http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. An investigation led by UCSF has found that the risk of female-to-male HIV transmission is increased three fold for women with bacterial vaginosis, a common disorder in which the normal balance of bacteria in the vagina is disrupted. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-bacterial-vaginosis-higher-female-to-male-transmission.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:00:07 EST news259944658 Reducing tuberculosis transmission in geographic "hotspots" where infections are highest could significantly reduce TB transmission on a broader scale, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. An analysis of data from Rio de Janeiro showed that a reduction in TB infections within three high-transmission hotspots could reduce citywide transmission by 9.8 percent over 5 years, and as much as 29 percent over 50 years. The study was published May 28 by the journal PNAS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-tuberculosis-hotspots-widespread-benefit.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 28 May 2012 15:00:18 EST news257415377 In early results of a large-scale randomized study published in 2010 and led by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, giving daily antiretroviral drugs (ART) to HIV-infected moms or their breastfeeding babies for 28 weeks proved safe and effective for preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission through breast milk. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-longer-breastfeeding-antiretroviral-drugs-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:30:03 EST news254592611 Voluntary testing and counseling (VT/C) for HIV or sexually transmitted infections (STI) among cocaine and heroin users who were treated in the emergency department (ED), accompanied by referral to drug treatment, was associated with reduction in unprotected sex acts and fewer sex acts while high according to researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-cocaine-heroin-users-unprotected-sex.html Addiction Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:51:23 EST news253878677 Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Fenway Health have found that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) does not completely suppress HIV in the semen of sexually active HIV-infected men who have sex with men (MSM). The findings, which currently appear on-line in AIDS, could indicate a potential transmission risk in MSM, who are highly susceptible to HIV infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-hiv-infected-men-hiv-haart.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:46:52 EST news252064004 Study results released today indicate that the HIV incidence rate for US women living in areas hardest hit by the epidemic is much higher than the overall estimated incidence rate in the US for black adolescent and adult women. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-hiv-black-women-higher-previously.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 09 Mar 2012 04:35:48 EST news250490141 While global attention to HIV/AIDS remains strong, a lack of focus on prevention strategies is stonewalling health experts in many developing nations, specifically in the Caribbean. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-revamping-hiv-prevention-caribbean.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:59:02 EST news246214735 The level of HIV-1 in the blood of an HIV-infected partner is the single most important factor influencing risk of sexual transmission to an uninfected partner, according to a multinational study of heterosexual couples in sub-Saharan Africa. The study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, calculated the risk of HIV-1 transmission per act of sexual intercourse and found the average rate of infection to be about 1 per 900 coital acts. The findings also confirmed that condoms are highly protective and reduce HIV infectivity by 78 percent. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-viral-major-factor-affecting-sexually.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:58:39 EST news245559499 The HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 study, led by Myron S. Cohen, MD of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been named the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year by the journal Science. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-hiv-scientific-breakthrough-year-science.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:00:09 EST news243779772 Routine criminal prosecutions for not disclosing HIV status should be abolished, write three HIV/AIDS experts in an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-abolish-criminalization-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:00:07 EST news243517029 The worldwide AIDS epidemic makes research on HIV, the disease processes it induces, and potential HIV therapies among the most critical in biomedical science. Furthermore, the basic biology of HIV infections provides a model for a more general understanding of retroviruses and their hosts. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-hiv-cold-harbor-laboratory.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:36:03 EST news243171356 Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered new protein fragments in semen that enhance the ability of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to infect new cells -- a discovery that one day could help curb the global spread of this deadly pathogen. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-scientists-human-proteins-fuel-hivaids.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:00:19 EST news243090006 Thirty years, 30 million deaths and 60 million infections after HIV appeared, medical researchers now have the tools to halt the deadly epidemic. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-year-war-aids-sight.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:36:36 EST news241806983 In sub-Saharan Africa, couples in long-term relationships where one partner is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative (HIV serodiscordant couples) could benefit from anti-AIDS drugs (antiretroviral therapy) given either as treatment or as a prevention measure (prophylaxis) to reduce the risk of HIV transmission. These findings, from a modelling study led by Timothy Hallett from Imperial College London and published in this week's PLoS Medicine, also show that this strategy could be cost-effective. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-options-couples-partner-hiv-positive.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:00:02 EST news240602393 (Medical Xpress) -- A topically applied microbicide gel containing a potent anti-HIV drug has been found to significantly reduce infection when applied to rectal tissue that was subsequently exposed to HIV in the laboratory, according to a new study by the UCLA AIDS Institute. The gel was also found to be safe and acceptable to users. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-early-trial-rectal-microbicide-safe.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:30:02 EST news239951572 Since HIV infection rates began to rise again around 2000, researchers have been grasping for answers on what could be causing this change, especially in the homosexual community. The rising numbers are a stark contrast to the 1990's, when infection rates dropped due to increased awareness of the virus. A new study in Israel reveals that the number of new HIV cases diagnosed each year in the last decade saw a startling increase of almost 500% compared to the previous decade, and similar trends have been reported in a number of other developed nations, including the U.S. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-hiv-infection.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 25 Aug 2011 04:04:03 EST news233463820 HIV epidemics are emerging in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa among men who have sex with men, a term that encompasses gay, non-gay identified homosexual men, and transgendered and bisexual men. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-large-hiv-epidemic-gays-middle.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 03 Aug 2011 03:40:03 EST news231560040 Gay young men in serious relationships are six times more likely to have unprotected sex than those who hook up with casual partners, according to new Northwestern Medicine research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-unprotected-sex-gay-relationships.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:31:53 EST news226146694 The more than 2.7 million new HIV infections recorded per year leave little doubt that the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to spread globally. That's why there's the need for safe, inexpensive and effective drugs to successfully block HIV transmission. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-hivaids-humanized-blt-mice.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 18 May 2011 12:28:53 EST news224940146 Using a technique that silences genes promoting infection, researchers have developed a novel, topically-applied molecular microbicide capable of preventing HIV transmission. The microbicide is predicted to have long-lasting effects in mice, opening the door to developing an intravaginal microbicide that could protect women against HIV infection potentially for weeks at a time and bolster public health efforts to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-aptamer-approach-hiv-transmission.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 16 May 2011 12:38:44 EST news224768311