New HIV strain found in Africa

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A new strain of the virus that causes AIDS has been discovered in a woman from the African nation of Cameroon. It differs from the three known strains of human immunodeficiency virus and appears to be closely related to a form of simian virus recently discovered in wild gorillas, researchers report in Monday's edition of the journal Nature Medicine.
The finding ''highlights the continuing need to watch closely for the emergence for new HIV variants, particularly in western central Africa,'' said the researchers, led by Jean-Christophe Plantier of the University of Rouen, France.
The three previously known HIV strains are related to the simian virus that occurs in chimpanzees.
The most likely explanation for the new find is gorilla-to-human transmission, Plantier's team said. But they added they cannot rule out the possibility that the new strain started in chimpanzees and moved into gorillas and then humans, or moved directly from chimpanzees to both gorillas and humans.
The 62-year-old patient tested positive for HIV in 2004, shortly after moving to Paris from Cameroon, according to the researchers. She had lived near Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, but said she had no contact with apes or bush meat, a name often given to meat from wild animals in tropical countries.
The woman currently shows no signs of AIDS and remains untreated, though she still carries the virus, the researchers said.
How widespread this strain is remains to be determined. Researchers said it could be circulating unnoticed in Cameroon or elsewhere. The virus' rapid replication indicates that it is adapted to human cells, the researchers reported.
Their research was supported by the French Health Watch Institute, the French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis and Rouen University Hospital.
A separate paper, also in Nature Medicine, reports that people with genital herpes remain at increased risk of HIV infection even after the herpes sores have healed and the skin appears normal.
Researchers led by Drs. Lawrence Corey and Jia Zhu of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that long after the areas where the herpes sores existed seem to be clear, they still have immune-cell activity that can encourage HIV infection.
Herpes is marked by recurring outbreaks and has been associated with higher rates of infection with HIV. It had been thought that the breaks in the skin were the reason for higher HIV rates, but a study last year found that treatment of herpes with drugs did not reduce the HIV risk.
The researchers tested the skin of herpes patients for several weeks after their sores had healed and found that, compared with other genital skin, from twice to 37 times more immune cells remained at the locations where the sores had been.
HIV targets immune cells and in laboratory tests the virus reproduced three to five times faster in tissue from the healed sites as in tissue from other areas.
''Understanding that even treated (herpes) infections provide a cellular environment conducive to HIV infection suggests new directions for HIV prevention research,'' commented Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.
That study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Tietze Foundation.
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On the Net:
Nature Medicine: http://www.nature.com/nm

Veterans in Virginia exposed to HIV from dirty colonoscopy equipment

Veteran's Hospitals,, the snake pits of 2009 one would think after all that talk about improving the Veteran's txtment clean equipment for a colonoscopy--and don't think about the graphics on that one.. could be managed

Lawmakers "shocked" by report on possible cases of HIV exposure at VA hospitals.
The CBS Evening News (6/16, story 5, 2:35, Glor) reported, "Capitol Hill is famous for holding hearings, but rarely have members of Congress been as shocked as they were" Tuesday, when "they got the results of a new report with this startling headline: More than 10,000 veterans who went in for checkups at several Southeast VA hospitals may have been exposed to HIV or other blood diseases." According to CBS, over "10,000 veterans have now received letters warning them that the equipment the VA used for their colonoscopies may not have been properly sterilized. So far, six of those" vets "have tested positive for HIV, 13 for hepatitis B, and 34 for hepatitis C."
According to the AP (6/16, Evans), "lawmakers sharply criticized" the VA "on Tuesday about why a national scare over botched colonoscopies earlier this year didn't prompt stronger safeguards at the agency's medical centers." VA officials "apologized for the continued weaknesses and told a House subcommittee they would do better," while VA Secretary Eric Shinseki "said he would be disciplining staffers. The strong reaction came as the agency's inspector general reported that fewer than half of VA facilities selected for surprise inspections last month had proper training and guidelines in place. That was months after the VA launched a nationwide safety campaign over the discovery of errors" at three facilities.
USA Today (6/17, Theobald) adds, "House lawmakers blasted" VA "officials on Tuesday after hearing testimony that the agency still wasn't following procedures for handling endoscopes, months after discovering that the improperly cleaned instruments may have exposed veterans to hepatitis and HIV. 'I'm outraged that any of our nation's heroes were potentially infected or that they even have to worry about the possibility,' said" US Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-AZ), "who is chairman" of the House's Veterans Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations.
McClatchy (6/17, Clark) reports, "Several employees" at the VA hospital in Miami "are likely to be disciplined for failing to detect problems with improperly sterilized medical equipment in a case that's enraged members of Congress. The disclosure of the potential punishments came" as federal "lawmakers chided" the VA "for not moving faster to address mistakes that may have exposed thousands of veterans to HIV and hepatitis."
From the ASCP
Maintenance of Certification 101
ASCP launched a Maintenance of Certification (MOC) on-demand Webcast featuring Betsy Bennett, MD, FASCP, presenting an ABP MOC overview and Larry Fowler, MD, FASCP, presenting information on ASCP tools and resources to support ABP diplomates. This Webcast is available on the ASCP website.
Launch the Webcast now


This is what we as a nation could be facing----like I used have on my bumper sticker,,
if you think Health care is expensive now "WAIT UNTIL IT IS FREE"..

Indonesian AIDS patients face microchip monitoring

Indonesian AIDS patients face microchip monitoring
By NINIEK KARMINI – 22 hours ago

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Lawmakers in Indonesia's remote province of Papua have thrown their support behind a controversial bill requiring some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips — part of extreme efforts to monitor the disease.

Local health workers and AIDS activists called the plan "abhorrent."

"People with AIDS aren't animals; we have to respect their rights," said Tahi Ganyang Butarbutar, a prominent Papuan activist.

But legislator John Manangsang said by implanting small computer chips beneath the skin of "sexually aggressive" patients, authorities would be in a better position to identify, track and ultimately punish those who deliberately infect others with up to six months in jail or a $5,000 fine.

The technical and practical details still need to be hammered out, but if the proposed legislation gets a majority vote as expected, it will be enacted next month, he and others said.

Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country and has one of Asia's fastest growing HIV rates, with up to 290,000 infections out of 235 million people, fueled mainly by intravenous drug users and prostitution.

But Papua, the country's easternmost and poorest province with a population of about 2 million, has been hardest hit. Its case rate of almost 61 per 100,000 is 15 times the national average, according to internationally funded research, which blames lack of knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases.

"The health situation is extraordinary, so we have to take extraordinary action," said another lawmaker, Weynand Watari, who envisions radio frequency identification tags like those used to track everything from cattle to luggage.

A committee would be created to decide who should be fitted with chips and to monitor patients' behavior, but it remains unclear who would be on it and how they would carry out their work, lawmakers said Monday.

Since the plan was initially proposed, the government has narrowed its scope, saying the chips would only be implanted in those who are "sexually aggressive," but it has not said how it would determine who fits that group. It also was not clear how many people it might include.

Nancy Fee, the UNAIDS country coordinator, said the global body was not aware of any laws or initiatives elsewhere involving HIV/AIDS patients and microchips.

Though she has yet to see a copy of the bill, she said she had "grave concerns" about the effect it would have on human rights and public health.

"No one should be subject to unlawful or unnecessary interference of privacy," Fee said, adding that while other countries have been known to be oppressive in trying to tackle AIDS, such policies don't work.

They make people afraid and push the problem further underground, she said.

Tahi Ganyang, the Papuan activist, said the best way to tackle the epidemic was through increased spending on sexual education and condom use.

Associated Press Writer Irwan Firdaus contributed to this report.
Hosted by Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Drug War Chronicle - world’s leading drug policy newsletter

I consider the use of medical marijuana a highly scientific and political debate

I support legalization of marijuana by USA in all states.

StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) is seeking enthusiastic volunteers for two important purposes:
Membership Drive: Do you live in Washington, DC or nearby? We need help from friendly drug reform enthusiasts who are willing to spend a couple of hours on one or more evenings working the phones for DRCNet's membership fundraising drive. This effort will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, starting this coming week. (No session on election day.) Volunteers will be calling previous DRCNet contributors. Come on out, enjoy free pizza and other snacks, make new friends, and help raise needed funds for the cause while gaining valuable phone-banking experience. E-mail borden@drcnet.org or call us at (202) 293-8340 ext. 301 for further information or to sign up.
Writers: In the second half of November or early December, StoptheDrugWar.org will be carrying out an ambitious week-long writing-based campaign dealing with the mainstream media's coverage of drug issues, and we are seeking a team of good volunteer writers to be part of it. Along with writing skills, volunteers for this project should have a fairly good understanding of the effects of drug prohibition -- visit our Site Map page and scroll down to the "Consequences of Prohibition" section to get an idea of what we mean by that. Contact David Borden at borden@drcnet.org or (202) 293-8340 ext. 301 for further information about this very exciting effort.

Joe Biden's Health

I watched Joe Biden tonight and I am sad to say my own father died and uncle died of aneurysms. He does not look healthy at all. If anyone should he carefully monitored in this campaign it should be Joe Biden. Interestingly enough, my father also was from the Scranton, PA area. Maybe it is the alcohol, gambling or mountains or hard life
or something in the water.
I am sad for Joe Biden, if anything he should not have accepted the nomination
Sarah Palin is young and smart and healthy. She is not a scholar but actually.. looking at W. it doesn't appear that one needs to have a high IQ and I am speaking as a Republican
OH well, I hope Joe Biden a stress test and have everything relooked at.. his eyes were puffy and he didn't look well.
see for yourself.
PS Pennsylvania people are NOT rednecks nor racists... they are coal minors and Italian and Irish and the back bone of society who immigrated here in the 1900s and the ones who made here to Ellis Island, like my dad's side of the family, who came here speaking Italian,, and then learned English, and worked coal mines and built bridges, and supported themselves by cooking, pizza restaurants, growing their own food, making Dandilion wine and living on tomatoes and invented Pizza crust,, now known as Foccocia, are tough SOBs and my father is a four star Bronze and Purple Heart,, after serving the WW2 and Korea, so I think I have a right to talk about it,, even though he didn't ,, I didn't know until after his death and I found his military papers. A real VETERAN. and I resent the implication as the daughter of an Army Hero, 100 per cent disabled upon retirement that PA people are racist.. never had I had a racist word in my life from him. I am glad he is not here to hear this nonsense.