Pre-Chewed Food New Routes of Tranmission for HIV

Its been interesting to note that a new documented cases of transmitting HIV is through pre-chewed food to infants. This practice is mostly seen in communities or countries with inadequate appropriate food supply to infants that are immediatey available to developed countries commercially.

The article at AOL Body will provide you more information about this issue.

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Pre-Chewed Food Gave HIV to Kids
By MIKE STOBBE
AP Posted: 2008-02-07 09:54:50
ATLANTA (Feb. 6)

For the first time, health officials report that the AIDS virus can be spread by a mother pre-chewing her infant's food, a practice mainly seen in poor, developing countries.

Three such cases were reported in the United States from 1993-2004, government scientists said Wednesday in a presentation in Boston at a scientific conference.

It's blood, not saliva, that carried the virus because in at least two of the cases the infected mothers had bleeding gums or mouth sores, according to investigators at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control ...more

Senator Hillary Clinton Signed The AIDS Pledge

Rumors had it that Senator Hillary Clinton did not have the intention of signing the AIDS pledge, that seeks a US presidential candidate to allot $50 billion to be used in the next 5 years to combat AIDS epidemic.

However, on October 26, Senator Clinton signed the pledge to support HIV/AIDS activists to fight the ever increasing problem of HIV and AIDS around the globe. Clinton's spokesman said that Senator Clinton signed the AIDS pledge but is also working on a formal AIDS policy that will help millions of people currently suffering HIV and AIDS.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 39.5 million people have HIV (2006). HIV Vaccine trials are underway and none of them have come up with an effective vaccine type that helps protect an individual to all HIV types since HIV mutates very fast and more and more are strains are becoming drug resistant.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides general information about HIV/AIDS.

HIV

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. This is the virus that causes AIDS. HIV is different from most other viruses because it attacks the immune system. The immune system gives our bodies the ability to fight infections. HIV finds and destroys a type of white blood cell (T cells or CD4 cells) that the immune system must have to fight disease.

Structure of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, courtesy of NIAID.

For more information view our questions and answers on HIV science.

Electron microscope image of HIV, seen as small spheres on the surface of white blood cells.

AIDS

AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection. It can take years for a person infected with HIV, even without treatment, to reach this stage. Having AIDS means that the virus has weakened the immune system to the point at which the body has a difficult time fighting infections. When someone has one or more of these infections and a low number of T cells, he or she has AIDS. For more information view our questions and answers on HIV science.

Genetic Predisposition A Likely Reason for Progression to AIDS Among Individuals with HIV

A new study at the University of Texas HealthScience Center in San Antonio were able to identity two specific genes that can be blamed for HIV-infected individuals' predisposition to AIDS. Two genes that were identified during the study, CCR5 and CCL3L1, were the main culprit as to why some people are more likely to develop AIDS than others.

Previously, it was thought that viral loads (the amount of virus present in the blood), was the primary determinant why individuals who are infected with HIV will more likely to develop than any other individuals. The new study reveals a different story.

Individuals with specific combination of the two genes above which controls the entry of HIV particles into cells with CD4 markers (certain binding sites for T4 white blood cells) and works on cellular immune response respectively have greater chances of their health condition to worsen compared to other individuals who don't. Read more at Science Daily.

This study was made possible by National Institute of Allergy andInfectious Diseases (NIAID) and was published at the October issue of Nature Immunology.

Hello!

Wow! Its been a long time I started visiting my blog again. Sorry for not updating. I just had a VERY BUSY life back in June and now I started to get over of everything that kept me busy for almost two quarters of this year. And I finally can say that I am now happy. :) Happy for all the good and bad experiences I had and I am proud that I was able to surpass all of them! I feel that I am a winner! Winner in my own right hehehe. :) With almost all people I know around committing suicide, I must say that I still realize the beauty of life and still positive about the future despite of all the pain I have been experiencing.

Perhaps, the secret to living well is appreciating what you have and considers that everything that is happening to us is just temporary, and its up to us if we will we use them to make us better individuals or will destroy us.

Life is about choices, I must say. Its all about decisions. Of course, there is no perfect decisions for you have to juggle all factors that affects your decision making. If you failed as a result of your decisions, then live with it and move on. Devise another plan and work on it. :) No one has done it perfectly smooth the first time. And if they did, they are lucky but that doesn't mean you are not good enough.

Live by faith and passion. That makes life meaningful. Its about finding meaning to your existence and how you appreciate all the people surrounding you and looking forward to making all your dreams come true. Kaya dapag lagi tayong happy! No one's gonna make you happy.

Sabi nga nang kaibigan kong si Roda, "Wag nating idepende sa iba ang kasiyahan natin. Kung di tayo mapasaya ng ibang tao, at least ibigay natin sa ating sarili ang kasiyahang hinahanap natin." Makes sense di ba? Tama nga ang tatay ko (kahit lagi kaming nag aaway hehe). Sabi kasi nya, "everybody has their own share". We may notice it pero people surrounding us inspires us everyday and in turn makes us better individuals. =)

Masaya nako and I can now say that I am ready to take on another challenging roles in life again. :) Go Jules!

Second-Generation HIV Drug that Treats Resistant HIV strains

An article published at the Scientific American website provide information on regarding "second-generation"HIV drug which combats resistant HIV virus.

The exciting drug etravirine (TMC125) is capable of treating HIV virus to the point of becoming undetectable in blood level serum*. Several hundreds to thousands of HIV/AIDS suffers who are becoming non-responsive to HIV cocktail treatments due to resistant AIDS virus. This drug brings hope to treating people with drug-resistant HIV strains.

Just like any other HIV medication, TMC125 is given alongside with other HIV drugs that works by halting the backend DNA viral replication of these particles, thereby, slowing down the progress of developing AIDS. TMC125 works by patching on the targeted opportunities of HIV drugs which failed to serve their function, that is, slowing down the activity of these viruses. All of these HIV drugs are a class of protease inhibitors which works by inhibiting the activity of the protease enzyme (an enzyme responsible for the replication of HIV's genetic material) thereby inhibiting the ability of the HIV virus to replicate itself.

AIDSmeds.com provides a simple yet informative definition of protease inhibitors (PIs): What are Protease Inhibitors (PIs)?

Protease Inhibitors (PIs) are a class of anti-HIV drugs. When one PI is used in combination with other anti-HIV drugs – usually a total of 3 drugs – then this combination therapy can block the replication of HIV in a person's blood.

Protease inhibitors prevent T-cells that have been infected with HIV from producing new copies of the virus.

When HIV infects a cell in a person's body, it copies it's own genetic code into the cell's DNA. In this way, the cell is then "programmed" to create new copies of HIV. Once HIV's genetic material (RNA) is inside a T-cell's DNA, the cell produces a long strand of genetic material that must be cut up and put together correctly to form new copies of the virus. Cutting up this strand requires a scissor-like enzyme called protease. PIs block this enzyme and prevent the cell from producing new viruses.

Visit the following blogsites for more health-related articles:

http://juliusbio.blogspot.com/
http://healthlines.blogspot.com/
http://juliusbio.wordpress.com/
http://360.yahoo.com/julesyuri06