Microbicide Trials Network

Court Accepts China's First HIV Discrimination Case, State Media Reports "A municipal court in central China has accepted the country's first lawsuit alleging work discrimination because of HIV status, state media reported Tuesday," the Associated Press reports (8/31)...

HIV-infected children receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) may require revaccination to maintain immunity against preventable diseases. There remains no standard or official recommendation on revaccination of children receiving HAART, an effective intervention in reducing morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected children...

Anaesthetists are calling for greater clarity on the legal implications of testing incapacitated patients for blood-borne viruses, after a survey found that this is often done following staff needlestick injuries, in possible breach of UK legislation...

During the 63rd U.N. Department of Public Information/NGO Conference on Monday in Melbourne, Australia, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "call[ed] on delegates to do more to save the lives of mothers and babies," the Australian Associated Press/Sydney Morning Herald reports (Alexander/Rose, 8/30)...

Ahead of next month's U.N. Summit in New York, a joint U.N.-NGO conference tracking the world's progress toward reaching the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) kicked off in Melbourne, Australia, on Monday, ABC News reports (8/30)...

Malaysia Considers GM Mosquito Release To Control Dengue Fever Malaysia is still "considering releasing" up to 3,000 mosquitoes that are genetically modified to "combat dengue fever, in a landmark field trial that has come in for criticism from environmentalists," Agence France-Presse reports...

Lancet Infectious Diseases Reflects On TB Diagnosis In Children "[N]ew diagnostic techniques [for tuberculosis] need to be studied in children," according to a Lancet Infectious Diseases Reflection...

Elsevier and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam announced on 26th of August the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) providing 150 researchers working in least-developed and low-income countries (for example Benin, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Togo etc...

Eastbourne MP Stephen Lloyd will be visiting HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust's (THT) centre on Wednesday 1 September at 11am. During his visit, Stephen will meet staff and local service users to find out first hand about the issues facing people in the region when it comes to HIV and sexual health...

Free HIV/AIDS tests, other significant tests and medical exams (including physicals) will be available to uninsured residents of the area when the National Association of Free Clinics holds a massive free clinic in New Orleans on Aug. 31 and Sept...

German pop star Nadja Benaissa, on trial for reckless transmission of HIV to a former partner, has been given a two year suspended sentence. Lisa Power, Policy Director at Terrence Higgins Trust, responds: "It's vital that we stop the onward transmission of HIV, but we don't believe that prosecutions like this help...

A Scientific American series examines how recent scientific advances will guide future efforts to thwart HIV/AIDS and also looks at the epidemic among men who have sex with men (MSM) and injecting drug users (IDUs)...

IRIN Examines Disaster Preparedness In Asian Health Sectors IRIN reports on disaster preparedness in Asian health sectors. According to the news service, nine countries working with Bangkok-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) "have emergency preparedness plans in place for their health sectors...

Vitamin A and beta-carotene supplements are unsafe for HIV-positive women who breastfeed because they may boost the excretion of HIV in breast milk-thereby increasing the chances of transmitting the infection to the child, a pair of new studies suggest...

Although a cognitive-behavioral intervention to encourage men who have sex with men to reduce their substance use and sexual risk behavior (as both are linked) was partially successful, a similar reduction was achieved in comparison groups who did not receive the intervention suggesting that better methods for changing behaviors are needed...

Nadja Benaissa, 28, who had admitted having unprotected sex with three men when she knew she was HIV positive, and infecting a former partner, has received a two-year suspended sentence. She had been charged with dangerous bodily harm. Under German law, a person can be sued if they are HIV positive and have (unprotected) sex with a partner without telling them about their HIV status...

U.N. Sends Top Aides To Investigate Alleged Mass Rapes In DRC "The United Nations is investigating claims that rebel fighters raped more than 150 women and baby boys in the Democratic Republic of Congo," the BBC reports. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is "sending two top aides" to the country and "also urged the Congolese government to investigate the attacks...

Kenya Drafts Policy To Address HIV In IDUs In Kenya, "[i]ntravenous drug users (IDUs) have been largely ignored by the government's HIV programmes on the basis that drug-taking is illegal, but a new policy is being drafted with the aim of reducing HIV transmission among this high-risk group," IRIN/PlusNews reports...

Merck announced the Merck Company Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are committing an additional $60 million to support Botswana's African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP). Merck is known as MSD outside the US and Canada...

Using a $225,000 microscope, researchers have identified the key components of a protein called TRIM5α that destroys HIV in rhesus monkeys. The finding could lead to new TRIM5α-based treatments that would knock out HIV in humans, said senior researcher Edward M. Campbell, PhD, of Loyola University Health System...