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Almost 620,000 gay and bisexual men in the United States were living with HIV in 2014, and 100,000 of these men were not even aware of their infection. These men are 100 times more likely to have anal cancer than HIV-negative men who exclusively have sex with women. Yet, no national screening guidelines exist for anal cancer prevention in any population. Anal cancer is predominantly caused by chronic or persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. HPV infection can lead to the development of anal precancer which, if remains undetected or not adequately treated, may lead to anal cancer. Likewise, HPV infection...

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Friday that lowers from a felony to a misdemeanor the crime of knowingly exposing a sexual partner to HIV without disclosing the infection. The measure also applies to those who give blood without telling the blood bank that they are HIV-positive.... Supporters of the bill said women engaging in prostitution are disproportionately targeted with criminal charges, even in cases where the infection is not transmitted. Republican lawmakers including Sen. Joel Anderson of Alpine voted against the bill, arguing it puts the public at risk. “I’m of the mind that if you purposefully inflict another...

Do I smoke too much pot? It’s a question I’ve asked myself over the years, and it raised its uncomfortable head this week as I absorbed the results of the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The first thing to note about the report is the good news. One of the major and legitimate fears of those who have opposed legalization is that teen use would increase. Weed is genuinely harmful to the developing adolescent brain and those of us who passionately advocated legalization argued that making it legal would actually make it harder for teens to get...

The number of people diagnosed with HIV in Ireland is rising amid concerns that ambivalence about the disease is putting increasing numbers of people at risk. A record 512 cases of HIV were diagnosed in the State last year. Rates have been rising steadily since 2011, with experts saying “complacency and risk-taking” among a younger generation is contributing to the rising numbers. “This generation hasn’t grown up with the legacy or even the reality of HIV,” said HIV Ireland executive director, Niall Mulligan. “It was a massive issue in the 1980s and we were aware of it. We were very...

ATLANTA - Black gay men are contracting HIV in Atlanta in epidemic proportions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which stated in 2016 that one in two black men would contract the disease. Christian Dacus is a youth HIV policy advisor with Georgia Equality. He said personally, the spike in the number of HIV cases for gay black men in Atlanta is not surprising to him because of the stigma. “It's been spun in such a negative way that HIV is a punishment for your sins,” Dacus said. Dacus cited non-acceptance from religion and family, and living...

Cancer cells are smart. Very smart. They can evade the immune system using several different methods that shield them from detection. Thanks to the brilliance of scientists such as Jeff Bluestone, Jim Allison and Carl June, the rapidly flourishing field of cancer immunotherapy is providing an avenue for the immune system to overcome cancer's subversion. Revising features of immune cells enables the immune system to recognize cancer cells for what they are – and destroy them. Carl H. June, MD, is a professor of immunology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He developed what is known as...

Healthcare insurer Aetna inadvertently revealed thousands of people’s HIV statuses in a mailing about new medication options to about 12,000 people last month, according to the Legal Action Center and the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania. The mishap occurred after Aetna mailed the notice in an envelope with a name and address window large enough to show the beginning of the letter, which addresses the patient and their usage of HIV medication.

More than 9 in 10 new HIV cases among young men and boys ages 13 to 24 in the U.S. occur among homosexuals and bisexuals, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The April 25 CDC report, “HIV Among Gay and Bisexual Men,” offers stark evidence of the extreme health risks associated with male homosexual sex, in particular receptive anal sex. Below are some of its findings: — Gay and bisexual men aged 13 to 24 accounted for an estimated 92 percent of new HIV diagnoses among all men in their age group...

California State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) has drafted legislation that would downgrade knowingly exposing someone else to HIV or AIDS from a felony to a misdemeanor. Weiner called the current law “unfair. It discriminates against gays who must engage in anal sex because they were born without the vaginas, which are exclusively provided to women. Requiring a gay man to disclose he has HIV effectively shuts down his sex life. Threatening him with a felony conviction is too steep a penalty given that advances in HIV therapies have greatly extended survival time for those infected.” The Senator also angrily...

The state Senate on Wednesday voted to no longer make it a felony for someone infected with HIV to knowingly expose others to the disease by having unprotected sex without telling his or her partner about the infection.The crime would be downgraded to a misdemeanor, and the bill would also apply to people who donate blood or semen without telling the blood or semen bank that they have acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS, or have tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, the precursor to AIDS.The measure, which next goes to the Assembly for consideration, was introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco),...

"Most people enter their first relationships with the traditional idea of sexual exclusivity. It's just the way we're socialized in our culture." For some couples, non-exclusivity might take the form of attending "play parties" together and swapping partners, watching other couples have sex, dating other people or even entering into polyamorous relationships with multiple partners. Determine what's OK and what's not.

Las Vegas health officials are turning to a familiar piece of equipment – the vending machine – into a first-in-the-nation experiment to automate the dispensing of clean needles for intravenous drug users. The program is a joint effort between the Southern Nevada Health District, the Nevada AIDS Research and Education Society and the private Trac-B Exchange company, which developed the machine. The idea is that making clean needles and other gear available will reduce the spread of bloodborne infections among drug users who would otherwise share the injection rigs.

An HIV positive Ethiopian migrant charged with the rape of two underage girls in Östergötland took steps to “deliberately expose” victims “to the risk of contracting a chronic and life-threatening disease”. Nahom Mengistu Yitayu, who says he is 16, will be prosecuted for two counts of child rape and two counts of attempted aggravated assault, after having sex with a 14-year-old and a 13-year-old in Spring last year, reports Norrköpings Tidningar. Though fully aware he had HIV, in the period during which the rapes were committed the Ethiopian neglected to take the antiretroviral drugs he was prescribed. As a result,...

The threat to publish the names of suspected homosexuals in Tanzania has been defended by the deputy health minister in a fierce row on Twitter. Homosexual acts are illegal in the East African nation and punishable by up to 30 years in jail. Those who advertised homosexual activities online would also be targeted, the politician warned. Tweeters accused him of homophobia and infringing on the right to freedom of expression online.

Dating apps rarely encourage deep and meaningful communication but they are a minefield for people living with HIV as a series of real messages sent to gay men on Grindr reveals. The hurtful texts have been read out by HIV-positive men to highlight stigma, misunderstanding and ignorance around the virus. The messages, which include 'You're a walking disease, mate' and 'Sluts like you deserve it,' were sent to Grindr users and the Gay Men's Health Charity (GMFA) asked a group of HIV-positive models to read them out and react. ...

From July 1st it will no longer be forbidden for men who have had sex with men to give blood — provided they have been celibate for the past 12 months. Medical watchdog Swissmedic has approved the request, lodged by blood donor service Swiss Transfusion SRC last June, reported news agencies on Tuesday. Currently, all men in Switzerland who have had sex with another man since 1977 are barred from donating blood — a rule brought in during the 1980s to stop the spread of AIDS. However, medical groups have argued that the presence of new diagnostic tools that can...

IT shouldn’t be a big deal that I gave blood this week, but it is. To do it, I had to give up all forms of sex for a year. The reason: I’m gay. With what we know today about the disease, it’s a stupid reason. In 1985, in the early days of the AIDS crisis, the United States Food and Drug Administration recommended that men who had sex with other men be prohibited from donating blood indefinitely. This policy made sense at the time. In the decades since, the nation has made enormous progress against the virus. What was...

New stats show alarming rise in drug abuse, HIV/AIDS infections ATLANTA — Fulton County’s rate of opioid overdose deaths was more than double the national average in 2014, newly released figures show. And the county — which contains most of the city of Atlanta as well as some of Georgia’s most affluent suburbs — had a higher rate of HIV diagnoses than all but one of 28 large cities studied, according to statistics released last week by the Big Cities Health Coalition project. Fulton’s data were used because the county, not the city, collects the area’s health information, which is...

Washington spent more than $1 billion telling people in 14 African countries not to have sex before they get married. It didn’t work Over the past 15 years the U.S. has spent $1.4 billion promoting abstinence before marriage as a way of preventing HIV in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, according to the most comprehensive, independent study conducted to date of the effort, the money was pretty much wasted. A rigorous comparison of national data from countries that received abstinence funding under the 2003 U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) with those that had not showed no...

For years veterans across the country have languished in VA hospitals, with thousands dying waiting for care. Suicide hotlines go unanswered and at least one hospital in Illinois, dead bodies were left in the morgue for months. Other hospitals are filled with black mold and roaches. Since the VA scandal broke two years ago, wait times haven't improved. At some hospitals wait times are now double what they were in 2014. But it gets worse. According to a local news report from WEAU News 13, as many as 600 veterans may have been infected with life threatening, lethal and incurable...