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Federal health officials recommended Wednesday that hundreds of thousands of Americans at risk for AIDS take a daily pill that has been shown to prevent infection with the virus that causes it. If broadly followed, the advice could transform AIDS prevention in the United States — from reliance on condoms, which are effective but unpopular with many men, to a regimen that relies on an antiretroviral drug. It would mean a 50-fold increase in the number of prescriptions for the drug, Truvada — to 500,000 a year from fewer than 10,000. The drug costs $13,000 a year, and most insurers...

A compound found in soy sauce may be more potent than the current top antiviral therapy in fighting HIV, University of Missouri researchers have found. Seventy times stronger, in fact. The molecule was accidentally discovered by a Japanese soy sauce company in 2001 while trying to enhance the flavor of its product. The soy sauce molecule they isolated, EFdA, turns out to be part of the family of compounds called nucleoside analogues, which are very similar to existing drugs for the treatment of HIV and other viruses. EFdA samples were sent for further testing, which confirmed EFdA's potential usefulness against...

Last year, Magic Johnson found out that he had the virus that causes AIDS in his body... ...hounded by a new wave of rumors that he must be bisexual, fearing the rejection of NBA players and aware that a $2 million lawsuit from a onetime lover that accuses him of giving her HIV was sure to burst public, Johnson last week rescinded his decision to return to the Los Angeles Lakers.... Of all the turmoil that drove Johnson back out of basketball, it is the grievous lawsuit in Michigan filed by a woman called only Jane Doe that threatens most...

Offering a first glimpse of the health care needs of Americans who bought coverage through federal and state marketplaces, an analysis of the first two months of claims data shows the new enrollees are more likely to use expensive specialty drugs to treat conditions like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C than those with job-based insurance. The sample of claims data—considered a preliminary look at whether new enrollees are sicker-than-average—also found that prescriptions for treating pain, seizures, and depression are also proportionally higher in exchange plans, according to Express Scripts, one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit management companies.

Archie fans might want to brace themselves: The beloved character will die this July. Archie Comics announced Tuesday that the lovable redhead Archie Andrews will bite the proverbial dust, to cap the recent “Life With Archie” series. “We’ve been building up to this moment since we launched ‘Life With Archie’ five years ago, and knew that any book that was telling the story of Archie’s life as an adult had to also show his final moment,” said Archie Comics Publisher/Co-CEO Jon Goldwater in a statement. While details of the character’s impending death are scant, it has been revealed that Archie...

It’s the Truvada conundrum: A drug hailed as a lifesaver for many people infected by HIV is at the heart of a rancorous debate among gay men, AIDS activists and health professionals over its potential for protecting uninfected men who engage in gay sex without using condoms. Many doctors and activists see immense promise for such preventive use of Truvada, and are campaigning hard to raise awareness of it as a crucial step toward reducing new HIV infections, which now total about 50,000 a year in the U.S. Recent efforts range from think-tank forums and informational websites to a festive...

To the consternation of African representatives on the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), US and European delegates rejected the idea of including sexual fidelity and abstinence among a list of measures aimed at countering the AIDS epidemic in Africa. US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power defended the move as “part of the United States devotion to protecting the unrestricted right of individuals to have sex with whomever they choose, whenever they choose. To merely suggest that a person might lower their risk of infection by remaining faithful to a sexual partner or deferring sexual gratification...

W. C. Harris is a radical gay activist and Professor of Queer Studies and Early American Literature. He says that homosexuals are still cruelly oppressed in America, even though some of them may end up with very comfortable jobs as university professors.... He is particularly angry with the Christian right for oppressing him.... So he would like to abolish Christianity altogether....and replace it with that he wittily calls “Gaytheism,” i.e., homosexual atheism. Unlike beastly old Christianity, this new religion will meet our spiritual needs with “new forms of community that do not harass and malign gay and lesbian Americans or...

American philanthropist Melinda Gates talked about her Roman Catholic faith and funding contraceptives in the global fight against AIDS, noting that many Catholics disagree with official church doctrine on the contraception issue. "Even though I am Catholic I believe in contraceptives, just like the majority of Catholic women in the United States who report using contraceptives, and I shouldn't let that controversy be the thing that holds us back," Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, shared at the TED 2014 conference in Vancouver on Tuesday, The Vancouver Sun reported. The Catholic Church teaches against the use of...

Small advancements make big waves in the decades-long search for an HIV vaccine, and University of Miami researchers are optimistic that their latest findings are significant: They have developed a vaccine that triggers an immune system response strong enough to kill a model AIDS virus in mice. The vaccine is still in the early stages of development, said Geoffrey W. Stone, a UM assistant professor of microbiology and immunology who led the research study published in February’s Journal of Virology. “But in those modest beginnings,” he

Egypt's military has come out with a shocking "medical breakthrough." On Sunday, the army announced its new "Complete Cure Device," which it says can treat cancer and hepatitis C every time, and which doctors call a "scientific scandal." Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Abdel-Atti, head of the Cancer Treatment and Screening center, praised the new device, bragging "I defeated AIDS with the grace of my god at the rate of 100%. And I defeated hepatitis C." According to Abdel-Atti's research team's claims, the device draws blood, "breaks down" the disease, and returns the now cancer-free blood back to the patient, reports CNN....

Roy Simmons, the fun-loving Giants offensive lineman who later became the second former player in NFL history to come out as gay, died in his New York home last week at 57. Simmons, the only player in NFL history to acknowledge that he was HIV positive, was known as "Sugar Bear" because of his big smile and sweet personality. But the former Giants offensive lineman was also tortured by his sexuality and struggled for years with substance abuse. When his NFL career ended, he was a homeless prostitute in San Francisco for a time, earning $15 a trick. Simmons told...

But the U.S. government won’t let scientists try out this promising treatment on humans. On a warm summer day in Chicago at the International Cannabinoid Research Conference, hundreds of marijuana researchers were giggling. It wasn’t the groundbreaking research they’d just heard—proving the ability of THC, one of the active ingredients in marijuana, to stave off HIV (or RIV in monkeys)—that did it. Nor was it the author of the study, Dr. Patricia E. Molina, who had them laughing. It was the rogue researcher daring enough to taint the victory with a harsh dose of reality: “What’s next, testing this on...

You’re not ready to have sex if… 1. You think sex equals love. 2. You feel pressured. 3. You’re afraid to say no. 4. It’s just easier to give in. 5. You think everyone else is doing it. (They’re not!) 6. Your instincts tell you not to. 7. You don’t know the facts about pregnancy. 8. You don’t understand how birth control works. 9. You don’t think a woman can get pregnant the first time. (She can.) 10. It goes against your moral beliefs. 11. It goes against your religious beliefs. 12. You’ll regret it in the morning. 13. You...

This evil character had unprotected sex with many partners without telling them he had HIV; in fact he lied to at least two, claiming to be disease-free.

HIV-Positive Student Secretly Videotapes Spreading The Disease. Prosecutors tell News 4 they now know more than 30 people could have gotten HIV from a former student at Lindenwood University who allegedly knew he had the deadly disease. He is accused of knowingly giving it to others.

Jeremy has AIDS and no income. He lives with his parents in Chesapeake. Up to now, most HIV-related medical care for him and other low-income, uninsured patients in Virginia has been paid for by government grants. Starting this year, they will be enrolled in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's marketplace. The new plans cover not just HIV care, but also other medical needs. That means Jeremy might finally be able to see a specialist to find out why one medication makes him nauseous and another makes him so dizzy that he can't drive. But he's not rushing to...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/Magic-Johnson-On-Getting-Covered

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 9, 2014 (C-FAM.org) - Lawyers for U.S. government agencies have failed in an initial attempt to force a watchdog group to remove leaked documents from the group’s website. The documents describe studies showing complications of a long-lasting contraceptive heavily backed by the agencies and the Gates Foundation for use by African women. The U.S. agencies are accused of attempting to conceal their knowledge of studies showing women using the injectable contraceptive Depo Provera are at higher risk of getting HIV/AIDS. Allowing The Rebecca Project to publish the information means “this issue of Depo Provera’s harm now has...

A doctor from a Disease Prevention and Control Center in the Chinese mega city of Guangzhou has said that 90 percent of all new HIV/AIDS cases among local university or college students are due to homosexual behavior. Dr. Xu Huifang said that MSM activity is the underlying factor in the majority of students reporting new infections, reported Xinhua. Huifang said the city has reported a total of 117 HIV/AIDS cases in 48 local colleges or universities since 2002. But director of the disease prevention center Wang Ming thinks the numbers are inaccurate since many infected college students do not get...