Breaking news from aidsmap.com

Breaking news from aidsmap.com

1) Judges, lawyers, politicians and advocates unite around the world to condemn criminalization (reported by EJ Bernard) Last year, following an epidemic of new criminal HIV transmission laws in Africa, and an increasing number of prosecutions under existing laws, South African Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron made an impassioned call for “a campaign against criminalisation” in Mexico City. In the past week, Mr Justice Cameron has appeared at meetings in Sweden and Canada to help continue the campaign. Efforts to mitigate the impact of criminal prosecutions are also taking place in Australia. Last Thursday, Australian High Court Justice Virginia Bell helped launch a new criminal HIV transmission guide for legal practitioners produced by New South Wales' HIV/AIDS Legal Centre (HALC). And last Tuesday, Mr Justice Cameron addressed a meeting in Stockholm organised by HIV Sweden to discuss HIV and the criminal law in Sweden and other Nordic countries.

The Schick Foundation lauds these international efforts condemning the world’s criminal justice system’s current approach to HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission. Instead, we vigorously support public health measures that will get patients the treatment that they need without driving them further underground.

2) International AIDS Conference in 2012 will be held in the US if travel ban finally removed
(reported by M. Carter)

Following our previous report on activities aimed toward decriminalizing HIV around the world comes this story from our own.

An international HIV conference will be held in the US in 2012 – but only if the US removes its travel ban on HIV-positive travellers. The International AIDS Society has announced that it will hold the International AIDS Conference in the US capital, Washington, D.C., if the travel ban is finally removed. No international HIV conference has been held in the US since 1990 because of the ban. Since the Reagan presidency HIV-positive non-US citizens have been prohibited from entering the US.

The Schick Foundation condemns this ridiculous ban against allowing HIV patients from entering our country; it is quite frankly embarrassing and hidebound to say the least. We sincerely hope that President Obama will do the right thing and lift this human embargo at last.


3) Inflammation test can predict heart attacks in people with HIV (reported by G. Cairns)
Exciting news from The Journal of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndromes: a standard test used as a marker for inflammation for 70 years can help identify heart attack risk in patients with HIV as well as in HIV-negative patients. The researchers found that having an elevated CRP level more than doubled the risk of heart attack while having HIV infection slightly less than doubled it. Not surprisingly, then, having both risk factors raised the risk more than fourfold compared with people who had neither raised CRP nor HIV infection.The Schick Foundation extends kudos to the researchers for being open to studying existing tests as a way to assist in diagnosing health risks in HIV patients. With so much current research focused on pharmaceutical and new treatments modalities, it is refreshing to see research that utilizes traditional tests which can be cost conscious, which is especially important during these difficult economic times.