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/ 10 February 2006
Researchers at Johannesburg’s Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital are homing in on the link between HIV and the genital herpes virus, which is thought to infect more than half of South Africa’s adults. HIV-positive people who have herpes are more likely to develop Aids more rapidly, and to transmit both viruses.
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/ 5 December 2005
The female condom, or Femidom, is leaving behind its image as an unsexy plastic bag, and instead gaining a racier reputation as a sex toy. Women in developed countries may have crossed their legs at the sight of the Femidom, but their sisters in areas with high levels of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases are more appreciative.
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/ 2 December 2005
South African doctors are going head to head with the government over alleged unregulated clinical trials on HIV-positive South Africans using the controversial Dr Matthias Rath’s unregistered vitamins. The South African Medical Association has joined the Treatment Action Campaign in suing the South African government.
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/ 29 November 2005
South Africa has the biggest anti-retroviral treatment programme in the world, if both public and private sector patients are included. About 78 000 people are receiving anti-retrovirals through state health facilities and another 60 000 are receiving treatment through the private sector.
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/ 18 November 2005
In the mystery of the Scot and the disappearing HIV, it could be the vitamins that did it. But the culprit is far more likely to be an inaccurate blood test or a hidden viral infection. Recently, a 25-year-old Scot living in London said in paid interviews with two British tabloids that he was "the first in the world to be cured of HIV".
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/ 8 November 2005
Tens of thousands of women’s lives could be saved worldwide after South African researchers confirmed the success of a novel way of preventing cervical cancer. Researchers from the University of Cape Town have proved the effectiveness of a quick method to ”screen and treat” women to prevent them from developing the disease, using acetic acid — the main ingredient in vinegar.
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/ 12 October 2005
”Have you cleaned behind your foreskin? Have you pulled it right back?” my mother bellowed up the stairs to my brother every evening of my childhood. I grew up aware that male genital hygiene was important — and, I’m sure, so did the neighbours, given that we lived in a terraced house with cardboard walls.
Up to a third of new female HIV infections could be prevented if scientists could find an effective cure for a mysterious vaginal condition that affects many women in South Africa. Researchers from the University of Cape Town have found that bacterial vaginosis was ”significantly associated with an increased risk of HIV seroconversion”.
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/ 16 September 2005
Scientists are reconceptualising the HIV/Aids pandemic as a huge number of mini-epidemics, each centred on a hyper-infectious individual. This is in contrast to the idea of a rolling tsunami of infections, with HIV-positive people spreading the epidemic throughout the long asymptomatic ”chronic” stage of HIV.
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/ 6 September 2005
Mobile ”chop shops” may be one of the best ways to curb South Africa’s HIV/Aids epidemic, according to a major study carried out in Orange Farm, near Johannesburg. Not an outfit that dismembers cars, but one offering a more intimate service — circumcision.