hiv

Gates Foundation wants to make safe sex more fun

Tom Paulson — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:10:27 +0000

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation thinks safe sex isn’t as much fun as it should be.

At least, that seems to be the gist of one request for a grant application from the world’s largest philanthropy as part of its Grand Challenges Explorations program. One of the goals for this round is to develop a better condom.

“It is a bit unusual,” said Stephen Ward, the program officer with the Gates Foundation administering the project.

Seattle bucks the national trend on HIV rates

Keith Seinfeld — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 23:17:00 +0000

A resurgence of AIDS among young men nationally is raising alarm bells – but not in the King County area. Local health officials say outreach efforts here could be a model for how the rest of the country can keep the AIDS epidemic under control.

The Seattle science that led to FDA approval of HIV-prevention drug

Tom Paulson — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 21:58:34 +0000

The FDA today approved the first drug, known as Truvada, for preventing HIV in people at high risk of infection due to ‘discordance’ – science lingo for being HIV negative but having a sex partner who is HIV positive.

Seattle scientists played a critical role in demonstrating the drug’s effectiveness in Kenya and Uganda studies.

Read more on Humanosphere.

Traces of virus in man cured of HIV trigger scientific debate

Richard Knox — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 15:51:16 +0000

Top AIDS scientists are scratching their heads about new data from the most famous HIV patient in the world — at least to people in the AIDS community.

Timothy Ray Brown, known as the Berlin patient, is thought to be the first patient ever to be cured of HIV infection.

Brown, 45, had two bone marrow transplants in Berlin in 2007 and 2008 to treat leukemia that is apparently unrelated to his HIV infection.

Study: Gates-backed project prevented 100,000 HIV infections in India

Tom Paulson — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:21:14 +0000

A $258 million initiative sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation aimed at preventing AIDS in India appears to have paid off overall, researchers say, resulting in more than 100,000 fewer new HIV infections over five years.

Many aren’t quite ready to judge this project, Avahan, a success, however.

Read more on Humanosphere.

Thirty years of AIDS in Washington, USA

Keith Seinfeld — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 07:01:00 +0000

Thirty years ago this month, the first cases of AIDS were identified by the medical community. It was still a mystery disease. A strange form of pneumonia was striking young men in Los Angeles. Since then, the epidemic has been a dramatic roller-coaster of death, disease, politics and what some people call the greatest medical success story of the past half century.

(This interactive timeline is from the federal AIDS.gov website. Click and scroll for dates and highlights.)

I sat down with Dr. Bob Wood, one of the most prominent local faces of AIDS and the fight to contain it, to discuss the highlights and low points. You can listen to the interview by clicking on "Audio."