June 20, 2007

•  LIVE CHAT NEXT WEEK:
    YOUR HIV TREATMENT REGIMEN: CAN YOU HAVE IT ALL?

The Date: Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The Time: 7 p.m. Eastern Time/4 p.m. Pacific Time

The Chat: Whether you're beginning HIV treatment or have been on a few regimens, finding a combination of meds that's right for you can be a challenge. You may have tons of questions about side effects, drug interactions and more. Now's your chance to get some answers live! Join us at TheBody.com for a one-hour chat with Dr. Edwin DeJesus, one of the top HIV care providers in the United States. He'll answer your questions about how to choose an HIV treatment regimen that works best for you -- or how to tweak your existing regimen to make it even better.

To sign up for an e-mail reminder about this chat, or to submit a question you'd like Dr. DeJesus to answer, click here!

•  HIV IN THE NEWS

Missouri Man Gets Life in Prison for Exposing Woman to HIV; Join the Discussion
It's the latest case of the law coming down hard on HIV-positive people who have unprotected sex without disclosing their status: A 33-year-old man in Missouri has gotten a life sentence for knowingly exposing a woman to HIV. Although the man said the woman knew he was HIV positive, he had already been jailed once before -- for five years -- for exposing two women to HIV, and testimony at his latest trial indicated that he had exposed at least eight women to HIV, three of whom later tested positive. (Web highlight from Associated Press)

What's your take on this story? Was the Missouri man's sentence too extreme, or did it fit the crime? Should having unprotected sex without disclosing your status be a crime at all? Share your thoughts in this thread at The Body's Bulletin Boards!


Abbott Sues French HIV Activist Group for "Cyber Attack" on Company Web Site
ACT UP-Paris allegedly launched a cyber protest that briefly shut down Abbott Laboratories' Web site. Now Abbott is suing the group to the tune of $100,000. The Wall Street Journal reports that ACT UP-Paris, a French HIV activism organization, got between 500 and 1,000 people from several countries to click a link on the ACT UP-Paris Web site that caused Abbott's server to overload for at least 30 minutes. The action was a response to Abbott's decision to avoid selling its new HIV meds in Thailand, which it announced after the Thai government said it would break the company's patent on Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir) so it could provide cheaper versions of the drug to its HIV-positive citizens.


Pigs Don't Fly at FOX and CBS: Condom Ad Nixed for Promoting Contraception
Advertising condom use to prevent HIV? No problem. But advertising condom use to prevent pregnancy? That can land you in hot water -- at least if you're the condom maker Trojan. A new, straight-focused Trojan TV ad campaign -- featuring pigs in a bar flirting with women -- debuted this week on ABC, NBC and nine cable channels. But despite running a previous Trojan ad linking condom use to HIV prevention, FOX and CBS rejected the new spot, apparently out of fear it could offend conservative viewers. (Web highlight from the New York Times)

Click here to see Trojan's pigs for yourself. (Check out the "What We Believe" page for an unusually frank statement about condom use, sexual health and responsibility.)

•  ADVERTISEMENT

HIV Treatment News
Facts about one of the latest HIV meds: dosing, safety, and efficacy
www.oneHIVpill.com

•  HIV TRANSMISSION & TESTING

Navajo Activist Speaks Out on HIV
HIV is a touchy topic in the Navajo Nation, but that hasn't stopped Jocelyn Billy, Miss Navajo Nation herself, from telling it like it is. Billy and other HIV educators face a number of challenges on the 27,000 square-mile reservation, such as contending with widespread beliefs that HIV does not affect Native Americans, and that simply talking about death or disease can cause their occurrence. Billy warns that failure to acknowledge HIV and educate people about transmission and treatment could divide the community. (Web highlight from the Associated Press)


Needle Exchange Nears Reality in New Jersey
Later this summer, New Jersey may finally join the other 49 U.S. states in providing a legal way for injection drug users to get clean syringes. Five cities -- Paterson, Camden, Atlantic City, Trenton and Newark -- have applied to become part of a three-year pilot needle exchange program. About 43 percent of all new HIV infections in New Jersey are attributed to injection drug use, twice the national average.


Basketball Pros, Actors Team Up to Promote HIV Testing Day With Web Site, PSAs
The National Basketball Association has joined forces with HBO and other organizations to promote National HIV Testing Day on June 27. They're reaching out with an informational Web site and a series of public service announcements (PSAs) featuring actors Jamie Foxx and Queen Latifah, along with professional basketball players. At Testing411.org, you can find basic HIV information, look up testing locations by zip code and watch a PSA and other videos. The PSAs will be aired in the United States, Africa and the Caribbean by BET and MTV in the days leading up to HIV Testing Day. (Web highlight from Testing411.org)

•  HIV TREATMENT & COMPLICATIONS

New Lexiva Formulation for Kids; Dosing Adjustments for Liver Problems
Lexiva (fosamprenavir, Telzir) just got a little easier to give to children. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a liquid form of Lexiva, which will allow doctors to adjust the dose according to a young person's weight. In addition to providing new info about Lexiva for children, the packaging info on Lexiva also includes new warnings for doctors about how to adjust the drug's dose in people who have liver problems.

•  MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Grants Available to Help Local HIV Organizations Get on Cable TV
Are you involved in an HIV service organization and have a great idea for a public service announcement? Or do you need funding for your group's HIV programming, such as an AIDS Walk or World AIDS Day outreach program? Thanks to grants from Cable Positive's Tony Cox Community Fund, HIV organizations and local cable TV outlets are partnering up to teach the United States about HIV. Active since 1996, the fund has awarded more than $1 million to more than 230 HIV organizations in 35 states.

Could your group be the next one chosen to receive a grant? The application deadline for the next round of grants is Sept. 14. The guidelines and application are available online.

•  HIV OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES

Gay Rape Gang Accused of Intentionally Spreading HIV in Netherlands
Police in the Netherlands arrested three HIV-positive gay men after they were accused of rape. The gang is said to have invited their victims to private orgies, then drugged them, raped them and, in some cases, allegedly injected them with a mix of their own contaminated blood. Two of the arrested men confessed that they did it because "it excited them ... [and] the more HIV-infected people there were, the better their chances of unprotected sex," a police chief said. (Web highlight from Agence France-Presse)


South African Teen Uses His Own Story to Call for Better Care for HIV-Positive Kids
When he was 8, doctors predicted that Tommy had just a few weeks to live. The HIV-positive South African boy was abandoned as an infant, and for years his adoptive mother, who was caring for three other children with HIV, couldn't afford the cost of HIV meds. Fortunately, she was able to scrape together the money to put him on treatment in the nick of time. Now Tommy practices karate and recently spoke at a national AIDS conference, testifying about how HIV meds saved his life. (Web highlight from Agence France-Presse)


An Unavoidable Tragedy? HIV Will Kill More Than a Million South Africans by 2010, Study Predicts
At least a million people will have died from AIDS-related causes in South Africa between 2005 and 2010, even if nearly all the nation's HIVers have access to treatment by then, according to a sobering new report. The report by U.S. researchers also warned that, without a massive scale-up in South Africa's treatment access, the death toll could reach well over 2 million by 2010. Currently, just 21 percent of HIV-positive South Africans whose health qualifies them for treatment are actually receiving it, the researchers said. (Web highlight from aidsmap.com)


An HIV-Positive Former Sex Worker Builds a New Life in Rwanda
During the 10 years Beata Uwitije worked as a prostitute in Rwanda, she slept in alleyways, jail cells and the homes of her clients. She also developed advanced HIV disease. Access to HIV meds saved her life, and now she's trying to start a new life. With the help of a World Bank job training program, Beata, her daughter and her newborn granddaughter have settled in a village and found a secure livelihood through handicrafts, farming and pig keeping. (Web highlight from Reuters)