AIDS Victim Infected by Dad Vows to Fight On

Figures raise concerns after positive trends

(NEWSER) - After declining in 1991-2005, the US teen birth rate climbed in 2006 and 2007, HealthDay News reports. Crunching numbers from 2002-07, the Centers for Disease Control found a number of trends had flatlined or worsened after a period of improvement.

• 2004 saw 745,000 pregnancies among females under 20, including 16,000 among girls 10 to 14 years old.
• One-third of adolescents had no birth-control education before age 18.

Study findings could present a 'major health crisis'

(NEWSER) - Alarming new research out of eastern and southern Africa, where both unplanned pregnancies and AIDS wreak havoc: The most popular contraceptive used by women there appears to double their risk of contracting HIV—and if a woman already has HIV, it doubles her risk of transmitting it to her partner compared to women who use no contraception. The study centers around a hormone shot given once every three months, which is the best contraception available in Africa today, one expert tells the New York Times : “If it is now proven that these contraceptions are helping spread the AIDS epidemic, we have a major health crisis on our hands.” More»

Without its cholesterol, virus can't harm immune system

(NEWSER) - A group of US and European scientists have discovered a way to prevent the HIV virus from harming the immune system, in a breakthrough that could lead to an entirely new approach to fighting AIDS. They discovered that by extracting cholesterol, they could render the virus a sitting duck for the immune system’s adaptive response. “It’s like an army that has lost its weapons but still has flags, so another army can recognize it and attack it,” the study’s leader explained to Reuters . More»

Bizarre cats part of Mayo Clinic study to fight HIV, AIDS

(NEWSER) - Me-WOW. Some cats are glowing, thanks to researchers at Mayo Clinic, who inserted Rhesus monkey and jellyfish genes into unfertilized cat eggs. The mix makes resulting kittens apparently resistant to feline immunodeficiency virus, which causes feline AIDS. Oh, yeah, and it also makes them glow under special lights. It's all part of a study on how to best fight human HIV and AIDS—as well as battle feline AIDS, which is plaguing domestic cats. The glowing stunt helps researchers track the cats' engineered genes and cells. "We want to see if we can protect the domestic cat against its AIDS virus, if we can protect any species, eventually including ours, against its own AIDS virus," Dr. Eric Poeschla tells Live Science . More»

Pair of studies show minimum 60% drop in infection rate

(NEWSER) - The same antiretroviral drugs that treat HIV and AIDS can also be used to cut down the risk of contracting HIV in the first place, two new studies show. The dramatic results are just the latest evidence that AIDS drugs can be effective at prevention as well as treatment. While previous research has shown antiretroviral drugs to be effective for specific groups, the new studies, carried out in Kenya, Uganda, and Botswana, show that they are also effective in the general heterosexual population. More»