Tag: HIV/AIDS

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National HIV Testing Day

Today Walgreens launches a two year partnership with the CDC during which the pharmacy giant will offer free onsite confidential HIV testing at two dozen (mostly) urban locations.

“The goal of having the project at a pharmacy or at a retail clinic is really because of the ease of accessibility and the closeness to people’s homes,” Paul Weidle with the CDC explained. The partnership also hopes to help eliminate the stigma. Sarah Freedman, the pharmacy manager at the Walgreens in Foggy Bottom, said, “When you come into a pharmacy to get the test, other people don’t know if your getting your blood pressure checked, are you picking up medicine. Where as with an HIV bus, everyone knows exactly what you’re doing there.” Despite testing advancements, more than 200,000 people nationwide don’t know they’re living with HIV. Freedman added, “We need to find these people and get them into treatment as quickly as possible and this is a great way to do it.” The test uses an oral swab, dipped in solution. Patients can get results in less than 20 minutes.

Enter your zip code on this CDC site to find the closest HIV testing location near you.

(via JoeMyGod)

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Secret of HIV’s natural born killers

From Raw Story: Scientists on Sunday said they had found a key piece in the puzzle as to why a tiny minority of individuals infected with HIV have a natural ability to fight off the deadly AIDS virus.

In a study they said holds promise for an HIV vaccine, researchers from four countries reported the secret lies not in the number of infection-killing cells a person has, but in how well they work.

Only about one person in 300 has the ability to control the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) without drugs, using a strain of “killer” cells called cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) cells, previous research has found.

Taking that discovery further, scientists from the United States, Canada, Japan and Germany reported that the strain has molecules called receptors that are better able to identify HIV-infected white blood cells for attack.

The study looked at 10 infected people, of whom five took antiretroviral drugs to keep HIV under control while five were so-called elite controllers who remained naturally healthy.

HIV kills a type of white blood cell called CD4, leaving people with AIDS wide open to other, opportunistic and potentially deadly infections.

“What we found was that the way the killer cells are able to see infected cells and engage them was different,” said Walker.

“It is not just that you need a killer cell, what you need is a killer cell with a (T cell) receptor that is particularly good at recognising the infected cell. This gives us a way to understand what it is that makes a really good killer cell.”

Walker said attempts at creating vaccines had so far failed because the T cell receptors they generated were not the efficient type.

“The next step is to determine what it is about those receptors that is endowing them with that ability,” said Walker.

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Gareth Thomas naked – Attitude Magazine

Click pic for larger view

UK gay mag Attitude has released its annual Naked Issue and, in honor of the London Olympics, they put out rugby star Gareth Thomas on the cover.

Joining Thomas in the buff are reality star Jay of Geordie Shore, singer Rod Thomas, Olympic high jumper Robbie Grabarz and out actor Andrew Hayden-Smith (Doctor Who). The au naturel spread helps raise awareness of the National AIDS Trust HIV testing campaign.

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Jon Secada & Deborah Cox “Still I Rise” at Life Ball 2012

Huge song by Jon Secada and Deborah Cox based on the poem by Maya Angelou; performed at the Life Ball in Vienna.

Life Ball is the world’s most extravagant HIV/AIDS benefit. Held annually in the beautiful historical city of Vienna, Austria, Life Ball combines the great Viennese Ball tradition with glamorous, outlandish performances and inspirational speeches. Organized by AIDS LIFE, Life Ball has raised more than $22 million during the past 19 years for HIV/AIDS projects worldwide through partnerships with amfAR, the William J. Clinton Foundation, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and UNAIDS. Through the Life Ball, AIDS LIFE has been a major supporter of amfAR’s TREAT Asia Pediatric HIV/AIDS Initiative.

Past Life Ball attendees have included President Bill Clinton, Sharon Stone, Heidi Klum, Eva Longoria, Liza Minnelli, Elton John, Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, Janet Jackson, and many others. Each year, top fashion designers are invited to take part in an extravagant live fashion show. These designers have included Jean-Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Roberto Cavalli, Donatella Versace, Vivienne Westwood, Diane Von Furstenberg, Kenneth Cole and Calvin Klein.

Let’s give it up for Deborah and Jon. The kids can still seriously sing.

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Billboard on Sunset Blvd: No kisses for Hershey

Photo: Brian Edwards

The billboard is part of a boycott of Hershey candy to protest the refusal of a boarding school with ties to the company to admit a teenager because he is HIV-positive.

The AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania sued the school in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia last year, contending that the school violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in denying admission to the boy, whose name has not been made public.

Lawyers for the group say the boy is an honor roll student who controls the HIV with medication and poses no health threat to the other students. A person can have the virus that causes AIDS but not have the disease.

Ronda Goldfein, attorney for the AIDS Law Project, said she is not involved with the boycott effort but the protests have been a morale booster for the boy and his mother.

“For a 14-year-old to hear that he’s danger, he’s a threat, that has really been hard for him,” Goldfein said.

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Review: How To Survive A Plague

From Towleroad: Frank Bruni, former New York Times restaurant critic and current all-purpose NYT essayist, today published an excellent review of How To Survive a Plague, the new David France documentary which chronicles the worst days of the AIDS epidemic, particularly as it unfolded in New York, and particularly as seen from the vantage point of ACT UP and its spin-off, TAG. From the review:

[I expected] to cry, and cry I did: at the hollowed faces of people whittled to almost nothing by a disease with an ugly arc; at the panicked voices of demonstrators who knew that no matter how quickly research progressed, it wouldn’t be fleet enough to save people they loved; at the breadth and beauty and horror of the AIDS quilt …

I expected to be angry. Here, too, I wasn’t disappointed. The words of a physician on the front lines in the early days reminded me that “when people died in the hospital, they used to put them in black trash bags.” Many politicians mustered little more than contempt for AIDS sufferers. “There’s nothing ‘gay’ about these people, engaging in incredibly offensive and revolting conduct,” snarled Senator Jesse Helms …

But, Bruni reports, there’s a lot of beauty and heroism and hope here, too:

While the movie vividly chronicles the wages of bigotry and neglect, it even more vividly chronicles how much society can budge when the people exhorting it to are united and determined and smart and right.

… 25 years ago, a tribe in desperate trouble did something that religious conservatives who can get their minds out of people’s crotches should in fact admire. It elected self-reliance over self-pity, tapping its own reserves of intellect, ingenuity and grit to make sure its members were cared for.

Take a look at the review, and watch David France talk about his film:

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AIDS Memorial Park Design chosen: ‘Infinite Forest’

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The design for the AIDS Memorial Park in NYC’s West Village has been chosen.  Click the pic above for a larger view of the chosen design.

The act of memorializing the AIDS epidemic with a physical gesture goes beyond remembering and honoring the dead. AIDS is not a war, nor a disease conquered. There are no definite dates or victims. In our design process, we emphasize the changing and varied ways through which AIDS affects us personally and as a society. It is important to create a space that conveys our sense of solemn respect, remembrance and loss, without resorting to symbolism around a date, image, or names.

Read more about the project here.

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Canadian HIV vaccine approved for human trials

A Canadian-developed vaccine to prevent HIV has been approved for testing in human clinical trials, the Toronto Star reports.

The vaccine, developed by researchers at the University of Western Ontario, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to start being tested in humans in January.

It is the first preventive HIV vaccine approved for clinical trials to use a whole HIV-1 virus, which has been both killed and genetically engineered, to activate immunity. In this way, the new vaccine is much like the killed whole virus vaccines that are successful against polio, rabies and influenza.

“FDA approval for human clinical trials is an extremely significant milestone for our vaccine, which has the potential to save the lives of millions of people around the world by preventing HIV infection,” said Dr. Chil-Yong Kang, professor of virology at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario, in a release.

Previous studies have shown the vaccine triggers a strong immune response and has yet to show any adverse effects or safety risks.

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Highlights from “Gypsy of the Year” including the original cast of GREASE

Last year, Gypsy of the Year raised $3,776,720, pushing the competition’s 22-year total to $44,136,720. This year’s grand total reached a whopping $4,895,253! All funds go to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The opening number featured the original Broadway cast of Grease reuniting for a special 40-year anniversary tribute. Among the stars returning to the stage from one of the most popular musicals in Broadway history are Barry Bostwick (Danny), Carole Demas (Sandy), Adrienne Barbeau (Betty Rizzo), Alan Paul (Teen Angel/Johnny Casino) and Walter Bobbie (Roger). Also joining the opening number reunion are original cast members Don Billett (Vince Fontaine), James Canning (Doody), Daniel Douglas (Burger Palace Boy), Katie Hanley (Marty), Tom Harris (Eugene Florczyk ), Ilene Kristen (Patty Simcox), Joy Rinaldi (Pink Lady) and Mews Small (Frenchy).

Grease, with book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and WarRen Casey, garnered seven Tony Award nominations and played 3,388 Broadway performances before closing April 13, 1980.

These Greasers can still do it!

From Broadwayworld