Poetry by Nahshon Cook I think I may have just experienced one of the most prophetic prayers ever: men, women and ladyboy prostitutes parading down Beach Road and onto Walking Street, dancing, and singing, and carrying signs (written in both English and Thai) demanding equal access to treatment for everyone afflicted with AIDS. To which I said Amen before crossing the sour milk and piss stenched, clogged stream-like thoroughfare so that I could begin my nightly walk along the sandy seashore, where I listened to [...]

A giant red ribbon has been pinned to the Earth. On the side of Twin Peaks, looming over San Francisco, the symbol of AIDS awareness stands guard like a sentinel, shines like a beacon. It’s capable of a different kind of broadcast than the radio towers that rise above it. Assembled as part of San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s campaign to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the first reported cases of what would become known as AIDS on June 5, 1981, the red ribbon has already [...]

An extended release formulation breaks through by Chael Needle Based on results from the VERxVE study, the FDA recently approved Viramune XR for use in antiretroviral combination therapy to treat HIV-1 infection in adults. “XR” stands for “extended release,” offering patients a one 400mg pill, once-daily dosing option. Until now, Boehringer Ingelheim, makers of Viramune (nevirapine), had offered an immediate-release (IR), 200mg form of the drug with a twice-daily dosing. “Development of the extended-release formulation began in 2004 to provide a once-a-day preparation that was [...]

Researchers explore the dangers of hepatitis B and HIV coinfection by Larry Buhl New research suggests people with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection have twice the risk of dying from liver-related diseases as people with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV), including those coinfected with HIV. The research was part of the long-running Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) and presented at the 18th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in February in Boston. The study also found that the introduction of tenofovir (found in [...]

Though the history of retroviruses Is riddled with dismissiveness and flat-out denial, we have an opportunity to take a new tack. Left Field by Patricia Nell Warren OMG! An HIV-like virus that is easily transmissible,” was the e-mail I recently got from a friend. He was forwarding an alert from a friend of his who was similarly alarmed by rumors of a new virus spreading like wildfire in China. Supposedly it causes AIDS-like symptoms, but incubates as rapidly as flu. The rumors started flying last [...]

by Chris Hicks The foundation you built Rested on grass Sewn together and stretched out So Washington could see, so we all could see How much memories mean How much silence costs The foundation you built Grew solid as granite It’s the foundation where my family now stands Secure and free to be who they are And when I am asked where my inner strength comes from I have a simple and honest reply It comes from you Chris Hicks, a writer/musician based in the [...]

by Antonio Gomes gliding hand in hand to bed, night was a dark flower a trail of roses sunflowers the autumn breath of their lives together the final hour Antonio Gomes lives in New York City and works at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City, where he is Professor of Medicine, and Director of Consultative Services and Senior Consultant, Cardiac Electrophysiology. He has published extensively in Medicine and has published a collection of poems entitled, Visions from Grymes Hill (Turn of River Press), [...]

A new film about ACT UP! is in the works! Producers/directors Scott Robbe and Jerry Kolbe have been feverishly working for the past three years to bring a story about the world’s first AIDS activists to the screen. As a grass-roots and radically democratic movement, ACT UP! was instrumental in challenging power structures invested in letting people with AIDS die. ACT UP! helped achieve dedicated and immediate access to speedy treatment R&D funding, access to potential anti-AIDS meds, access to freedom from stigma and discrimination, [...]

[BOOKS] Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke Grove/Atlantic This novel has been banned in the author’s native China. Yan Lianke is from Henan Province, the site of a devastating HIV outbreak during the 1990s after rural villagers were encouraged to sell blood at newly-established collection facilities. Improper practices led to widespread infection and to many children being born with HIV. In this novel, HIV (called “the fever”) spreads with the greed and materialism that Yan sees as the prevailing ethic of contemporary China. Narrated [...]

Left Field by Patricia Nell Warren Instead of Dismissing Sexual Violence in Prison and Its Health Effects, Some Are Unlocking Possible Solutions. Rape is a hot topic today. Yet the “moralistic” conservative Republicans sitting in Congress, along with some blue dog Democrats, consider it an outdated issue once raised by feminists, and they seemingly don’t give a hoot about some Americans who are raped. In January, as part of their budget-cutting onslaught, House Republicans introduced HR 3, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.” The [...]