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How many times have you started to have a conversation with someone about Hepatitis C only to have it blow up in your face? Have you ever heard someone say something about Hep C that didn't seem quite right to you? You were probably right something was amiss. A discussion about Hepatitis C can...
As per Wikipedia, the definition of a stigma is as follows: "Stigma is a word that originally means a "sign", "point", or "branding mark"." Wikipedia goes on to call stigma "A badge of shame, a physical mark of infamy or disgrace." Damn that w...
Recently, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) issued a statement that all Baby Boomers should be tested for Hepatitis C. The question often comes up as to why this particular segment of people is so vulnerable. What does being born between 1945 and 1965 have to do with Hepatitis C? What was di...
Buyer Beware! There are several snake oil salesmen out there who are claiming to have cured their own Hepatitis C with herbs, supplements and parking lot gravel. Okay, maybe not the parking lot gravel but it might as well be. What you need to remember is that there are two different types of...
Most every adult woman (and an occasional man) has enjoyed a manicure and a pedicure at a nail salon or spa. That 30 minute pedicure can be so relaxing but are you aware of the danger lurking in that nail salon? Although few individuals recognize the medical risks associated with this common pr...
When HIV/AIDS burst onto the scene in the early Eighties, no one really gave it a second thought. As we all know, it was deemed as a “gay mans” disease and it didn’t really affect the general population. In some circles, the consensus was that this disease was a testament sent by God to punish gay men for indulging in behaviors that was deemed as an abomination. Sadly, we’ve come to find out that HIV/AIDS doesn’t know sexual orientation, gender, race or ethnicity. It kills young and old alike and doesn’t believe in discriminating in the least.
According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), in 2009, there were an estimated 48,100 newly diagnosed cases of HIV reported.
1. “Even though the annual number of new HIV infections was stable overall during those years, there was an estimated 21% increase in HIV incidence for people aged 13-29 years, driven by a 34% increase in young MSM (Men that have sex with men - the only group to experience a significant increase in incidence in this age range). Among MSM aged 13-29, HIV incidence among black/African American MSM increased significantly (48%) from 2006 through 2009 with a statistically significant 12.2% estimated annual percentage increase.”
With the implementation of new drugs that combat AIDS, HIV has morphed into a chronic manageable illness instead of the death sentence that it had at one time been. It has shifted into the same category as diabetes and high blood pressure; both illnesses that can kill you if it is not addressed by a doctor and medication.
Because of this, many young gay men may be lulled into a false sense of complacency. The idea of contracting HIV doesn’t evoke the terror and dread that it once had, but it should. We don’t know how long the new drugs created to combat the virus that causes AIDS will work. We don’t know what the long term effect will be. We are only now coming upon an age where gay men who have been living with the virus for a prolonged period of time with the help of these powerful medications may start to experience some side effects from taking them. And we don’t know what those side effects will be.
It’s very possible that the very medications that are designed to save you from becoming a statistic of AIDS may inadvertently cause other life challenging problems such as compromising kidney functions or creating heart problems that you would never have had, had you not contracted HIV in the first place.
Because many young men didn’t go through the scare of AIDS when virtually nothing was known about the disease, they may feel themselves letting down their guards when they have every reason to keep it up.
Young gay men of color are at the top of the list when it comes to the rate of HIV infection, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Maybe what we need is a wake up call…a reminder of what can happen as well as what is truly at stake. You know that you have to protect yourself as well as your partner. You know that you have to take precautions when you are out “socializing”.
For everything that we know about this disease, there is so much that we are still in the dark about. New medications are coming out every day. As a matter of fact, there are some HIV medications that are now available in generic form. And of course, we all know that the best form of HIV prevention is abstinence. But since most of us love sex, abstinence may not be an option. So protect yourself. Protect your partner. There is no reason for anyone in this day in age to contract the virus that causes AIDS…especially because it is 100% preventable.
References:
1. Center for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/incidence.htm
Please sign the ATC Salvage Therapy Petition Join us in asking Congressman Alcee Hastings and Congresswomen Maxine Waters to send a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter to Anthony Fauci, Director of NIAID, asking for the federal facilitation of apricitabine (ATC). ATC is a phase III nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) that has been shown to be safe and effective in treating people with HIV. It works against viruses that are resistant to several other nukes and could ...
Researchers from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts Medical School announced today at CROI2013 the discovery of the first infant functionally cured of HIV. The baby, a female now two and a half years old, received 3 HIV medications when brought to the hospital at 30 hours old. Viral load tests were performed during the first few weeks that showed a rapidly decreasing viral load which reached ...
At the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington D.C., the CDC reported that only 1 out of 4 HIV patients in the U.S. have HIV under control, which is defined as complete viral suppression. Warning bells should be ringing in the scientific and HIV advocacy communities. While much progress has been made in the last three decades in the treatment of HIV, tens of thousands of people living with HIV (PLWH) are currently struggling to construct viable treat...
Paige Rawl is 17 and HIV positive, but while her life has been shaped by HIV it isn't ruled by it. When Paige Rawl starts her senior year at Indianapolis’s Herron High School next month, she'll be cheer captain and a member of the student government and prom committee. This summer, the 17-year-old held down a part-time job at Hollister, hawking the popular Southern California-inspired clothing brand. The all-American girl — who happens to be HIV positive. Paige was in...
The HIV community has been abuzz with the August FDA approval of what had been termed “the Quad”, the second one-pill-once-a-day combination antiretroviral drug. Marketed by Gilead under the name Stribild, the drug contains two NRTIs (tenofovir and emtricitabine), an integrase inhibitor (elvitegravir) and an integrase booster (cobicistat) and is approved for use in treatment naïve patients with either drug resistant or wild type virus. In comparison to Atripla, the first...
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for SUSTIVA® (efavirenz), including dosing recommendations for...
California and other states would be pressured to amend or repeal criminal laws that single out HIV-positive people under a bipartisan bill co-authored and introduced this week by Rep. Barbara...
Mission Statement
At HIV Haven we wish to provide our readers with vital cutting edge information to help expand HIV knowledge and promote activism, particularly that which works towards an end to the HIV pandemic. It is our desire to bring to you the scientific, medical and social advances that given the appropriate attention and support, could change the course of the HIV pandemic, lessen the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS, better the quality and quantity of life for people living with HIV and even yield an eventual end to the HIV pandemic. We also provide the basics of HIV transmission and treatment.
We will focus on issues such as innovative drug development, strategic activist campaigns, HIV relationships and novel HIV and HIV cure research. We also will bring you advances in Hepatitis C (HCV), a common HIV co-infection. Whether you are living with HIV/AIDS, HIV and HCV, love someone who is, are an activist, advocate, researcher, physician or just an interested party, we hope here at HIV Haven we can help you find what you are looking for.
HIV Haven is kindly hosted by 
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Background: The resurgence of infectious syphilis in men who have sex with men (MSM) has been documented worldwide; however, HIV coinfection and syphilis reinfections in MSM in inner Sydney have not...
'Your Body Blueprint', a new campaign for people living with HIV has just been launched by AFAO. Based around an interactive website, the campaign is designed to encourage and support people...
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On the appointment of Roberto Azevedo as Director General of the World Trade Organization, international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned the WTO and...
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