Hiv And Aids

OVER THE past century, the three-story buildings on Maryland Avenue in midtown Baltimore have housed private residences, a woodworking shop, a plumbing and heating supplier, and a series of antiques stores.But they will start the next century with a new use -- a "one-stop shop" for people living with HIV and AIDS."The Maryland Community Resource Center" is the formal name of the $4.2 million facility, which was created in and around five 1890s-era rowhouses in the 1700 block of Maryland Ave. at Falls Road.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Tom Liberti tells a story that puts a new face on the AIDS epidemic.About two years ago, Liberti, chief of the Florida Department of Health's Bureau of HIV and AIDS, attended a community meeting on AIDS in Miami. There, two people stood up -- a 75-year-old man and an 85-year-old woman.Both announced to the mostly older audience that they had the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome. They'd contracted it through sexual activity."From that point on, you could hear a pin drop in the room," Liberti said.

I'VE BEEN thinking about this little puzzle for a while, and finally got around to attempting some of the math. The question is, with all the wealthy Hollywood types who sport their red ribbons on nationally televised awards ceremonies, why are some HIV and AIDS patients in this country still unable to take advantage of the promising triple-drug "cocktails" introduced two years ago.Frankly, I'm morally outraged by this sort of hypocrisy. I don't understand how anyone can justify buying a multimillion-dollar mansion or a $100,000 car when people a stone's throw away are suffering and dying because they can't afford the treatment recommended for their affliction.

Moveable Feast Inc., the agency delivering meals to low-income people with HIV or AIDS, is getting busier -- and its officials see their growing clientele as a window to the wider community grappling with the disease.They note that people are living longer with the disease, women infected with the virus are turning up in increasing numbers, drug abuse is overwhelmingly the source of the epidemic, and their clients are largely African-American."The AIDS/HIV epidemic has not subsided, although a lot of people think it has," said Moveable Feast's board president, bond analyst Eric Misenheimer.

WASHINGTON -- It is a terrifying proposition: Inject yourself with a weakened AIDS virus in the hope it will become not the deadly disease, but create the vaccine for it.At least 50 uninfected doctors and activists this week offered themselves up as human guinea pigs, largely to protest the glacial pace of vaccine research.The risks are enormous. The science is unclear. And, should the government approve such a trial, it is almost certain that some of the volunteers will become ill with the human immunodeficiency virus, suffer and die.But, with 8,000 people a day becoming infected with HIV -- most in countries with no access to life-saving drugs -- and no way to stop the global AIDS pandemic without a vaccine, that's a risk many volunteers say they are willing to take.

WASHINGTON -- It is a terrifying proposition: Inject yourself with a weakened AIDS virus in the hope it will become not the deadly disease, but create the vaccine for it. At least 50 uninfected doctors and activists this week offered themselves up as human guinea pigs, largely to protest the glacial pace of vaccine research.The risks are enormous. The science is unclear. And, should the government approve such a trial, it is almost certain that some of the volunteers will become ill with the human immunodeficiency virus, suffer and die.But, with 8,000 people a day becoming infected with HIV -- most in countries with no access to life-saving drugs -- and no way to stop the global AIDS pandemic without a vaccine, that's a risk many volunteers say they are willing to take.

With the fabric of lost lives in the background, about 60 people shared memories, prayers and tears as they observed World AIDS Day in Westminster Sunday.A grant from the Carroll County Arts Council to the Names Project Foundation in San Francisco brought 64 panels of the AIDS quilt to the local Celebration of Hope and Love.Those simple pieces of cloth provided the most poignant and telling testimony of the devastation wrought by the AIDS epidemic."If you want to make any sweeping judgments of who gets AIDS, this will stop you really fast," the Rev. David Highfield, pastor of the Westminster United Methodist Church, said as he pointed to the panels.

Fair tradeDon a mop cap or trades cap and apron for an apprenticeship with an 18th-century artisan -- blacksmith, seamstress, spinner, brick-maker to name a few -- and learn a Colonial craft or trade at the 18th Century Trades Fair this weekend at the Charles Carroll House of Annapolis, 109 Duke of Gloucester St.You can also take a chance and try life in a Colonial militia unit with musket-handling and drilling featuring the Maryland Militia and the 6th...

In a new finding that contradicts previous research, Johns Hopkins scientists say women and minorities with HIV develop AIDS faster and die sooner not because of their sex, race or other factors, but simply because they're not getting health care.The study, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that the difficulties in gaining good health care outweigh any demographic factors in determining how soon people infected with HIV will develop AIDS, and how long they will survive.

When an AIDS patient contacted the Hospice of the Chesapeake for help in finding services last March, Erwin E. Abrams, hospice president, found he didn't have a readily available referral list."

Saying they have been too silent for too long in the fight against HIV and AIDS, leaders of several Baltimore faith-based groups converted nearly a dozen churches Tuesday into places where people could be tested for the virus without fear of being stigmatized. The JACQUES Initiative - a program at the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine - launched Project SHALEM in partnership with the Maryland AIDS Administration and several local faith-based and community organizations.

Nearly 30 years after the discovery of HIV and AIDS, the epidemic is still ravaging black neighborhoods in Baltimore and across the nation. Unfortunately, complacency about HIV and the continued stigma associated with the disease are hindering progress by preventing too many African-Americans from seeking either HIV testing and treatment or support from their friends and family. But this is a challenge that can be overcome. At a White House event last month, the Obama administration took an important step in confronting the United States' HIV epidemic, which threatens the health of African-Americans more than any other racial or ethnic group.

It was November 1994 when Carolyn Massey suffered a horrible cold that brought her to a doctor. She was shocked to learn that she had been infected with HIV, the same virus that had led to her 35-year-old brother's death a year earlier. As the 52-year-old mother of two sat recently at the kitchen table of her Laurel home, she described the pain and frustration after learning that she had contracted the virus from the man she had been in relationship with for a decade. "I was in denial and angry and ignorant for about a year," she said.

In remote villages throughout Africa, most people appear far removed from the financial crisis rolling through much of the world. The economy these villagers encounter is unconcerned with complex financial instruments and liquidity on Wall Street. But millions of these men, women and children will suffer the consequences of this crisis unless the new administration and Congress refuse to let the poorest of the poor suffer due to the mistakes of the richest of the rich. Many expect an Obama administration to be very friendly toward Africa; it is not every day that the United States gets a president with a Kenyan father and a Swahili name.

"Ladies," said Cookie Johnson, looking straight into the camera, her husband's arm draped across her shoulders. "Have you been tested ... " " ... for HIV?" finished Los Angeles Lakers basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson. As the most prominent African-American face of HIV, Johnson, who is now a businessman and philanthropist, has long used his fame to raise public awareness of the virus that causes AIDS. But the appearance of his usually camera-shy wife in the public-service announcements that began airing in July on cable TV and YouTube is a sign of a growing outspokenness among African-Americans about the community's disproportionately high HIV rates.

Sir Isaac Newton, the pioneer of modern physics, once said he was able to achieve what he had because he stood on the shoulders of giants. In science, as in sports, great things often are accomplished through the collective effort of many individuals. The discovery in 1983 of the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS was such an achievement, and this week two French researchers, Dr. Luc Montagnier and Dr. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for that breakthrough.

SAN FRANCISCO - The United States is at the forefront of a global response to HIV and AIDS but lacks a sense of urgency when it comes to the crisis facing African-Americans, according to a report released yesterday by the Black AIDS Institute. The report, "Left Behind! Black America: A Neglected Priority in the Global AIDS Epidemic," says that the number of African-Americans infected with HIV exceeds the number of people with the virus in seven of the 15 countries served by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - The good news on AIDS: Nearly a million people began life-prolonging drug treatment in developing countries last year. The bad news: 2.5 million people were newly infected with HIV. As new infections continue to far outstrip efforts to treat the sick, the United Nations released a progress report yesterday that highlighted both the notable gains in combating the AIDS epidemic and the daunting scale of what remains to be...

Lions, tigers and elephants, oh my! Treating zoo, farm and domesticated animals is a practice for the chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, Dr. Jim Pelura. "Veterinary medicine is my first love," says Pelura, who founded the Davidsonville Veterinary Clinic in 1983. But he adds, "I've always been concerned about what power politicians have over us." "His Holiness: John Paul II and the History of Our Time" / by Carl Bernstein and Marco Politi The book is extremely powerful and shows that your religion does not have to be compromised with the laws of government.

Adisturbing increase in HIV/AIDS infection rates among young adults in Baltimore shows that they aren't getting the message that the disease is a killer. The city ranks second among urban areas in the country for new infections, and a recent report from the citywide HIV/AIDS Commission rightly emphasizes the urgent need for more and better-coordinated prevention efforts. Over the past three decades, the effectiveness of HIV and AIDS treatments and medications have progressed enormously, as have prospects for those living with the disease.