Here’s a quick look at the biggest health stories this week.
HIV
Government-Backed Group Calls for Universal HIV Testing of Adults
For the first time, a federally convened panel of experts is recommending HIV testing for all adults based on evidence that early detection of the virus could lead to more effective treatment of infection.
Why Circumcision Lowers Risk of HIV
Promising trials hinted that circumcision could lower rates of HIV infection, but until now, researchers didn’t fully understand why
Anti-HIV Antibodies May Spur AIDS Vaccine Development
Researchers report a breakthrough in generating powerful antibodies that can neutralize HIV.
A Newborn May Be Cured of HIV. Is the End of AIDS Near?
Researchers say a newborn baby born with HIV has been functionally cured of the disease. Could it lead to a cure for HIV?
How to Survive a Plague: Q&A with Act-Up’s Peter Staley on Effective Activism
The AIDS advocacy group Act-Up sped up the FDA’s drug approval process, improved patients’ access to drugs and changed the course of an epidemic. How did they do it?
Urban Ebola? Why the Latest Outbreak in Uganda Raises Worries
The presence of an infected person in the country’s capital, Kampala, has got the city freaked out — and it could be a rehearsal for the next great pandemic
1 in 4
15 million
“I quit taking my HIV medication on the day I got my first transplant. ... My HIV was gone...three months after the first transplant — totally eradicated from my body.”
Study: HIV Rates in Gay Black Men Are Alarmingly High
A study of black gay and bisexual men in six U.S. cities finds that rates of HIV are increasing at a troublesome pace: each year, nearly 3% of gay black men become infected with HIV, a 50% higher rate than among their white counterparts.
HIV Treatment Results Are Improving — But Maybe Not as Much as We Thought
The proportion of U.S. patients who receive effective treatment has jumped from 45% in 2001 to 72% in 2010, according to a large national study, but that’s still lower than some previous estimates
HIV Patients Should Start Drug Treatment Right Away, New Guidelines Say
Thousands of scientists, doctors, policymakers and people living with HIV are meeting this week for the annual International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., the first time the conference is being held on U.S. soil in 22 years.