The Fickle Finger of Dr. Blick Thursday, July 28, 2005—Sorry, guys. Despite what you heard, they didn’t find “Patient Zero,” so you can’t all go home and stop worrying about the “superbug.”
Nip the Tip in Africa? Thursday, July 28, 2005—Also wowing AIDS scientists and advocates at IAS in Brazil, the ancient art of circumcision showed revolutionary promise in protecting against HIV infection.
Charlize There on the AIDS Big Screen Thursday, July 28, 2005—South African starlet Charlize Theron helped put her country’s battle with AIDS in the spotlight this week by signing on to co-produce a film about the life of Nkosi Johnson, the South African AIDS activist who died in 2001 at age 12.
July 21, 2005
Surprise?! HIV Is Down In San Francisco
Thursday, July 21, 2005—Remember the second wave of HIV infections that
was supposed to be sweeping through the gay male community? Well,
that’s over...
Judge to Typhoid Tanya: Hands Off the Kids!
Thursday, July 21, 2005—If Keri Rowell wants custody of her children,
they can’t ever see their HIV positive aunt, Tanya, according to a
Mississippi decision contested this week by Lambda Legal Defense
Fund.
Serostim Muscles Its Way Back Onto the Hot Seat
Thursday, July 21, 2005—A New York Times exposé this week of Medicaid
fraud in New York state turned up this nugget: At least one doctor has
been prescribing Serostim (human growth hormone, an FDA-approved remedy
for AIDS wasting) to people who say they have AIDS but don’t—and who
then resell the steroid to bodybuilders.
Laura Bush, AIDS Activist Monday, July 25, 2005—Just a week after First Lady Laura Bush headlined the link between HIV and violence against women during a (for her) unprecedented PWA-whistle-stop trip of Africa, the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) has released a report slamming the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for doing "little" to combat the problem.
Doctor Dilution Nabbed in Scam
Monday, July 25, 2005—In a plotline right out of Mischa Barton and Fox’s OC gang, a prominent Orange County, California, HIV doctor was indicted
last week for allegedly underdosing his patients—and
then billing their insurance for the full amount.
Statins Lose Double-Header
Monday, July 25, 2005—Negative news about statins has our positive hearts pounding. In a letter to the editors of the August 1 Journal of AIDS,
a group of top University of Miami Medical School docs warns that
HIVers’ immune systems could be further compromised by certain
cholesterol-lowering drugs...
July 18, 2005
South Africa Shootings Heard Round the World The sound of gunshots fired into a crowd of South African AIDS activists last week continues to echo through the global HIV community, with an adequate explanation yet to surface as to why police used rubber bullets on 700 apparently peaceful demonstrators at Queenstown’s Frontier Hospital.
July 15, 2005
Canadian AIDS Widows Cash In Our progressive northern neighbor started writing pension checks this week to the gay partners of Canadians who died between 1985 and 1989—primarily from AIDS.
High Price of New Protease Provokes Protests Monday, July 18, 2005—With some observers saying that the future of HIV-drug profits looks shaky, what’s a pharma to do? Charge more?
July 14, 2005
Police Fire at PWA Protesters in South Africa
Thursday, July 14, 2005 - In an unprecedented confrontation between
police and AIDS activists on Tuesday, police in the Eastern cape town
of Queenstown fired rubber bullets and smoke grenades into a crowd of
1,500 demonstrators at a protest organized by the Treatment Action
Campaign (TAC).
Jury Fines PWA Protesters
Thursday, July 14, 2005 - Nineteen AIDS activists arrested last fall
for chaining themselves to the front doors of Bush-Cheney headquarters
in Washington, DC, were spared jail time yesterday in a verdict that
seemed to turn on a surprise show of sympathy for the accused.
Just Between Friends
Thursday, July 14, 2005 - In the latest round of an ugly activist vs.
activist brawl about the ethics of accepting funding from—and indeed
partnering at all with—drug companies, Larry Kramer trashed the
“poisoned pablum?who kiss pharma’s ass” yesterday in an e-mail
commentary to a choice list of media and HIV-community leaders.
Wrap Your Wickets!
Thursday, July 14, 2005 - The Indian government is hoping to capture
the attention of that cricket-crazed nation with a new HIV-prevention
campaign aimed at busting condom taboos. (Warning: Sports dictionary
required!)
Hip to HIV? Mos Definitely
Thursday, July 14, 2005 - Rap royalty signed on this week to a key AIDS
benefit-concert tour hitting New York City and two venues in Tanzania
in August. The hip-hop heavy and Emmy-nominated actor Mos Def agreed
to headline at Black August, which will be all about AIDS for the first
time in its eight years of raising black consciousness.
July 11, 2005
The Wizard of POZ Bible jewelry...Donatella
Versace...and that Swedish underwear model, all up close and personal!
It was a razzly-dazzly time for AIDS on life’s Yellow Brick Road this
week—that is, till Dear Abby slipped up and the Bush administration got
caught preaching to virgins. No fear—the Wizard is here:
Bling was the thing when the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the feds for funding a Christian virginity-pledge program,
charging that Reverend, er, President Bush had slammed his hard head
right into that pesky church-state wall once again. Health and Human
Services (HHS) stands accused of giving $1 million since 2003 to The Silver Ring Thing,
a touring road show that hosts bonfires and luaus at which teens
purchase $15 silver bands engraved with this admonition: “God wants you
to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin.”
Is an AIDS Vaccine Possible? Monday, July 11, 2005 - That’s the one and only question from the world of HIV to make the list of top 125 mysteries in Science magazine’s 125th anniversary issue this month, which starts with that old standard: What is the universe made of?
July 05, 2005
The Normal Liver
Thursday, July 7, 2005 - Without lifting a finger, let alone raising a rant, AIDS activist Larry Kramer
kept his longtime fight against HIV and a more recent cause—liver
transplants for HIVers—in the spotlight this weekend: He turned 70.
The Nastiest Neggie
Thursday, July 7, 2005 - The long-standing public feud between HIV negative gay journalist Michelangelo Signorile and HIV positive gay journalist Andrew Sullivan has gone beyond hissy.
And Baby Makes Three—Or Four
Thursday, July 7, 2005 - Actress, UN Goodwill Ambassador and gossip-rag stalkee Angelina Jolie is adopting a newborn Ethiopian girl orphaned by AIDS and naming her Zahara Marley Jolie.
Comb Again?
Thursday, July 7, 2005 - British Parliamentarian Nick Harvey rubbed
Brits the wrong way this week when he said combs could transmit HIV.
July 01, 2005
Global Treatment Fireworks Friday, July 1, 2005 - Brazil’s latest declaration of independence from international patent law—these come almost monthly—put
Abbott Laboratories on notice this week that its popular protease
inhibitor Kaletra is “of public interest” to Brazilian HIVers (all
600,000 of whom have been guaranteed free HIV treatment by law).
Rocky Mountain Low Friday, July 1, 2005 - It’s not too late to send your pennies to
the two college students who crawled 33 miles around the grassy
track of their Colorado high school alma mater to raise $18,625 for The
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (and to get their names in
the Guinness Book of World Records).
More News
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