HIV

Angela Jackson strides down Pennsylvania Avenue with pamphlets under her arm, unfazed by the line of dealers hawking drugs beneath blinking police cameras. "James Brown, James Brown!" cries one young man, applying the late soul star's name to his heroin capsules. "Ray Charles, Ray Charles!" cries another. Places like this are utterly familiar to Jackson, who once supported a heroin addiction by selling sex to men eager to step into an alley or vacant building. Today, she spots someone who's trolling for customers as she once did. "Hey, miss, you have a minute?"

Death rates from AIDS in the United States slowed again in 1998. But the rates are no longer falling as rapidly as they did from 1995 to 1997, after the introduction of combination drug therapy, health officials said yesterday at a meeting in Atlanta.And the rate of infection with HIV, the AIDS virus, is no longer declining and has stabilized, the officials said. About 40,000 Americans have been infected annually in recent years.Nationwide, AIDS deaths dropped 42 percent from 1996 to 1997 but only 20 percent from 1997 to 1998, reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

PARIS -- This week, the curtain will rise on a spectacle without precedent in French history: a former prime minister on trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter.It is a day for which Edmond-Luc Henry, 49, and other hemophiliacs in France who carry the AIDS virus have waited for more than a decade.Once the "Wunderkind" of the Socialist Party, Laurent Fabius, 52 -- or someone else in the government that he headed from 1984 to 1986 -- blocked the sale of an AIDS virus detection test manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, an American firm, so that a French competitor wouldn't be shut out of the market.

Drug, needle use is biggest cause of AIDS in BaltimoreThe Sun's two-part series on drug addiction ("Drug addiction fuels murderous trend," June 27 and "How the safety net fails addicts -- and city," June 28) should cause a collective shudder through our city.For those of us working with people living with HIV/AIDS, the editorial's graphs and pie charts are a grim crystal ball -- predicting a tremendous continuing need for our services.The river of misery that flows from addiction is even bloodier than the break-ins, homicides, emergency room admissions, prostitution and panhandling the editorial described.

Health system has failed Maryland's transplant patientsIn response to The Sun's editorial "Playing politics with life-saving organ transplants" (July 25), I'd note that it is Maryland's two transplant centers and the Organ Procurement Organization (OPO), which is supposed to oversee the transplant center's allocation of organs in Maryland, who have failed Marylanders awaiting life-saving kidney transplants.They were given many warnings from the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) that they were overstepping their boundaries and given opportunities to pay back their kidney debt.

ALTHOUGH the HIV/AIDS crisis in the black community has become titanic, too many African-American leaders continue to ignore the warning signs.But denial has its consequences. The refusal to address the growing HIV/AIDS crisis in the black community has resulted in an escalating health disaster.AIDS -- not cancer or homicide or car accidents -- is the leading killer of African Americans between the ages of 25 and 44, according to recent figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers at Baltimore's Institute of Human Virology have discovered another way that the virus that causes AIDS cripples the body's immune system.In a paper in this month's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of scientists at the institute show, for the first time, how the human immunodeficiency virus can infect and disable an important component of the immune system, so-called "killer" T cells.While the long-term implications of the finding aren't clear, Dr. Robert C. Gallo, director of the institute, said the discovery might lead to improvement in an existing therapy for acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

HIV Plus is a new consumer's guide to HIV treatment and research. Produced by Out Publishing, HIV Plus is different from other magazines on the subject, says Out president Henry E. Scott."

The Lima (Ohio) News said in an editorial Wednesday:ASUPREME Court decision last week is being hailed as a victory for people who are infected by the HIV virus that causes AIDS. But the 5-4 decision, stating that HIV is a disability covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act, is another in an endless string of federal "civil rights" expansions that undermine our individual freedoms and personal choices.When the ADA was being debated in Congress, supporters emphasized it was limited in scope, and was needed mainly to assure access to public facilities by handicapped people.

GENEVA -- Scientists have for the first time found that strains of the AIDS virus resistant to protease inhibitors and other widely used AIDS drugs can be transmitted from one person to another, it was reported yesterday at the 12th World AIDS Conference.Although only two individuals with such multiple-resistant HIV have been identified so far, they have startled many because they are the first involving transmission of strains of HIV resistant to protease inhibitors, which sparked a revolution in treatment two years ago.Scientists did not believe that such highly mutated viruses were capable of passing from person to person.

Forum on teens, abuse, HIV/AIDS The Columbia Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. will sponsor a forum on "Teen Intimidation, Abuse and HIV/AIDS: What Parents, Teens and Adolescents Need to Know and What to Do," 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, North Laurel. A continental breakfast and lunch will be served. Permissions slips are required for attendees younger than 18. Participants of all ages will be given a pre-session test to assess their knowledge of dating violence and HIV/AIDS, and a post-session test to assess the usefulness of the program.

House whip calls on Big Three CEOs to resign COLUMBIA, S.C. : The chief executives of the nation's Big Three automakers should give up their jobs, not just their lavish executive pay packages, as a condition of $25 billion in proposed federal help to keep the companies operating, U.S. House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn said yesterday. "If I had my way, all three of those guys would be in the unemployment line, and I think that ought to be one of the conditions for us doing this," Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, told reporters at a news conference.

AIDS virus could be eliminated in a decade The virus that causes AIDS could theoretically be eliminated in a decade, if all people living in countries with high infection rates are regularly tested and treated, according to a new mathematical model. It is an intriguing solution to end the AIDS epidemic. But it is based on assumptions rather than data and is riddled with logistical problems. The research was published online last week in the medical journal, The Lancet. "It's quite a startling result," said Charlie Gilks, an AIDS treatment expert at the World Health Organization and one of the paper's authors.

Mediators advise 2% raise for Baltimore Co. teachers Baltimore County teachers should be given a 2 percent cost-of-living increase at the end of the school year, according to a mediation panel report released yesterday. Such a raise could be implemented in the last pay month of the 2009 fiscal year, if there is adequate funding, according to the report. The panel was formed after the county teachers union reached an impasse in negotiations, said Cheryl Bost, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County.

Something extraordinary happened in February when President Bush visited Africa: He was cheered by locals and showered with kisses. That is in no small part a result of the $15 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which has helped millions suffering from HIV/AIDS find treatment and may be the one arena in which the White House has shown positive leadership abroad. Yet despite strong bipartisan support in both houses of Congress and the spirited backing of the White House, this lifesaving program might not get reauthorized.

Tracey McCormick wears a white do-rag, a basketball jacket and a grateful expression. Her neighborhood of boarded-up houses, rife with drug addiction and prostitution, is short on warm comforts. But on Thursdays before the sun rises, she can now count on finding a van parked on the same spot off Harford Road, a generator purring to ensure a toasty interior. There, a staff of women greet her with hot chocolate, granola bars and medical referrals. "I look so forward to seeing you folks," said McCormick, 41, sipping from a mug in the van's breakfast nook.

Hospital plans car diovascular clinic As part of its partnership with The Mall in Columbia, Howard County General Hospital will hold a cardiovascular clinic from 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 23 in the Lord & Taylor court at the mall. Cardiologist Dr. Monica Aggarwal will speak about "Your Heart: What You Should Know About Risk Factors and Prevention" at 10 a.m. Blood pressure, cholesterol and carotid artery screenings will be offered, along with body mass index and pulmonary function testing. Information on nutrition, cardiac rehabilitation, acupuncture and programs such as Healthy Howard and Get Active Howard County will be available.

A nice blend of art, coffee Peace and a Cup of Joe cafe is hosting RED, an exhibit of local artists' works that focus on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It's a fundraiser for Care's I Am Powerful Campaign and HIV/AIDS Program and the Institute for Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The cafe, 713 W. Pratt St., is open 7 a.m.-6 p.m. today. For more information, call 443-869-4515.

Tomorrow's annual pause to reflect on the devastating impact of AIDS marks a bittersweet development. Despite signs that the global epidemic may be leveling off, the infection rate in the United States remains stubbornly constant. A visit to Maryland today by President Bush underscores, though, that the decades-long struggle against HIV-AIDS on the home front has lost its urgency as a public health issue. In honor of the World AIDS Day observation tomorrow, Mr. Bush plans to visit a Mount Airy church that helps finance an orphanage for children in Namibia who have lost their parents to the disease.

Saturday is World AIDS Day, and we Americans should be proud of what our country has achieved in the fight against AIDS. But we also should be improving our efforts. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a $15 billion program, has supported the care of 2.4 million people with AIDS, saving them from certain death. President Bush's initiative and the American people's generosity should be commended. Having met South Africans and Ugandans who are alive because of the program, I have seen firsthand the difference PEPFAR is making.