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Friday, November 30, 2012
Photos: World AIDS Day 2012
Health officials: Athens has spiraling HIV crisis
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Athens is seeing an alarming increase in new HIV infections, particularly among intravenous drug users, health officials warned Friday, as Greece struggles through a protracted financial crisis in which funding for health care and drug treatment programs has been slashed.
While there were about 10-14 new HIV infections per year among Athens drug users from 2008 to 2010, that number shot up to 206 new cases last year and 487 new cases by October this year - a 15-fold and 35-fold increase respectively, officials said.
'There is no doubt we have a big and rapidly developing epidemic in Athens,' said Angelos Hatzakis, an epidemiology and preventive medicine professor at Athens University.
A total of 1,049 new cases of HIV infection were recorded in Greece in the first 10 months of this year, including the 487 drug users. Of the others, 256 were homosexual men, while 108 caught the virus through heterosexual intercourse, the figures showed.
'One of the reasons is the financial crisis,' said Marc Sprenger, director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. 'There are more people who are vulnerable, marginalized' and who use drugs.
They turn to cheaper drugs and turn to injecting instead of smoking in order to get the same high from a smaller quantity, officials said.
'We are very concerned,' Sprenger said. 'What we see now is this increase, and if you don't really pay attention to this, it will become in the future a really huge burden.'
Greece has been hammered by a financial crisis since late 2009 that has left the country facing a sixth year of a deep recession and with a quarter of the workforce unemployed. The country relies on international rescue loans from other European countries that also use the euro and the International Monetary Fund to stay solvent.
But in return, the Greek government has imposed several rounds of spending cuts and tax hikes. Charities dealing with drug users and HIV sufferers have also struggled to find funds during the crisis.
This news article is brought to you by PARENTING KIDS - where latest news are our top priority.
While there were about 10-14 new HIV infections per year among Athens drug users from 2008 to 2010, that number shot up to 206 new cases last year and 487 new cases by October this year - a 15-fold and 35-fold increase respectively, officials said.
'There is no doubt we have a big and rapidly developing epidemic in Athens,' said Angelos Hatzakis, an epidemiology and preventive medicine professor at Athens University.
A total of 1,049 new cases of HIV infection were recorded in Greece in the first 10 months of this year, including the 487 drug users. Of the others, 256 were homosexual men, while 108 caught the virus through heterosexual intercourse, the figures showed.
'One of the reasons is the financial crisis,' said Marc Sprenger, director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. 'There are more people who are vulnerable, marginalized' and who use drugs.
They turn to cheaper drugs and turn to injecting instead of smoking in order to get the same high from a smaller quantity, officials said.
'We are very concerned,' Sprenger said. 'What we see now is this increase, and if you don't really pay attention to this, it will become in the future a really huge burden.'
Greece has been hammered by a financial crisis since late 2009 that has left the country facing a sixth year of a deep recession and with a quarter of the workforce unemployed. The country relies on international rescue loans from other European countries that also use the euro and the International Monetary Fund to stay solvent.
But in return, the Greek government has imposed several rounds of spending cuts and tax hikes. Charities dealing with drug users and HIV sufferers have also struggled to find funds during the crisis.
This news article is brought to you by PARENTING KIDS - where latest news are our top priority.
Ukraine fights spreading HIV epidemic
BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) - Andrei Mandrykin, an inmate at Prison No. 85 outside Kiev, has HIV. He looks ghostly and much older than his 35 years. But Mandrykin is better off than tens of thousands of his countrymen, because is he receiving treatment amid what the World Health Organization says is the worst AIDS epidemic in Europe.
Ahead of World AIDS Day on Saturday, international organizations have urged the Ukrainian government to increase funding for treatment and do more to prevent HIV from spreading from high-risk groups into the mainstream population, where it is even harder to manage and control.
An estimated 230,000 Ukrainians, or about 0.8 percent of people aged 15 to 49, are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Some 120,000 are in urgent need of anti-retroviral therapy, which can greatly prolong and improve the quality of their lives. But due to a lack of funds, fewer than a quarter are receiving the drugs - one of the lowest levels in the world.
Ukraine's AIDS epidemic is still concentrated among high-risk groups such as intravenous drug users, sex workers, homosexuals and prisoners. But nearly half of new cases registered last year were traced to unprotected heterosexual contact.
'Slowly but surely the epidemic is moving from the most-at-risk, vulnerable population to the general population,' said Nicolas Cantau of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, who manages work in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 'For the moment there is not enough treatment in Ukraine.'
Stigma is also a big problem for those with HIV in Ukraine. Liliya, a 65-year-old woman who would give only her first name, recently attended a class on how to tell her 9-year-old great-granddaughter that she has HIV. The girl, who contacted HIV at birth from her drug-abusing mother, has been denied a place in preschool because of her diagnosis.
'People are like wolves, they don't understand,' said Liliya. 'If any of the parents found out, they would eat the child alive.'
While the AIDS epidemic has plateaued elsewhere in the world, it is still progressing in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to Cantau. Nearly 21,200 new cases were reported in Ukraine in 2011, the highest number since the former Soviet republic registered its first case in 1987, and a 3 percent increase over 2010. As a result of limited and often delayed treatment, the number of AIDS-related deaths grew 17 percent last year to about 3,800.
Two years ago, Mandrykin, the prisoner, was on the verge of becoming part of that statistic, with his level of crucial CD4 immune cells - a way to measure the strength of the immune system - dropping to 11. In a healthy person, the CD4 count is usually over 600.
'I was lying in the hospital, I was dying,' said Mandrykin, who is serving seven years for robbery, his fourth stint in jail. 'It's a scary disease.'
After two years of treatment in a small prison clinic, his CD4 count has risen to 159 and he feels much better, although he looks exhausted and is still too weak to work in the workshop of the medium-security prison.
The Ukrainian government currently focuses on testing and treating standard cases among the general population. The anti-retroviral treatment of more than 1,000 inmates, as well as some 10,000 HIV patients across Ukraine who also require treatment for tuberculosis and other complications and all prevention and support activities, are paid for by foreign donors, mainly the Global Fund.
The Global Fund is committed to spending $640 million through 2016 to fight AIDS and tuberculosis in Ukraine and then hopes to hand over most of its programs to the Ukrainian government.
Advocacy groups charge that corruption and indifference by government officials help fuel the epidemic.
During the past two years, Ukrainian authorities have seized vital AIDS drugs at the border due to technicalities, sent prosecutors to investigate AIDS support groups sponsored by the Global Fund and harassed patients on methadone substitution therapy, prompting the Global Fund to threaten to freeze its prevention grant.
Most recently, Ukraine's parliament gave initial approval to a bill that would impose jail terms of up to five years for any positive public depiction of homosexuality. Western organizations say it would make the work of AIDS prevention organizations that distribute condoms and teach safe homosexual sex illegal and further fuel the epidemic. It is unclear when the bill will come up for a final vote.
AIDS drug procurement is another headache, with Ukrainian health authorities greatly overpaying for AIDS drugs. Advocacy groups accuse health officials of embezzling funds by purchasing drugs at inflated prices and then pocketing kickbacks.
Officials deny those allegations, saying their tender procedures are transparent.
Much also remains to be done in Ukraine to educate people about AIDS.
Oksana Golubova, a 40-year-old former drug user, infected her daughter, now 8, with HIV and lost her first husband to AIDS. But she still has unprotected sex with her new husband, saying his health is in God's hands.
'Those who are afraid get infected,' Golubova said.
This news article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE 201 - where latest news are our top priority.
Ahead of World AIDS Day on Saturday, international organizations have urged the Ukrainian government to increase funding for treatment and do more to prevent HIV from spreading from high-risk groups into the mainstream population, where it is even harder to manage and control.
An estimated 230,000 Ukrainians, or about 0.8 percent of people aged 15 to 49, are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Some 120,000 are in urgent need of anti-retroviral therapy, which can greatly prolong and improve the quality of their lives. But due to a lack of funds, fewer than a quarter are receiving the drugs - one of the lowest levels in the world.
Ukraine's AIDS epidemic is still concentrated among high-risk groups such as intravenous drug users, sex workers, homosexuals and prisoners. But nearly half of new cases registered last year were traced to unprotected heterosexual contact.
'Slowly but surely the epidemic is moving from the most-at-risk, vulnerable population to the general population,' said Nicolas Cantau of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, who manages work in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 'For the moment there is not enough treatment in Ukraine.'
Stigma is also a big problem for those with HIV in Ukraine. Liliya, a 65-year-old woman who would give only her first name, recently attended a class on how to tell her 9-year-old great-granddaughter that she has HIV. The girl, who contacted HIV at birth from her drug-abusing mother, has been denied a place in preschool because of her diagnosis.
'People are like wolves, they don't understand,' said Liliya. 'If any of the parents found out, they would eat the child alive.'
While the AIDS epidemic has plateaued elsewhere in the world, it is still progressing in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to Cantau. Nearly 21,200 new cases were reported in Ukraine in 2011, the highest number since the former Soviet republic registered its first case in 1987, and a 3 percent increase over 2010. As a result of limited and often delayed treatment, the number of AIDS-related deaths grew 17 percent last year to about 3,800.
Two years ago, Mandrykin, the prisoner, was on the verge of becoming part of that statistic, with his level of crucial CD4 immune cells - a way to measure the strength of the immune system - dropping to 11. In a healthy person, the CD4 count is usually over 600.
'I was lying in the hospital, I was dying,' said Mandrykin, who is serving seven years for robbery, his fourth stint in jail. 'It's a scary disease.'
After two years of treatment in a small prison clinic, his CD4 count has risen to 159 and he feels much better, although he looks exhausted and is still too weak to work in the workshop of the medium-security prison.
The Ukrainian government currently focuses on testing and treating standard cases among the general population. The anti-retroviral treatment of more than 1,000 inmates, as well as some 10,000 HIV patients across Ukraine who also require treatment for tuberculosis and other complications and all prevention and support activities, are paid for by foreign donors, mainly the Global Fund.
The Global Fund is committed to spending $640 million through 2016 to fight AIDS and tuberculosis in Ukraine and then hopes to hand over most of its programs to the Ukrainian government.
Advocacy groups charge that corruption and indifference by government officials help fuel the epidemic.
During the past two years, Ukrainian authorities have seized vital AIDS drugs at the border due to technicalities, sent prosecutors to investigate AIDS support groups sponsored by the Global Fund and harassed patients on methadone substitution therapy, prompting the Global Fund to threaten to freeze its prevention grant.
Most recently, Ukraine's parliament gave initial approval to a bill that would impose jail terms of up to five years for any positive public depiction of homosexuality. Western organizations say it would make the work of AIDS prevention organizations that distribute condoms and teach safe homosexual sex illegal and further fuel the epidemic. It is unclear when the bill will come up for a final vote.
AIDS drug procurement is another headache, with Ukrainian health authorities greatly overpaying for AIDS drugs. Advocacy groups accuse health officials of embezzling funds by purchasing drugs at inflated prices and then pocketing kickbacks.
Officials deny those allegations, saying their tender procedures are transparent.
Much also remains to be done in Ukraine to educate people about AIDS.
Oksana Golubova, a 40-year-old former drug user, infected her daughter, now 8, with HIV and lost her first husband to AIDS. But she still has unprotected sex with her new husband, saying his health is in God's hands.
'Those who are afraid get infected,' Golubova said.
This news article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE 201 - where latest news are our top priority.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Health officials tell Greece to act fast to control HIV
LONDON (Reuters) - A spiraling outbreak of HIV in debt-stricken Greece could run out of control if urgent action is not taken, European health officials said on Friday.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said infections with the AIDS-causing virus among drug users and other high-risk groups were rising fast, and that a failure to act would mean far higher costs in future.
ECDC director Marc Sprenger will meet Greek officials this week to say that free needles, syringes and opioid substitution projects must be stepped up, and testing and treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus made available to all.
'Immediate concerted action is needed in order to curb and eventually stop the current outbreak,' he told Reuters as the ECDC published a report on Greece's HIV problem.
Since 2009, recession in Greece has reduced economic output by a fifth and sent unemployment to a record high.
The healthcare system is under extreme pressure, making it harder for the poor, unemployed or homeless to get treatment.
While Greece has only 7.4 HIV infections per 100,000 people, compared to 10 per 100,000 in Britain or 27.3 in Estonia, rates have soared since 2011 in high-risk groups such as drug users.
From 2007 to 2010, there were only 10 to 15 cases a year of HIV infection in injecting drug users.
But during 2011, there were 256 such cases - or 27 percent of the total. Another 314 were reported between January and August 2012, most of them in the capital.
Combination drugs can give patients with HIV near-normal life expectancy, but the drugs must be taken for life, and cost 10,000 to 22,000 euros ($13,000 to $28,500) a year. Sprenger said Greece's costs were at risk of running out of control.
'If a scale-up (in prevention and testing) is not achieved, it's likely that HIV transmission among people who inject drugs in Athens will continue and even accelerate - and could eventually spread,' he said.
'The cost of prevention ... will be significantly less than the provision of treatment to those who become infected.'
The ECDC said it was unclear how much Greece's debt crisis has contributed to HIV outbreak.
Rates of other health problems such as depression and suicide have been rising in Greece, which is also battling the re-emergence of mosquito-borne diseases such West Nile Virus and malaria.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
This news article is brought to you by GLOBAL WEATHER NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said infections with the AIDS-causing virus among drug users and other high-risk groups were rising fast, and that a failure to act would mean far higher costs in future.
ECDC director Marc Sprenger will meet Greek officials this week to say that free needles, syringes and opioid substitution projects must be stepped up, and testing and treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus made available to all.
'Immediate concerted action is needed in order to curb and eventually stop the current outbreak,' he told Reuters as the ECDC published a report on Greece's HIV problem.
Since 2009, recession in Greece has reduced economic output by a fifth and sent unemployment to a record high.
The healthcare system is under extreme pressure, making it harder for the poor, unemployed or homeless to get treatment.
While Greece has only 7.4 HIV infections per 100,000 people, compared to 10 per 100,000 in Britain or 27.3 in Estonia, rates have soared since 2011 in high-risk groups such as drug users.
From 2007 to 2010, there were only 10 to 15 cases a year of HIV infection in injecting drug users.
But during 2011, there were 256 such cases - or 27 percent of the total. Another 314 were reported between January and August 2012, most of them in the capital.
Combination drugs can give patients with HIV near-normal life expectancy, but the drugs must be taken for life, and cost 10,000 to 22,000 euros ($13,000 to $28,500) a year. Sprenger said Greece's costs were at risk of running out of control.
'If a scale-up (in prevention and testing) is not achieved, it's likely that HIV transmission among people who inject drugs in Athens will continue and even accelerate - and could eventually spread,' he said.
'The cost of prevention ... will be significantly less than the provision of treatment to those who become infected.'
The ECDC said it was unclear how much Greece's debt crisis has contributed to HIV outbreak.
Rates of other health problems such as depression and suicide have been rising in Greece, which is also battling the re-emergence of mosquito-borne diseases such West Nile Virus and malaria.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
This news article is brought to you by GLOBAL WEATHER NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
J&J says it won't enforce AIDS drug patent in Africa
LONDON (Reuters) - Generic manufacturers are to be given a free rein to make cheap copies of Johnson & Johnson's HIV/AIDS drug Prezista for sale in Africa and other poor countries.
U.S. healthcare group J&J said on Thursday it would not enforce patents, provided generic firms made high-quality versions of the drug - known generically as darunavir - for sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries.
Prezista is a relatively new drug used when patients develop resistance to older antiretrovirals. The need for it was expected to grow rapidly as more patients in Africa stop responding to existing therapies.
Pharmaceuticals head Paul Stoffels said he expected Indian drugmakers, in particular, to take advantage of the patent move, adding that competition among different companies should drive prices down further.
J&J has an existing deal with South African group Aspen Pharmacare, which makes Prezista at a discounted price of $2.22 per day for Africa - a fraction of the western market price.
Its decision to act unilaterally on Prezista patents will, however, disappoint those calling for J&J to share intellectual property rights in the new Medicines Patent Pool, which aims to streamline generic production by pooling patents.
'We have chosen to go direct ... we think that is the best way,' Stoffels said in an interview.
'We want to reserve the right to reinforce patents if people are not providing the right quality of product, for example by bringing products to market that under-dose.'
International drugmakers are under growing pressure to make medicines more affordable in poor countries, after being attacked for not doing enough in the past.
J&J ranked second in a new analysis of how companies are performing in providing access to medicines - an improvement of seven places from two years earlier, following its purchase of Crucell, which makes vaccines for the developing world.
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
U.S. healthcare group J&J said on Thursday it would not enforce patents, provided generic firms made high-quality versions of the drug - known generically as darunavir - for sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries.
Prezista is a relatively new drug used when patients develop resistance to older antiretrovirals. The need for it was expected to grow rapidly as more patients in Africa stop responding to existing therapies.
Pharmaceuticals head Paul Stoffels said he expected Indian drugmakers, in particular, to take advantage of the patent move, adding that competition among different companies should drive prices down further.
J&J has an existing deal with South African group Aspen Pharmacare, which makes Prezista at a discounted price of $2.22 per day for Africa - a fraction of the western market price.
Its decision to act unilaterally on Prezista patents will, however, disappoint those calling for J&J to share intellectual property rights in the new Medicines Patent Pool, which aims to streamline generic production by pooling patents.
'We have chosen to go direct ... we think that is the best way,' Stoffels said in an interview.
'We want to reserve the right to reinforce patents if people are not providing the right quality of product, for example by bringing products to market that under-dose.'
International drugmakers are under growing pressure to make medicines more affordable in poor countries, after being attacked for not doing enough in the past.
J&J ranked second in a new analysis of how companies are performing in providing access to medicines - an improvement of seven places from two years earlier, following its purchase of Crucell, which makes vaccines for the developing world.
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
J&J says won't enforce AIDS drug patent in Africa
LONDON (Reuters) - Generic manufacturers are to be given a free rein to make cheap copies of Johnson & Johnson's HIV/AIDS drug Prezista for sale in Africa and other poor countries.
U.S. healthcare group J&J said on Thursday it would not enforce patents, provided generic firms made high-quality versions of the drug - known generically as darunavir - for sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries.
Prezista is a relatively new drug used when patients develop resistance to older antiretrovirals. The need for it was expected to grow rapidly as more patients in Africa stop responding to existing therapies.
Pharmaceuticals head Paul Stoffels said he expected Indian drugmakers, in particular, to take advantage of the patent move, adding that competition among different companies should drive prices down further.
J&J has an existing deal with South African group Aspen Pharmacare, which makes Prezista at a discounted price of $2.22 per day for Africa - a fraction of the western market price.
Its decision to act unilaterally on Prezista patents will, however, disappoint those calling for J&J to share intellectual property rights in the new Medicines Patent Pool, which aims to streamline generic production by pooling patents.
'We have chosen to go direct ... we think that is the best way,' Stoffels said in an interview.
'We want to reserve the right to reinforce patents if people are not providing the right quality of product, for example by bringing products to market that under-dose.'
International drugmakers are under growing pressure to make medicines more affordable in poor countries, after being attacked for not doing enough in the past.
J&J ranked second in a new analysis of how companies are performing in providing access to medicines - an improvement of seven places from two years earlier, following its purchase of Crucell, which makes vaccines for the developing world.
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
This news article is brought to you by DATING AND RELATIONSHIP ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
U.S. healthcare group J&J said on Thursday it would not enforce patents, provided generic firms made high-quality versions of the drug - known generically as darunavir - for sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries.
Prezista is a relatively new drug used when patients develop resistance to older antiretrovirals. The need for it was expected to grow rapidly as more patients in Africa stop responding to existing therapies.
Pharmaceuticals head Paul Stoffels said he expected Indian drugmakers, in particular, to take advantage of the patent move, adding that competition among different companies should drive prices down further.
J&J has an existing deal with South African group Aspen Pharmacare, which makes Prezista at a discounted price of $2.22 per day for Africa - a fraction of the western market price.
Its decision to act unilaterally on Prezista patents will, however, disappoint those calling for J&J to share intellectual property rights in the new Medicines Patent Pool, which aims to streamline generic production by pooling patents.
'We have chosen to go direct ... we think that is the best way,' Stoffels said in an interview.
'We want to reserve the right to reinforce patents if people are not providing the right quality of product, for example by bringing products to market that under-dose.'
International drugmakers are under growing pressure to make medicines more affordable in poor countries, after being attacked for not doing enough in the past.
J&J ranked second in a new analysis of how companies are performing in providing access to medicines - an improvement of seven places from two years earlier, following its purchase of Crucell, which makes vaccines for the developing world.
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
This news article is brought to you by DATING AND RELATIONSHIP ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
South Africa awards $667 million HIV drugs supply contract
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa on Thursday awarded a $667 million contract to supply life-prolonging HIV medicine to 12 international and domestic firms, to deal with its biggest health problem.
Companies that include Aspen Pharmacare, Abbott Laboratories and Adcock Ingram would share the contract, the health department said.
The 5.9 billion rand ($667 million) contract, effective from April next year, aims to increase the number of people on treatment by nearly 50 percent, to 2.5 million next year.
South Africa has nearly 6 million people infected with HIV -- one of the heaviest caseloads in the world. It also has one of largest treatment programs.
But drug makers are unlikely to rake in big profits from the government award, analysts have said, given the stiff competition in the bidding.
The health department said it saved 2.2 billion rand on the new contract, which it initially expected it would cost 8.1 billion rand.
Aspen Pharmacare, the country's biggest generic drugs maker, was awarded 20 percent of the contract while its closest domestic rival, Adcock Ingram was given 14 percent, the health department said.
Other contracts winners included Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories with 8.1 percent, and domestic firm Cipla Medpro with 9 percent.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; editing by David Dolan)
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Companies that include Aspen Pharmacare, Abbott Laboratories and Adcock Ingram would share the contract, the health department said.
The 5.9 billion rand ($667 million) contract, effective from April next year, aims to increase the number of people on treatment by nearly 50 percent, to 2.5 million next year.
South Africa has nearly 6 million people infected with HIV -- one of the heaviest caseloads in the world. It also has one of largest treatment programs.
But drug makers are unlikely to rake in big profits from the government award, analysts have said, given the stiff competition in the bidding.
The health department said it saved 2.2 billion rand on the new contract, which it initially expected it would cost 8.1 billion rand.
Aspen Pharmacare, the country's biggest generic drugs maker, was awarded 20 percent of the contract while its closest domestic rival, Adcock Ingram was given 14 percent, the health department said.
Other contracts winners included Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories with 8.1 percent, and domestic firm Cipla Medpro with 9 percent.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; editing by David Dolan)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Cialis impotence drug helps muscular dystrophy patients
LONDON (Reuters) - Eli Lilly's erectile dysfunction drug Cialis can correct abnormal blood flow in patients with a certain type of muscular dystrophy and could in future be used to slow progression of the disorder, researchers said on Wednesday.
The findings suggest that while Cialis can't cure the condition, known as Becker muscular dystrophy, it could be used as a treatment to slow or prevent muscle weakening and help patients retain more function for longer.
Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) is an inherited disorder that involves slowly worsening muscle weakness of the legs and pelvis. It is mostly found in boys and occurs in about 3 to 6 out of every 100,000 births.
Patients with BMD often have difficulties with walking that get worse over time. There is no cure for the condition, and by the age of 25 to 30 many patients are unable to walk.
In a small study involving men with the disorder, researchers from the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, in the United States took measurements when volunteers' forearm muscles were either rested or lightly exercised with a handgrip.
They found that almost all the patients had defective blood flow when they exercised. This lack of blood flow may contribute to muscle fatigue and weakness, the researchers wrote in a study in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
But after giving some of the patients a single oral dose of Cialis and comparing them to others given a placebo, or dummy pill, the scientists found that normal blood flow was restored to the muscles of 8 out of 9 patients who got the drug.
Like other erectile dysfunction drugs, Cialis, known generically as tadalafil, dilates blood vessels and is designed to increase blood flow. In the impotence drug market, it is a longer-acting alternative to Pfizer's blue pill, Viagra.
Sales of Cialis for erectile dysfunction brought in $1.875 billion for Eli Lilly in 2011, up 10 percent on 2010.
While using the drug in BMD may be a possibility in future, the researchers cautioned that doctors should not prescribe it for this indication until more, larger studies have been conducted to show whether the improved blood flow has a meaningful effect on dystrophic muscles.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Louise Heavens)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
The findings suggest that while Cialis can't cure the condition, known as Becker muscular dystrophy, it could be used as a treatment to slow or prevent muscle weakening and help patients retain more function for longer.
Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) is an inherited disorder that involves slowly worsening muscle weakness of the legs and pelvis. It is mostly found in boys and occurs in about 3 to 6 out of every 100,000 births.
Patients with BMD often have difficulties with walking that get worse over time. There is no cure for the condition, and by the age of 25 to 30 many patients are unable to walk.
In a small study involving men with the disorder, researchers from the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, in the United States took measurements when volunteers' forearm muscles were either rested or lightly exercised with a handgrip.
They found that almost all the patients had defective blood flow when they exercised. This lack of blood flow may contribute to muscle fatigue and weakness, the researchers wrote in a study in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
But after giving some of the patients a single oral dose of Cialis and comparing them to others given a placebo, or dummy pill, the scientists found that normal blood flow was restored to the muscles of 8 out of 9 patients who got the drug.
Like other erectile dysfunction drugs, Cialis, known generically as tadalafil, dilates blood vessels and is designed to increase blood flow. In the impotence drug market, it is a longer-acting alternative to Pfizer's blue pill, Viagra.
Sales of Cialis for erectile dysfunction brought in $1.875 billion for Eli Lilly in 2011, up 10 percent on 2010.
While using the drug in BMD may be a possibility in future, the researchers cautioned that doctors should not prescribe it for this indication until more, larger studies have been conducted to show whether the improved blood flow has a meaningful effect on dystrophic muscles.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Louise Heavens)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
In Israel, some rebel against circumcision
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Circumcision is one of Judaism's most important laws and for generations of faithful it has symbolized a Biblical covenant with God.
But in Israel, more and more Jewish parents are saying no to the blade.
'It's such a taboo in Israel and in Judaism,' said Gali, nursing her six-week-old son, about the decision not to have him circumcised.
'It's like coming out of the closet,' she said, asking to be identified by her first name only because she had not told her relatives yet.
Nearly all baby boys in Israel are circumcised. Be their parents ultra-Orthodox or totally secular Jews, it is by far the most common choice. Most Israeli-Arabs also keep with a practice that is widespread in the Muslim world.
Jewish circumcisions are done when the baby is eight days old. The majority are performed by a mohel, a religious man trained in the procedure carried out in a festive religious ceremony called a 'brit', Hebrew for covenant.
But an increasing minority fear it is a form of physical abuse.
'It's the same as if someone would tell me 'it's our culture to cut off a finger when he is born',' said Rakefet Kaufman, who also did not have her son circumcised.
'People should see it as abuse because it is done to a baby without asking him,' she said.
When Gali learnt she was carrying a baby boy it was obvious to her that he would be circumcised. But she started to think again after a conversation with a friend whose son was uncircumcised.
'She asked me what my reason was for doing it, was it religious? I said no. Was it for health reasons? No. Social? No. Then it began to sink in. I began to read more about it, enter Internet forums, I began to realize that I cannot do it.'
PHENOMENON GROWING
'The phenomenon is growing, I have no doubt,' said Ronit Tamir, who founded a support group for families who have chosen not to circumcise their sons.
'When we started the group 12 years ago we had to work hard to find 40 families ... They were keeping it secret and we had to promise them we'd keep it secret,' she said. 'Then, we'd get one or two phone calls a month. Nowadays I get dozens of emails and phone calls a month, hundreds a year.'
Tamir believes Jews in today's Israel find it easier to break religious taboos.
'People are asking themselves what it means to be Jewish these days,' she said, and that leads some to question rules of all kinds, including circumcision.
In societies around the world who circumcise boys for non-religious reasons, out of habit or tradition or because of the perceived health benefits, the practice can be controversial.
Rates of circumcision in Europe are well under 20 percent, while in the United States, according to 2010 statistics cited by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), more than half of newborn boys continue to be circumcised.
The American Academy of Paediatrics said in August that the health benefits of infant circumcision - potentially avoiding infection, cancer and sexually-transmitted diseases - outweighed the risks, but said parents should make the final call.
But where the decision is ultimately a matter of personal choice for many families around the world, for Jews who question the tradition, it is more complicated.
'It is the covenant between us and God - a sign that one cannot deny and that Jews have kept even in times of persecution,' said one well-known mohel who has been performing circumcisions in Israel for more than 30 years. He asked not to be named to avoid being connected to any controversy.
He pointed to the Book of Genesis, where God said to Abraham: 'And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins; and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.'
It is this covenant that, the mohel said, that 'keeps the people of Israel together'.
The Bible goes on: 'And the uncircumcised male child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.'
Scholars have differed over the years what this means in practice.
BEING DIFFERENT
Tamir is unswayed by the ancient verses.
'This edict is painful, irreversible and maims,' she said. The Internet was helping to spread the word, she said, allowing parents to find information about circumcision and seek advice anonymously.
Some Jewish groups in the United States which oppose circumcision offer alternative religious brit ceremonies that do not include an actual circumcision.
'There is definitely a growing number of Jewish families in the U.S. who are choosing not to circumcise,' said Florida-based Rebecca Wald. In 2010 she started a website to connect parents who are unsure about what to do.
'Since then, in phone calls, emails, and on social networking sites I have connected with hundreds of Jewish people in the U.S. who question circumcision.' she said in an email interview. 'Many of them have intact (uncircumcised) sons or plan to leave future sons intact.'
Wald's son was not circumcised.
'I have a very strong sense of Jewish identity and, believe it or not, having an intact son has only deepened it,' she said.
In Israel, where the vast majority are circumcised, the dilemma may be particularly difficult.
Although she is confident of the choice she and her husband made, Gali still has one concern.
'The main issue which still troubles me a little is the social one, that one day he may come to me and say 'Mom, why did you do that to me? They made fun of me today',' Gali said.
The Health Ministry does not keep records on circumcisions but estimates about 60,000 to 70,000 are held in Israel every year, which roughly corresponds to the number of boys born in 2010, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The ministry said it treats about 70 cases a year of circumcisions gone wrong, mainly minor complications such as excessive bleeding.
Kaufman said 'people were shocked' to learn that her son is not circumcised.
'In Israel everybody does it, like a herd,' she said. 'They don't stop and ask themselves about this specific procedure which has to do with damaging a baby.'
Watching her son rummage through a stack of toys, Kaufman said: 'The way he was born is the way his body should be.'
(Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Sonya Hepinstall)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
But in Israel, more and more Jewish parents are saying no to the blade.
'It's such a taboo in Israel and in Judaism,' said Gali, nursing her six-week-old son, about the decision not to have him circumcised.
'It's like coming out of the closet,' she said, asking to be identified by her first name only because she had not told her relatives yet.
Nearly all baby boys in Israel are circumcised. Be their parents ultra-Orthodox or totally secular Jews, it is by far the most common choice. Most Israeli-Arabs also keep with a practice that is widespread in the Muslim world.
Jewish circumcisions are done when the baby is eight days old. The majority are performed by a mohel, a religious man trained in the procedure carried out in a festive religious ceremony called a 'brit', Hebrew for covenant.
But an increasing minority fear it is a form of physical abuse.
'It's the same as if someone would tell me 'it's our culture to cut off a finger when he is born',' said Rakefet Kaufman, who also did not have her son circumcised.
'People should see it as abuse because it is done to a baby without asking him,' she said.
When Gali learnt she was carrying a baby boy it was obvious to her that he would be circumcised. But she started to think again after a conversation with a friend whose son was uncircumcised.
'She asked me what my reason was for doing it, was it religious? I said no. Was it for health reasons? No. Social? No. Then it began to sink in. I began to read more about it, enter Internet forums, I began to realize that I cannot do it.'
PHENOMENON GROWING
'The phenomenon is growing, I have no doubt,' said Ronit Tamir, who founded a support group for families who have chosen not to circumcise their sons.
'When we started the group 12 years ago we had to work hard to find 40 families ... They were keeping it secret and we had to promise them we'd keep it secret,' she said. 'Then, we'd get one or two phone calls a month. Nowadays I get dozens of emails and phone calls a month, hundreds a year.'
Tamir believes Jews in today's Israel find it easier to break religious taboos.
'People are asking themselves what it means to be Jewish these days,' she said, and that leads some to question rules of all kinds, including circumcision.
In societies around the world who circumcise boys for non-religious reasons, out of habit or tradition or because of the perceived health benefits, the practice can be controversial.
Rates of circumcision in Europe are well under 20 percent, while in the United States, according to 2010 statistics cited by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), more than half of newborn boys continue to be circumcised.
The American Academy of Paediatrics said in August that the health benefits of infant circumcision - potentially avoiding infection, cancer and sexually-transmitted diseases - outweighed the risks, but said parents should make the final call.
But where the decision is ultimately a matter of personal choice for many families around the world, for Jews who question the tradition, it is more complicated.
'It is the covenant between us and God - a sign that one cannot deny and that Jews have kept even in times of persecution,' said one well-known mohel who has been performing circumcisions in Israel for more than 30 years. He asked not to be named to avoid being connected to any controversy.
He pointed to the Book of Genesis, where God said to Abraham: 'And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins; and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.'
It is this covenant that, the mohel said, that 'keeps the people of Israel together'.
The Bible goes on: 'And the uncircumcised male child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.'
Scholars have differed over the years what this means in practice.
BEING DIFFERENT
Tamir is unswayed by the ancient verses.
'This edict is painful, irreversible and maims,' she said. The Internet was helping to spread the word, she said, allowing parents to find information about circumcision and seek advice anonymously.
Some Jewish groups in the United States which oppose circumcision offer alternative religious brit ceremonies that do not include an actual circumcision.
'There is definitely a growing number of Jewish families in the U.S. who are choosing not to circumcise,' said Florida-based Rebecca Wald. In 2010 she started a website to connect parents who are unsure about what to do.
'Since then, in phone calls, emails, and on social networking sites I have connected with hundreds of Jewish people in the U.S. who question circumcision.' she said in an email interview. 'Many of them have intact (uncircumcised) sons or plan to leave future sons intact.'
Wald's son was not circumcised.
'I have a very strong sense of Jewish identity and, believe it or not, having an intact son has only deepened it,' she said.
In Israel, where the vast majority are circumcised, the dilemma may be particularly difficult.
Although she is confident of the choice she and her husband made, Gali still has one concern.
'The main issue which still troubles me a little is the social one, that one day he may come to me and say 'Mom, why did you do that to me? They made fun of me today',' Gali said.
The Health Ministry does not keep records on circumcisions but estimates about 60,000 to 70,000 are held in Israel every year, which roughly corresponds to the number of boys born in 2010, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The ministry said it treats about 70 cases a year of circumcisions gone wrong, mainly minor complications such as excessive bleeding.
Kaufman said 'people were shocked' to learn that her son is not circumcised.
'In Israel everybody does it, like a herd,' she said. 'They don't stop and ask themselves about this specific procedure which has to do with damaging a baby.'
Watching her son rummage through a stack of toys, Kaufman said: 'The way he was born is the way his body should be.'
(Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Sonya Hepinstall)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
China says HIV/AIDS cases up, premier-in-waiting promises help
BEIJING (Reuters) - The number of new HIV/AIDS cases in China jumped in the first 10 months of the year, as premier-in-waiting Li Keqiang promised to let non-governmental groups play a bigger role in fighting an epidemic spreading fast in vulnerable groups.
The number of new AIDS cases rose almost 13 percent in the January to October period, compared with the same period the previous year, while the number of people infected with HIV aged 50 and above leapt more than 20 percent, the official Xinhua news agency said.
A total of 492,191 people were living with HIV/AIDS as of the end of October, including 68,802 new cases this year, the news agency said, citing the Health Ministry.
Of new HIV cases within the 10 month period, 84.9 percent contracted the virus through sexual intercourse, with transmission rates amongst men-who-have-sex-with-men rising sharply, it added.
Li, at a meeting with non-governmental groups working on HIV/AIDS, said the government would let them play a more active role in battling the disease.
'You have a greater understanding of what sufferers want ... the government will continue to offer support and pay even greater attention to and listen more closely to the voices of civil society groups and you will be given greater space to play your role,' state television cited him as saying.
It also showed pictures of Li shaking hands with sufferers, in a country where discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS is rampant, even in the health-care community.
China's government was initially slow to acknowledge the problem of HIV/AIDS in the 1990s and had sought to cover it up when hundreds of thousands of impoverished farmers in rural Henan province became infected through botched blood-selling schemes.
Li, who takes over from Wen Jiabao as premier at the annual meeting of parliament in March, worked in Henan from 1998 to 2004, and was criticized by activists for helping to cover up the extent of the crisis there.
Beijing has since stepped up the fight, spending more on prevention programs, launching schemes to give universal access to anti-retroviral drugs to contain the disease, and introducing policies to curb discrimination.
But in a country where taboos surrounding sex remain strong and discussion of the topic is largely limited, people with HIV/AIDS say they are often stigmatized, and activists frequently complain of official harassment.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
The number of new AIDS cases rose almost 13 percent in the January to October period, compared with the same period the previous year, while the number of people infected with HIV aged 50 and above leapt more than 20 percent, the official Xinhua news agency said.
A total of 492,191 people were living with HIV/AIDS as of the end of October, including 68,802 new cases this year, the news agency said, citing the Health Ministry.
Of new HIV cases within the 10 month period, 84.9 percent contracted the virus through sexual intercourse, with transmission rates amongst men-who-have-sex-with-men rising sharply, it added.
Li, at a meeting with non-governmental groups working on HIV/AIDS, said the government would let them play a more active role in battling the disease.
'You have a greater understanding of what sufferers want ... the government will continue to offer support and pay even greater attention to and listen more closely to the voices of civil society groups and you will be given greater space to play your role,' state television cited him as saying.
It also showed pictures of Li shaking hands with sufferers, in a country where discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS is rampant, even in the health-care community.
China's government was initially slow to acknowledge the problem of HIV/AIDS in the 1990s and had sought to cover it up when hundreds of thousands of impoverished farmers in rural Henan province became infected through botched blood-selling schemes.
Li, who takes over from Wen Jiabao as premier at the annual meeting of parliament in March, worked in Henan from 1998 to 2004, and was criticized by activists for helping to cover up the extent of the crisis there.
Beijing has since stepped up the fight, spending more on prevention programs, launching schemes to give universal access to anti-retroviral drugs to contain the disease, and introducing policies to curb discrimination.
But in a country where taboos surrounding sex remain strong and discussion of the topic is largely limited, people with HIV/AIDS say they are often stigmatized, and activists frequently complain of official harassment.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Youth HIV Rate High, Testing Low
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Infected and unaware: HIV hitting America's youth
CHICAGO (Reuters) - More than half of young people in the United States who are infected with HIV are not aware of it, according to a new report by government health officials that zeroes in on one of the remaining hot spots of HIV infection in America.
Young people ages 13 to 24 account for 26 percent of all new HIV infections, according to the report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was released on Tuesday.
'Given everything we know about HIV and how to prevent it in 30 years of fighting the disease, it's just unacceptable that young people are becoming infected at such high rates,' CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said on a conference call with reporters.
Every month, 1,000 young people in America become infected with HIV, an incurable infection that costs $400,000 to treat over a lifetime, Frieden said. If left untreated, HIV infection leads to AIDS and early death.
'The data are stark and worrying,' Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention at the CDC, said in a telephone interview.
In 2010, 72 percent of the estimated 12,000 new HIV infections in young people occurred in young men who have sex with men, and nearly half of new infections were among young, black males.
'We are particularly concerned about what is happening with HIV among young black and bisexual men,' Fenton said. 'They account for 39 percent of all new infections among youth and more than half of new infections among young men who have sex with men.'
Fenton said the proportion of young people infected with HIV has remained relatively stable during the last few years, but infection rates appear to be increasing in these populations.
And because many of the newly infected gay or bisexual males are just beginning to explore their sexuality, stigma and homophobia are making HIV testing and treatment far more challenging.
Although the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend routine screening for HIV starting in the early teens, 'too few young people are getting tested,' Frieden said.
Only 13 percent of all high school students and only 22 percent of sexually active high school students have ever been tested for HIV, the CDC found.
The figures for young adults aged 18 to 24 are not much better, with only 35 percent of people in this age group reporting ever having been tested for HIV.
Frieden said one reason for the higher rates of infection among young gay and bisexual men of all races was a higher rate of risky behaviors compared with their heterosexual peers.
According to the report, a large analysis of risk behaviors among high school students revealed that gay and bisexual males are much more likely to have multiple sex partners, to inject illegal drugs and to use alcohol or drugs before sex. They are much less likely to use condoms.
And because so few get tested, HIV-infected people under age 25 are significantly less likely than those who are older to get and stay in care, and to have their virus controlled at a level that helps them stay healthy and reduce their risk of transmitting HIV to partners.
The CDC also found that many young men who have sex with men are less likely than others to have been taught about HIV or AIDS in school.
'We have to correct a lot of myths and misconceptions,' Frieden said. 'It is astonishing the level of ignorance about basic physiology that may high school and middle school students have.'
To address some of the issues, the CDC is funding a program that targets both at-risk youths and the homophobia and stigma in the community that drives them underground.
In September, Georgia, a state where new HIV infections among those 13 to 24 years old exceed the national average - accounting for as many as one-third of all new HIV infections - won a grant as part of a pilot project to find better ways of targeting these at-risk youth.
'We think that it's really critical that the discussions we have about HIV prevention and access to HIV become fully integrated into the social fabric of the youth culture,' Dr. Melanie Thompson, of the Georgia Department of Public Health, said in a telephone interview.
Care and Prevention in the United States, known as CAPUS, is a three-year program led by the CDC and other government agencies aimed at reducing HIV and AIDS among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. It focuses on addressing social, economic, clinical and structural factors influencing HIV health outcomes.
'It is a huge challenge,' said Thompson, 'but I think if we do this from the point of view of trying to end an epidemic that is decimating our young people, and do it in a way that is science-based, I think we can make progress.'
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Leslie Adler)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Young people ages 13 to 24 account for 26 percent of all new HIV infections, according to the report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was released on Tuesday.
'Given everything we know about HIV and how to prevent it in 30 years of fighting the disease, it's just unacceptable that young people are becoming infected at such high rates,' CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said on a conference call with reporters.
Every month, 1,000 young people in America become infected with HIV, an incurable infection that costs $400,000 to treat over a lifetime, Frieden said. If left untreated, HIV infection leads to AIDS and early death.
'The data are stark and worrying,' Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention at the CDC, said in a telephone interview.
In 2010, 72 percent of the estimated 12,000 new HIV infections in young people occurred in young men who have sex with men, and nearly half of new infections were among young, black males.
'We are particularly concerned about what is happening with HIV among young black and bisexual men,' Fenton said. 'They account for 39 percent of all new infections among youth and more than half of new infections among young men who have sex with men.'
Fenton said the proportion of young people infected with HIV has remained relatively stable during the last few years, but infection rates appear to be increasing in these populations.
And because many of the newly infected gay or bisexual males are just beginning to explore their sexuality, stigma and homophobia are making HIV testing and treatment far more challenging.
Although the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend routine screening for HIV starting in the early teens, 'too few young people are getting tested,' Frieden said.
Only 13 percent of all high school students and only 22 percent of sexually active high school students have ever been tested for HIV, the CDC found.
The figures for young adults aged 18 to 24 are not much better, with only 35 percent of people in this age group reporting ever having been tested for HIV.
Frieden said one reason for the higher rates of infection among young gay and bisexual men of all races was a higher rate of risky behaviors compared with their heterosexual peers.
According to the report, a large analysis of risk behaviors among high school students revealed that gay and bisexual males are much more likely to have multiple sex partners, to inject illegal drugs and to use alcohol or drugs before sex. They are much less likely to use condoms.
And because so few get tested, HIV-infected people under age 25 are significantly less likely than those who are older to get and stay in care, and to have their virus controlled at a level that helps them stay healthy and reduce their risk of transmitting HIV to partners.
The CDC also found that many young men who have sex with men are less likely than others to have been taught about HIV or AIDS in school.
'We have to correct a lot of myths and misconceptions,' Frieden said. 'It is astonishing the level of ignorance about basic physiology that may high school and middle school students have.'
To address some of the issues, the CDC is funding a program that targets both at-risk youths and the homophobia and stigma in the community that drives them underground.
In September, Georgia, a state where new HIV infections among those 13 to 24 years old exceed the national average - accounting for as many as one-third of all new HIV infections - won a grant as part of a pilot project to find better ways of targeting these at-risk youth.
'We think that it's really critical that the discussions we have about HIV prevention and access to HIV become fully integrated into the social fabric of the youth culture,' Dr. Melanie Thompson, of the Georgia Department of Public Health, said in a telephone interview.
Care and Prevention in the United States, known as CAPUS, is a three-year program led by the CDC and other government agencies aimed at reducing HIV and AIDS among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. It focuses on addressing social, economic, clinical and structural factors influencing HIV health outcomes.
'It is a huge challenge,' said Thompson, 'but I think if we do this from the point of view of trying to end an epidemic that is decimating our young people, and do it in a way that is science-based, I think we can make progress.'
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Leslie Adler)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
AAP Recommends Prescribing Emergency Contraception for Teens
In a new policy statement released online on Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) officially recommended that physicians consider prescribing teens emergency contraception in advance. This assertion by the AAP follows on the heels of a new recommendation from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) last week that advocated making birth control pills available to women as an over-the-counter medication.
The AAP stated in a press release published ahead of the policy statement that much of the justification for the organization's stance lies in the fact that the "United States continues to see substantially higher teen birth rates compared to other developed countries." Prescribing emergency contraception ahead of time, according to the AAP, may help lower those rates.
What exactly is the AAP recommending?
The AAP is recommending that physicians prescribe emergency contraception, more commonly known as "morning after" pills, to teens, particularly, although not limited to, those that are currently sexually active. Specifically, the AAP is recommending prescribing emergency contraception for those teens who are under the age of 17, as the organization notes that females who are already 17 years of age or older can obtain emergency contraception without a prescription.
What information is the AAP basing its recommendation on?
The AAP has looked at the available research and determined that there is a need for teens to be prescribed the pills in advance in order to try and mitigate the number of unplanned pregnancies, which account for 80 percent of all pregnancies in girls between the ages of 15 and 19. The organization's policy statement cited the need for teens to be protected against improper use or failure of other contraceptive methods, such as condoms, and also made note of the need to protect teens who may be the victims of sexual assault. The AAP also cited research indicating that teens who are prescribed emergency contraception "in advance of need" are more likely to use it if that need presents itself later, as opposed to teens who must ask for emergency contraception after the fact.
What are the risks involved in prescribing emergency contraception in advance?
The biggest risk factor, according to the AAP's policy statement, is the fact that emergency contraception can prevent pregnancy (by preventing ovulation), but not sexually transmitted infections. According to a Reuters report, studies have shown that there is no known correlation between a teenager being given access to emergency contraception and them becoming sexually active any earlier.
What has been the reaction to the AAP's decision to publish this policy statement?
The statement has gotten mostly positive reviews from women's health advocates, including Susan Wood of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health at George Washington University in Washington, who told Reuters on Monday that the AAP's decision is "significant." Bill Albert, who is the chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, also praised the decision, telling the Washington Times that his organization "supports wider access to all birth-control products."
Not everyone is convinced that the AAP's recommendation is a good thing, however. In that same Washington Times piece, Wendy Wright, who is the vice president for government relations at the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, said that "there are too many questions to be answered" before the idea of prescribing emergency contraception to teens should be entertained.
Vanessa Evans is a musician and freelance writer based in Michigan, with a lifelong interest in health and nutrition issues.
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
The AAP stated in a press release published ahead of the policy statement that much of the justification for the organization's stance lies in the fact that the "United States continues to see substantially higher teen birth rates compared to other developed countries." Prescribing emergency contraception ahead of time, according to the AAP, may help lower those rates.
What exactly is the AAP recommending?
The AAP is recommending that physicians prescribe emergency contraception, more commonly known as "morning after" pills, to teens, particularly, although not limited to, those that are currently sexually active. Specifically, the AAP is recommending prescribing emergency contraception for those teens who are under the age of 17, as the organization notes that females who are already 17 years of age or older can obtain emergency contraception without a prescription.
What information is the AAP basing its recommendation on?
The AAP has looked at the available research and determined that there is a need for teens to be prescribed the pills in advance in order to try and mitigate the number of unplanned pregnancies, which account for 80 percent of all pregnancies in girls between the ages of 15 and 19. The organization's policy statement cited the need for teens to be protected against improper use or failure of other contraceptive methods, such as condoms, and also made note of the need to protect teens who may be the victims of sexual assault. The AAP also cited research indicating that teens who are prescribed emergency contraception "in advance of need" are more likely to use it if that need presents itself later, as opposed to teens who must ask for emergency contraception after the fact.
What are the risks involved in prescribing emergency contraception in advance?
The biggest risk factor, according to the AAP's policy statement, is the fact that emergency contraception can prevent pregnancy (by preventing ovulation), but not sexually transmitted infections. According to a Reuters report, studies have shown that there is no known correlation between a teenager being given access to emergency contraception and them becoming sexually active any earlier.
What has been the reaction to the AAP's decision to publish this policy statement?
The statement has gotten mostly positive reviews from women's health advocates, including Susan Wood of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health at George Washington University in Washington, who told Reuters on Monday that the AAP's decision is "significant." Bill Albert, who is the chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, also praised the decision, telling the Washington Times that his organization "supports wider access to all birth-control products."
Not everyone is convinced that the AAP's recommendation is a good thing, however. In that same Washington Times piece, Wendy Wright, who is the vice president for government relations at the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, said that "there are too many questions to be answered" before the idea of prescribing emergency contraception to teens should be entertained.
Vanessa Evans is a musician and freelance writer based in Michigan, with a lifelong interest in health and nutrition issues.
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Prescribe morning-after pills in advance, say pediatricians
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wading into the incendiary subject of birth control for young teenagers, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on Monday called on the nation's pediatricians to counsel all of their adolescent patients about emergency contraception and make advance prescriptions for it available to girls under 17.
Because current federal policy bans over-the-counter sales of the pills to girls under 17, having a prescription on hand could help younger teens obtain emergency contraception more quickly than if they have to contact a physician only after they need it.
Calling the AAP decision 'significant,' Susan Wood, former assistant commissioner for women's health at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said, 'it's not often you see physician organizations saying that their patients are better off without the physician involvement.'
The announcement was controversial with some religious groups.
'Since when should the physicians take over the responsibility of what parents should be doing?,' said Michael O'Dea, founder and executive director of Christus Medicus Foundation.
The non-profit foundation provides consulting services to health plans which wish to avoid payments to physicians and hospitals for providing abortions, sterilization, contraception and other services it considers inconsistent with biblical teachings.
'Parents are the primary educators of children, not physicians or the government,' O'Dea said. 'This is a violation of parents rights to be the primary educator of their children.'
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents the country's Catholic church leadership, called the recommendation 'tragic.'
'It is a very sad day when physicians think that 'good medicine' is to attack an adolescent girl's healthy fertility with potent drugs just to prevent a possible pregnancy,' said Theresa Notare, assistant director for the Conference's Natural Family Planning Program.
'This recommendation becomes tragic when we consider that the recommendation is built upon overriding a parent's rights over their own children,' she said.
Whether pediatricians heed the recommendation remains to be seen.
'Some pediatricians are already doing this,' said Dr. Melissa Kottke, director of The Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University and medical director for the teen services program at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta where it is common practice to provide Plan B, 'a morning after pill', in an advanced fashion.
'Pediatricians who primarily take care of adolescents may already be comfortable with it but what this recommendation does is provide encouragement and support for pediatricians who take care of the full spectrum of pediatrics.'
Dr. Cora Breuner, a pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital who led the AAP panel that produced the recommendations said pediatricians in general have preferred not to talk about emergency contraception, let alone offer advance prescriptions.
'We tend not to like bringing up stuff that's controversial,' she said.
Emergency contraception for adolescents has been one of the most politically fraught areas in healthcare for almost a decade.
In 2005 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve any over-the-counter sales of Plan B, overruling its panel of outside experts as well as its own scientists. Last December the FDA reversed that stance and moved to approve over-the-counter sales with no age limits. But Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled it, ordering that for girls under 17 the pills remain available only by prescription.
The FDA subsequently denied a Citizen's Petition that would have allowed over-the-counter access to emergency contraception for women of all ages.
As a result, teenagers 'face a significant barrier if they suddenly need emergency contraception at midnight on a Saturday,' said Susan Wood, former assistant commissioner for women's health at the FDA. She resigned from the agency in 2005 over its Plan B decision and is now director of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, a global legal advocacy organization devoted to reproductive rights, has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Sebelius' decision and welcomed the AAP recommendation.
'We are very pleased to see this recommendation because it represents progress towards our ultimate goal which is that women of all ages should have unrestricted access to emergency contraception, said Janet Crepps, senior counsel in the U.S. legal program at the Center.
Women's advocates also hailed the recommendation, saying it offers a workaround current health policy which places unnecessary hurdles in the way of young teenagers obtaining emergency contraception.
'This shames the department of Health and Human Services and its nakedly political attempt to override science and medicine,' said Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, a non-profit advocacy organization. 'HHS's policy means doctors have to use this workaround, and good for them, but they shouldn't have to do it,' she said.
A spokeswoman for HHS, Erin Shields Britt, declined on behalf of the department to comment.
The most common form of emergency contraception is a high dose of a regular birth-control pill such as Plan B and Plan B One-Step from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd or Next Choice from Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. They generally sell for $10 to $80 and, although they can work as long as 120 hours after unprotected sex, are most effective in the first 24 hours.
All work by preventing ovulation, not by stopping the implantation of a fertilized egg. 'These are not abortifacients,' said Seattle Children's Breuner. Abortifacients are drugs or devices used to cause abortion.
GREATER USE OF EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION
A 2006-08 survey found that 14 percent of sexually experienced girls had used emergency contraception, up from 8 percent in a 2002 survey. The most common reason was condom failure, but 13 percent of the girls said it was because of rape.
A 2010 analysis of seven randomized studies of emergency contraception found that having a morning-after prescription in hand did not increase teens' sexual activity or decrease use of standard contraceptives but did increase use of the pill and shorten the time before a teenager used it after sex.
'It's just common sense that requiring a prescription is a barrier,' said Bill Alpert, chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. 'If an august and respected medical group like AAP is suggesting providing emergency contraception to minors is OK, that is a big deal.'
That is especially so when teens face other obstacles to getting emergency contraception. For instance, in a 2012 study that had 17-year-olds telephone pharmacies asking about morning-after pills, only 57 percent of them correctly told the caller that she could get the drugs without a prescription.
Another barrier is that some physicians refuse to provide the prescriptions to teenagers, while others do so only in cases of rape, AAP's research shows, suggesting that the refusal 'may be related to the physician's beliefs about whether it is OK for teenagers to have sex.'
But pediatricians, said AAP in its policy statement, 'have a duty to inform their patients about relevant, legally available treatment options,' even those 'to which they object.'
One factor in the AAP's recommendation, which is being published in the journal 'Pediatrics,' is that although teen pregnancies in the United States have declined since 1991, the rate is higher than in most other developed countries.
The percent of 15- to 18-year-olds who report ever having intercourse - just over 40 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - is, however, lower than in many developed countries. In other words, fewer of America's teens are having sex but more are getting pregnant.
'We think this is a big deal,' Breuner said of the new recommendation. 'The mothership of pediatricians has come out in favor of encouraging routine counseling and advance emergency-contraception prescriptions as one part of a public health strategy to reduce teen pregnancy.'
(Additional reporting by Toni Clarke in Boston; editing by Prudence Crowther and Carol Bishopric)
This news article is brought to you by TAXES BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Because current federal policy bans over-the-counter sales of the pills to girls under 17, having a prescription on hand could help younger teens obtain emergency contraception more quickly than if they have to contact a physician only after they need it.
Calling the AAP decision 'significant,' Susan Wood, former assistant commissioner for women's health at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said, 'it's not often you see physician organizations saying that their patients are better off without the physician involvement.'
The announcement was controversial with some religious groups.
'Since when should the physicians take over the responsibility of what parents should be doing?,' said Michael O'Dea, founder and executive director of Christus Medicus Foundation.
The non-profit foundation provides consulting services to health plans which wish to avoid payments to physicians and hospitals for providing abortions, sterilization, contraception and other services it considers inconsistent with biblical teachings.
'Parents are the primary educators of children, not physicians or the government,' O'Dea said. 'This is a violation of parents rights to be the primary educator of their children.'
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents the country's Catholic church leadership, called the recommendation 'tragic.'
'It is a very sad day when physicians think that 'good medicine' is to attack an adolescent girl's healthy fertility with potent drugs just to prevent a possible pregnancy,' said Theresa Notare, assistant director for the Conference's Natural Family Planning Program.
'This recommendation becomes tragic when we consider that the recommendation is built upon overriding a parent's rights over their own children,' she said.
Whether pediatricians heed the recommendation remains to be seen.
'Some pediatricians are already doing this,' said Dr. Melissa Kottke, director of The Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University and medical director for the teen services program at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta where it is common practice to provide Plan B, 'a morning after pill', in an advanced fashion.
'Pediatricians who primarily take care of adolescents may already be comfortable with it but what this recommendation does is provide encouragement and support for pediatricians who take care of the full spectrum of pediatrics.'
Dr. Cora Breuner, a pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital who led the AAP panel that produced the recommendations said pediatricians in general have preferred not to talk about emergency contraception, let alone offer advance prescriptions.
'We tend not to like bringing up stuff that's controversial,' she said.
Emergency contraception for adolescents has been one of the most politically fraught areas in healthcare for almost a decade.
In 2005 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve any over-the-counter sales of Plan B, overruling its panel of outside experts as well as its own scientists. Last December the FDA reversed that stance and moved to approve over-the-counter sales with no age limits. But Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled it, ordering that for girls under 17 the pills remain available only by prescription.
The FDA subsequently denied a Citizen's Petition that would have allowed over-the-counter access to emergency contraception for women of all ages.
As a result, teenagers 'face a significant barrier if they suddenly need emergency contraception at midnight on a Saturday,' said Susan Wood, former assistant commissioner for women's health at the FDA. She resigned from the agency in 2005 over its Plan B decision and is now director of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, a global legal advocacy organization devoted to reproductive rights, has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Sebelius' decision and welcomed the AAP recommendation.
'We are very pleased to see this recommendation because it represents progress towards our ultimate goal which is that women of all ages should have unrestricted access to emergency contraception, said Janet Crepps, senior counsel in the U.S. legal program at the Center.
Women's advocates also hailed the recommendation, saying it offers a workaround current health policy which places unnecessary hurdles in the way of young teenagers obtaining emergency contraception.
'This shames the department of Health and Human Services and its nakedly political attempt to override science and medicine,' said Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, a non-profit advocacy organization. 'HHS's policy means doctors have to use this workaround, and good for them, but they shouldn't have to do it,' she said.
A spokeswoman for HHS, Erin Shields Britt, declined on behalf of the department to comment.
The most common form of emergency contraception is a high dose of a regular birth-control pill such as Plan B and Plan B One-Step from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd or Next Choice from Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. They generally sell for $10 to $80 and, although they can work as long as 120 hours after unprotected sex, are most effective in the first 24 hours.
All work by preventing ovulation, not by stopping the implantation of a fertilized egg. 'These are not abortifacients,' said Seattle Children's Breuner. Abortifacients are drugs or devices used to cause abortion.
GREATER USE OF EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION
A 2006-08 survey found that 14 percent of sexually experienced girls had used emergency contraception, up from 8 percent in a 2002 survey. The most common reason was condom failure, but 13 percent of the girls said it was because of rape.
A 2010 analysis of seven randomized studies of emergency contraception found that having a morning-after prescription in hand did not increase teens' sexual activity or decrease use of standard contraceptives but did increase use of the pill and shorten the time before a teenager used it after sex.
'It's just common sense that requiring a prescription is a barrier,' said Bill Alpert, chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. 'If an august and respected medical group like AAP is suggesting providing emergency contraception to minors is OK, that is a big deal.'
That is especially so when teens face other obstacles to getting emergency contraception. For instance, in a 2012 study that had 17-year-olds telephone pharmacies asking about morning-after pills, only 57 percent of them correctly told the caller that she could get the drugs without a prescription.
Another barrier is that some physicians refuse to provide the prescriptions to teenagers, while others do so only in cases of rape, AAP's research shows, suggesting that the refusal 'may be related to the physician's beliefs about whether it is OK for teenagers to have sex.'
But pediatricians, said AAP in its policy statement, 'have a duty to inform their patients about relevant, legally available treatment options,' even those 'to which they object.'
One factor in the AAP's recommendation, which is being published in the journal 'Pediatrics,' is that although teen pregnancies in the United States have declined since 1991, the rate is higher than in most other developed countries.
The percent of 15- to 18-year-olds who report ever having intercourse - just over 40 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - is, however, lower than in many developed countries. In other words, fewer of America's teens are having sex but more are getting pregnant.
'We think this is a big deal,' Breuner said of the new recommendation. 'The mothership of pediatricians has come out in favor of encouraging routine counseling and advance emergency-contraception prescriptions as one part of a public health strategy to reduce teen pregnancy.'
(Additional reporting by Toni Clarke in Boston; editing by Prudence Crowther and Carol Bishopric)
This news article is brought to you by TAXES BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Embryo survival gene may fight range of diseases: study
HONG KONG (Reuters) - A gene that keeps embryos alive appears to control the immune system and determine how it fights chronic diseases like hepatitis and HIV, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, scientists said on Monday.
Although the experts have only conducted studies on the gene Arih2 using mice, they hope it can be used as a target for drugs eventually to fight a spectrum of incurable diseases.
Lead author Marc Pellegrini at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia said the gene appears to act like a switch, flipping the immune system on and off.
'If the gene is on, it dampens ... the immune response. And if you switch it off, it greatly enhances immune responses,' Pellegrini said in a telephone interview.
'It is probably one of the few genes and pathways that is very targetable and could lead to a drug very quickly.'
Arih2 was first identified by another group of scientists in the fruit fly but it drew the interest of Pellegrini's team because of its suspected links to the immune system.
In a paper published in Nature Immunology, Pellegrini and his team described how mice embryos died when the gene was removed.
Next, they removed the gene from adult mice and noticed how their immune systems were boosted for a short period of time. But it quickly went into an overdrive and started attacking the rodents' own healthy cells, skin and organs.
'The mice survived for six weeks quite well. Then they started developing this very hyperactive immune responses and if you leave it for too long, it starts reacting against the body itself,' Pellegrini said.
Pellegrini and his colleagues hope that scientists can study the gene further and use it as a drug target to fight a large spectrum of diseases.
'It's like an accelerator. In infectious diseases, you want to slam on the brakes on this gene, and for autoimmune diseases, you want to push the accelerator to make it work much harder to stop the whole immune response,' said Pellegrini.
'The more the gene works, the less of an immune response there is. And the less active the gene is, the more the immune response is.'
(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Nick Macfie)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Although the experts have only conducted studies on the gene Arih2 using mice, they hope it can be used as a target for drugs eventually to fight a spectrum of incurable diseases.
Lead author Marc Pellegrini at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia said the gene appears to act like a switch, flipping the immune system on and off.
'If the gene is on, it dampens ... the immune response. And if you switch it off, it greatly enhances immune responses,' Pellegrini said in a telephone interview.
'It is probably one of the few genes and pathways that is very targetable and could lead to a drug very quickly.'
Arih2 was first identified by another group of scientists in the fruit fly but it drew the interest of Pellegrini's team because of its suspected links to the immune system.
In a paper published in Nature Immunology, Pellegrini and his team described how mice embryos died when the gene was removed.
Next, they removed the gene from adult mice and noticed how their immune systems were boosted for a short period of time. But it quickly went into an overdrive and started attacking the rodents' own healthy cells, skin and organs.
'The mice survived for six weeks quite well. Then they started developing this very hyperactive immune responses and if you leave it for too long, it starts reacting against the body itself,' Pellegrini said.
Pellegrini and his colleagues hope that scientists can study the gene further and use it as a drug target to fight a large spectrum of diseases.
'It's like an accelerator. In infectious diseases, you want to slam on the brakes on this gene, and for autoimmune diseases, you want to push the accelerator to make it work much harder to stop the whole immune response,' said Pellegrini.
'The more the gene works, the less of an immune response there is. And the less active the gene is, the more the immune response is.'
(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Nick Macfie)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Pfizer cuts Viagra price in Canada after court loss to generics
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc has cut the Canadian price of its Viagra erectile dysfunction drug after the Supreme Court of Canada opened the door to sales of generic versions of the drug, the company said on Thursday.
'We are lowering original Viagra's price to be in line with generic versions because we are committed to ensuring that Viagra patients continue to have access to the original - made by Pfizer, and at a competitive price,' Scott Wilks from Pfizer's Canadian subsidiary said in a statement.
The patent on Viagra had been due to expire in 2014 in Canada. The Supreme Court threw the door open to generics immediately on November 8 when it ruled that Pfizer had not provided enough details when it filed its patent.
That challenge had been mounted by Israeli-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, the world's largest drug maker, which said it expected to offer a generic version at a substantially lower price.
Pfizer said cheaper generic entries had already arrived in Canadian stores. It did not identify the suppliers, but said it had now cut its typical pack of four 100 mg pills to about C$37 ($37) from C$49, effective immediately.
The Viagra patent in the United States is still valid. Viagra is not available over the counter, so Americans cannot simply to go into a Canadian pharmacy to buy the drug.
(Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by Janet Guttsman and Andrew Hay)
This news article is brought to you by ECONOMY BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
'We are lowering original Viagra's price to be in line with generic versions because we are committed to ensuring that Viagra patients continue to have access to the original - made by Pfizer, and at a competitive price,' Scott Wilks from Pfizer's Canadian subsidiary said in a statement.
The patent on Viagra had been due to expire in 2014 in Canada. The Supreme Court threw the door open to generics immediately on November 8 when it ruled that Pfizer had not provided enough details when it filed its patent.
That challenge had been mounted by Israeli-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, the world's largest drug maker, which said it expected to offer a generic version at a substantially lower price.
Pfizer said cheaper generic entries had already arrived in Canadian stores. It did not identify the suppliers, but said it had now cut its typical pack of four 100 mg pills to about C$37 ($37) from C$49, effective immediately.
The Viagra patent in the United States is still valid. Viagra is not available over the counter, so Americans cannot simply to go into a Canadian pharmacy to buy the drug.
(Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by Janet Guttsman and Andrew Hay)
This news article is brought to you by ECONOMY BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Doctors' Group Advocates Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pills
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) published an opinion piece on Tuesday that advocated making birth control pills available without a prescription. The piece, which was published in the December issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, went on to assert that doing so would ultimately likely result in a reduced number of unplanned pregnancies nationwide.
As a report by CNN noted on Wednesday, the idea of making birth control pills available without a prescription has been debated off and on since at least the 1990s. Doctors have long asserted that doing so will ultimately save billions of dollars associated with the costs of unplanned pregnancies, while at the same time posing no increased health risks to women.
Here is some of the key information that has surfaced regarding the ACOG's recommendations on Tuesday and the ensuing debate.
* According to HealthDay News, the ACOG's recommendation was partially based on the fact that approximately half of the pregnancies in the U.S. each year are unplanned.
* Also cited was the belief of the committee that the number of unplanned pregnancies could be decreased by offering easier access to birth control pills, which could in turn encourage more women to use them, as well as prevent gaps in use caused by lack of access or cost.
* The group told CNN and other media outlets on Wednesday that mounting evidence gleaned from the 20 years' worth of research gathered since the issue was first broached in the 1990's has shown that women are perfectly capable of determining whether or not they are good candidates for the pill, including conducting a self-assessment of various risk factors, such as smoking or obesity.
* Several groups, including the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, have sided with the ACOG's recommendation. In a statement quoted by CNN, the institute stated that allowing birth control pills to be sold over-the-counter "will greatly reduce the systemic barriers ... that currently prevent Latinas from regularly accessing birth control."
* Dr. Dan Grossman, who is the vice president for research at Ibis Reproductive Health, as well as an ACOG committee member, told Reuters on Tuesday that his one concern is that allowing birth control pills to be sold over-the-counter may result in a cost barrier, should pharmaceutical companies decide to make them too expensive for regular use.
* Some doctors, including Fox News health commentator Dr. Manny Alvarez, have voiced health concerns related to making the pills available over-the-counter. Alvarez went on the record on Wednesday as saying that he believes that some women need a more careful risk assessment by their doctors before going on birth control, which would not be provided if the pills were available over-the-counter.
Vanessa Evans is a musician and freelance writer based in Michigan, with a lifelong interest in health and nutrition issues.
This news article is brought to you by LINUXOS.PRO - where latest news are our top priority.
As a report by CNN noted on Wednesday, the idea of making birth control pills available without a prescription has been debated off and on since at least the 1990s. Doctors have long asserted that doing so will ultimately save billions of dollars associated with the costs of unplanned pregnancies, while at the same time posing no increased health risks to women.
Here is some of the key information that has surfaced regarding the ACOG's recommendations on Tuesday and the ensuing debate.
* According to HealthDay News, the ACOG's recommendation was partially based on the fact that approximately half of the pregnancies in the U.S. each year are unplanned.
* Also cited was the belief of the committee that the number of unplanned pregnancies could be decreased by offering easier access to birth control pills, which could in turn encourage more women to use them, as well as prevent gaps in use caused by lack of access or cost.
* The group told CNN and other media outlets on Wednesday that mounting evidence gleaned from the 20 years' worth of research gathered since the issue was first broached in the 1990's has shown that women are perfectly capable of determining whether or not they are good candidates for the pill, including conducting a self-assessment of various risk factors, such as smoking or obesity.
* Several groups, including the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, have sided with the ACOG's recommendation. In a statement quoted by CNN, the institute stated that allowing birth control pills to be sold over-the-counter "will greatly reduce the systemic barriers ... that currently prevent Latinas from regularly accessing birth control."
* Dr. Dan Grossman, who is the vice president for research at Ibis Reproductive Health, as well as an ACOG committee member, told Reuters on Tuesday that his one concern is that allowing birth control pills to be sold over-the-counter may result in a cost barrier, should pharmaceutical companies decide to make them too expensive for regular use.
* Some doctors, including Fox News health commentator Dr. Manny Alvarez, have voiced health concerns related to making the pills available over-the-counter. Alvarez went on the record on Wednesday as saying that he believes that some women need a more careful risk assessment by their doctors before going on birth control, which would not be provided if the pills were available over-the-counter.
Vanessa Evans is a musician and freelance writer based in Michigan, with a lifelong interest in health and nutrition issues.
This news article is brought to you by LINUXOS.PRO - where latest news are our top priority.
US abortions fall 5 pct, biggest drop in a decade
NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. abortions fell 5 percent during the recession and its aftermath in the biggest one-year decrease in at least a decade, perhaps because women are more careful to use birth control when times are tough, researchers say.
The decline, detailed on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Both the number of abortions and the abortion rate dropped by the same percentage.
Some experts theorize that some women believed they couldn't afford to get pregnant.
'They stick to straight and narrow ... and they are more careful about birth control,' said Elizabeth Ananat, a Duke University assistant professor of public policy and economics who has researched abortions.
While many states have aggressively restricted access to abortion, most of those laws were adopted in the past two years and are not believed to have played a role in the decline.
Abortions have been dropping slightly over much of the past decade. But before this latest report, they seemed to have pretty much leveled off.
Nearly all states report abortion numbers to the federal government, but it's voluntary. A few states - including California, which has the largest population and largest number of abortion providers - don't send in data. While experts estimate there are more than 1 million abortions nationwide each year, the CDC counted about 785,000 in 2009 because of incomplete reporting.
To come up with reliable year-to-year comparisons, the CDC used the numbers from 43 states and two cities - those that have been sending in data consistently for at least 10 years. The researchers found that abortions per 1,000 women of child-bearing age fell from about 16 in 2008 to roughly 15 in 2009. That translates to nearly 38,000 fewer abortions in one year.
Mississippi had the lowest abortion rate, at 4 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age. The state also had only a couple of abortion providers and has the nation's highest teen birth rate. New York, second to California in number of abortion providers, had the highest abortion rate, roughly eight times Mississippi's.
Nationally since 2000, the number of reported abortions has dropped overall by about 6 percent and the abortion rate has fallen 7 percent.
By all accounts, contraception is playing a role in lowering the numbers.
Some experts cite a government study released earlier this year suggesting that about 60 percent of teenage girls who have sex use the most effective kinds of contraception, including the pill and patch. That's up from the mid-1990s, when fewer than half were using the best kinds.
Experts also pointed to the growing use of IUDs, or intrauterine devices, T-shaped plastic sperm-killers that a doctor inserts into the uterus. A study released earlier this year by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that does research on reproductive health, showed that IUD use among sexually active women on birth control rose from less than 3 percent in 2002 to more than 8 percent in 2009.
IUDs essentially prevent 'user error,' said Rachel Jones, a Guttmacher researcher.
Ananat said another factor may be the growing use of the morning-after pill, a form of emergency contraception that has been increasingly easier to get. It came onto the market in 1999 and in 2006 was approved for non-prescription sale to women 18 and older. In 2009 that was lowered to 17.
Underlying all this may be the economy, which was in recession from December 2007 until June 2009. Even well afterward, polls showed most Americans remained worried about anemic hiring, a depressed housing market and other problems.
You might think a bad economy would lead to more abortions by women who are struggling. However, John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health, said: 'The economy seems to be having a fundamental effect on pregnancies, not abortions.'
More findings from the CDC:
- The majority of abortions are performed by the eighth week of pregnancy, when the fetus is about the size of a lima bean.
- White women had the lowest abortion rate, at about 8.5 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age; the rate for black women was about four times that. The rate for Hispanic women was about 19 per 1,000.
- About 85 percent of those who got abortions were unmarried.
- The CDC identified 12 abortion-related deaths in 2009.
This news article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE 201 - where latest news are our top priority.
The decline, detailed on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Both the number of abortions and the abortion rate dropped by the same percentage.
Some experts theorize that some women believed they couldn't afford to get pregnant.
'They stick to straight and narrow ... and they are more careful about birth control,' said Elizabeth Ananat, a Duke University assistant professor of public policy and economics who has researched abortions.
While many states have aggressively restricted access to abortion, most of those laws were adopted in the past two years and are not believed to have played a role in the decline.
Abortions have been dropping slightly over much of the past decade. But before this latest report, they seemed to have pretty much leveled off.
Nearly all states report abortion numbers to the federal government, but it's voluntary. A few states - including California, which has the largest population and largest number of abortion providers - don't send in data. While experts estimate there are more than 1 million abortions nationwide each year, the CDC counted about 785,000 in 2009 because of incomplete reporting.
To come up with reliable year-to-year comparisons, the CDC used the numbers from 43 states and two cities - those that have been sending in data consistently for at least 10 years. The researchers found that abortions per 1,000 women of child-bearing age fell from about 16 in 2008 to roughly 15 in 2009. That translates to nearly 38,000 fewer abortions in one year.
Mississippi had the lowest abortion rate, at 4 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age. The state also had only a couple of abortion providers and has the nation's highest teen birth rate. New York, second to California in number of abortion providers, had the highest abortion rate, roughly eight times Mississippi's.
Nationally since 2000, the number of reported abortions has dropped overall by about 6 percent and the abortion rate has fallen 7 percent.
By all accounts, contraception is playing a role in lowering the numbers.
Some experts cite a government study released earlier this year suggesting that about 60 percent of teenage girls who have sex use the most effective kinds of contraception, including the pill and patch. That's up from the mid-1990s, when fewer than half were using the best kinds.
Experts also pointed to the growing use of IUDs, or intrauterine devices, T-shaped plastic sperm-killers that a doctor inserts into the uterus. A study released earlier this year by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that does research on reproductive health, showed that IUD use among sexually active women on birth control rose from less than 3 percent in 2002 to more than 8 percent in 2009.
IUDs essentially prevent 'user error,' said Rachel Jones, a Guttmacher researcher.
Ananat said another factor may be the growing use of the morning-after pill, a form of emergency contraception that has been increasingly easier to get. It came onto the market in 1999 and in 2006 was approved for non-prescription sale to women 18 and older. In 2009 that was lowered to 17.
Underlying all this may be the economy, which was in recession from December 2007 until June 2009. Even well afterward, polls showed most Americans remained worried about anemic hiring, a depressed housing market and other problems.
You might think a bad economy would lead to more abortions by women who are struggling. However, John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health, said: 'The economy seems to be having a fundamental effect on pregnancies, not abortions.'
More findings from the CDC:
- The majority of abortions are performed by the eighth week of pregnancy, when the fetus is about the size of a lima bean.
- White women had the lowest abortion rate, at about 8.5 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age; the rate for black women was about four times that. The rate for Hispanic women was about 19 per 1,000.
- About 85 percent of those who got abortions were unmarried.
- The CDC identified 12 abortion-related deaths in 2009.
This news article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE 201 - where latest news are our top priority.
Docs Push for Over-the-Counter Pill
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Tuesday, November 20, 2012
OB/GYNs back over-the-counter birth control pills
WASHINGTON (AP) - No prescription or doctor's exam needed: The nation's largest group of obstetricians and gynecologists says birth control pills should be sold over the counter, like condoms.
Tuesday's surprise opinion from these gatekeepers of contraception could boost longtime efforts by women's advocates to make the pill more accessible.
But no one expects the pill to be sold without a prescription any time soon: A company would have to seek government permission first, and it's not clear if any are considering it. Plus there are big questions about what such a move would mean for many women's wallets if it were no longer covered by insurance.
Still, momentum may be building.
Already, anyone 17 or older doesn't need to see a doctor before buying the morning-after pill - a higher-dose version of regular birth control that can prevent pregnancy if taken shortly after unprotected sex. Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration held a meeting to gather ideas about how to sell regular oral contraceptives without a prescription, too.
Now the influential American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is declaring it's safe to sell the pill that way.
Wait, why would doctors who make money from women's yearly visits for a birth-control prescription advocate giving that up?
Half of the nation's pregnancies every year are unintended, a rate that hasn't changed in 20 years - and easier access to birth control pills could help, said Dr. Kavita Nanda, an OB/GYN who co-authored the opinion for the doctors group.
'It's unfortunate that in this country where we have all these contraceptive methods available, unintended pregnancy is still a major public health problem,' said Nanda, a scientist with the North Carolina nonprofit FHI 360, formerly known as Family Health International.
Many women have trouble affording a doctor's visit, or getting an appointment in time when their pills are running low - which can lead to skipped doses, Nanda added.
If the pill didn't require a prescription, women could 'pick it up in the middle of the night if they run out,' she said. 'It removes those types of barriers.'
Tuesday, the FDA said it was willing to meet with any company interested in making the pill nonprescription, to discuss what if any studies would be needed.
Then there's the price question. The Obama administration's new health care law requires FDA-approved contraceptives to be available without copays for women enrolled in most workplace health plans.
If the pill were sold without a prescription, it wouldn't be covered under that provision, just as condoms aren't, said Health and Human Services spokesman Tait Sye.
ACOG's opinion, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, says any move toward making the pill nonprescription should address that cost issue. Not all women are eligible for the free birth control provision, it noted, citing a recent survey that found young women and the uninsured pay an average of $16 per month's supply.
The doctors group made clear that:
-Birth control pills are very safe. Blood clots, the main serious side effect, happen very rarely, and are a bigger threat during pregnancy and right after giving birth.
-Women can easily tell if they have risk factors, such as smoking or having a previous clot, and should avoid the pill.
-Other over-the-counter drugs are sold despite rare but serious side effects, such as stomach bleeding from aspirin and liver damage from acetaminophen.
-And there's no need for a Pap smear or pelvic exam before using birth control pills. But women should be told to continue getting check-ups as needed, or if they'd like to discuss other forms of birth control such as implantable contraceptives that do require a physician's involvement.
The group didn't address teen use of contraception. Despite protests from reproductive health specialists, current U.S. policy requires girls younger than 17 to produce a prescription for the morning-after pill, meaning pharmacists must check customers' ages. Presumably regular birth control pills would be treated the same way.
Prescription-only oral contraceptives have long been the rule in the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia and a few other places, but many countries don't require a prescription.
Switching isn't a new idea. In Washington state a few years ago, a pilot project concluded that pharmacists successfully supplied women with a variety of hormonal contraceptives, including birth control pills, without a doctor's involvement. The question was how to pay for it.
Some pharmacies in parts of London have a similar project under way, and a recent report from that country's health officials concluded the program is working well enough that it should be expanded.
And in El Paso, Texas, researchers studied 500 women who regularly crossed the border into Mexico to buy birth control pills, where some U.S. brands sell over the counter for a few dollars a pack. Over nine months, the women who bought in Mexico stuck with their contraception better than another 500 women who received the pill from public clinics in El Paso, possibly because the clinic users had to wait for appointments, said Dr. Dan Grossman of the University of California, San Francisco, and the nonprofit research group Ibis Reproductive Health.
'Being able to easily get the pill when you need it makes a difference,' he said.
___
Online:
OB/GYN group: http://www.acog.org
This news article is brought to you by TECHNOLOGY NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Tuesday's surprise opinion from these gatekeepers of contraception could boost longtime efforts by women's advocates to make the pill more accessible.
But no one expects the pill to be sold without a prescription any time soon: A company would have to seek government permission first, and it's not clear if any are considering it. Plus there are big questions about what such a move would mean for many women's wallets if it were no longer covered by insurance.
Still, momentum may be building.
Already, anyone 17 or older doesn't need to see a doctor before buying the morning-after pill - a higher-dose version of regular birth control that can prevent pregnancy if taken shortly after unprotected sex. Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration held a meeting to gather ideas about how to sell regular oral contraceptives without a prescription, too.
Now the influential American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is declaring it's safe to sell the pill that way.
Wait, why would doctors who make money from women's yearly visits for a birth-control prescription advocate giving that up?
Half of the nation's pregnancies every year are unintended, a rate that hasn't changed in 20 years - and easier access to birth control pills could help, said Dr. Kavita Nanda, an OB/GYN who co-authored the opinion for the doctors group.
'It's unfortunate that in this country where we have all these contraceptive methods available, unintended pregnancy is still a major public health problem,' said Nanda, a scientist with the North Carolina nonprofit FHI 360, formerly known as Family Health International.
Many women have trouble affording a doctor's visit, or getting an appointment in time when their pills are running low - which can lead to skipped doses, Nanda added.
If the pill didn't require a prescription, women could 'pick it up in the middle of the night if they run out,' she said. 'It removes those types of barriers.'
Tuesday, the FDA said it was willing to meet with any company interested in making the pill nonprescription, to discuss what if any studies would be needed.
Then there's the price question. The Obama administration's new health care law requires FDA-approved contraceptives to be available without copays for women enrolled in most workplace health plans.
If the pill were sold without a prescription, it wouldn't be covered under that provision, just as condoms aren't, said Health and Human Services spokesman Tait Sye.
ACOG's opinion, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, says any move toward making the pill nonprescription should address that cost issue. Not all women are eligible for the free birth control provision, it noted, citing a recent survey that found young women and the uninsured pay an average of $16 per month's supply.
The doctors group made clear that:
-Birth control pills are very safe. Blood clots, the main serious side effect, happen very rarely, and are a bigger threat during pregnancy and right after giving birth.
-Women can easily tell if they have risk factors, such as smoking or having a previous clot, and should avoid the pill.
-Other over-the-counter drugs are sold despite rare but serious side effects, such as stomach bleeding from aspirin and liver damage from acetaminophen.
-And there's no need for a Pap smear or pelvic exam before using birth control pills. But women should be told to continue getting check-ups as needed, or if they'd like to discuss other forms of birth control such as implantable contraceptives that do require a physician's involvement.
The group didn't address teen use of contraception. Despite protests from reproductive health specialists, current U.S. policy requires girls younger than 17 to produce a prescription for the morning-after pill, meaning pharmacists must check customers' ages. Presumably regular birth control pills would be treated the same way.
Prescription-only oral contraceptives have long been the rule in the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia and a few other places, but many countries don't require a prescription.
Switching isn't a new idea. In Washington state a few years ago, a pilot project concluded that pharmacists successfully supplied women with a variety of hormonal contraceptives, including birth control pills, without a doctor's involvement. The question was how to pay for it.
Some pharmacies in parts of London have a similar project under way, and a recent report from that country's health officials concluded the program is working well enough that it should be expanded.
And in El Paso, Texas, researchers studied 500 women who regularly crossed the border into Mexico to buy birth control pills, where some U.S. brands sell over the counter for a few dollars a pack. Over nine months, the women who bought in Mexico stuck with their contraception better than another 500 women who received the pill from public clinics in El Paso, possibly because the clinic users had to wait for appointments, said Dr. Dan Grossman of the University of California, San Francisco, and the nonprofit research group Ibis Reproductive Health.
'Being able to easily get the pill when you need it makes a difference,' he said.
___
Online:
OB/GYN group: http://www.acog.org
This news article is brought to you by TECHNOLOGY NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Ob-gynecologists endorse over-the-counter birth control
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A leading group of women's physicians is urging drug regulators to make birth control pills available over-the-counter.
'We need to do something about the unintended pregnancy problem in the U.S. This is one way,' said Dr. Kavita Nanda, one of the authors of the statement by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and a scientist at the nonprofit research group FHI 360.
As Nanda and her colleagues wrote in their opinion statement supporting over-the-counter access, about half of all pregnancies are unplanned and they lead to $11 billion in costs to taxpayers each year.
Diana Greene Foster, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco who studies the impact of birth control on unplanned pregnancies, told Reuters Health the new opinion is backed by evidence.
'It's been a long time that people (have felt) that over-the-counter makes sense,' said Foster, who is not part of the ACOG committee. 'It's clear that it would result in better access and fewer unintended pregnancies if women had better access to oral contraceptives.'
Currently, the birth control pill requires a prescription in the U.S.
Emergency contraception, which goes by the brand name Plan B, is available without a prescription, but must be acquired from a pharmacist.
Nanda said several surveys have shown that women would be more likely to use the pill if it were available over-the-counter, and studies have shown that women are at least as good as doctors at screening themselves for health reasons why they shouldn't take the pill.
'There's just an accumulating body of evidence that's been published over the past three years that's really been documenting the safety and effectiveness of over-the-counter access,' said Dr. Dan Grossman, the vice president for research at Ibis Reproductive Health.
Grossman sits on an ACOG committee, but not the one that penned the latest opinion.
One of the concerns about over-the-counter access is that the pill carries a small, increased risk of developing a potentially dangerous blood clot. But the risk of these clots is even greater during pregnancy.
'The pill is incredibly safe,' Grossman told Reuters Health. 'I don't have any safety concerns.'
COST ANOTHER BARRIER?
Grossman said he worries more about cost and insurance coverage, so that if the pill does become available without a prescription, women could actually access it.
'As we saw with Plan B, when it went over-the-counter the price was really high, $50 for a one-time use. If a daily pill were priced that high, I don't think we would see the hoped-for increased use because the cost would create another barrier,' he said.
Under a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, women with health insurance will become eligible to receive birth control without any additional co-pays.
It's not clear whether this would apply to over-the-counter birth control if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves such access.
The agency told Reuters Health it is willing to speak with drugmakers who wish to petition for a switch from prescription to over-the-counter availability.
'In order for a switch to occur, FDA determines whether the prescription requirements are necessary for the protection of the public health...Whether data would be needed for oral contraceptives to switch would require further review and discussion with (drug) sponsors,' Stephanie Yao, an FDA spokesperson, wrote in an email.
Foster said that, for supporters of over-the-counter access, ACOG's opinion is encouraging.
'The fact that ACOG is coming out with a statement is a big deal, because they're currently the gatekeepers. So when the gatekeepers are willing to let women have access to (over-the-counter) oral contraceptives, it does support it,' she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/Ud6Y2v Obstetrics & Gynecology, online November 20, 2012.
This news article is brought to you by MOVIE GOSSIP NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
'We need to do something about the unintended pregnancy problem in the U.S. This is one way,' said Dr. Kavita Nanda, one of the authors of the statement by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and a scientist at the nonprofit research group FHI 360.
As Nanda and her colleagues wrote in their opinion statement supporting over-the-counter access, about half of all pregnancies are unplanned and they lead to $11 billion in costs to taxpayers each year.
Diana Greene Foster, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco who studies the impact of birth control on unplanned pregnancies, told Reuters Health the new opinion is backed by evidence.
'It's been a long time that people (have felt) that over-the-counter makes sense,' said Foster, who is not part of the ACOG committee. 'It's clear that it would result in better access and fewer unintended pregnancies if women had better access to oral contraceptives.'
Currently, the birth control pill requires a prescription in the U.S.
Emergency contraception, which goes by the brand name Plan B, is available without a prescription, but must be acquired from a pharmacist.
Nanda said several surveys have shown that women would be more likely to use the pill if it were available over-the-counter, and studies have shown that women are at least as good as doctors at screening themselves for health reasons why they shouldn't take the pill.
'There's just an accumulating body of evidence that's been published over the past three years that's really been documenting the safety and effectiveness of over-the-counter access,' said Dr. Dan Grossman, the vice president for research at Ibis Reproductive Health.
Grossman sits on an ACOG committee, but not the one that penned the latest opinion.
One of the concerns about over-the-counter access is that the pill carries a small, increased risk of developing a potentially dangerous blood clot. But the risk of these clots is even greater during pregnancy.
'The pill is incredibly safe,' Grossman told Reuters Health. 'I don't have any safety concerns.'
COST ANOTHER BARRIER?
Grossman said he worries more about cost and insurance coverage, so that if the pill does become available without a prescription, women could actually access it.
'As we saw with Plan B, when it went over-the-counter the price was really high, $50 for a one-time use. If a daily pill were priced that high, I don't think we would see the hoped-for increased use because the cost would create another barrier,' he said.
Under a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, women with health insurance will become eligible to receive birth control without any additional co-pays.
It's not clear whether this would apply to over-the-counter birth control if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves such access.
The agency told Reuters Health it is willing to speak with drugmakers who wish to petition for a switch from prescription to over-the-counter availability.
'In order for a switch to occur, FDA determines whether the prescription requirements are necessary for the protection of the public health...Whether data would be needed for oral contraceptives to switch would require further review and discussion with (drug) sponsors,' Stephanie Yao, an FDA spokesperson, wrote in an email.
Foster said that, for supporters of over-the-counter access, ACOG's opinion is encouraging.
'The fact that ACOG is coming out with a statement is a big deal, because they're currently the gatekeepers. So when the gatekeepers are willing to let women have access to (over-the-counter) oral contraceptives, it does support it,' she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/Ud6Y2v Obstetrics & Gynecology, online November 20, 2012.
This news article is brought to you by MOVIE GOSSIP NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
HIV infections fall, U.N. says ending AIDS "feasible"
LONDON (Reuters) - An end to the worldwide AIDS epidemic is in sight, the United Nations says, mainly due to better access to drugs that can both treat and prevent the incurable human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes the disease.
Progress over the past decade has cut the death toll and helped stabilize the number of people infected with HIV, the U.N. AIDS program said in its annual report on Tuesday.
'The global community has embarked on an historic quest to lay the foundation for the eventual end of the AIDS epidemic. This effort is more than merely visionary. It is entirely feasible,' UNAIDS said.
Some 34 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2011, the report said. Deaths from AIDS fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.3 million in 2005 and from 1.8 million in 2010.
Worldwide, the number of people newly infected with HIV, which can be transmitted via blood and by semen during sex, is also falling. At 2.5 million, the number of new infections in 2011 was 20 percent lower than in 2001.
'Although AIDS remains one of the world's most serious health challenges, global solidarity in the AIDS response during the past decade continues to generate extraordinary health gains,' the report said.
It said this was due to 'historic success' in bringing HIV programs to scale, combined with the emergence of new combination drugs to prevent people from becoming HIV infected and from dying from AIDS.
'The pace of progress is quickening - what used to take a decade is now being achieved in 24 months,' said Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS. 'We are scaling up faster and smarter than ever before. It is the proof that with political will and follow through we can reach our shared goals.'
TIMELY TREATMENT
Since 1995, AIDS drug treatment - known as antiretroviral therapy - has saved 14 million life-years in poorer countries, including 9 million in sub-Saharan Africa, the report said.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the most severely affected region with almost one in every 20 adults infected, nearly 25 times the rate in Asia, there are also almost 5 million people with HIV in south, southeast and east Asia combined.
Some 8 million people were being treated with AIDS drugs by the end of 2011, a 20-fold increase since 2003. The United Nations has set a target to raise that to 15 million people by 2015.
'Scaling up HIV treatment to 15 million people ... is feasible and has the crucial triple benefit of reducing illness, reducing death, and reducing the risk of transmission,' said Manica Balasegaram of the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.
But he said the pace must be stepped up 'so that every month more people are started on life-saving HIV treatment than the month before'.
Scientific studies have shown that getting timely treatment to those with HIV can also cut the number of people who become newly infected with the virus.
UNAIDS said the sharpest declines in new HIV infections since 2001 were in the Caribbean and in sub-Saharan Africa - where new infections were down 25 percent in a decade.
Despite this, sub-Saharan Africa still accounted for 71 percent of people newly infected in 2011, underscoring the need to boost HIV prevention efforts in the region, UNAIDS said. Of the 1.7 million AIDS-related deaths in 2011, 1.2 million were in sub-Saharan Africa.
HIV trends are also a concern in other regions, it said.
Since 2001, the number of new HIV infections in the Middle East and North Africa was up more than 35 percent from 27,000 to 37,000, it said, and evidence suggests HIV infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia began increasing in the late 2000s after being relatively stable for several years.
(Editing by Alison Williams)
This news article is brought to you by ECONOMY BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Progress over the past decade has cut the death toll and helped stabilize the number of people infected with HIV, the U.N. AIDS program said in its annual report on Tuesday.
'The global community has embarked on an historic quest to lay the foundation for the eventual end of the AIDS epidemic. This effort is more than merely visionary. It is entirely feasible,' UNAIDS said.
Some 34 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2011, the report said. Deaths from AIDS fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.3 million in 2005 and from 1.8 million in 2010.
Worldwide, the number of people newly infected with HIV, which can be transmitted via blood and by semen during sex, is also falling. At 2.5 million, the number of new infections in 2011 was 20 percent lower than in 2001.
'Although AIDS remains one of the world's most serious health challenges, global solidarity in the AIDS response during the past decade continues to generate extraordinary health gains,' the report said.
It said this was due to 'historic success' in bringing HIV programs to scale, combined with the emergence of new combination drugs to prevent people from becoming HIV infected and from dying from AIDS.
'The pace of progress is quickening - what used to take a decade is now being achieved in 24 months,' said Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS. 'We are scaling up faster and smarter than ever before. It is the proof that with political will and follow through we can reach our shared goals.'
TIMELY TREATMENT
Since 1995, AIDS drug treatment - known as antiretroviral therapy - has saved 14 million life-years in poorer countries, including 9 million in sub-Saharan Africa, the report said.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the most severely affected region with almost one in every 20 adults infected, nearly 25 times the rate in Asia, there are also almost 5 million people with HIV in south, southeast and east Asia combined.
Some 8 million people were being treated with AIDS drugs by the end of 2011, a 20-fold increase since 2003. The United Nations has set a target to raise that to 15 million people by 2015.
'Scaling up HIV treatment to 15 million people ... is feasible and has the crucial triple benefit of reducing illness, reducing death, and reducing the risk of transmission,' said Manica Balasegaram of the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.
But he said the pace must be stepped up 'so that every month more people are started on life-saving HIV treatment than the month before'.
Scientific studies have shown that getting timely treatment to those with HIV can also cut the number of people who become newly infected with the virus.
UNAIDS said the sharpest declines in new HIV infections since 2001 were in the Caribbean and in sub-Saharan Africa - where new infections were down 25 percent in a decade.
Despite this, sub-Saharan Africa still accounted for 71 percent of people newly infected in 2011, underscoring the need to boost HIV prevention efforts in the region, UNAIDS said. Of the 1.7 million AIDS-related deaths in 2011, 1.2 million were in sub-Saharan Africa.
HIV trends are also a concern in other regions, it said.
Since 2001, the number of new HIV infections in the Middle East and North Africa was up more than 35 percent from 27,000 to 37,000, it said, and evidence suggests HIV infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia began increasing in the late 2000s after being relatively stable for several years.
(Editing by Alison Williams)
This news article is brought to you by ECONOMY BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
U.N. says an end to AIDS in sight
LONDON (Reuters) - A United Nations report said on Tuesday that eradicating AIDS was in sight, owing to better access to drugs that can both treat and prevent the incurable human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes the disease.
An aim to eventually end the worldwide AIDS epidemic is not 'merely visionary' but 'entirely feasible', the report said.
Success in fighting the disease in the past decade has allowed the 'foundation to be laid for the eventual end of AIDS' by cutting the death toll and helping stabilize the number of people infected in the pandemic, UNAIDS said its annual report.
Some 34 million people had HIV at the end of 2011.
Worldwide, the number of people newly infected with the disease, which can be transmitted via blood and by semen during sex, is falling. At 2.5 million, the number of new infections in 2011 was 20 percent lower than in 2001.
Deaths from AIDS fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.3 million in 2005 and from 1.8 million in 2010.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the most severely affected region with almost one in every 20 adults infected, nearly 25 times the rate in Asia, there are also almost 5 million people with HIV in South, South-East and East Asia combined.
'Although AIDS remains one of the world's most serious health challenges, global solidarity in the AIDS response during the past decade continues to generate extraordinary health gains,' the report said.
It said this was due to 'historic success' in bringing HIV programs to scale, combined with the emergence of new combination drugs to prevent people from becoming HIV infected and from dying from AIDS.
Since 1995, AIDS drug treatment - known as antiretroviral therapy - has saved 14 million life-years in poorer countries, including 9 million in sub-Saharan Africa, the report said.
Some 8 million people were being treated with AIDS drugs by the end of 2011, a 20-fold increase since 2003. The U.N. has set a target to raise that to 15 million people by 2015.
Scientific studies published in recent years have shown that getting timely treatment to those with HIV can also cut the number of people who become newly infected with the virus.
UNAIDS said the sharpest declines in new HIV infections since 2001 were in the Caribbean and in sub-Saharan Africa - where new infections were down 25 percent in a decade.
Despite this, sub-Saharan Africa still accounted for 71 percent of people newly infected in 2011, underscoring the need to boost HIV prevention efforts in the region, UNAIDS said.
HIV trends are a concern in other regions also, it said.
Since 2001, the number of new HIV infections in the Middle East and North Africa was up more than 35 percent from 27,000 to 37,000, it said, and evidence suggests HIV infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia began increasing in the late 2000s after being relatively stable for several years.
(Editing by Louise Ireland)
This news article is brought to you by PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
An aim to eventually end the worldwide AIDS epidemic is not 'merely visionary' but 'entirely feasible', the report said.
Success in fighting the disease in the past decade has allowed the 'foundation to be laid for the eventual end of AIDS' by cutting the death toll and helping stabilize the number of people infected in the pandemic, UNAIDS said its annual report.
Some 34 million people had HIV at the end of 2011.
Worldwide, the number of people newly infected with the disease, which can be transmitted via blood and by semen during sex, is falling. At 2.5 million, the number of new infections in 2011 was 20 percent lower than in 2001.
Deaths from AIDS fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.3 million in 2005 and from 1.8 million in 2010.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the most severely affected region with almost one in every 20 adults infected, nearly 25 times the rate in Asia, there are also almost 5 million people with HIV in South, South-East and East Asia combined.
'Although AIDS remains one of the world's most serious health challenges, global solidarity in the AIDS response during the past decade continues to generate extraordinary health gains,' the report said.
It said this was due to 'historic success' in bringing HIV programs to scale, combined with the emergence of new combination drugs to prevent people from becoming HIV infected and from dying from AIDS.
Since 1995, AIDS drug treatment - known as antiretroviral therapy - has saved 14 million life-years in poorer countries, including 9 million in sub-Saharan Africa, the report said.
Some 8 million people were being treated with AIDS drugs by the end of 2011, a 20-fold increase since 2003. The U.N. has set a target to raise that to 15 million people by 2015.
Scientific studies published in recent years have shown that getting timely treatment to those with HIV can also cut the number of people who become newly infected with the virus.
UNAIDS said the sharpest declines in new HIV infections since 2001 were in the Caribbean and in sub-Saharan Africa - where new infections were down 25 percent in a decade.
Despite this, sub-Saharan Africa still accounted for 71 percent of people newly infected in 2011, underscoring the need to boost HIV prevention efforts in the region, UNAIDS said.
HIV trends are a concern in other regions also, it said.
Since 2001, the number of new HIV infections in the Middle East and North Africa was up more than 35 percent from 27,000 to 37,000, it said, and evidence suggests HIV infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia began increasing in the late 2000s after being relatively stable for several years.
(Editing by Louise Ireland)
This news article is brought to you by PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Advisory panel moves to make HIV testing routine
CHICAGO (Reuters) - An influential U.S. panel has called for routine HIV screening for all Americans aged 15 to 65, a change that could help reduce some of the stigma about getting tested for the sexually transmitted infection that causes AIDS.
The draft recommendations, released on Monday by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-backed group of doctors and scientists, also called for routine HIV testing for all pregnant women.
'The prior recommendations were for screening high-risk adults and adolescents,' said task force member Dr Douglas Owens who is a medical professor at Stanford University.
'The current recommendation is for screening everyone, regardless of their risk,' said Owens, who is also affiliated with the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System in California.
Nearly 1.2 million people in the United States are infected with HIV, yet 20 to 25 percent of them do not know it.
'This marks a monumental shift in how HIV in the United States can be prevented, diagnosed and treated,' said Carl Schmid, deputy executive director of The AIDS Institute, an AIDS advocacy group.
The new guidelines by the task force are expected to affect the reimbursement of HIV testing, removing one of the barriers to the tests, Schmid's group said in a statement.
Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to cover preventive services that are recommended by the task force. The change brings the group more in line with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which in 2006 recommended HIV testing for everyone between 13 and 64.
The recommendations, which had been expected, are based on the latest evidence showing the benefits of early HIV testing and treatment. Recent studies have shown that HIV treatment can reduce transmission of the virus to an uninfected partner by as much as 96 percent.
'Treatment has two benefits. One is to the person who has HIV, and also treatment helps prevent transmission and protects a person's partner,' Owens said.
Dr. Jeffrey Lennox, a professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and chief of infectious disease at Grady Memorial Hospital, an inner-city hospital in Atlanta, said under the current recommendations, many doctors simply fail to offer the tests.
'In our practice, we see patients every week who are newly diagnosed with HIV - people who have seen many physicians in the past 10 years and none of them had ever offered testing,' Lennox said.
Many of these patients have far advanced disease, that could have been caught earlier and successfully treated.
Owens said he hopes the change will make it easier for doctors to offer testing.
'You are offering this to adolescents and adults and everyone. The conversation you have with people is likely to be easier,' he said.
The draft recommendations are based on a study of the most recent evidence on the risks and benefits of HIV testing published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The guidelines will be available for a 30-day public comment period before final recommendations are released, likely sometime next year.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Jackie Frank)
This news article is brought to you by MOVIE GOSSIP NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
The draft recommendations, released on Monday by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-backed group of doctors and scientists, also called for routine HIV testing for all pregnant women.
'The prior recommendations were for screening high-risk adults and adolescents,' said task force member Dr Douglas Owens who is a medical professor at Stanford University.
'The current recommendation is for screening everyone, regardless of their risk,' said Owens, who is also affiliated with the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System in California.
Nearly 1.2 million people in the United States are infected with HIV, yet 20 to 25 percent of them do not know it.
'This marks a monumental shift in how HIV in the United States can be prevented, diagnosed and treated,' said Carl Schmid, deputy executive director of The AIDS Institute, an AIDS advocacy group.
The new guidelines by the task force are expected to affect the reimbursement of HIV testing, removing one of the barriers to the tests, Schmid's group said in a statement.
Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to cover preventive services that are recommended by the task force. The change brings the group more in line with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which in 2006 recommended HIV testing for everyone between 13 and 64.
The recommendations, which had been expected, are based on the latest evidence showing the benefits of early HIV testing and treatment. Recent studies have shown that HIV treatment can reduce transmission of the virus to an uninfected partner by as much as 96 percent.
'Treatment has two benefits. One is to the person who has HIV, and also treatment helps prevent transmission and protects a person's partner,' Owens said.
Dr. Jeffrey Lennox, a professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and chief of infectious disease at Grady Memorial Hospital, an inner-city hospital in Atlanta, said under the current recommendations, many doctors simply fail to offer the tests.
'In our practice, we see patients every week who are newly diagnosed with HIV - people who have seen many physicians in the past 10 years and none of them had ever offered testing,' Lennox said.
Many of these patients have far advanced disease, that could have been caught earlier and successfully treated.
Owens said he hopes the change will make it easier for doctors to offer testing.
'You are offering this to adolescents and adults and everyone. The conversation you have with people is likely to be easier,' he said.
The draft recommendations are based on a study of the most recent evidence on the risks and benefits of HIV testing published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The guidelines will be available for a 30-day public comment period before final recommendations are released, likely sometime next year.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Jackie Frank)
This news article is brought to you by MOVIE GOSSIP NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Friday, November 16, 2012
HIV-Positive Women Benefit from Human Papillomavirus Vaccination
Doctors don't usually advise young women infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to have the vaccine for human papillomavirus. The thinking is that these women, who are already sexually active, probably have already been exposed to HPV. Therefore, the vaccine is unlikely to do any good.
That approach may be a mistake, according to research published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. In the study of HIV-positive women, researchers found that many are not infected with some of the most serious strains of HPV and could still benefit from vaccination.
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted virus. There are many strains of HPV, but four -- types 16, 18, 6 and 11 -- are linked to the development of disease. Types 19 and 19 account for about 70 percent of all cervical cancers while types 6 and 11 cause 90 percent of cases of genital warts. The vaccine protects against those four strains and is recommended for girls before they become sexually active, ages 11 through 26.
MORE: HPV Vaccine Benefits Those Who Do and Don't Get the Shots
The new study, by Dr. Jessica A Kahn, an associate professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, examined 99 HIV-positive women ages 16 to 23 receiving their first HPV vaccination. She found that 75 percent of the women had an existing HPV infection with at least one type, with 54 percent testing positive for a high-risk type. However, when examining the two types that cause 70 percent of cervical cancers (HPV-16 and HPV-18), the researchers found that nearly half of the women had no existing infection with either type and showed no evidence of exposure to them.
'Health care providers may hesitate to recommend HPV vaccines after a girl starts having sex,' Kahn says. 'However, our results show that for a significant number of young women, HPV vaccine can still offer benefits. This is especially important in light of their HIV status, which can make them even more vulnerable to HPV's effects.'
MORE: Doctors Urge HPV Vaccine for Boys
Protection against developing cervical cancer is especially important in these women, she notes, because HIV status increases the risk of cervical cancer and makes it harder to treat.
HPV vaccination has only been available for about six years, and knowledge on the benefits of the three-shot series is still emerging. Another study, published this week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases found a significant decrease of HPV prevalence in Australia since that country implemented widespread vaccination.
Women ages 18 to 24 were examined with Pap screening throughout the country in the two years (2005-07) before vaccination became available and in the two years after (2009-10). There was a 20 percent overall decrease in genital HPV prevalence and a whopping 77 percent decrease in the targeted strains -- types 6, 11, 16 and 18 -- following the advent of the vaccine program.
MORE: HPV Vaccine Found to Have Minimal Side Effects
Moreover, HPV was detected in only 5 percent of vaccinated women in the post-vaccine era compared to 15.8 percent in unvaccinated women in the post-vaccine era and 28.7 percent of women in the pre-vaccine years.
Question: Do you think enough people who are eligible for the HPV vaccine get the shots? Tell us what you think in the comments.
Shari Roan is an award-winning health writer based in Southern California. She is the author of three books on health and science subjects.
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
That approach may be a mistake, according to research published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. In the study of HIV-positive women, researchers found that many are not infected with some of the most serious strains of HPV and could still benefit from vaccination.
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted virus. There are many strains of HPV, but four -- types 16, 18, 6 and 11 -- are linked to the development of disease. Types 19 and 19 account for about 70 percent of all cervical cancers while types 6 and 11 cause 90 percent of cases of genital warts. The vaccine protects against those four strains and is recommended for girls before they become sexually active, ages 11 through 26.
MORE: HPV Vaccine Benefits Those Who Do and Don't Get the Shots
The new study, by Dr. Jessica A Kahn, an associate professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, examined 99 HIV-positive women ages 16 to 23 receiving their first HPV vaccination. She found that 75 percent of the women had an existing HPV infection with at least one type, with 54 percent testing positive for a high-risk type. However, when examining the two types that cause 70 percent of cervical cancers (HPV-16 and HPV-18), the researchers found that nearly half of the women had no existing infection with either type and showed no evidence of exposure to them.
'Health care providers may hesitate to recommend HPV vaccines after a girl starts having sex,' Kahn says. 'However, our results show that for a significant number of young women, HPV vaccine can still offer benefits. This is especially important in light of their HIV status, which can make them even more vulnerable to HPV's effects.'
MORE: Doctors Urge HPV Vaccine for Boys
Protection against developing cervical cancer is especially important in these women, she notes, because HIV status increases the risk of cervical cancer and makes it harder to treat.
HPV vaccination has only been available for about six years, and knowledge on the benefits of the three-shot series is still emerging. Another study, published this week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases found a significant decrease of HPV prevalence in Australia since that country implemented widespread vaccination.
Women ages 18 to 24 were examined with Pap screening throughout the country in the two years (2005-07) before vaccination became available and in the two years after (2009-10). There was a 20 percent overall decrease in genital HPV prevalence and a whopping 77 percent decrease in the targeted strains -- types 6, 11, 16 and 18 -- following the advent of the vaccine program.
MORE: HPV Vaccine Found to Have Minimal Side Effects
Moreover, HPV was detected in only 5 percent of vaccinated women in the post-vaccine era compared to 15.8 percent in unvaccinated women in the post-vaccine era and 28.7 percent of women in the pre-vaccine years.
Question: Do you think enough people who are eligible for the HPV vaccine get the shots? Tell us what you think in the comments.
Shari Roan is an award-winning health writer based in Southern California. She is the author of three books on health and science subjects.
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
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