Men In U.S.

A young man places an oral swab into a solution to complete an HIV test during a free screening event in Washington, D.C.

November 27, 2012 The number of new HIV infections in the U.S. is relatively stable at about 50,000 people a year. But HIV is on the rise in people under 25, federal data show. The upswing is driven largely by infections among young black men.

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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Shots - Health News

World AIDS Epidemic Slows, But Fight Stalls In Parts Of Asia

Students paste red ribbons on a window to mark World AIDS Day in Nanjing, China, in 2006. Between 2007 and 2011, the number of newly diagnosed HIV cases in China has nearly quadrupled to 40,000.

November 21, 2012 Although new HIV infections have dropped by as much as 50 percent in many African countries, the fight against AIDS seems to be losing its footing in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. New infections nearly quadrupled in China between 2007 and 2011.

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Monday, October 22, 2012

Shots - Health News

HIV Finding Opens New Path For Vaccine Research

The HIV-1 virus cultivated with human lymphocytes.

October 22, 2012 Researchers in South Africa tracked how the evolution of the virus in two infected woman shaped the antibodies they produced to fight it. Several months after infection, the researchers saw that the patients had developed more "broadly neutralizing antibodies," which target different versions of the virus.

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Monday, September 24, 2012

Shots - Health News

South African Children's Hospital Closed Under Apartheid To Reopen

The Durban Children's hospital opened in 1931, as a facility for all races, but tensions during the apartheid era forced it to close in the 1980s.

September 24, 2012 With local hospitals in Durban, South Africa, strained by the AIDS epidemic, city leaders are trying to restore and reopen a historic children's hospital shut down in the 1980s during apartheid. The hospital originally opened in 1931 with a mandate to serve kids of all races.

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Thursday, September 06, 2012

Shots - Health News

'Test And Treat' Strategy For Curbing HIV Draws Questions

Nurse Irena Majola tests Justice Mlambo's blood for HIV at a roadside AIDS testing table in a suburb near Cape Town. Under the "test and treat" strategy, about 45 million South Africans would need to be screened for HIV each year.

September 6, 2012 Testing everyone for HIV and then giving them early treatment could theoretically eliminate the epidemic in South Africa. A mathematical model of this "test and treat" strategy suggest that it might be more expensive and take significantly longer than previously predicted.

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Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Shots - Health News

Vaginal Ring Protects Monkeys From HIV-Like Infection

A small, plastic vaginal ring loaded up with an HIV drug protects monkeys from infection with simian immunodeficiency virus.

September 5, 2012 A vaginal ring that releases a drug against HIV shows promise in an animal study as a way to prevent infections. The results bolster hopes that an ongoing clinical trial of a similar ring in people will prove to be successful.

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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Shots - Health News

Decline In Circumcisions Could Prove Costly

Nurse Angie Hagen tends to a newborn boy in the nursery at Denver Health medical facility in Denver in June 2011. The following month Colorado ended coverage for routine circumcisions under Medicaid.

August 21, 2012 Over the past two decades, circumcision rates in the U.S. have fallen to 55 percent from a peak of about 79 percent. A new analysis from Johns Hopkins researchers suggests the decline will add to health care costs.

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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Shots - Health News

New Funds Could Shorten Waiting Lists For AIDS Drugs

The pharmacy at Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Center stocks medications for 5,200 HIV/AIDS patients. Workers there aren't sure how much an increase in federal aid will help cut Georgia's waiting list for a HIV drug-assistance program.

July 28, 2012 Some states, like Georgia, have a waiting list for people who need help paying for AIDS drugs. With increased federal funding on its way for HIV/AIDS treatment, states are hoping that they can care for more people. But the cost of care remains high, so the waits may remain, too.

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Friday, July 27, 2012

Shots - Health News

A Walk Through The AIDS Conference's Global Village

"You've been condomized!" said Joy Lynn Alegarbes, of The Condom Project, which promoted safe sex at the 19th International AIDS Conference. The group handed out more than 850,000 condoms this week.

July 27, 2012 The International AIDS Conference isn't only about medical research. People from around the world met at its Global Village to share their experiences with the AIDS epidemic through music, art and dance. This year's highlights included a condom campaign and lube tasting booth.

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Shots - Health News

Cost Of Treatment Still A Challenge For HIV Patients In U.S.

Ruben Bermudez stands in front of a sign that says in Spanish, "To love yourself is to protect yourself." He has struggled to remain eligible for AIDS drug assistance programs since he went on treatment four years ago.

July 27, 2012 Many people living with HIV in the U.S. struggle to remain eligible for public assistance programs that pay for medication. For some that means avoiding full-time jobs or refusing pay raises so they can get coverage for the expensive drugs.

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Shots - Health News

The Value Of HIV Treatment In Couples

Dr. Lisa Sterman holds Truvada pills at her office in San Francisco. The drug was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to prevent infection in people at high risk of infection with HIV. The pill, already used to treat people with HIV, also helps reduce the odds they will spread the virus.

July 27, 2012 Researchers say that expanding anti-retroviral treatment to all HIV-positive people in couples with one partner who isn't infected is cost-effective even in developing countries with limited budgets.

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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Shots - Health News

Two More Nearing AIDS 'Cure' After Bone Marrow Transplants, Doctors Say

Timothy Ray Brown, shown in May 2011 with his dog Jack in San Francisco, is the only man ever known to have been fully cured from AIDS. Brown is known as the "Berlin patient" because he had a bone marrow transplant in a German hospital five years ago.

July 26, 2012 The two patients in Boston seem to be free of HIV after treatment for cancer, Harvard researchers say. But they're still on antiviral drugs, unlike the so-called Berlin patient, who's the only person in the world to be fully cured.

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Shots - Health News

Amid An AIDS Epidemic, South Africa Battles Another Foe: Tuberculosis

A mobile clinic set up to test students for HIV is parked near Madwaleni High School in Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on March 8, 2011. Parts of the South African province have HIV rates that are more than twice the national average.

July 26, 2012 Some parts of the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa have HIV rates that are more than twice the national average. And clinics in the region are seeing another major problem: thousands of cases yearly of multi-drug-resistant TB.

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