Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 61 298 797 at noon on Wednesday February 16
A new strain of HIV — resistant to three of the four classes of anti-retroviral drugs available — has been identified in New York, according to city health officials. Of particular concern was the rapidity at which the strain progressed to Aids in the infected individual. It is believed that the patient, a 40-year-old homosexual male with a history of crystal methamphetamine use, developed the symptoms classically associated with Aids (a very low immune cell count and high levels of the virus in the blood) just a few months after initial infection with HIV. Progression to Aids normally takes several years rather than months, although this depends on the general health of the individual. Despite an official public health warning being issued many Aids experts have been sceptical about the implications of the discovery. While resistance to more than two classes of HIV drugs is exceptionally rare, according to the leading AIDS virologist Dr Robert Gallo, just one case is ‘not enough to warrant a public health alertâ€. He was also keen to stress that such rapid progression to Aids is unusual, but may have been triggered by numerous other unknown health factors and cannot be seen as a definite characteristic of the strain. The man’s previous sexual partners are being traced, although usually when HIV strains progress very rapidly to Aids, the rates of transmission remain low. It is hoped that once the initial source of his infection has been found, there will be very few, if any further cases.
Source: Avert.org
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 61 198 024 at noon on Wednesday February 9
Sex Ed 101: From next year students in Bangladesh will be given lessons about HIV/Aids issues for the first time. The decision to introduce life skills and HIV/Aids education in secondary schools was taken because the number of Aids cases appears to be rising in India and adolescents in Bangladesh are very ignorant about sexually transmitted diseases. Hannana Begum, head of Bangladesh’s curriculum and textbook board, said: ‘A recent survey showed that 20% of married women and 33% of married men in Bangladesh had heard of HIV/Aids.
Although there are a ‘relatively low number†of HIV/Aids cases in Bangladesh, the country is ‘vulnerable†because of the population’s minimal awareness of the disease. According to UNAids, there were 13 000 HIV-positive people in Bangladesh in 2002, and a study funded by the United Nations in 2004 showed that the number of HIV/Aids cases in the country had tripled in the past six years.
Source: Kaisernetwork.org
Estimated worldwide infections: 61 097 256 at noon on Wednesday, February 2 2005
Speaking out: Former British culture minister Chris Smith, who 20 years ago came out as Britain’s first openly gay member of Parliament, announced this week that he has been HIV-positive for 17 years.
Smith said he was impelled to reveal his HIV status after Nelson Mandela announced last month that his son Makgatho had died of Aids-related pneumonia.
Mandela said: ‘I announce that my son has died of Aidsâ€, adding, ‘Let us give publicity to HIV/Aids and not hide it because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness, like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and say somebody has died because of HIV/Aids, and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary.â€
‘What Nelson Mandela said very much struck a chord with me,†Smith said. ‘He spoke about how nobody should be ashamed of HIV and said that it should be regarded just like any other illness. He was brave and right.†— Kaiser Network
240 Malawians die every day: Aids kills about 10 people every hour in Malawi and the government is increasingly unable to cope with the crisis, Health Minister Heatherwick Ntaba said this week.
‘This is a disaster because it means that the country is losing 240 people every day to HIV/Aids and at the end of 10 years an estimated 876 000 will die if the trend continues,†Ntaba said.
The government estimates that about one million Malawians are infected with the HI virus and about 640 000 have died from Aids-related causes since 1985. — Reuters