CDC launches new communication campaign to fight AIDS
Jack Mackenroth joins Poz I Am Internet radio show
U.S. Reps. introduce bill to expand Medicaid coverage to low-income HIV-positive people
Controlling viral load does not necessarily result in decreases in drug-resistant virus, study shows
CDC launches new communication campaign to fight AIDS
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced the launch of a new 5-year campaign, Act Against AIDS, which aims to combat complacency about the HIV crisis in the United States.
According to a press release issued from the agency, the campaign highlights statistical findings which estimate that another person becomes infected with HIV every 9½ minutes in the United States. It will feature targeted messages and outreach to the populations most severely affected by HIV, starting with African-Americans.
In addition, the CDC has established the Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative (AAALI), a partnership with 14 of the nation's leading African-American organizations to integrate HIV prevention into each organization's outreach programs.
Campaign materials, developed in a variety of mediums to include audio, video, and print, will direct Americans to “get the facts” by going to the newly developed website www.nineandahalfminutes.org, as a first step toward learning how they can protect themselves.
For more information on Act Against AIDS, visit http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/aaa/
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Jack Mackenroth joins Poz I Am Internet radio show
Fashion designer Jack Mackenroth of Project Runway fame (season four) is the new co-host of the Poz I Am Internet radio show, joining its founder, Robert Breining. The show includes interviews and news relevant to the HIV community.
According to Mackenroth’s website, “Jack has always been very open about his HIV positive status. Since his diagnosis in 1990, he has tried to combat the stigma associated with HIV by living honestly and being a role model through his professional and athletic achievements. He believes that public visibility educates and eventually saves lives.” Mackenroth also works with Merck & Co. on the Living Positive by Design campaign.
Poz I Am airs Wednesday at 2pm. EST. Visit www.blogtalkradio.com/poziam and www.jackmackenroth.com.
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U.S. Reps. introduce bill to expand Medicaid coverage to low-income HIV-positive people
U.S. Representatives Eliot Engel (D-NY), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have recently introduced a bill that, if passed, would allow states to expand Medicaid coverage to low-income people living with HIV.
Current Social Security regulations require that HIV-positive people be disabled by the virus before they are eligible to receive coverage under Medicaid. This bill would permit states to alter their eligibility requirements to increase early access to life-saving and cost-effective treatment, before the virus progresses to AIDS.
Rep. Engel justified this measure in a statement as “more cost-effective for the federal government since it’s much more expensive to treat patients with AIDS than HIV.”
“It makes no sense that a person must develop…AIDS before Medicaid can treat them,” said Rep. Ros-Lehtinen. “This legislation would remedy this by giving states the option to extend Medicaid coverage to low-income persons so that they can confront their HIV before it becomes AIDS and thus help them from becoming terminally ill and a burden on their families and the public health system."
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Controlling viral load does not necessarily result in decreases in drug-resistant virus, study shows
Data from a recent analysis presented at the 7th European HIV Drug Resistance Workshop, held in Stockholm last month, suggests that while such factors as advances in antiretroviral therapy may have resulted in decreased viral loads among people living with HIV, the transmission of drug-resistant virus has persisted.
Researchers in Milan analyzed the viral loads of 4,615 people living with HIV (referred to as potential HIV transmitters) presenting for treatment in five different time periods, as well as viral loads from 369 newly diagnosed people, including 103 with a known recent date of seroconversion.
During the five study periods, the proportion of people with a viral load below 1000 or 50 copies increased significantly. Although the transmission of drug-resistant virus decreased over three of the study periods in both newly diagnosed individuals and recent seroconverters, the declines were not considered to be statistically significant.
The researchers point out that among the people infected with drug-resistant virus in these three study periods, 64.4% of those newly diagnosed and 83.3% of the recent seroconverters were gay men.
This analysis suggests that controlling HIV at the population level does not necessarily translate into significant declines in transmission of drug-resistant virus, critical information for those involved in both the prevention and treatment of HIV.
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