One in five unaware that HIV can be passed though unprotected gay sex

by Jessica Geen (http://www.pinknews.co.uk)

A survey suggests that one in five people do not know that HIV can be passed on through unprotected gay sex.

The poll of 1,944 people, by the National AIDS Trust, also found that the same number did not realise that unsafe heterosexual sex could lead to transmission of the virus.

African and Caribbean people were least likely to know that unprotected gay sex was a route of transmission – 49 per cent compared with 20 per cent overall.

This is the fourth year that the charity has published the annual survey ’HIV: Public Knowledge and Attitudes’.

Researchers said it was particularly concerning that more people now wrongly believe that HIV can be caught through kissing (nine per cent) and spitting (ten per cent). These figures have doubled from 2007′s survey from four per cent and five per cent respectively.

Less than half of the public (45 per cent ) believe HIV can be passed from person to person by sharing needles or syringes. Only 30 per cent were able to correctly identify all the ways HIV can and cannot be passed on.

Sixty-seven per cent of people said they had sympathy for those with HIV and 74 per cent believed they should have the same level of support and respect as people with cancer.

Eleven per cent had no sympathy, rising to 30 per cent towards those infected with HIV through unprotected sex.

Almost half of people (47 per cent) thought that there are no effective ways of preventing a pregnant mother with HIV from passing HIV on to her baby.

Evidence shows that the right treatment gives an HIV-positive mother a 99 per cent chance of having a healthy baby.

Deborah Jack, the chief executive of National AIDS Trust, said: “It is certainly positive to see the majority of the public have supportive attitudes towards people with HIV, but there are still huge gaps in awareness of what it means to live with HIV in the UK today.

“It is extremely important that inroads are made in terms of educating the general public so we can eradicate the prejudice which still exists around HIV. In addition to improving knowledge of HIV, intensive work also needs to go into tackling the often deep-seated judgments and beliefs held about HIV and the people affected.

“The government made a concerted and effective effort to tackle this stigma in mental health, and now it is time for HIV to be addressed in the same way.”

Should Being Gay Be a Family Secret? Why is it hard for some parents to accept their child's true identity?

An Italian film currently in theaters, entitled "I Am Love", features the shocking upheavals in a family, one of which involves the college-aged daughter who reveals to her mother that she has fallen in love with a woman. The daughter keeps her relationship a secret from her father, whom she believes won't understand. But her mother, although stunned at first, is lovingly accepting - and shares in her daughter's joy at having found someone to love. How common is this mother's reaction?

While much progress has been made in the last several decades with regard to accepting homosexuality as part of the human fabric, homophobia still exists within families and society at large. Sadly, too many children and young adults still don't feel comfortable revealing their sexual identity to their parents. Keeping this part of themselves a secret from their family is an emotional burden no one should have to bear. After all, if we cannot reveal ourselves to those we're closest to, what does family mean?

The reality is that there are no clear cut demarcations defining heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual. While some may not want to acknowledge the fluidity of human sexual identity, the truth is that each person's sexuality falls somewhere on a broad continuum. Even those of us who define ourselves as heterosexual may have same-sex sexual fantasies or occasional sexual feelings toward persons of our own gender. And those who define themselves as gay may occasionally have sexual feelings for the opposite sex. Sexuality stems from our fluctuating emotions, which don't necessarily fall into neat sexual categories. So how can we rigidly define what is "normal"? And how can we fail to accept our child's true nature, even if others label homosexuality as abnormal?

We teach our children to be honest with others and true to themselves. And we claim we want to accept our children for who they truly are. Shouldn't we then assure them that they can feel comfortable being open about their sexual identity?

 

This is not to deny that it may be difficult for some heterosexual parents to learn that their child is gay. As much as we may want to be role models of tolerance and openness, we can get trapped by the desire to see our children in our own image, to expect them to be like us in certain fundamental ways. But, like the mother in "I Am Love," what connects us to our children on the deepest level is our authentic love for them-which then allows them to love others deeply and authentically.

- Dr. Ana Nogales (www.psychologytoday.com)

Gays vs. Straights: Any Differences in Sexual Satisfaction?

by Outrage Magazine on Thursday, August 19, 2010 at 1:25am

Sexually, homo- and heterosexual couples are more similar than different. 

by Michael Castleman

The phrase, "battle of the sexes," implies a yawning chasm between men and women that includes their sexual sensibilities. The corollary implication is that lesbian/gay couples have less of a "battle." Because they are members of the same gender, they are more likely to appreciate lovers' feelings, including feelings about sex.

But is that really true? Are same-sex couples sexually more compatible than heterosexual couples? It's amazing how little research has focused on this--just two studies (1983 and 1991, and they provide only a cursory look at comparative gay/straight sexual satisfaction).

Fortunately, Canadian psychologists just published a more comprehensive study (Journal of Sex Research, 2009, 46:57). They surveyed 423 people in couples, ages 18 to 58, 322 women, 101 men, 253 in mixed-sex and 170 in same-sex relationships.

This survey has strengths: Participants were recruited from the Internet and were geographically diverse, from across North America. The survey was anonymous, so answers were presumably more honest than they might have been in face-to-face interviews. And the sex questions represented only a small fraction of the total survey, which dealt with social support, so participants had no idea they were participating in a "sex survey."

But the survey also has weaknesses: Compared with the total population, participants were more white (91%) and more college educated (53%).

As a result, the findings cannot be considered definitive. Nonetheless, they are intriguing.

* Sexual desire. Desire declines in long-term couples, but on average, men retain more desire than women, so we would expect men in gay couples to feel the most desire, and women in lesbian couples the least, with the men in mixed-sex couples expressing more libido than the women. But in the survey, sexual desire was pretty much the same for all couples, with gay men and lesbians expressing slightly more desire than heterosexuals.

* Sexual communication. Similarity breeds comfort, so compared with those in heterosexual couples, we would expect people in lesbian and gay couples to feel more satisfied with their sexual communication. But in the survey, satisfaction with sexual communication was "virtually identical" for all groups.

* Sexual activities. "All groups displayed very similar sexual repertoires." The only difference was that gay men were more into anal play. (Of course, lesbians don't have penis intercourse, but they can enjoy insertive vaginal play using fingers and dildos.)

* Satisfaction with sexual activities. It was remarkably similar for all groups. The only difference was that women, both lesbian and straight, felt somewhat more satisfied with non-genital caresesses than men, both gay and straight, presumably because compared with women, men tend to be more genital-focused. But all groups expressed very similar levels of satisfaction with their lovemaking.

* Satisfaction with orgasm. All groups enjoyed the same satisfaction.

Of course, this study has limitations--modest numbers and a sample that's not truly representative. But as sex surveys go, this one was reasonably well done.

People in lesbian, gay male, and mixed-gender couples have their differences. But bottom line: Contrary to the conventional wisdom, in terms of sexual desire, communication, and satisfaction, people in homo- and heterosexual couples are much more similar than different.

From http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-sex/200905/gays-vs-straights-any-differences-in-sexual-satisfaction

Understanding AIDS -- a labor of love

Reuters

Friday, July 23, 2010; 10:30 AM

VIENNA (Reuters Life!) - At AIDS 2010, the PLWHA and the PLHIV have come together with MSMs, IDUs and other MARPs to see if they can bring about GIPA.

In other words, this week's international AIDS conference in Vienna has plunged journalists seeking to make sense of the global epidemic into a thick alphabet soup.

Once you've figured out the basics, like HIV -- human immunodeficiency virus, and AIDS -- acquired immunodeficiency syndrome -- the acronyms move to another level.

MSM is short for men who have sex with men, IDUs are injecting drug users and MARPs are most at risk populations and LGBTs are lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

PMTCT is prevention of mother to child transmission and PEP stands for post-exposure prophylaxis and PrEP, conveniently, is pre-exposure prophylaxis.

"Letters are swimming before me like alphabet soup. It's almost like they make a new one up every day ," said one reporter laboring through the conferences' press statements.

AIDS drugs are known as ART, or antiretroviral therapy, HAART, highly active antiretroviral therapy, and there's a new generation known as NNRTIs, or non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors.

Then you get the acronyms that include acronyms inside them.

PLHIV are people living with HIV, PLWHA stands for people living with HIV and AIDS, while GIPA means greater involvement of people living with HIV and AIDS.

"It's one of the hardest things to get your head around when you start working in this area," said one communications official at the media center at the biennial conference.

"It's a steep learning curve, but the sad fact is that after a while it becomes the norm, and then you start talking AIDS."

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Steve Addison) REUTERS

HIV epidemic may be imminent in the Philippines

The report, published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society, said young adults, gay and bisexual men, prostitutes, injecting drug users, overseas Filipino workers and sex partners of all these groups were vulnerable to contracting the virus.

"There is no guarantee that a large HIV epidemic will be avoided in the near future. Indeed, an expanding HIV epidemic is likely to be only a matter of time as the components for such an epidemic are already present in the Philippines," wrote Anna Farr and David Wilson at the National Center in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Unlike other countries in the region, the spread of HIV in the Philippines has been described as "low and slow" because of a disperse geography, relatively uncommon intravenous drug use, sexual conservatism and high male circumcision rates.

But the authors said an HIV epidemic was possible because of the presence of many conditions "for a large, increasing and generalized epidemic."

"These include: a low rate of condom use; unsafe practices among intravenous drug users; large migration rates; increasing trends in extramarital and premarital sex; a lack of education and common misconceptions about HIV/AIDS; and cultural factors that inhibit public discussion of issues of a sexual nature," they wrote.

The report also focused on the 7.5 million Filipinos working abroad in 170 countries.

"By participating in casual unprotected sex or other risky behavior while overseas in higher prevalence settings, overseas Filipino workers become a substantial source of new HIV cases in the Philippines upon their return home," they said.

Overseas Filipino workers make up 30 to 35 percent of all HIV cases reported in the country, the report said.

The Philippines has the lowest rate of condom use in Asia - just 20 to 30 percent among groups at risk of HIV infection such as sex workers, according to the report.

"A common perception is that condoms are only for birth control and not for protection against HIV and other sexually-transmitted illnesses," the authors wrote.

"This perception is reinforced by the view that condoms are discouraged by the Roman Catholic Church. Government family planning programs have policies against supplying condoms to unmarried people."

Monthly HIV diagnoses among homosexual men jumped to 704 by 2008 from 328 in 2003, while the figure among bisexual men shot to 289 from 92 within the same period. The average age of diagnosis has also fallen significantly, from 36 before 2005 to 29 years recently, the authors wrote.

(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Kazunori Takada) 

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64A1HG20100511?rpc=60

Calif. considers repealing law to study, cure gays

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ (Associated Press) 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers narrowly advanced a bill Tuesday that would repeal a state law designed to find the causes and cures of homosexuality.

The law, written in 1950, classifies homosexuals as "sexual deviants" and requires the state Department of Mental Health to conduct research on "deviations conducive to sex crimes against children." The research would be used to help identify potential sex offenders.

The bill moved out of the Assembly Committee on Public Safety on a 4-0 vote, with one Democrat and two Republican members abstaining from voting. They said the law's reference to homosexuality should be removed but that they want the state to continue researching sex crimes.

California put the law on the books as a response to public outcry after a series of sex crimes in Los Angeles, which included the rape and murder of a 6-year-old girl. The murderer, who openly confessed his crime, was not gay.

"Even then, there was no legal justification to say that gay people needed to be understood and cured in the exact same way as sexual predators who rape and kill children," said Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, who sponsored the bill.

"For us to leave it there would be wrong," she said.

Lowenthal said California has not conducted research into homosexuality for decades, but did release two reports that examined hormone levels, physical characteristics and parental relationships of its subjects.

The American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality as a mental disorder until 1973.

"This code simply mischaracterizes and institutes bigotry against the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community," said Mario Guerrero, a director of Equality California, a gay-rights group.

HOMOSEXUAL INFERENCES NOT DEFAMATORY

BLOGGER'S NOTE: This may be an American case but our courts often refer to decisions of the US Supreme Court in some of their decisions. This may be a precedence. For me, call me a homo, a gay or bayot, we'll see. Call me cute, I will agree.

 

Shock Jocks' Homosexual Inferences Not Defamatory, Judge Rules (www.law.com)

Mary Pat Gallagher

New Jersey Law Journal

April 02, 2010

In today's society, at least in New Jersey, homosexuality has lost its stigma, so a false statement that someone is gay isn't slanderous, a federal judge in Trenton said Wednesday in dismissing a suit against two radio shock jocks. 

U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano predicted the state Supreme Court, which insisted on equal protection for same-sex couples in 2006, would be unlikely to "legitimize discrimination against gays and lesbians" by treating a homosexual reference as a slur. 

The ruling, in Murphy v. Millenium Radio Group, 08-cv-1743, is a loss for freelance photographer Peter Murphy, who complained that Craig Carton and Ray Rossi, hosts of the "Jersey Guys" show on WKXW 101.5 FM, "derogatorily inferred" he was a homosexual during a 45-minute segment. 

The on-air lambasting arose from a photograph of Carton and Rossi that Murphy had taken for New Jersey Monthly magazine, which named the pair the state's top shock jocks for a "Best of 2006" issue. Murphy posed them standing side by side and apparently naked except for a placard, with the station's name, covering their midsections. 

The photo was posted on 101.5 FM's Web site and on the hosts' myspacetv.com page, without a copyright notice in either place. The station invited Web site visitors to send in altered versions and many did. One put bikini tops on Carton and Rossi and changed the placard to read "2007 Jersey Girls Calendar." Others added images like Michael Jackson and Gov. Richard Codey. 

The station posted the altered pictures but removed them after Murphy's lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter in June 2007, claiming copyright infringement and demanding compensation. 

Shortly afterward, Murphy alleged, Carton and Rossi spent about 45 minutes bashing him on their show, talking about how he had them pose for the photo and suggesting he was homosexual. 

They also impugned his personal integrity, describing him as "a man not to be trusted" in a business environment, a man who "will sue you" if you have business dealings with him and someone with whom "a person should avoid doing business," Murphy alleged in his defamation and copyright suit against Carton, Rossi and Millenium Radio Group, owner of the radio station. 

In claiming he was slandered by the implication he was gay, he had support from the leading New Jersey case on the issue, Gray v. Press Communications, 342 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2001). Sally Star Gray, who had a children's television program from 1950 to 1972, sued Jeff Diminski, host of a call-in radio show on 101.5 FM, for calling her "the lesbian cowgirl." A trial court judge dismissed the case but the Appellate Division reversed, finding a false accusation of homosexuality is defamatory. 

The issue was a novel one in New Jersey but the Gray court noted that most other states found such words actionable. "Although society has come a long way in recognizing a person's right to freely exercise his or her sexual preferences, unfortunately, the fact remains that a number of citizens still look upon homosexuality with disfavor," wrote Appellate Division Judge Isaiah Steinberg. 

Society has come a bit further since then, in Pisano's view. He cited Lewis v. Harris, 188 N.J. 415 (2006), which held committed same-sex couples are constitutionally entitled to the same rights and benefits as married couples, though not necessarily to the institution of marriage. The decision resulted in the enactment of the N.J. Civil Union Law. 

"Given the decision in Lewis and the recognized evolution of the societal landscape, it appears unlikely that the New Jersey Supreme Court would legitimize discrimination against gays and lesbians by concluding that referring to someone as homosexual 'tends to so harm the reputation of that person as to lower him in the estimation of the community as to deter third persons from associating or dealing with him,'" wrote Pisano, quoting Gray. 

The inference of homosexuality, as well as the other allegedly defamatory comments, were "nothing more than rhetorical hyperbole, name calling or verbal abuse" of the kind that would be expected on "Jersey Guys," a show of "controversial and humorous character." 

Pisano also rejected the copyright claims, holding the fair-use doctrine applied to use of both the original photograph and the altered versions. 

And he dismissed Murphy's claim under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998, or DMCA, which bars the intentional removal of "copyright management information." 

The photograph appeared in New Jersey Monthly with no copyright notice, only a credit in fine print in the gutter of the printed page that was inserted by a magazine employee using Adobe InDesign software. 

The fine-print gutter credit was not "copyright management information," held Pisano. There was no circuit precedent interpreting the DMCA's language, but Pisano said he was persuaded by the opinion of fellow New Jersey District Judge Joseph Greenaway Jr. in IQ Group Ltd v. Wiesner Publishing, 409 F. Supp. 2d 587 (2006). Greenaway is now a judge on the 3rd Circuit. 

The DMCA applies to automated systems of copyright management, not that "performed by people," wrote Pisano. Otherwise, every reproduction of a magazine photograph without its original credit would run afoul of the law, converting "garden-variety copyright claims" to DMCA claims and "supplanting the original Copyright Act." 

The defendants' lawyer, Thomas Cafferty of Scarinci Hollenbeck in Lyndhurst, says Pisano properly decided that the test for defamation should not be what bigoted people think. "Happily, in today's climate, most right thinking people do not think less of you because of your sexual orientation," he says. 

Murphy's lawyer, Michael Kassak of White & Williams in Cherry Hill, did not return a call.

HIV and AIDS: We Are All Part of the Solution

We can all be leaders. We can take more responsibility to do more as individuals, as communities, and as a nation to fight HIV and AIDS.

As individuals:

• We should know whether or not we are infected with HIV;
• If we are infected, we should seek medical care and protect others from becoming infected;
• We should protect ourselves and others from HIV;
• We should educate ourselves and others about HIV.

As communities:

• We should mobilize to overcome the challenges and barriers to HIV prevention;
• We should fight ignorance and complacency related to HIV;
• We should increase the awareness about the severity of epidemic and the continued impact that HIV is having on our communities;
• We should make sure that HIV prevention services, HIV testing, medical care and treatment are available to all who need them;
• We should work to prevent stigma and discrimination—and to increase support for people living with HIV.

As a nation:

• We must recognize the epidemic here, in this country, for the crisis that it still is;
• We must implement the programs that scientific evidence tells us are most effective;
• We must ensure that those who need effective prevention interventions have access to them;
• We must come together to intensify efforts and the stop this epidemic

Tips for talking about sex and HIV with your partner.

• Set up a mutually convenient time to talk to your partner.
• Make sure you are in a relaxed environment so your partner doesn't feel pressured or "cornered."
• Talk about your concerns from a personal perspective. In other words, use "I" statements instead of "you" statements which might sound accusatory or blaming.

 FROM : www.nineandahalfminutes.org

Cheap antibiotics could save tens of thousands of HIV patients: CO-TRIMOXAZOLE

A major study has found that giving HIV patients an inexpensive antibiotic could save tens of thousands of lives.

The study of 3,179 newly-diagnosed patients in Uganda found that giving them a course of co-trimoxazole significantly reduced the death toll, the BBC reports.

Patients diagnosed with HIV usually begin their treatment with anti-retroviral drugs, which work by slowing down HIV infection.

But newly-diagnosed patients are also susceptible to infections and it is estimated that a quarter of people in sub-Saharan Africa die within one year of being diagnosed with HIV.

The study, published in The Lancet, found that giving people co-trimoxazole, as an addition to anti-retroviral drugs, lowered the death toll by 59 per in the first 12 weeks, and 44 per cent between 12 and 72 weeks.

The use of the antibiotic was also found to cut deaths from malaria by a quarter.

Although the treatment is already endorsed by the World Health Organisation, the scientists involved in the study said that it was not available to all who need it and that drug treatment programmes must move faster to keep up with developments.

Professor Charles Gilks, who led the study, said that questions over how well the treatment works were now "well and truly answered".

He added: "Tens of thousands of lives can be saved by more universal use of the drug, costing just a few pence a day." (www.pinknews.co.uk)

BLOGGER'S NOTE: Ows, it is readily available in druggists anywhere, but not that cheap here in the Philippines. GREAT!

How could I say thank you, Brian?

It was the other year that I begun following a principled man on his blog. I wasn’t a techie person but I love reading. His was a fight for his rights and against a Filipino who stashed away his savings, unmindful of his present condition. He is HIV positive, good thing about it, he is proud and never let this challenge hinder his moving on.

He is Brian Gorrell and he is one of the reasons why I am also blogging. He has captured the attention of a lot of people and those who understood his plight and those who are against his former lover’s vices and alleged crimes, as well as his gang who is composed of some well to do and old clans in Metro Manila.

Brian is gay which I could also relate as I am also such and like him, I am proud to be gay. What makes him different from me is I am not HIV positive but what he taught me was to stand up and advocate against the spread of HIV and AIDS in the Philippines and that is the heart and soul of this blog. That is why you will find here articles regarding the basics of HIV, AIDS in the Philippines and other issues which admittedly are not talked about in circles and coffee tables because of embarrassment and other conservative outlooks in life which tends to sacrifice life itself. Discussing health issues and societal concerns should never be a taboo. We should not be scared or embarrassed to discuss “sensitive” things like this for after all, it is our health that is at stake. I would rather remain healthy than rich and beautiful, as my close peer once said. And i agree, with being healthy (and sexually active), I could reap riches with hard work and focus, don’t you think?

I wish to thank Mr.  Gorrell for the inspiration. I hope that a lot more of Brian’s kind will also share their pieces of life for after all, we can never survive the intricacies of this darn thing called life when we are alone.

Well, could I ask, have I put my message across? Sure do, I hope. I wish I could hug Brian, though and give him a pat in the back. Good luck mate! THANK YOU FOR BEING AN INSPIRATION.

P.S. Here is Mr Brian Gorrell. Sorry that I have to steal this photo of you,

Brian but you look gorgeous on this shot!

Blogger Templates

The HIV Life Cyle

Blogger's Note: With my intention to spread information regarding HIV AIDS, please take a moment to understand this technical cycle about it, spread it around, too. 

The information, not the virus.

Introduction

In order for viruses to reproduce, they must infect a cell. Viruses are not technically alive: they are sort of like a brain with no body. In order to make new viruses, they must hi-jack a cell, and use it to make new viruses. Just as your body is constantly making new skin cells, or new blood cells, each cell often makes new proteins in order to stay alive and to reproduce itself. Viruses hide their own DNA in the DNA of the cell, and then, when the cell tries to make new proteins, it accidentally makes new viruses as well. HIV mostly infects cells in the immune system. Infection: Several different kinds of cells have proteins on their surface that are called CD4 receptors. HIV searches for cells that have CD4 surface receptors, because this particular protein enables the virus to bind to the cell. Although HIV infects a variety of cells, its main target is the T4-lymphocyte (also called the "T-helper cell"), a kind of white blood cell that has lots of CD4 receptors. The T4-cell is responsible for warning your immune system that there are invaders in the system. Replication: Once HIV binds to a cell, it hides HIV DNA inside the cell's DNA: this turns the cell into a sort of HIV factory.

representation of HIV

Definitions

There are a few things you need to know in order to understand HIV infection. DNA: DNA is like the "blueprint" for building living cells. Enzymes: Enzymes are like the workers of a cell. They build new proteins, transport materials around the cell, and carry out other important cellular functions. RNA: RNA is like the construction boss. Cells use RNA to tell enzymes how to build a specific part of a cell. To make a new protein, enzymes will copy a specific part of the DNA into a piece of RNA. This RNA is then used by other enzymes to build a new protein or enzyme. Proteins: The building blocks that are used to make living things. Nucleus: A small package inside the cell where the genetic material is kept.

representation of HIV

Step 1: Binding

A virus consists of an outer envelope of protein, fat and sugar wrapped around a set of genes (in the case of HIV, genetic information is carried as RNA instead of DNA) and special enzymes. HIV has proteins on its envelope that are strongly attracted to the CD4+ surface receptor on the outside of the T4-cell. When HIV binds to a CD4+ surface receptor, it activates other proteins on the cell's surface, allowing the HIV envelope to fuse to the outside of the cell. Entry can be blocked by entry inhibitors.

Step 2: Reverse Transcription

HIV's genes are carried in two strands of RNA, while the genetic material of human cells is found in DNA. In order for the virus to infect the cell, a process called "reverse transcription" makes a DNA copy of the virus's RNA. After the binding process, the viral capsid (the inside of the virus which contains the RNA and important enzymes) is released into the host cell. A viral enzyme called reverse transcriptase makes a DNA copy of the RNA. This new DNA is called "proviral DNA." Reverse transcription can be blocked by: Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs), and Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs).

Step 3: Integration

The HIV DNA is then carried to the cell's nucleus (center), where the cell's DNA is kept. Then, another viral enzyme called integrase hides the proviral DNA into the cell's DNA. Then, when the cell tries to make new proteins, it can accidentally make new HIVs. Integration can be blocked by integrase inhibitors.

Step 4: Transcription

Once HIV's genetic material is inside the cell's nucleus, it directs the cell to produce new HIV. The strands of viral DNA in the nucleus separate, and special enzymes create a complementary strand of genetic material called messenger RNA or mRNA (instructions for making new HIV). Transcription can be blocked by antisense antivirals or transcription inhibitors (TIs), new classes of drugs that are in the earliest stage of research.

Step 5: Translation

The mRNA carries instructions for making new viral proteins from the nucleus to a kind of workshop in the cell. Each section of the mRNA corresponds to a protein building block for making a part of HIV. As each mRNA strand is processed, a corresponding string of proteins is made. This process continues until the mRNA strand has been transformed or "translated" into new viral proteins needed to make a new virus.

Step 6: Viral Assembly and Maturation

The final step begins with the assembly of new virus. Long strings of proteins are cut up by a viral enzyme called protease into smaller proteins. These proteins serve a variety of functions; some become structural elements of new HIV, while others become enzymes, such as reverse transcriptase. Once the new viral particles are assembled, they bud off the host cell, and create a new virus. The virus then enters the maturation stage, which involves the processing of viral proteins. Maturation is the final step in the process and is required for the virus to become infectious.  With viral assembly and maturation completed, the virus is able to infect new cells. Each infected cell can produce a lot of new viruses. Viral assembly can be blocked by Protease Inhibitors (PIs). Maturation, a new target of companies developing anti-HIV drugs, may be blocked using Maturation Inhibitors.

Pictures

colored scanning electron micrograph of a single HIV budding from a T4 cell colored scanning electron micrograph of a T4 cell (green) infected with HIV (red). © NIBSC/Science Photo Library

HIV, The Basics

WHAT IT MEANS
HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, is the virus that causes the disease called AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. You can see that both medical terms share the word immunodeficiency, a mouthful of a word that means deficiency of the immune system. This explains exactly why having an HIV infection threatens your health—it can weaken your body’s own natural defense against sickness.

WHY IT MATTERS
The longer HIV attacks your immune system, the more you risk developing serious infections and cancers. To prevent this from happening, it is important to get tested for HIV—and, if necessary, start treatment with HIV medication—as soon as possible. If you do come down with something serious or if blood tests show that your immune system is low on power, your diagnosis officially changes from “HIV positive” to “AIDS.”

HIV? Or AIDS?
HIV and AIDS are not the same thing, though many people wrongly use the terms as if they were. Over the past decade, as better drugs have increasingly made this disease manageable for many years, the conventional wisdom that HIV infection always leads to sickness and an AIDS diagnosis has had to be revised.

NOTE TO ROOKIES
Never forget these two facts: First, you can live a long, healthy life with HIV. Second, learning as much as you can about HIV and getting to know other people who have it are the best defense against sickness.

YOU’RE NOT ALONE

40 million

The estimated number of people in the world who have HIV.

HEADS UP
HIV is most commonly transmitted in the following three ways:

1. Unprotected sex via anal, vaginal or oral penetration without a condom.

2. Sharing “works” (needles and syringes, cookers, cottons and water) when injecting drugs or other substances.

3. From a mother to her baby during pregnancy, birth or breast-feeding. With proper medical care, however, the risk of giving your baby HIV can be almost completely eliminated. 

 

TAKEN FROM WWW.POZ.COM

Acne Drug May Help in the Fight Against AIDS

Antibiotic plus standard therapy appears to halt HIV progression in cells, study finds

FRIDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- A cheap acne drug that's been used for decades appears to target infected immune-system cells in which HIV lies dormant before coming back to life and spreading infection, researchers have found. 

The authors of a new study say the antibiotic drug, minocycline, sold under names such as Minocin, could add to the HIV-fighting powers of existing AIDS drug regimens. 

"The big challenge clinicians deal with now in this country when treating HIV patients is keeping the virus locked in a dormant state," Janice Clements, professor of molecular and comparative pathobiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a news release. While existing drugs are "really effective in keeping down active replication, minocycline is another arm of defense against the virus," she added. 

Clements said minocycline targets immune cells known as T cells and makes it harder for them to reproduce. That, in turn, makes it harder for HIV to spread and eventually cause AIDS.

"This drug strikes a good balance and is ideal for HIV because it targets very specific aspects of immune activation," Gregory Szeto, a graduate student who works at the Retrovirus Laboratory at Hopkins, said in the news release.

The study findings have been released online in advance of publication in the April 15 print issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

More information

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a primer on AIDS drugs.

-- Randy Dotinga- 

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