Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Glaxo Says It Will Stop Paying Doctors to Promote Drugs

By 


NYTIMES
The British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline will no longer pay doctors to promote its products and will stop tying compensation of sales representatives to the number of prescriptions doctors write, its chief executive said Monday, effectively ending two common industry practices that critics have long assailed as troublesome conflicts of interest

The announcement appears to be a first for a major drug company — although others may be considering similar moves — and it comes at a particularly sensitive time for Glaxo. It is the subject of a bribery investigation in China, where authorities contend the company funneled illegal payments to doctors and government officials in an effort to lift drug sales.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

God intervened in HIV cure of baby, Hannah Gay believes. Pediatrician Hannah Gay says "And it was God that cured the baby and I just happened to be standing close by at the time."

JACKSON, Miss. (BP) -- The continued good health of a Mississippi baby born with HIV causes Hannah
Gay, the HIV specialist who treats the child, to speak of divine intervention.

The baby remains in remission more than 18 months after her last anti-viral treatment. "Hopefully we'll be able to find out what it was about this case that was different from all the others that we've ever seen and be able to replicate that for other babies in the future."

The 3-year-old's continued lack of any replication of the virus indicates the first documented case of HIV remission in a child, The New England Journal of Medicine reported Oct. 23, fostering renewed hope that the child is permanently cured.

"The big question, of course is, 'Is this child cured of HIV infection?'" the Journal article stated. "The best answer at this moment is a definitive 'maybe.'"

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Tommy Morrison Death Certificate — No Mention of AIDS

TMZ: Boxing champ Tommy Morrison -- who starred in "Rocky 5" -- died from a blood infection ... so says his death certificate which contains no mentions of either HIV or AIDS, TMZ has learned. 

According to his death certificate, filed in Nebraska, the 44-year-old died from cardiac arrest ... stemming from a blood infection known as Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Septicemia. 

FYI -- back in 1996, Morrison announced he had contracted the HIV virus ... but later recanted and questioned if the disease even existed in the first place. 

According to the death certificate, Morrison's body was cremated. An autopsy was not performed
.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Greece Reinstates Forced HIV Testing -WTH?


Greece's health minister has reinstated a draconian measure that allows mandatory HIV testing, detention, and even
eviction.

BY DAVID ARTAVIA



Health minister Adonis Georgladis has reinstated Public Health Decree 39A, a 2012 measure that allows police to detain people suspected of being HIV positive and force them to be tested, according the Greek news outlet ENET. The measure also urges landlords to evict tenants who are HIV-positive (as a public health threat).

Thursday, July 11, 2013

HIV Cure Has Long Way to Go Before the Clinic


KUALA LUMPUR -- The science of an HIV cure is in its infancy but scattered cases of remission -- so-called
"functional" cures -- give hope that it is possible, experts said here.
But if the tempo of development is similar to that of anti-HIV drugs in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a useful strategy is still some years away, according to Steven Deeks, MD, of the University of California San Francisco.
"I think we're in 1987," Deeks told MedPage Today -- a period when no drugs were yet available and researchers were just learning such basic things as how to measure HIV in blood and what viral targets for drugs existed.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Prosecuting HIV: take the Test- and Risk Arrest?



Imagine meeting someone online, having a nice chat, and then deciding to hook up. You have HIV, but you’re adherent to your meds and have had an undetectable viral load for years. You and your sexual partner use a condom. Sometime later, the partner learns you have HIV and presses charges against you for failing to disclose your HIV status prior to sex.
Your life is suddenly turned upside down, with your name and picture splashed across the media. You are called an “AIDS Monster.” You and your family and friends feel humiliated and embarrassed. Your employment, housing, and relationships may be put in jeopardy and you need to find tens of thousands of dollars for legal fees for the impending prosecution.
If convicted, you face decades in prison, lifetime registration as a sex offender, and other restrictions; if acquitted, your life is still never the same, because you will always be known as the “AIDS Monster.”

Think about that for a moment: Consenting adults. No intent to harm. Undetectable viral load. A condom was used. No HIV transmission. Twenty-five years in prison. This isn’t hypothetical; it is exactly what happened in a recent case in Iowa. In fact, as of July 2009 Iowa had convicted nearly 1% of all Iowans with HIV under their HIV-specific criminal statute.
There have been hundreds of prosecutions for HIV crimes in the U.S., all over the country. As of today, 36 states and territories have HIV-specific statutes, but a targeted law isn’t required to prosecute an HIV crime. These prosecutions usually have little bearing on the actual level of risk of HIV transmission, ignoring factors like whether a condom was used or the viral load of the person with HIV. more below


Elizabeth Ely reply:

Only reason Strub focusing on Iowa is Nick Rhoades' residency there. Rhoades is the only defendant assisted by the AIDS activist organizations -- and they're botching the job by avoiding the scientific questions. He's probably going to prison. Meanwhile, also in Iowa, Tom Call (http://www.omsj.org/cases/2010... escaped this kangaroo court with the help of a California private investigation agency, OMSJ. See its HIV Innocence Group atwww.omsj.org/innocence-group.
Forget about "undetectable viral load" as an excuse for having sex. It's a load of hooey, and you don't need a medical license to have sex. As has been acknowledged in numerous court cases, there's no evidence that the person is even infected with a deadly virus; all they need is an expert witness to testify to that effect, not repeal of the law.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Young black gay men who hide sexuality may be behind Brooklyn's HIV epidemic, doctors say


'We are seeing more young men,' says AIDS doctor who has treated boys as young as 14.



A new generation of young Brooklyn black males, many hiding their sexual identity, is worrying doctors who say they are fueling the borough’s HIV epidemic.
HIV cases among men under 30 who sleep with men rose from 232 in 2001 to 491 in 2011. 
“We are seeing more young men,” said Dr. Yusef Afacan, director of the AIDS Center Program at Woodull Medical Center in East Williamsburg. Afacan said he has even treated boys as young as 14 who contracted HIV after sleeping with another male.


“We never saw that a decade ago,” Afacan said. “Young gay men are not using protection.”
Men who have sex with men, or MSMs, include males who identify as gay and also those who hide their sexual preferences for other men.
Doctors believe these men are infecting their black female partners, who made up 79% of all new HIV cases among Brooklyn women in 2011 .
Hoping to stem the disturbing trend, advocates are zeroing in on central Brooklyn neighborhoods, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Williamsburg, Bushwick and East Flatbush, which are home to the city’s largest group of those living with the disease.
More than 15,000 reside in central Brooklyn, where about 3,600 identify as MSMs. Those 15,000 make up 10% of the citywide HIV/AIDS cases.
The Brooklyn AIDS Task Force opened a small store-front office called Brooklyn Men Konnect on Utica Ave. in Crown Heights, which reputedly has some strong anti-gay attitudes.
Workers troll gay dating sites posing as singles who give graphic intimate advice and push the message of practicing safe hookups.
“It’s too much casual sex. People don’t care. They are not wrapping it up,” said Steven Holmes, 23, a Konnect volunteer who was born with HIV after getting it from his drug-addicted mother. “They aren’t using condoms. They are being reckless.”
“Our lifestyle is taboo,” said a 22-year-old Bed-Stuy man who contracted HIV at 17. He had been struggling with his sexuality and didn't ask his partner to use a condom. “The first time I got a STD,  it was HIV.”
Doctors are complaining that Brooklyn's federal aid for young HIV/AIDS patients has dropped from $2 million a year to $350,000.
“Brooklyn is getting screwed,” said Dr. Jeffrey Birnbaum, head of the SUNY Downstate’s Family, Adolescent and Children's Experience program, which had to let go 26 staffers across the county, including three doctors, because of the cuts.
“These issues need to be dealt with.”


Read more: 

Monday, April 15, 2013

FEAR Over One Man's Death in West Hollywood of Meningitis

FEAR, 1st off who knew that John Duran was a Dr: Read up. (Mayo Clinic on Meningitis)  Before you get more drugs put into your system: FEAR! 
One man died and we run screaming the sky is falling. 
Just like everyone that is DEAD from ACT -UP demanding AZT. 
How about a little bit of history of this man health, etc before we create More FEAR

UPDATE: Great article in the Huffington Post by 

James Peron:

Fear and Misinformation: Meningitis and the LGBT Community


AIDS Healthcare Foundation to offer free
meningitis vaccines starting Monday 

Beginning Monday, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation will offer meningitis vaccines at three Los Angeles-area locations after the death of a West Hollywood attorney who had recently been exposed to the disease.
Brent Shaad, 33, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Saturday evening after his family gave permission to remove him from life support.
Shaad had appeared healthy less than a week ago, according to West Hollywood Councilman John Duran.
On Monday, he began feeling ill, according to an AP report. He went to an emergency room for care on Wednesday, but his condition deteriorated rapidly. He slipped into a coma on Thursday, and doctors declared him brain dead Friday.
Shaad had attended the White Party in Palm Springs the weekend of March 30th and 31st and was a member of the Equinox gym in West Hollywood, and people who may have had contact with him should consider being checked, said Duran.
The free meningitis vaccines are available from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at AHF pharmacies on Santa Monica and Sunset boulevards and the AHF Hollywood Men's Wellness Center on Vermont Avenue, said AIDS Healthcare Foundation president Michael Weinstein.
“While many people, including many gay men, may not have had an exposure or consider themselves at risk, we know that there is a tremendous amount of anxiety out there in the community,” said Weinstein at a news conference Sunday. “We feel that at a minimum, we should offer the vaccine to minimize that anxiety.”
The bacteria that causes meningitis is not as contagious as the common cold, but experts say it can be spread through coughing or kissing. People who contract the illness can suffer from fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, confusion and increased sensitivity to light.
Duran said health officials in the New York area have reported seven deaths from bacterial meningitis this year. He said he understands the fears of some who are afraid that an increase in meningitis outbreak would be labeled as a “gay disease,” as AIDS was in the early 1980s.
But he said the early response then was not strong enough, and that's why a greater response now to meningitis is appropriate.
“What we have learned in our experience with the HIV epidemic is sometimes what happens in New York replicates itself in Los Angeles,” said Duran. “We learned some really painful lessons last time.”
There are two different types of meningitis vaccines: a conjugate vaccine that's given to young people and most adults, and a polysaccharide vaccine for adults older than 55.  The foundation will offer the conjugate vaccine. It requires an initial inoculation, followed by a booster eight weeks later, said Dr. Parveen Kaur, a physician working with the foundation's healthcare centers.
The incubation period for bacterial meningitis is two to seven days, while the vaccine requires about 10 days to provoke an immune response, said Kaur.
Weinstein said the shot costs the foundation $105. It has 10,000 doses available. The foundation will ask for donations or insurance, but it will not turn down anyone who who wants a shot, he said.
The L.A. County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) issued a statement after the AIDS Healthcare Foundation announced its vaccination plans.
In the statement, LACDPH said it had been notified on April 9 of a patient with meningococcal meningitis, and that it has begun an investigation that includes identifying contacts with that person.
At this point in the investigation, Public Health has not identified any other cases of meningococcal meningitis associated with this patient, nor identified any linkage between this patient and outbreaks that have been reported in other areas of the country.

Public Health is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to identify the specific strain of the disease from this patient. The specific strain is expected to be identified in the public health laboratory by the end of next week.

The CDC, CDPH and LACDPH do not recommend a vaccination campaign in response to this one single patient with meningococcal meningitis in Los Angeles. Routine vaccination is recommended for children and teens.  Adult vaccination is recommended for persons with specific medical conditions, laboratory workers exposed to the meningococcal bacteria, and travelers to regions of the world with high rates of meningococcal disease.

Friday, April 12, 2013

AIDS researcher Dr. Michael Gottlieb talks to the Daily Princetonian

By MICHAEL GRANOVETTER 
SENIOR WRITER
Dr. Michael Gottlieb, who in 1981 identified a disease now known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome, spoke on campus Thursday afternoon about lessons the public and scientific communities have learned from the epidemic. The Daily Princetonian spoke with him about his career and the future of HIV/AIDS research.
The Daily Princetonian: You’re in a relatively unique situation, specializing in a disease that didn’t exist when you went through your medical training. Did you ever anticipate your career evolving the way that it did?

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Health office warns against home HIV tests

World Radio Switzerland

Federal health officials have issued a warning against using at-home HIV tests.
The tests can’t be legally sold in Switzerland, but they can still be purchased over the internet.
The Federal Commission for Sexual Health says that not only are the tests unreliable, but that there needs to be accompanying services with such tests including counseling and treatment.
The experts say self-tests can provide either positive or negative incorrect results.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Fear of HIV drives AZ man to kill wife, son

GOODYEAR, AZ (CBS5) -
A Goodyear man is charged with two counts of first-degree murder after police said he
admitted to stabbing his wife and 27-year-old son to death.
Gino Maraventano, 62, called 911 on Saturday and told dispatchers what he had done. Investigators said he committed the murders four days before notifying police.
During a police interview, he told investigators he had been plotting to kill his 63-year-old wife, Janet, and then commit suicide after she tested negative for cancer two weeks ago.
Gino Maraventano said Janet Maraventano was sick and he thought he might have given her AIDS or some other sexually transmitted disease because of his secret past with prostitutes.
HIV testing cannot detect "HIV" itself 
According to the police report, Gino Maraventano grabbed a knife with a 14-inch blade from the kitchen and stabbed his wife while she slept in their bed.
Gino Maraventano told police he then went to his son Bryan's room and cut his throat. According to the police report, he said the 27-year-old didn't have a girlfriend and he thought he was disabled because he couldn't get a job, therefore, he didn't think the young man could make it on his own.
One of the Maraventano's neighbors, named Phil, told CBS 5 News his friend must have been in a dark place.
"It's tragic and not the man I knew. I don't think he's the man he wanted to be. Until he confessed it I didn't want to believe it. There is not one inkling of 'I saw this coming.' There is none of that with Gino," said Phil.
Gino Maraventano tried to take his life. He told police he cut his wrists and taped a plastic bag around his head, but it didn't work.
He remains behind bars.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Kansas Lawmakers OK Repeal of AIDS Quarantines Ban


TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators have approved a bill to protect medical and
emergency workers that also repeals a 25-year-old ban on quarantining AIDS and HIV patients.
The bill is headed to Gov. Sam Brownback after both chambers approved it Friday night. The votes were 36-2 in the Senate and 120-0 in the House.
The bill directs the state health department to draft rules making it easier for medical and emergency workers to learn if they've been exposed to infectious diseases.
The provision repealing the 1988 law protecting AIDS and HIV patients faced strong criticism from gay rights advocates and civil libertarians.
The health department promised legislators its new rules would continue a ban. Agency officials said even without a ban, it would never be medically necessary to quarantine AIDS or HIV patients.

Friday, April 5, 2013

MEDIA WATCHDOGS BLAST FUMENTO Has the politicization of AIDS left science in the lurch?

The political left assumes that a liberal media watch organization like FAIR would critically examine
the HIV/AIDS hysteria from the medical-industrial complex. They would be wrong.
by Christine Johnson & Steven Kurvink

Like many advocates of progressive politics, we have always
respected organizations like FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting), since we share their viewpoint on the issue of
media censorship and bias.

You would think that a liberal media watch organization like FAIR
would question government and media propaganda regarding AIDS.
After all, FAIR claims to "scrutinize media practices that marginalize
public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints," and seeks to
"break up the dominant media conglomerates" and "establish independent
public broadcasting and promote strong, non-profit, alternative
sources of information."

But you would not know this from the November/December 1999
issue of Extra, FAIR’s bimonthly publication. In it, writer Sam
Husseini denounces Michael Fumento — a longstanding opponent
of the notion of a heterosexual AIDS epidemic — for an op-ed piece
Fumento wrote for the Washington Times (June 8, 1999). Since 1987,
Fumento has hammered away at the constant exhortations declaring
burgeoning AIDS epidemics among heterosexuals, teens, babies, and
women. He derides such sloganeering as "AIDS is an Equal
Opportunity Destroyer," a view promoted by the American
Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR).

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Lindsay Nagel baby Rico Trial updates: "Kafkaesque."

Thought Crime Trial Against Nagel/Martinez Family Adjourned By 
Brownsdale, MN
This is a short dispatch written to convey the essential facts of what happened on April 1 and 2, in the court case against John Martinez and Lindsey Nagel, parents of Rico Martinez Nagel. 
It’s early morning in Brownsdale MN, a very small town near the Iowa border, about two hours from Minneapolis.  I am soon to depart for the airport and struggling to compose a coherent narrative of a completely incoherent situation.
I’ll start at the end: No decision was reached by the judge in the two day trial in which Lindsey Nagel and John Martinez were (vaguely) accused of Medical Endangerment; The prosecution (“petitioner”) did many inexplicable things throughout the trial, not least of which was to play 4 videos from YouTube, which has not previously been vetted as evidence. That meant delay: The videos have to be transcribed, the transcripts put before judge and opposing legal teams, and the case reconvened. This is expected to happen at best in 15 days. For now, the parents retain custody and a recommendation was made by a guardian ad litem that they should revisit the situation in 45 days to see if compliance was still consistent. If it were, Skype surveillance may be reduced from twice a day to three times a week.So for now, the situation for John and Lindsey Nagel is the same: They retain physical custody of their 3 month old son Rico, and the state controls his medical decisions, i.e. has medical custody.  Still, each day, twice a day they must hold the baby in front of a Skype camera, with a social worker on the other end, which I witnessed; They first hold up each medicine bottle (Rico is on 3 “anti-HIV” medications,  Bactrim, and a drug to regulate his disrupted red and white blood cell counts,) then they draw the liquids into the tube attached to Rico’s stomach via gastric intubation (a plastic tube surgically implanted into his stomach,) while the social worker watches.
 

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Bill Gates Condom Challenge: Foundation Will Pay You To Reinvent The Rubber


Though condoms come in different textures, sizes and even tastes, these options aren't enticing enough to get people to actually use them in many parts of the world.
And the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation wants to change that. The nonprofit, which tackles global health issues, is seeking submissions for the "Next Generation Condom" challenge. The initiative asks for innovative designs that create a sexual experience that feels even better than not using a condom. The new design must also protect from the spread of HIV and disease, of course.

We're spending billions to develop an HIV vaccine. Why not also focus on building a better condom?


"What if we could develop a condom that would provide all the benefit of our current versions, without the drawbacks? Even better, what if we could develop one that was preferred to no condom?" The Gates Foundation's blog reads.

Swiss court jails 'healer' for infecting patients with HIV

chicagotribune.com

A self-styled healer was sentenced to 12 years and nine months in jail on Friday after a Swiss court found the acupuncturist guilty of infecting 16 people with HIV.

The concern over AIDS-infected needles is common in many urban legends


A Berne court found the man guilty of causing bodily harm and spreading the virus which can cause Aids, court secretary Rene Graf told Reuters. He did not give any further details.

If you have been charged with an HIV-related crime or civil action – or you represent someone in such action, CONTACT OMSJ IMMEDIATELY.

Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 15 years in jail, according to media reports.

Monday, March 18, 2013

A doctor has challenged reports of a baby in Mississippi being “cured” of HIV

Huffington Post UK/ PA  |  By 

HIV Baby 'Cured'? Mississippi Child Was Exposed But May Not Have Been Infected With The Virus, Warns Dr Mark Siedner
The original news described the case of a child born with the virus that causes Aids, who is now two-and-a-half, and has been off medication for about a year, with no signs of infection.

First Approved In-Home HIV Test: OraSure's - Expectations have been falling as the newly launched product just didn't take off as quickly as hoped


First Approved In-Home HIV Test: OraSure's Fall From Grace Offers Opportunity

By Jake King
As investors packed up in search of more exciting prospects, shares of OraSure Technologies (OSUR) have been slashed in half since their highs in mid-2012, in fact, setting a new 52-week low this month. OraSure received approval for the first in-home HIV diagnostic last June (called OraQuick In-Home HIV), a product that Magic Johnson called a game-changer

Top 50 Blogs About HIV and AIDS

by Samantha Reno
Are you uncertain about when an AIDS patient may require hospice care? Do male AIDS patients need different care than female AIDS patients? This list of top 50 Blogs about HIV And AIDS may help answer those questions for patients, families, nurses and other caregivers.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Robert Gallo's study 2 months before his "cause of AIDS" press conference



HIV was a commercial fraud committed in 1984?

This is Gallo's study in February of 1984 about finding p24 in cancer patients. In their own words they were about to commercialise the p24 antigen test as a measure of how big a tumour was. But any detection of retroviruses in tumours is irrelevant as they are full of retroviruses anyway as was found out later in research from this century. "Circulating immune complexes from two patients with human T-cell leukaemia/ lymphoma virus (HTLV)-related lymphoma were shown to contain the major internal antigen of the virus, p24. The amount of complex-bound p24 in sequential serum samples correlated roughly with tumour cell mass. Small amounts of complex-bound p24 were detected in samples before a relapse became clinically manifest. Measurement of complex-bound p24 in patients with HTLV-associated lymphomas and leukaemias might thus be helpful in management of malignancies and offer the possibility of detecting imminent relapse and preventing it by intensification of treatment." DEMONSTRATION OF VIRAL ANTIGEN p24 IN CIRCULATING IMMUNE COMPLEXES OF TWO PATIENTS WITH HUMAN T-CELL LEUKAEMIA/LYMPHOMA VIRUS (HTLV) POSITIVE LYMPHOMA ...Feb 1984 http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2884%2990358-1/abstract
So within 2 months you have to ask how did a p24 antigen to detect tumour size suddenly become a deadly sex virus in gays and this was all claimed as the cause of AIDS at a press conference without any reference to other researchers.