Visit other SMART + STRONG sites:
AIDSMEDS • REAL HEALTH • TU SALUD
Subscribe to:
• POZ magazine
• E-newsletters
POZ Personals
Sign In / Join		 Username:
 Password:

Back to home » Archives » POZ Magazine issues



Table of Contents

Talking 'Bout Their Generation

Youth to Youth

Bargaining Power

Growing Up in Public

Liver Worst

Family Tree

Blood Lines

S.O.S.

To the Editor

And on the 7th Day...

In the Sack

Vertex Vortex

Pump and Grind

Baby Gap

You Can’t Touch This

Aloe Can You Go?

Death by Bureaucracy

Bubonic Tonic

Say What

Say What

All Apologies

Plenty of Nothing

Rough Cuts

POZ Picks

Spin and Needles

No Miss Manners

HIV Confidential

Making a Scene

Obits

Presidential Nemesis

Are the Kids Alright?

Kid Gloves

Prime-Time Lives

Don’t Make Me Over

Confessions of a Jerk

Life Lessons

Quality Time

Valuable Kitchen Tool

Better Safe Than Sushi

The Heart of the Matter

To C or Not to C

The Circle Game

Youth on Drugs

Uncertain-teens

Making the Grade

Finger on the Pulses

Fountain of Youth

Where to find it

Reality Check

Leftovers



What You're Talking About

Mouth Full of Problems: A Crisis in HIV Dental Care (24)

Sex Crime (23)

HPV Vaccine for Boys: Public Comments Welcome (18)

Sir Elton John Denied Request to Adopt HIV-Positive Ukrainian Child (13)

HIV-Positive Sailor Sentenced for Consensual, Unprotected Sex (8)

Most Popular Lessons

The HIV Life Cycle

Shingles

Herpes Simplex Virus

Syphilis & Neurosyphilis

Treatments for Opportunistic Infections (OIs)

What is AIDS & HIV?

Hepatitis & HIV


emailrssprint

September 1998


In the Sack

by Scott Hess

HIV gets testy in the testes

Betting on protease-based regimens to stop the spread of HIV? No dice, according to a Harvard Med School report in last April’s AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. Researchers revealed that low viral load in one’s blood does not equal low levels of HIV in semen. That’s because HIV invades semen-producing organs—testes, prostate and urethra—early on and creates its own subset of virus. “There’s a separate little trailer-park community of HIV in the testes that doesn’t react to drugs like the HIV in the rest of the body,” said the AIDS Treatment Data Network’s Richard Jefferys.

After eight men with HIV supplied semen and blood samples, it was found that viral levels in both differed dramatically (the man with the lowest level of virus in his blood had the highest level in his semen). Harvard researcher Ann Kiessling said one theory is that there might be a lag time between when HIV leaves the blood and when it leaves the semen. Regardless, she said, antiretrovirals must get on the ball. “Any therapy has to be designed to penetrate those organs.”

Since current treatments do not seem to impact the testes, Kiessling said, bear in mind that semen can be very infectious, despite a low viral load. As Jefferys said: “Don’t give up safer sex just because you’re undetectable.”  



emailrssprint

[Go to top]
Quick Links
Current Issue

HIV 101
HIV Testing
Safer Sex
Find a Date
Newly Diagnosed
Disclosing Your Status
POZ TV
Read the Blogs
Visit the Forums
Women
African American
Latino
Community
Advocacy
Job Listings
Events Calendar
Starting Treatment
My Cool Tools


    carlosville
    Brooklyn
    New York


    sltvrcomkevin
    South Lake Tahoe
    California


    RomanR2D0
    San Jose
    California


    raycort
    Bangor
    Maine
Click here to join POZ Personals!
Talk to Us
Poll
Question: Do you believe AIDS will still be a global crisis in 2031?
Yes
No
Survey
It's A Girl Thing

more surveys
Contact Us
We welcome your comments!
[ about Smart + Strong | about POZ | POZ advisory board | partner links | advertising policy | advertise/contact us | site map]
© 2009 Smart + Strong. All Rights Reserved. Terms of use and Your privacy