Housing is one of our most basic needs. Yet, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) wants to limit this human right for many people living with AIDS.

HRSA has proposed an amendment that would create a 24-month lifetime cap on Ryan White emergency and transitional housing benefits.

For many people living with AIDS, Ryan White CARE Act transitional housing dollars are the only thing preventing them from being homeless. Not only does the amendment threaten to put people out on the street, it fails to account for people who are intermittently homeless and may periodically need the benefit. And as we all know, our country is in a severe housing crisis--meaning that displaced PWAs would have an even harder time finding a place to stay if these cuts are allowed to stand.

Please call your Senators and Representative today to demand the withdrawal of this harmful amendment:

1. Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 225-3121 to reach your Representative and Senators.
2. When you reach your representative's office, ask to speak with the staff person who handles HIV/AIDS or housing issues.
3. Tell the staff person you would like him/her to contact Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and urge that the Housing Policy Notice 99-02 Amendment 1 be withdrawn immediately.
4. Email us to let us know you made a call! Please make your call today! The amendment is scheduled to take effect on March 27.

In solidarity, Cameron Lefevre Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP)

New York's Gay Men's Health Crisis is about to go forward with a new campaign. The campaign is said to be controversial even though it is a safer sex campaign.

The campaign is called "I love my boo"

"I love my boo" campaign depicts images of Black and Latino gay couples who are committed to loving and respecting each other by wearing condoms to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

One ad reads, "When we first met we didn't talk about sex, we would just use condoms and that was it. Eventually we wanted to stop using condoms so now we get tested together regularly. We are all about taking care of each other".

One more than half the ads there is a message that we all should read and comprehend. "We're about Trust, Respect and Commitment Safer sex is one way we show our love"

I have to say a big thank you to GMHC for showing Gay men of color in a different light. I myself am tired and appalled of seeing society always portraying gay men of color on the DL or sexual objects. This campaign will hopefully change people's perception of "us" and our perception of un protected sex.

By Michael Carter

Rubbing of the penis against the anus without a condom, or brief insertion of the penis without a condom into the anus followed by withdrawal, are sexual activities reported by some gay men visiting commercial sex venues in Melbourne, Australia, according to a study published on February 6th in the online edition of Sexually Transmitted Infections.

The investigators suggest that these activities could explain the large number of anal sexually transmitted infections diagnosed in gay men who did not report unprotected anal sex. They therefore recommend that all gay men, regardless of their reported risk behaviour, should be offered screens for anal infections during visits to sexual health clinics.

Studies in many industrialised countries have shown a high prevalence of sexually transmitted infections amongst gay men, including those who visit commercial venues where there is sex on the premises. There is some evidence that men who visit such venues are more likely to engage in risky sexual practices, and that sex on premises venues can be the focus for outbreaks of sexually transmitted infections.

No recent study has looked at the full range and frequency of sexual activities in gay sex on premises venues. Therefore investigators in Melbourne recruited 200 men in late 2006/early 2007 who used sex on premises venues and asked them about the type and frequency of sex they had in such venues.

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By Sabin Russell

California for the first time is requiring that hospitals report to local health authorities certain kinds of staph infections that result in death or a stay in the intensive-care unit.

The order issued Thursday by Dr. Mark Horton, state public health director, is an initial step by state officials to gain insight into an alarming increase in drug-resistant staph infections that are now believed to kill 19,000 Americans a year.

Until now, there has been no state requirement for reporting staph infections. As a result, disease trackers have had a hard time calculating the severity of the problem.

The new reporting requirement, however, is limited to cases that start outside hospitals or nursing homes in otherwise healthy people - leaving out about 85 percent of life-threatening encounters with the most feared bug, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

State Epidemiologist Dr. Gilberto Chavez said the new rules will help. "We are concerned about recent reports of severe MRSA infections in previously healthy individuals," he told reporters during a telephone news conference. "We believe we will have a better picture of the incidence of staph infections in California."

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Banksy's Keep it Spotless painting broke a record for the artist An auction organised by U2 star Bono and artist Damien Hirst has raised $42.5m (£21.6m) towards the global fight against Aids. Hirst donated seven of his works to the art sale in New York, including a cabinet filled with drugs to treat HIV, which fetched $7.15m (£3.6m).

Bono

The auction broke records for 17 artists, including Banksy, whose Keep It Spotless work made $1.8m (£950,300).

The price reached was more than six times its pre-sale estimate.

"Tonight we got serious about love, and not just the love of art, but the love of our brothers and sisters suffering from Aids in the poorest places on the planet," said Bono.

'Change the world'

Hirst said the success of the evening had "not sunk in yet".

"I'm never going to be cynical ever again for a while," he added. "We've helped change the world a little bit."

The auction, organised with the help of Sotheby's, was held at the Gagosian Gallery in Manhattan.

Bono's new global brand, Product Red, which gives a share of its profits towards the fight against Aids in Africa, also lent its name to the event.

Other sales included Jeff Koons' Balloon Rabbit Wall Relief (Red), which was snapped up for just over $2m (£1.03m).

The proceeds go to the United Nations Foundation to support HIV/Aids relief programmes in Africa, organised by the Global Fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.

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By Sandi Doughton

In another setback for AIDs research, Seattle scientists reported today that use of the drug acyclovir to treat people with genital herpes did not lower their risk of contracting HIV.

The findings tempered the hope that herpes medications might provide a cheap and easy way to slash transmission of HIV around the world.

"We were surprised and disappointed," said Dr. Connie Celum, the University of Washington researcher who led the study of more than 3,000 herpes-infected people on three continents.

Infection with herpes simplex virus 2, the cause of most genital herpes, can double or even triple a person's odds of contracting HIV. One of the most common sexually transmitted diseases worldwide, herpes often leads to recurring outbreaks of genital sores that are believed to provide a route for HIV to slip into the body.

So scientists had been optimistic that acyclovir, a generic drug that reduces herpes outbreaks, would also reduce the odds of HIV infection.

But 3.9 percent of those who received acyclovir in the clinical trail came down with HIV, roughly equivalent to the 3.3 percent infection rate in the control group who did not get the herpes drug. The trial was double-blind, which is considered the gold standard in research, because even the scientists don't know which participants got the drug or a placebo until the results are tabulated.

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ALBANY, NY - February 7, 2008 marks the eighth annual observance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD). This observance was created to educate African Americans about HIV/AIDS and its devastating effects on communities across the United States.

Over the last decade, African Americans and communities of color have come to bear the greatest burden of the AIDS epidemic in the US. While African Americans represent approximately 13% of the population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that they account for over half of all new cases of HIV/AIDS. AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African American women ages 25 to 34 and second leading cause of death for African American men ages 35 to 44.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, HIV/AIDS is one of the top 10 leading causes of death for all African Americans. In the US, 72 African Americans are infected with HIV every day.

The AIDS Council of Northeastern New York joins as a part of a national mobilization effort to raise awareness about the threat posed by HIV/AIDS, encourage HIV testing and commit to fight the disease. More than 800 cities across the country will sponsor programs on February 7th.

In the Capital Region, the AIDS Council will be hosting free and confidential HIV and STD testing at several community locations including 927 Broadway from 9:30AM-4:00PM, 245 Lark from 6:00PM-8:00PM and Waterworks Pub from 11:00PM-3:00AM. No appointment is needed for testing. The Council encourages citizens to get educated, get tested, get treated and get involved with HIV/AIDS as it continues to impact the Capital Region and New York State. HIV is 100% preventable and many do not know the test only takes about 20 minutes to get a result and involves no needles or blood. For additional testing dates, times and locations, call 518-HIV TEST.

The AIDS Council is committed to helping communities of color with its Given the Chance (GTC) initiative. This program launched last year is designed to address HIV, hepatitis and substance abuse prevention needs in the Capital Region among communities of color. GTC tackles one of the hardest hit populations by offering a multi-pronged approach including transitional case management, HIV counseling, enhanced peer outreach, free testing and risk reduction education. The Council also works on changing the behaviors of urban adolescents to reduce their risk of contracting HIV and other STDs. In the Capital Region, over 50% of newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases are in people of color. As the AIDS Council increases access to testing in communities with limited access to health care, this number could be even higher.

The AIDS Council of Northeastern New York is a not-for-profit human service agency whose mission is to reduce the risk, fear, and incidence of HIV infection, encourage the independence of people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS and promote understanding of their needs. In operation for over 24 years, the AIDS Council is the preeminent provider of AIDS services in a fifteen county region in Upstate New York with offices in Albany, Glens Falls, Hudson, Plattsburgh, Schenectady and Troy. For more information about the AIDS Council, please visit www.aidscouncil.org.

By Mike Stobbe

ATLANTA (AP) — The sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer in women is poised to become one of the leading causes of oral cancer in men, according to a new study.

The HPV virus now causes as many cancers of the upper throat as tobacco and alcohol, probably due both to an increase in oral sex and the decline in smoking, researchers say.

The only available vaccine against HPV, made by Merck & Co. Inc., is currently given only to girls and young women. But Merck plans this year to ask government permission to offer the shot to boys.

Experts say a primary reason for male vaccinations would be to prevent men from spreading the virus and help reduce the nearly 12,000 cases of cervical cancer diagnosed in U.S. women each year. But the new study should add to the argument that there may be a direct benefit for men, too.

"We need to start having a discussion about those cancers other than cervical cancer that may be affected in a positive way by the vaccine," said study co-author Dr. Maura Gillison of Johns Hopkins University.

The study was published Friday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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By Michael Carter

US investigators have found a high incidence of recent HIV infection amongst men diagnosed with primary or secondary syphilis. In a study published in the February 1st edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes HIV incidence was 11% amongst gay men with early forms of syphilis. The investigators suggest “intensive and integrated HIV/STD testing, care and prevention services are needed for men diagnosed with syphilis.”

Since the late 1990s numerous outbreaks of syphilis have been recorded amongst gay men in industrialised countries. There are concerns that these outbreaks could have implications for the spread of HIV amongst gay men. This is because syphilis infection can be a marker of risky sexual behaviour and because syphilis can facilitate the transmission and acquisition of HIV.

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Gay Reaction to recent study overblown, experts say

By Chris Crain and Matt Shafer

A drug-resistant strain of flesh-eating bacteria afflicting gay communities in several major U.S. metropolitan areas is also affecting some patients at the Whitman-Walker Clinic, according to a Clinic spokesperson.

But Chip Lewis said in each case the Clinic has been able to treat the clindamycin-resistant MRSA infections with other medications.

“We do see drug-resistance to that particular drug, but we don’t use it that often,” he said. “We use others because most anything we see still responds to those other medications that we use.”

Lewis said he could not quantify how many MRSA infections are seen at the Clinic, but added that they are “a pretty frequent” kind of infection.

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'Gays' May Spread Deadly Staph Infection to General Population

By Natalie Bell

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 /Christian Newswire/ -- Reuters has reported that, "A drug-resistant strain of potentially deadly bacteria has moved beyond the borders of U.S. hospitals and is being transmitted among gay men during sex, researchers said on Monday.

"They said methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is beginning to appear outside hospitals in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles."

"'Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable,' said Binh Diep, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco who led the study."

According to the study, at this point, homosexual men are 13 times more likely to contract the potentially deadly, drug-resistant strain of staph infection, but the fear is that, because the infection is spread via skin-to-skin contact, homosexual men may soon spread it to the general population.

By Carlos T Mock

Growing up gay in Puerto Rico adds several problems and prejudices to GLBT Puerto Ricans’ lives. Three traits define the GLBT community in Puerto Rico: religion, machismo, and strong family/nationalistic ties.

The Puerto Rican population is 95% Catholic. The Church is strong with a fundamental Christian base to the morals of the culture. In 1964, the Catholic Bishops formed a political party and threatened excommunication for anyone who didn't join their party. Abortion was illegal (until Roe v. Wade) and homosexuality was illegal until the Supreme Court Lawrence decision. Homosexuality is, to quote my mother, "an abomination".

Machismo is the norm - women are secondary and subservient to males. Gay men are well below women in the social structure, where homosexuality is generally equated only with drag queens and effeminate men. ? ?We grow up in very close-knit families with the mother as the anchor of the matriarchal hierarchy. Men wear the pants but women are the ones we fear. I remember that my biggest shame when I came out to my mother was that she would not get any grandchildren from me (thank God she already had 7).

A highly drug-resistant, deadly new community strain of MRSA is targeting gay men in America.

Sexually active gay men in San Francisco are 13 times more likely to be infected than the general population, researchers have found.

In the city's Castro district - where more gay people live than anywhere else in the US - about one in 588 people are carrying the multi-drug resistant bug.

The strain is a new and even harder to treat version of a recently identified community form of MRSA known as USA300.

By Julia Medew

FULL-PAGE images of men having sex will be splashed across gay newspapers in Melbourne today as part of a bold advertising campaign designed to stem rising HIV infections in Victoria.

Four advertisements — which show men having sex, with a dialogue box discussing safe sex issues covering their genitalia — will appear in Bnews and MCV newspapers as part of the Victorian AIDS Council's latest campaign to target gay men who have unprotected sex.

Executive director Mike Kennedy said the decision to use images of penetrative sex in the campaign was based on interviews with gay men about what they best responded to at a time when HIV infections in the community were rising.

"We're doing it not because we're trying to push the envelope but because the focus groups are telling us that this is what we need to do to have the conversation we need to have," he said.

"When we showed people in the focus groups words alone, they said 'nup, doesn't work for us'. But when we showed images of real people, they said 'this says to us you're fair dinkum'. It doesn't look like stuff people have seen 100 times before."

Genetic testing sees link to similar disease found in South America

By Randy Dotinga

MONDAY, Jan. 14 (HealthDay News) -- A new analysis of the genetics of syphilis provides support for the theory that the disease hitched a ride with Christopher Columbus from the New World back to the Old World.

But in a new wrinkle, the research suggests the disease may not have been transmitted through sex until it adapted to the environment in Europe.

"It evolved this whole new transmission mode, and it didn't take very many genetic changes," said study lead author Kristin Harper, a graduate student at Emory University. "What this tells us is that new transmission modes may evolve pretty rapidly. This is important to us today, because we're worried about things like avian influenza going from human to human."

Syphilis is usually easily treated today, typically with antibiotics such as penicillin. But U.S. health officials have failed in their efforts to eliminate it; minorities and gay men have been among those most likely to be infected.

Then there's the long-running controversy over how syphilis found its way to Europe, where it spread havoc for centuries. One theory holds that the disease was already in Europe before the explorer Columbus returned, but people didn't diagnose it correctly, Harper said.

The most familiar theory suggests that syphilis came to the Europe via frisky sailors on the Columbus expedition, and historical records suggest the disease did appear on the continent in 1495, three years after Columbus set sail for what proved to be the New World.

September 2007

Mandera - The strong anti-condom stance of religious leaders in northern Kenya means few people there are using them and traders are refusing to stock them, which AIDS activists warn is jeopardising the fight against the pandemic.

"I will never sell condoms in my shop; it is like promoting adultery and operating a brothel," Sharrif Mohamed, who owns a shop in Isiolo, Eastern Province, told IRIN/PlusNews.

Most traders in the mainly Muslim northeastern part of the country have refused to stock condoms, which are usually only available at government health centres.

"The young men that we work with are predominantly African-American, and HIV is not their No. 1 priority"

In the 26 years since scientists first spotted AIDS in America, millions of dollars have been poured into outreach efforts aimed at keeping young people clear of HIV, the virus that causes the disease. But a disturbing statistical fact has emerged in this country: The number of newly infected teens and young adults is suddenly on the rise.

And the question is, why?

According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 2001 to 2005 (the latest years available), the number of new cases of HIV infection diagnosed among 15-to-19-year-olds in the United States rose from 1,010 in 2001, held steady for the next three years, then jumped 20 percent in 2005, to 1,213 cases.

For young people aged 20 to 24, cases of new infection have climbed steadily, from 3,184 in 2001 to 3,876 in 2005.

Experts say a number of factors may be at play, including the fact that many HIV-infected patients are now being kept healthy with powerful drugs -- making AIDS seem like less of a threat to young people than it did in the past.

"Certainly the 'scare factor' isn't there anymore," said Rowena Johnston, vice president of research at the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) in New York City.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the ravages of AIDS were apparent to most Americans -- either on their TV screens as high-profile celebrities succumbed to the disease, or as individuals lost friends or family members to HIV.

"To see people looking gaunt, skinny and skeletal, and to know that they were going to be dead soon," Johnston said. "It had a sobering effect."

The advent of antiretroviral drugs in the mid-1990s changed all that, however. "These days, for the most part, you can look at a person and not know that they even have AIDS," Johnston said.

By Howard Fischer

State health officials are spending $100,000 largely to tell gay men to get tested and, if necessary, treated for syphilis.

The cash from the state’s Health Crisis Fund, authorized by Gov. Janet Napolitano, comes after what she said is an increase in cases of the sexually transmitted disease. In particular, the governor said the number of cases in Maricopa County for the first six months of 2007 is 25 times higher than it was seven years earlier.

“The gay community, especially in Maricopa County, is where the bulk of the epidemic is now,’’ said Wil Humble, the state’s assistant director of public health.

The main symptom of primary syphilis is a single open sore at the point of infection, typically on the genitals, anus or throat. This sore will typically appear Between 10 to 90 days after infection (21 days on average). This sore will heal spontaneously in 3-8 weeks, but this does not mean that the syphilis infection is gone or that the person is no longer infectious. Because the sore is painless and heals on its own, some people may not seek treatment, and may even forget about the sore entirely after a while. If you develop this sore, it is very important to seek treatment.

Donations to fight AIDS, TB and malaria in Africa have inadvertently put many of those with other basic healthcare needs at risk.

By Charles Piller and Doug Smith

Aneighbor shaved Matsepang Nyoba's head with an antiquated razor. Blood beaded on her scalp. Tears trickled down her cheeks, but not because of the pain. She was in mourning, and this was a ritual.

Two days earlier, her newborn baby girl had died in the roach-infested maternity ward of Queen Elizabeth II, a crumbling sprawl that is the largest hospital in Lesotho, a mountainous nation of 2.1 million people surrounded by South Africa.

Nyoba, 30, whose given name means "mother, have hope," has AIDS. But that is not what killed her baby daughter, Mankuebe.

Nyoba owes her own life to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has given $8.5 billion to global health causes. Through its grantees, including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the foundation underwrites, inspires or directs major efforts to prevent, cure or treat those diseases. The fund pays for Nyoba's costly AIDS medicine.

But when she gave birth on a recent Sunday morning, her baby was suffering from a different kind of distress. The infant was limp and barely breathing. A nurse rushed her to the nursery, packed with sick babies, some two to a crib. Jury-rigged stethoscope tubes let six of the babies share lifesaving oxygen from a single valve.

There was no oxygen tube for Mankuebe. She asphyxiated for lack of a second valve. It would have cost $35.

By Dianne Mathiowetz

It happened as some 3,000 researchers, scientists, health professionals and agency administrators had gathered in Atlanta for the Centers for Disease Control national conference on HIV/AIDS prevention Dec. 2-5. A coalition of grass-roots AIDS organizations, the Prevention Justice Mobilization (PJM), intervened to bring a real solution to the epidemic that has killed millions around the world.

After more than two decades of research, the methods of transmission of HIV are well established. There are effective medical treatments to enhance and prolong the lives of those infected with the disease.

Why then, are the numbers of new infections rising among certain populations, specifically communities of color? Why are so many people not receiving medical treatment?