April 08 2008 12:00 AM ET
Egyptian Doctors Denounced for Breaching Medical Ethics
A coalition of 117 human rights groups worldwide is denouncing not only Egypt for arresting and detaining HIV-positive men for the "habitual practice of debauchery" but also many of the detainees' doctors, who participated in the illegal crackdown.
April 03 2008 12:00 AM ET
Study: AIDS Drug Increases Heart Attack Risk
A commonly used AIDS drug appears to nearly double the risk of a heart attack, researchers said Tuesday.
April 03 2008 12:00 AM ET
Thailand Temporarily Bans Castration Done for Nonmedical Reasons
Thailand's health ministry ordered hospitals and medical clinics to temporarily stop performing castrations for nonmedical reasons, saying Wednesday that the procedure performed on transsexuals needs stricter monitoring. The move came after a leading gay activist, Natee Teerarojjanapongs, called on the Medical Council of Thailand to take action against clinics that perform castrations on underage boys, who seek them in part because of Internet advertisements that promise cheap operations resulting in feminine qualities such as softer skin. Natee, head of the Gay Political Group of Thailand, said he received several complaints from these underage boys' parents.
March 28 2008 12:00 AM ET
New Study Shows Alarming Drug Use Among LGB Teens
Gay, lesbian, and bisexual teens are 190% more likely to abuse illegal substances than heterosexual youths, according to a new study from the University of Pittsburgh.
March 21 2008 12:00 AM ET
Blacks, Hispanics Targeted in HIV Campaigns
Two new HIV awareness campaigns were launched Wednesday by the New York City–based Gay Men's Health Crisis targeting women and gay and bisexual young men of color.
March 18 2008 12:00 AM ET
First Lady Visits Haitian AIDS Clinic
U.S. first lady Laura Bush toured Haiti's capital on Thursday to promote funding for AIDS patients and support education in the impoverished Caribbean country.
March 15 2008 12:00 AM ET
California Targets Crystal Meth Addiction in New $11 Million Campaign
Drug officials in California launched an $11 million campaign on Thursday to dissuade gay men from using methamphetamine, otherwise known as crystal, because of its connection to unsafe sex and the transmission of HIV.
March 13 2008 12:00 AM ET
Congress May Strike HIV Travel Limits
Gay rights activists are hoping to use a global AIDS relief bill supported by the Bush administration to repeal a 15-year-old law restricting travel to the United States by HIV-positive people. Activists oppose the near-ban as discriminatory since HIV is the only medical condition singled out in the Immigration and Nationality Act for inadmissibility. Under a 1993 amendment to that law, foreigners with the virus can obtain visas to come to the United States only under limited circumstances and if they get a waiver from the Department of Homeland Security.
March 08 2008 1:00 AM ET
Canadian Ban on Blood Donations From Gays Upheld
Canada’s two blood collection agencies decided Thursday to uphold a lifelong ban on donations from gay men, despite complaints from two of Montreal’s leading experts on HIV and AIDS, The Gazette of Montreal reported Friday. Héma-Quebéc and Canadian Blood Services said they will uphold their current policies, even though they admitted lifting the ban -- while maintaining certain restrictions -- would not result in contamination of the blood supply. After commissioning a report from McLaughlin Centre for Population Health on effects of lifting the ban, Canadian Blood Services officials said they hadn’t been entirely convinced of the ban’s uselessness.
March 07 2008 1:00 AM ET
Bill Gates Creates $100 Million Grant for New Health Ideas
If you have an unorthodox, unproven idea that can prevent HIV infection or help protect against infectious diseases, one of the richest men in the world wants to hear from you. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has set aside $100 million to encourage innovation in global health research, offering grants to those with innovative ideas on four topics: tuberculosis, HIV, infectious diseases, and drug resistance. The foundation's new Grand Challenges Explorations program plans to give $100,000 each to about 60 projects in the first round of what is expected to be a five-year program.
March 05 2008 1:00 AM ET
Hepatitis C in Nevada Could Be "Tip of the Iceberg"
An outbreak of hepatitis C at a clinic in Nevada might represent ''the tip of an iceberg'' of safety problems at clinics around the country, says the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
March 04 2008 1:00 AM ET
DNA Protein Found That Bolsters Weak Immune System
A protein found in some people's DNA can shield them from viral attacks such as HIV, a North American research team has discovered.
March 01 2008 1:00 AM ET
California County Opposes Ban on Gay Blood Donors
The Santa Clara, Calif., County board of supervisors voted Tuesday to oppose the Food and Drug Administration’s ban on blood donations from gay men and called for federal lobbyists to concentrate on overturning the ban, according to a story in The [San Jose] Mercury News. Board members said they made the symbolic decision, proposed by gay supervisor Ken Yeager, because blood banks can screen for HIV infection more effectively now than when the ban was imposed, in 1983. The supervisors did not vote to ban blood drives on county property, to avoid depleting area hospitals of blood supplies, but they said they might revisit the idea in the future.
