A "molecular condom" to protect women against HIV is being developed by US scientists.
The liquid formulated by a University of Utah team turns into a gel-like coating when inserted into the vagina.
Then, when exposed to semen, it returns to liquid form and releases an anti-viral drug to attack HIV.
However, the technology, featured in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, is still around five years away from being tested in humans. We're shooting for a microbicide delivery system that would be used once a day or once a month Dr Patrick KiserUniversity of Utah
And the researchers predict it will be around 10 years before it might be in widespread use.
Researcher Dr Patrick Kiser said: "The ultimate hope for this technology is to protect women and their unborn or nursing children from the Aids virus."
The Utah project is part of a worldwide research effort to develop "microbicides" - drug-delivery systems such as gels, rings, sponges or creams to prevent infection by HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
They are seen as a way for women to gain power by protecting themselves from HIV, particularly in impoverished nations where Aids is widespread, where rape is rampant, or, where conventional condoms are taboo, not reliably available or where men resist using them.
Read the whole story on BBC
Showing posts with label AIDS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AIDS. Show all posts
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
India 'overestimates' HIV/Aids
Methods used to estimate the number of people affected by HIV/Aids in India are flawed and the actual number of cases may be lower, a new study says.
The UN estimates that India has the highest number of HIV infections with 5.7 million people with the virus.
The study in British journal BMC Medicine says the number of people with the infection may be only 40% of the official estimate.
The UN said it was too early to say if the data applied to India as a whole.
Recently, former US President Bill Clinton called India the epicentre of the global HIV/Aids epidemic.
Blood samples
The study is based on research in one district in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, which is worst-hit by the infection.
Investigators collected blood samples from 12,617 people aged between 15 and 49 years in Guntur district - one of the worst affected areas in the state - to come to their conclusions.
The method estimated that there were 45,900 people living with HIV in Guntur, compared to the estimate of 112,600 reached by the official method.
Extrapolating its findings, the study believes that there may be between 3.2 million and 3.5 million adults with the infection in India.
"India may be overestimating its HIV burden with the currently used official estimation method," the study said.
However, study investigator Dr Lalit Dandona said that even though his team's numbers were smaller, they were "by no means suggesting that the problem is already taken care of".
Read the full story on BBC News
The UN estimates that India has the highest number of HIV infections with 5.7 million people with the virus.
The study in British journal BMC Medicine says the number of people with the infection may be only 40% of the official estimate.
The UN said it was too early to say if the data applied to India as a whole.
Recently, former US President Bill Clinton called India the epicentre of the global HIV/Aids epidemic.
Blood samples
The study is based on research in one district in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, which is worst-hit by the infection.
Investigators collected blood samples from 12,617 people aged between 15 and 49 years in Guntur district - one of the worst affected areas in the state - to come to their conclusions.
The method estimated that there were 45,900 people living with HIV in Guntur, compared to the estimate of 112,600 reached by the official method.
Extrapolating its findings, the study believes that there may be between 3.2 million and 3.5 million adults with the infection in India.
"India may be overestimating its HIV burden with the currently used official estimation method," the study said.
However, study investigator Dr Lalit Dandona said that even though his team's numbers were smaller, they were "by no means suggesting that the problem is already taken care of".
Read the full story on BBC News
Friday, December 01, 2006
Giornata mondiale contro l'Aids - Annan: "E' la sfida più grande"
Alla vigilia del 1 dicembre, il segretario generale dell'Onu esorta a una maggiore responsabilità.Sono 39 milioni e mezzo le persone affette da Hiv, l'emergenza più grave rimane in Africa
In Italia quest'anno 3.500-4.000 nuove infezioni
NEW YORK - E' "la più grande sfida della nostra generazione". Alla vigilia della giornata mondiale per la lotta contro l'Aids, il segretario generale dell'Onu Kofi Annan richiama il mondo a una prova di responsabilità. In un messaggio, a 25 anni dalla comparsa della pandemia, Annan si è felicitato per i progressi realizzati ma ha auspicato nuovi sforzi per combattere la malattia.
"La responsabilità - tema di questa giornata mondiale - esige che ciascun presidente o primo ministro, ciascun parlamentare e politico, decida e dichiari: 'L'Aids è una questione che mi riguarda'. Ciò - ha detto ancora Annan - esige che rafforzino la protezione di tutti i gruppi vulnerabili: persone contagiate, giovani, chi lavora nell'industria del sesso, che fa uso di droghe iniettabili, uomini che hanno relazioni sessuali con altri uomini. Ciò implica che lavorino fianco a fianco con i gruppi della società civile e che agiscano per giungere a cambiamenti reali e positivi che diano maggior potere e autonomia alle donne e alle ragazze e trasformino le relazioni fra uomini e donne a tutti i livelli della società".
L'allarme Aids ancora oggi non dà tregua. Sono 39 milioni e mezzo di persone affette da Hiv. Solo nel 2006, ci sono stati 4,3 milioni di nuovi casi, con tre milioni di morti e due milioni e mezzo di bambini ammalati. Bastano le ultime cifre dell'Organizzazione mondiale della Sanità a dare le dimensioni dell'emergenza nel mondo. Un'epidemia che continua a espandersi con picchi allarmanti, come quello africano. Nella regione sub-sahariana sono 25 milioni i cittadini che muoiono per la malattia prima dei quarant'anni. E 12 milioni i bambini che rimangono orfani. Sul fronte dei più piccoli, poi, l'Unicef lancia l'allarme anche per l'India.
Leggi il resto dell'articolo su Repubblica.it
Vedi anche:
In Italia quest'anno 3.500-4.000 nuove infezioni
NEW YORK - E' "la più grande sfida della nostra generazione". Alla vigilia della giornata mondiale per la lotta contro l'Aids, il segretario generale dell'Onu Kofi Annan richiama il mondo a una prova di responsabilità. In un messaggio, a 25 anni dalla comparsa della pandemia, Annan si è felicitato per i progressi realizzati ma ha auspicato nuovi sforzi per combattere la malattia.
"La responsabilità - tema di questa giornata mondiale - esige che ciascun presidente o primo ministro, ciascun parlamentare e politico, decida e dichiari: 'L'Aids è una questione che mi riguarda'. Ciò - ha detto ancora Annan - esige che rafforzino la protezione di tutti i gruppi vulnerabili: persone contagiate, giovani, chi lavora nell'industria del sesso, che fa uso di droghe iniettabili, uomini che hanno relazioni sessuali con altri uomini. Ciò implica che lavorino fianco a fianco con i gruppi della società civile e che agiscano per giungere a cambiamenti reali e positivi che diano maggior potere e autonomia alle donne e alle ragazze e trasformino le relazioni fra uomini e donne a tutti i livelli della società".
L'allarme Aids ancora oggi non dà tregua. Sono 39 milioni e mezzo di persone affette da Hiv. Solo nel 2006, ci sono stati 4,3 milioni di nuovi casi, con tre milioni di morti e due milioni e mezzo di bambini ammalati. Bastano le ultime cifre dell'Organizzazione mondiale della Sanità a dare le dimensioni dell'emergenza nel mondo. Un'epidemia che continua a espandersi con picchi allarmanti, come quello africano. Nella regione sub-sahariana sono 25 milioni i cittadini che muoiono per la malattia prima dei quarant'anni. E 12 milioni i bambini che rimangono orfani. Sul fronte dei più piccoli, poi, l'Unicef lancia l'allarme anche per l'India.
Leggi il resto dell'articolo su Repubblica.it
Vedi anche:
- HIV 'afflicting global workforce' (BBC News)
- Clinton launches child HIV drugs (BBC News)
Friday, November 24, 2006
AIDS - Good in parts
The latest UN report suggests hope about AIDS is not entirely misplaced
“YOU can do it if you try.” That is the message which UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation, the United Nations bodies charged with combating HIV, are pushing in their latest report on the state of the epidemic.
The report itself is a work of dry epidemiology. It gives a snapshot of the current state of knowledge about how and why the virus is spreading or regressing in various parts of the world. It looks at transmission paths. It looks at the different risks attaching to a number of vulnerable groups (heterosexual youngsters, homosexual men, prostitutes and recreational drug users who inject their pleasures rather than smoking or swallowing them). And it looks at whether particular public-health measures are effective or not.
But, dry and scientific though it may be, the report is also a platform for propaganda. December 1st is World AIDS Day, and the gurus of global health would like you to notice certain parts of the report and be appropriately concerned. Crafting just the right level of concern requires a delicacy of touch. Too optimistic, and the world might dust its hands together and say “job done”. Too pessimistic and it might simply turn its back on a problem it sees as insoluble. This year, the mixture seems spot on.
Read the whole story on the Economist.com
“YOU can do it if you try.” That is the message which UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation, the United Nations bodies charged with combating HIV, are pushing in their latest report on the state of the epidemic.
The report itself is a work of dry epidemiology. It gives a snapshot of the current state of knowledge about how and why the virus is spreading or regressing in various parts of the world. It looks at transmission paths. It looks at the different risks attaching to a number of vulnerable groups (heterosexual youngsters, homosexual men, prostitutes and recreational drug users who inject their pleasures rather than smoking or swallowing them). And it looks at whether particular public-health measures are effective or not.
But, dry and scientific though it may be, the report is also a platform for propaganda. December 1st is World AIDS Day, and the gurus of global health would like you to notice certain parts of the report and be appropriately concerned. Crafting just the right level of concern requires a delicacy of touch. Too optimistic, and the world might dust its hands together and say “job done”. Too pessimistic and it might simply turn its back on a problem it sees as insoluble. This year, the mixture seems spot on.
Read the whole story on the Economist.com
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