NAPWA

In this edition:

• Our Region (3 items)
• International (5 items)
• HIV Treatments (2 items)
• HIV Criminalisation (2 items)
• Infectious Diseases (2 items)
• Science & Medicine (1 item)

Our Region

Longtime staff member parts ways with NZAF

GayNZ (NZ), 20 Aug

Tags: hiv-sector nz nzaf

The New Zealand AIDS Foundation's National Campaigns Co-ordinator Douglas Jenkin has has parted ways with the organisation.

Continues: http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/2/article_9179.php

School attacks deadly virus

Fiji Times (Fiji), 21 Aug

Tags: hiv fiji albion-street-centre musson,rachel houtzager,louise

THE Fiji School of Medicine has joined the fight against HIV with a two-day awareness workshop on the virus.

Continues: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=154153

HIV or not?

Fiji Times (Fiji), 22 Aug

Tags: hiv fiji

People with HIV enjoy sex and fall in love, just like everyone else. If you just tested positive for HIV, you may not want to think about having sex. Some people who get HIV feel guilty or embarrassed. These are common reactions.

Continues: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=154208

International

AIDS activists: Chinese colleague detained

Washington Post (US)/AP, 21 Aug

Tags: hiv china activists tian-xi

Police in central China have detained an AIDS activist who contracted the virus as a boy and whose tireless campaigning for the rights of those with the disease angered local authorities, his fellow activists said Saturday.

Continues: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/21/AR201008...

BBC presenter charged over 'mercy killing' claims

ABC News/Reuters, 20 Aug

Tags: hiv euthanasia uk gosling,ray police

A BBC journalist has been charged with wasting police time over claims he made earlier this year that he had killed a former lover who was dying from AIDS.

Continues: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/20/2989305.htm?section=world

UK broadcaster Ray Gosling charged over death claim

News.com.au/AP, 20 Aug

Tags: hiv euthanasia uk gosling,ray

A BRITISH TV broadcaster who claimed in a documentary that he had killed his dying lover has been charged with wasting police time.

Continues: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/uk-broadcaster-ray-gosling-charged-...

Africans text message to check if drugs are real

SMH/AP, 20 Aug

Tags: hiv malaria counterfeiting sms africa

For Africans wondering whether the malaria drugs they've bought are real, there may soon be a quick way of finding out: sending a text message.

Continues: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-technology/africans-text-message-to...

Swazi anger at prince's HIV exaggeration claim

BBC News (UK), 20 Aug

Tags: hiv swaziland king-mswati-iii

Aids activists in Swaziland have criticised a top adviser to King Mswati III for saying the country's HIV epidemic is being exaggerated for the benefit of pharmaceutical firms.

Continues: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11039276

HIV Treatments

HIV-resistant cells work in mice. Can they help humans?

Los Angeles Times (US), 21 Aug

Tags: hiv stem-cells animal-experiments bone-marrow eradication gene-therapy cure prevention

California scientists, boosted by stem cell research funding enabled by Proposition 71, are aiming for clinical trials involving gene therapy through bone marrow transplants.

Continues: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-hiv-therapy-20100822,0,287326...

Health in the future: HIV self-destructs with a 'mix'

The Independent (UK), 20 Aug

Tags: hiv ro-31-8959 eradication protease-inhibitors apoptosis

Israeli researchers have discovered a ‘mix' of peptides that makes HIV self-destruct in a Petri dish.

Continues: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-in-th...

HIV Criminalisation

The woman in the dock can be the victim too

Joan Smith/The Independent (UK), 22 Aug (OPINION)

Tags: hiv op-ed criminal-law benaissa,nadja germany gbh infectivity

Aids activists say that at least 600 people in 40 countries have been convicted of offences in relation to HIV, even though most cases haven't involved deliberate intention or transmission.

Continues: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/joan-smith/joan-smith-...

'HIV is no longer an epidemic. But the stigma is'

The Independent (UK), 21 Aug

Tags: hiv criminal-law stigma benaissa,nadja deliberately-infected reckless-endangerment exposure positively-uk hpa

A German court case has shone a light on the social impact of infection.

Continues: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/...

Infectious Diseases

Kenyan court sentences 2 TB patients to 8 months

Washington Post (US)/AP, 21 Aug

Tags: tb public-health kenya mandatory-treatment hiv

A court has sentenced two tuberculosis patients who skipped their medications to spend eight months in prison to avoid spreading the deadly disease among the public, a senior health official said Saturday.

Continues: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/21/AR201008...

Ebola drugs: Agents block Ebola, Marburg viruses in tests

Los Angeles Times (US), 22 Aug

Tags: haemorrhagic-fever ebola marburg-fever nucleotides animal-experiments

Synthetic nucleotides injected into monkeys can block the replication of Ebola and Marburg viruses, suggesting it eventually may be possible to protect humans against these deadly bioterror agents, researchers said Sunday.

Continues: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-ebola-marburg-20100823,0,7448...

Science & Medicine

‘Miracle’ elixir linked to death, illness

The Age, 22 Aug

Tags: miracle-mineral-solution bogus-treatments tga advertising harvey,ken fda victorian-health-services-commission

THE suppliers of a ‘miracle’ water additive linked to one death in Vanuatu and at least 10 hospitalisations in Australia have come under fire from authorities for endangering the public by  claiming the bleach-based substance can cure everything from AIDS to cancer.

Continues: http://www.theage.com.au/national/miracle-elixir-linked-to-death-illness...