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Veterans No Longer Required To Provide Written Consent For HIV Test: On Monday, the Veterans Affairs Department modified its procedures for administering HIV tests, following advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previously, veterans were required to sign a consent form and were given standard scripted counseling information. The new policy simply calls for verbal consent in hopes that more veterans will get tested and receive the necessary treatment. For more information, please visit The Washington Post.

Hawaii Revises HIV Testing Procedures: Hawaiian Governor Linda Lingle recently signed a new law to help encourage more people to get tested for HIV. Act 116 (09) removes the requirements for written informed consent and HIV counseling before testing for HIV. Hawaii joins more than 35 other states that have followed recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to encourage HIV testing. For more information, please visit Hawaii’s Web site.

The UK Has Prioritized Individuals For The Swine Flu Vaccination: The British Health Secretary Andy Burnham recently announced the priority groups to receive the newly developed swine flu vaccine. The first group to be vaccinated will be individuals aged six months to 65 years who are typically considered at-risk for the seasonal flu, the second group consists of pregnant women, and the third group includes family members of immunocompromised patients, including AIDS patients. The fourth group includes people aged 65 and older in the current seasonal flu at-risk category. For more information, please visit the British Department of Health Web site.

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A recently released survey conducted by The International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC) showed that while clinicians do support health care reform, many are concerned about issues such as increased caseloads, improper reimbursement, and the possibility  of rationing care for  HIV patients. The survey was conducted online, contained 10 questions, and received 400 responses from various clinicians, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and physician-assistants.

Fifty seven percent of respondents supported HIV-specific provisions in the new legislation, while 43 percent were against “special treatment” of people who require HIV care.…

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Study Finds Viramune Lowers Bad Cholesterol: A study funded by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. and presented July 20 at the International AIDS Society Conference in Cape Town, South Africa shows that its antiretroviral drug Viramune (nevirapine), a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, lowers bad cholesterol in HIV patients. This is important in reducing stress on the cardiovascular system, which is adversely affected by HIV. The study also found that Viramune was more effective than Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir) when used in combination with other antiretrovirals. For more information, please see the Connecticut Post.

D.C. Public School System Offers STD Testing To High School Students: A report released today by the D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice commended the recent D.C. school board decision to offer tests for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) to all public high school students this fall. A recent pilot program found that 11 percent of students tested positive for an STD, which increases the likelihood of HIV transmission during sexual contact. AIDS activists see the decision as an effort to arrest the city’s AIDS rate, which is the highest in the nation. For more information, please see the D.C. Appleseed report and the related Washington Post article.

Study Shows VivaGel Protects Against HIV And HSV Infection: A recent clinical study conducted in Melbourne, Australia demonstrated the anti-HIV and anti-HSV (herpes simplex virus) properties of VivaGel, a Starpharma product. VivaGel is a vaginally administered microbicide that blocks sexually transmitted diseases. It is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials in the U.S. The recent study suggests VivaGel retains its activity following vaginal administration and is active longer than expected. For more information, please see the Starpharma press release (pdf).

Study Reveals Isentress Is A More Effective Treatment Than Sustiva In Treatment-Naïve Patients: In a recent study published in The Lancet, the new antiretroviral Isentress (raltegravir) proved to be more effective in first-line therapy and faster in suppressing HIV replication than Sustiva (efavirenz), with fewer side effects. Isentress is an integrase inhibitor manufactured by Merck. For more information, please see the study in The Lancet (abstract) or read the related MedPage Today article.

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FDA Warns Abbot Laboratories About Misleading Information On Promotional DVD For HIV Drug: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a warning letter to Abbot Laboratories citing serious violations about a recent promotional DVD for its drug Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir). The violations include suggesting that Kaletra is safer, more effective, and can be used successfully in circumstances other than what has been studied. Abbot has accepted the consequences, stated that the particular DVD has been discontinued, and plans to comply with the requests made by the FDA. For more information, see the related Reuters article.

Dr. Joel Weisman, One Of The First Physicians To Detect AIDS, Dies At Age 66: Dr. Joel D. Weisman, one of the first physicians to detect the AIDS epidemic and who became a national advocate for AIDS research, treatment, and prevention, died on July 18th due to heart disease. In 1980, after noticing that 3 male gay patients had the same symptoms, Weisman referred them to Michael S. Gottlieb, an immunologist at UCLA, who also had a patient with similar symptoms. Together, Weisman and Gottlieb wrote a report that indicated the official start of the AIDS epidemic. For more information, please visit the LA Times.

Drug Susceptibility Testing Improves Survival Of HIV Patients: Researchers found that HIV-infected patients whose drug regimens were guided by susceptibility testing (sensitivity testing or drug resistance testing) were significantly less likely to die than patients who were not. The study was conducted in 10 U.S. HIV clinics on 2,699 patients, of which 915 patients underwent genotypic or phenotypic susceptibility testing. For more information, please see the study in the Annals of Internal Medicine (abstract) and the related MedPage Today article.

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June 27 marks the 15th National HIV Testing Day, when health clinics and hospitals nationwide will sponsor health fairs, community education workshops, and extended testing hours to promote voluntary HIV testing. Every year, the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) cooperates with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to organize this nationwide event.

The purpose of National HIV Testing Day is to encourage those at risk to get tested and to remove the stigma that surrounds HIV tests. This stigma exists because those who actively seek getting…