Interesting look at the origins of HIV

How AIDS first spread: Journey into night -- The early history of HIV has now been charted in detail

HIV/AIDS Origins Traced to Kinshasa

A new study finds that HIV/AIDS originated in the 1920s in the central African city of Kinshasa, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Researchers say "a perfect storm" of factors "primed the HIV pandemic," including rail and river transport in 1960s Congo, a booming sex trade and the use of unsterilized needles in health clinics.

The international research team traced HIV's genetic history using archived samples of the virus's genetic code.

HIV was first recognized in the 1980s. Worldwide, some 75 million people have been infected with it. Around 36 million of them have died.

One more step in understanding

how the body is infected and resists infection from HIV:

Immune cells use 'starvation tactics' on HIV

Scientists have shown how some cells in the body can repel attacks from HIV by starving the virus of the building blocks of life.

Viruses cannot replicate on their own; they must hijack other cells and turn them into virus production factories.

A study, published in Nature Immunology, showed how some parts of the immune system destroy their own raw materials, stopping HIV.

It is uncertain whether this could be used in therapy, experts caution.

There are some times, like lately

when I've been hungry, or poor, but I've been fortunate to have very temporary periods of want, and have at least had the minimum of life's needs and usually much more. Even at the worst, I have had clean water to drink and a roof over my head.

Some people don't have that luxury, and are so poor that in order to save their lives, and make the drugs that they need continue to work, they eat whatever they can, even dung. Such is life in an impoverished nation in Africa; this is so sad.

Swaziland: HIV patients 'eat dung to make drugs work'

Some HIV-positive patients in Swaziland are so poor they have resorted to eating cow dung before taking anti-retroviral drugs, Aids activists say.

The drugs do not work on an empty stomach, so patients have to use the dung - mixed with water - instead of food, the activists say.

Several hundred people protested in the capital, Mbabane, on Wednesday against the economic crisis in the kingdom.

King Mswati III's government has admitted it is running out of cash.

It has asked neighbouring South Africa for a bailout.

Interesting graphic regarding HIV/AIDS

Here's a link to the zoomable graphic. And the post it goes with: Infographic: The Successes and Failures of the Fight Against AIDS

Via Joe.My.God.

Another health issue in the South

HIV/AIDS-poverty link strongest in the South

Nearly all U.S. counties stricken with both high rates of HIV infection and poverty are located in Southern states, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from 43 states.

Today is World Aids Day

I don't have time to write a thoughtful post, but I wanted to place the awareness ribbon here as a reminder, especially as I can't find my pin to wear. I'll write more later.

I never got vaccinated for smallpox, although I was old enough for it

But I was sick when I was supposed to go, and then when we went back they'd stopped giving it. So I grew up being the only child in class I knew without the scar. Back in the Cold War I fretted over my lack of immunity in case of bioterrorism (see, it isn't new, we had terrorism in the 70s). Not that it matters that much; those vaccinated when they still gave it are probably no longer immune. But then there's this little bit of news:

Smallpox demise linked to spread of HIV infection

Experts say the vaccine used to wipe out smallpox offered some protection against the Aids virus and, now it is no longer used, HIV has flourished.

The US investigators said trials indicated the smallpox jab interferes with how well HIV multiplies.

But they say in the journal BMC Immunology it is too early to recommend smallpox vaccine for fighting HIV.

I read the White House blog

and today they shared some statistics regarding AIDS, it being World AIDS day. The scariest one to me was that (in the US at least), according to the CDC, '21% of HIV-positive people don’t know that they are infected'.

That's one in five people who are unaware that they are potentially passing it on. One in five people who could be getting life-extending drugs early on.

Some people know they should be tested, but are afraid to do so. Some people have no clue that they should be. But it's not a bad idea for anyone. I've been through two HIV tests in my life (not counting the numerous ones when I give blood--you should never give blood just to get tested). The tests are often anonymous. They're safe. They're handled much better than in the early days of AIDS. (One person I know went to get one and a lady shouted across the room asking where she should send him for his AIDS test). Counseling is available, especially from the public health department. When I had my last one I knew that I was latex allergic, and they sent me home with latex-free condoms.

If you are sexually active (even if you think you're in a monogamous relationship), you should get tested. [I knew someone who got herpes from her husband, and he tried to blame her, even though she'd been a virgin at marriage and had never had an affair]. If you've ever done intravenous drug use, get tested. If you've ever gone to a prostitute, get tested. If you've ever been given a blood transfusion, especially before the 1990s, get tested. If you've had a needle stick at work, get tested. If you meet any criteria of risk, get tested. And do practise safer sex. Condoms should be a fact of life unless you're completely abstinent or trying to have a baby, in my book. There are alternatives to latex for those allergic. There are dental dams for oral sex. The public health department can recommend whatever you need.

Take care of yourself. Take care of those you love. And maybe, just maybe, we can beat HIV/AIDS.

Interesting study

Is HIV progression sex-linked?

German researchers have identified a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on the X chromosome that appears to be connected to a slower development of AIDS after HIV infection in women with the characteristic compared to men (with or without the SNP) or women who lack it. The study was done with data from American women of European descent; when scientists searched for the prevalence of the SNP in other ethnicities, they found that Asian women of Japanese and Chinese descent had it in much higher numbers than those of European descent, but it is very rare amongst women of African descent, which could help explain some of the differences in how different races respond to the disease. Perhaps in the future, scientists can find a way to use this information to boost the chances for those who lack this polymorphism.

Get the facts

Every 9 1/2 minutes someone in the United States is infected with HIV. Visit the Nine and a Half Minutes website at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for facts about HIV/AIDS prevention and living with the disease.

An interesting study in historical genetics

HIV dates back to around 1900, study shows

Scientists have take three samples: One from the earliest known infection in the US--1981, one from the earliest known infection in Africa--1959, and lymph node tissue from a woman who died in Africa in 1960, and have traced through the mutations to a time period between 1884 and 1924. The study suggests that the building of colonial cities at the time allowed the virus to take hold, as there was a higher, urban population and prostitution to help its spread. They believe AIDS was not initially recognised at that time because of the general conditions in colonial Africa and the many Africans who died of diseases and wasting at that time.

An interesting claim that made the news a few days ago

Roman Empire 'raised HIV threat'

French scientists argue that people who lack a particular gene (CCR5-Delta32) seem to be more vulnerable to HIV, and that this is found particularly among those areas that were part of the Roman Empire. It's not because of interbreeding, but rather the result of a disease spread to the areas affected by the Romans. Others argue that other diseases were responsible for the vulnerability, such as bubonic plague.

Damned if you do,,,

Glaxo's HIV Drug May Be Linked To Heart Attack Risk - Study

GlaxoSmithKline's Ziagen, which has as its active ingredient abacavir, may be linked to increased risk of heart attack, according to an article published Wednesday online at The Lancet. Researchers studying six HIV medicines found Ziagen linked to a twofold increase in the risk of heart attack. Abacavir is also found in the combination drugs Trizivir and Epzicom. Another drug,
Videx, produced by Bristol-Myers Squibb, was linked to a 50% increased risk of heart attack.

I'm appalled

YKWIA told me about this, and I was floored. I'm not a health professional, even though I work in a hospital. But I know you don't reuse needles without exponentially increasing the risk of Hepatitis B and C and HIV transmission.

So how could normal, licensed health professionals either not know to do this, or had such disregard for human life that they did it anyway? We're not talking about somewhere in a Third World country. It happened in Las Vegas.

Vegas Clinic May Have Sickened Thousands

40,000 people have been told they may have contracted a disease through this clinic. That's a good-sized town's worth of people.

Hepatitis C is the greatest concern, because it's not curable at this point, can damage the liver to the point of death, and is far easier to get than HIV.

Staff have apparently said they were told to reuse syringes as part of an unwritten policy. That doesn't let them off the hook. The moment they were told that, they should have resigned their positions and blown the whistle on the centre.

Amid hepatitis scare in Nevada, 5 nurses hand in licenses

According to that article, the Las Vegas Sun said Nevada 'ranks among the worst in the nation for numbers of doctors and nurses per capita, the number of uninsured patients, and the number of unvaccinated children'. (The quoted article was no longer available via link). Apparently it's not very good on overseeing these type of endoscopy/surgical clinics that operate apart from a hospital, either.

The authorities have closed two more clinics owned by the same company, leaving one other open for now.

Agh. This is something that deserves more than losing licences or being sued. This should be a criminal negligence case at the very least.

Another way HIV is spread

HIV can be passed to babies in pre-chewed food

In developing countries without access to packaged baby foods, this is a normal practice. It's not the saliva that does it--it's blood from bleeding gums in the saliva. The CDC have confirmed three cases here in the United States.

Hope

Proteins That Could Be Used to Halt HIV Are Identified

Who in their right mind would do this as a vacation in this day and age?

Older white women join Kenya's sex tourists

Yes, let's go to Africa, the epicentre of the world's AIDS epidemic, and have as much sex as we can, trolling down the beaches for studly young men. It doesn't have to be Africa, of course--Asia's sex trade is also very dangerous, as it is pretty much everywhere these days in terms of HIV and Hepatitis, plus a whole host of other sexually transmitted diseases. But going to a country with a 6.9% AIDS rate to go have unprotected sex (condoms seem too 'businesslike' for some women's fantasies, according to the article) with strangers?

Or am I being a prude? It just seems, well, stupid, and it doesn't matter if the people doing it are young, old, white, black, whatever--HIV doesn't discriminate.

Speaking of the sex trade, I also came across this:

Teen suicide spurs war on child prostitution

Authorities are cracking down in Atlanta, which has become a hub for child prostitutes, many lured into sex with men in other towns and then brought against their will to work for pimps. Girls (and I'm sure, boys, too) are bought and sold from pimp to pimp, and the men having sex with them (perhaps from layovers at the busy international airport) aren't having a normal money-for-sex relationship with women who are consenting--they're having sex with 12-year-olds, making them predators and paediphiles.

The only facility in the country for rehabilitating former child prostitutes is near Atlanta. The city is seeking to open another, especially in the wake of Samantha Walker's suicide. Walker, from Toledo, OH, was lured into prostitution in Toledo at 15 and taken against her will to Atlanta. She testified against a man who forced her to have sex at a rest stop and then took her back to his hotel, from which she escaped. He was convicted of forced imprisonment and solicting sex with a minor. A few weeks after the trial, unable to get a placement at the rehabilitation centre, she had returned to Toledo and facing the shame of being a child prostitute, killed herself at the age of 18. The courts aren't set up for dealing with the Samantha Walkers of the world, and the system therefore fails to keep these young girls from continuing as prostitutes into adulthood, or worse, succumbing to drugs and sexually-transmitted diseases. The shady world of prostitution is bad enough as it is--but it shouldn't involve children. These kids deserve to keep their childhoods and not be jaded before they can drive. I'm sure just about any relatively large city has some experience with this issue. Keep your eyes and mind open to the fact that sexual slavery exists in all sorts of places--because we refuse to see it. Sometimes it is young foreign women who are lured to private homes or brothels. Sometimes, as in Samantha's case, it is home-grown. Sex can be a wonderful thing--it shouldn't be the chain by which someone is bound and gagged.

And remember, today is World AIDS Day. Do something proactive--get a test, wear a condom, raise awareness with a ribbon, or donate to a charity. Educate yourself about safer sex and about the disease. Protect yourself--and have sympathy for others who have been exposed and ire for those who aid its spread, often by misinformation or actions such as drug dealing or pimping.

Let's hope it's not just a change in how the numbers are handled

I don't generally trust statistics, because they can easily change depending on how they're run. But, I truly hope that these estimates are correct:

HIV Cases Fall by 6.3 Million; Epidemic Peaked in Late 1990s

Strides were particularly seen in sub-Saharan Africa, the worst hit by the epidemic, and in India.

It's really, really unlikely, but if it happens to you, it's devastating

Four Transplant Recipients Contract H.I.V.

They also contracted Hepatitis C, the first reported cases of simulateous transmission of two viruses through organ donation. The problem seems to have been that the blood was tested, but it was too soon in the infection to find the response to the viruses through the most common form of tests. There is a more expensive and time-consuming test available that can actually measure viral load, giving results days ahead of the others, but it is not normally done. All of the transplants were done in the Chicago area at three different hospitals.

Four cases out of 300,000 since 1994 doesn't sound so bad, but it must be horrible if you're one of the ones brought back from the brink of one illness only to be told you now have two more, both of them deadly and difficult to treat.

Still, I hope this doesn't affect organ donation itself. (It's not like you can get HIV from giving a donation, for one. But look what happened to the blood supply when it was first ) There is a critical need for organs--so much so that sometimes high-risk donors such as this one are allowed to donate. (No one's saying what the high-risk behaviours were--HIPAA, I'm supposing). The article mentions some statistics that illustrate the need: 98,000 people in the United States are on the transplant list, but only about 19,000 transplants have been done this year. Last year, 7,200 died waiting for a transplant that never happened.

I'm an organ donor. I have the back of my driver's licence signed and I've registered at DonateLifeKy.org. I've also made it clear in my living will that I intend to be cremated and they can harvest wherever they want. Now, with my being diabetic I don't know if they'd take my organs. But I'm O+ so I'm almost a universal donor. I'd rather do some good in my death. I'm also on a bone marrow registry. You can learn more about that at Marrow.org. Most of the other states have similar 'Donate Life' websites, too, by the way.

Good night.

I've been following this story for awhile and I'm glad it had a good conclusion

Bulgarian Nurses Home After Eight-Year Ordeal

Home at last, after eight years of hell in a foreign prison

For more on the HIV Trial in Libya, check out Wikipedia's article.

Jailed on charges that they had instigated a CIA- and Mossad- (the Israeli equivalent) inspired plot to infect over 400 children at a hospital in Libya (despite the fact that the epidemic started before most of them came to the country, and most were probably singled out because of their country's relations with the US and others that opposed Qaddafi's regime), these nurses and trainee doctor were sentenced to death not once but twice, allegedly tortured including by electrocution, and at least one intimated that rape had been a tactic. The doctor apparently lost an eye, one woman's face is paralysed, and another tried to commit suicide to escape the interrogations that brought false confessions. Now they have been released due to a great deal of diplomacy on the part of the European Union and various countries, pressure from international groups and organisations, and perhaps (it's somewhat controverisal) an intervention by the wife of the French President. Even Qaddafi's own son Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi, played a vital role in the negotiations on behalf of the medics. The nurses are Bulgarian; the Aegyptian-born Palestinian doctor was granted Bulgarian citizenship last month, and all were pardoned by the Bulgarian President shortly after arriving in Sofia. So in a sense it's a happy ending, as they reunite with families. But they've had eight brutal years that have changed their lives forever. I wish them well.

Meanwhile, the devastation from that epidemic, ruled due to bad hygiene such as running needles under the tap, continues to mount. Of the 400 or so children infected, over 50 have died. Part of the negotiations included settlements to the government and to the families for the care of these children. Several are being treated in France and Italy. I wish them all that life has to offer as well.