AUDIO VISUAL
Episode 129, April 17, 2011
Vincent, Alan, Dickson and Rich answer listener questions about XMRV, yellow fever vaccine, virus-like particles, West Nile virus, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and human endogenous retroviruses, multiplicity of infection, and how to make a poxvirus.
The most recent video (last week) is an update of the University of Manitoba, University of Nairobi, Colloborative HIV Research Program, Kenya Aids Control: Manitoba Nairobi HIV KACP 2011. You can also see Frank Plummer’s talk at TEDx Manitoba from February.
NEW STUDIES
Kasier, April 20, 2011
One in eight children living with HIV/AIDS "experiences triple-class virological failure – meaning the virus becomes resistant to multiple drugs – within five years of starting antiretroviral treatment," according to a study published Wednesday in the Lancet. The "failure rate is higher than in adults and highlights the challenge of maintaining viral load suppression in young patients who begin antiretroviral therapy so early in life, the researchers said," according to the news service .
The Guardian April 20, 2011
First major study of young people with HIV questions the suitability of anti-retroviral drugs for young sufferers study (see the Lancet medical journal).
BMC Public Health, published Apr 14 (Provisional Abstract)
UN Food and Agricultural Office, Apr 12 2011
FAO Animal Production and Health Paper No. 171
CANADA
(see below for Insite safe-injection site news)
April 3 to 9, 2011 - In week 14, all indicators of influenza activity have decreased.
The Telegram April 19, 2011
Many people think of alcohol use as the primary cause of cirrhosis of the liver. Think again, says Dr. Kevork Peltekian, a full-time liver disease and transplantation specialist in Nova Scotia.
Le Nunavut a enregistré la plus importante éclosion de tuberculose des dix années de son histoire. La pauvreté, la malnutrition et, surtout, la pénurie de logements convenables sont les principaux déterminants socioéconomiques en cause, signalent MacDonald et ses collaborateurs.
Toronto Star April 17, 2011
Fife House, a provider of housing for Torontonians with HIV/AIDS, is rolling out a new program for people also battling substance-use addictions.
Xtra.ca 7 Apr 2011
A bill that would reform Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) — which would make it easier to sell cheap generic AIDS drugs to the developing world — died in the Senate when the election was called. Supporters of reforming CAMR have vowed to make this an issue on the campaign trail, and some of them have the organization to make this a reality.
INTERNATIONAL
China Daily, April 20, 2011
AIDS deaths are believed to be peaking on the Chinese mainland as many from the large number of people infected with HIV in the 1990s because of unsanitary blood-selling schemes develop full-blown AIDS, a senior health official said on Tuesday.
CIDRAP News Apr 19, 2011
Doctors are parents' most trusted source of vaccine-safety information, and physicians say they're spending more time during well-child visits educating parents about vaccines and addressing concerns, according to two new surveys.
Medical News Today 19 April 2011
Long-awaited data released by the Australian Government has raised concerns that many girls are failing to complete the three-dose course of the cervical cancer or human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.
CIDRAP News Apr 18, 2011
A World Health Organization (WHO) working group on influenza virus sharing capped off a week of negotiations with a final agreement that establishes a framework for sharing vaccine strains alongside a system for improving the flow of pandemic vaccine and medications to developing countries.
HealthDay News April 19, 2011
About 93 percent of parents said their children either had or were going to get all of the recommended vaccinations, and more than three-fourths said they trusted their doctor's advice on immunizations, two new surveys find.
Reuters Apr 19, 2011 5:06am EDT
Up to 200,000 deaths from severe malaria could be averted each year if malarial countries were to switch to a more expensive but more effective drug, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Tuesday.
AllAfrica.com 18 April 2011
The fostering of behavioural change in combating HIV/AIDS is a matter that the Government, the donor community and other stakeholders in most parts of Southern Africa that are hardest hit by the pandemic are battling with. One of the most under-utilised and yet very effective tools which can be used to foster behavioural change is the use of community radio.
IRIN, 18 April 2011
Decades in the making, the dengue vaccine's arrival is now in sight, but demand from the 2.5 billion people at risk of contracting this mosquito-borne disease will be much greater than the initial supply, health experts warn.
Guardian 18 Apr 2011
The American Academy of Pediatrics has urged CBS Outdoor to take down the advertisement funded by anti-vaccine groups
Researchers are stopping a study that tests a daily pill to prevent infection with the AIDS virus in thousands of African women because partial results show no signs that the drug is doing any good
PlusNews 15 April 2011
Every school morning, Geoffrey Ocira stops his lessons for half an hour, rushing to his office to give his HIV-positive students their antiretroviral medication.
Nurse.com April 14, 2011
The discovery of two genes that encode copper- and sulfur-binding repressors in Staphylococcus aureus means two new potential avenues for controlling the increasingly drug-resistant bacterium, scientists said.
Reuters April 15, 2011
A global deal is tantalizingly close under which countries would share flu virus samples in exchange for access to affordable vaccines derived from them, thus saving lives in a pandemic, senior diplomats said
KPHO April 15, 2011
New research from an Arizona company published Friday in the journal "Clinical Infectious Disease" reveals that half of the meat sold in U.S. grocery stores is covered in dangerous staph bacteria. What's even more worrisome: Half of that staph is resistant to antibiotics.
IRIN, 13 April 2011
Eliminated in the relatively secure northern and central provinces, polio persists in the insecure southern and eastern provinces, according to the Min istry of Public Health (MoPH) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
INSITE STUDY
The UBC / BC-CfE study that appeared in the Lancet dominated the health news all weekend. Here is The Lancet Abstract
UBC Media Release Apr. 18, 2011
Illicit drug overdose deaths in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside dropped by 35 per cent after the establishment of Insite, North America’s first supervised injection facility, according a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.
Related Media:
CBC.ca - 3 hours ago
The clinic, Insite, provide heroin and cocaine addicts medical supervision as they inject themselves with their own drugs, using clean needles.
Globe and Mail April 18, 2011
The number of drug-overdose deaths on Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside fell sharply after the opening of a safe injection site, new research shows. The study, published online Monday in the medical journal The Lancet, shows that fatal overdoses dropped 35 per cent in the vicinity of Insite in the two years after it opened. By comparison, OD deaths dropped only 9 per cent in the rest of Vancouver in that same period.
Vancouver Sun April 18, 2011
With a Supreme Court of Canada case looming this summer that could decide its future, Vancouver's safe-injection drug site has received an extra shot in the arm from a new report that says it has helped reduce the number of fatal overdoses in the city by 35 per cent.
CTV.ca April 17, 2011
A peer-reviewed study of Vancouver's safe injection site found a 35 per cent drop in overdose deaths in the area surrounding the facility after it opened.
