February 10, 2012
FRIDAY, Feb. 10 (HealthDay News) –
There’s little evidence linking disease severity or antiretroviral treatment with the degree of psychiatric symptoms in HIV-positive children and teens infected around the time of birth, according to a new study.
Some experts were concerned that more severe HIV illness — the virus that causes AIDS — or use of specific highly active antiretroviral therapy regimens might increase the risk of mental health problems in HIV-infected youth, noted the researchers at Stony Brook University in New York.
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February 10, 2012
FRIDAY, Feb. 10 (HealthDay News) — Many gay men who regularly have risky sex would be willing to ask partners to use a new, rapid-result HIV test, a new study shows.
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
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January 30, 2012
MONDAY, Jan. 30 (HealthDay News) — Having a pet helps women with HIV/AIDS cope with their condition and may also help those with other chronic diseases, a new study says.
Researchers conducted 12 focus groups with 48 women with HIV/AIDS to find out how they stay healthy. The women, whose average age was 42, said that five social roles helped them manage their illness.
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January 30, 2012
MONDAY, Jan. 30 (HealthDay News) — Pregnant women with HIV can prevent passing the AIDS-causing virus to their babies by taking antiretroviral drugs, but there remains a possibility that some of these medications might cause birth defects, such as cleft lip and palate, according to a new study.
Antiretroviral drugs have been found to reduce the risk of mothers passing HIV on to their children from between 15 and 25 percent to less than 1 percent. These drugs, however, are still under investigation and not considered safe during pregnancy, the study authors noted.
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January 12, 2012
THURSDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) — The level of the HIV-1 virus in the blood of an HIV-infected person is the single most important risk factor for sexual transmission of HIV to an uninfected partner, a new study of heterosexual couples has found.
The research, published online Jan. 12 in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, also confirmed that the use of condoms significantly reduces the risk of transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
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January 12, 2012
THURSDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) — School-age children exposed to HIV before birth are at increased risk for language problems and could benefit from early diagnosis and classroom intervention, according to a new study.
Researchers looked at 468 children, ages 7 to 16, born to mothers with HIV infection during pregnancy. Of those children, 306 were HIV-infected and 162 did not have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
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January 4, 2012
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) — Physicians need to take care when prescribing seizure medication to HIV/AIDS patients to prevent harmful interactions between drugs, experts warn.
The cautionary note from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has led to the issuance of a new AAN guideline, which was developed in consultation with the International League Against Epilepsy.
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December 21, 2011
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 21 (HealthDay News) — Approval for the HIV drug Isentress (raltegravir) has been expanded to include children and adolescents ages 2-18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.
The drug is an integrase strand transfer inhibitor that helps slow the spread of the AIDS-causing virus throughout the body, the agency said in a news release. It was first approved for adults in October 2007.
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December 14, 2011
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 14 (HealthDay News) –
Headache affects 50 percent of HIV/AIDS patients in the United States, and many of those headaches are severe, a new study says.
About 27.5 percent of the 200 HIV/AIDS patients in the study suffered “chronic migraine,” a rare condition in which a person has migraine symptoms (with or without other headaches) for 15 or more days a month. This condition occurs in only 2 percent of the general population.
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December 1, 2011
By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Dec. 1 (HealthDay News) — For many it’s a good news/bad news scenario.
People with HIV/AIDS are living longer and healthier lives than ever before, but they still have a chronic disease that’s potentially fatal and carries a heavy stigma, said Jorie Barna, a care coordinator for the AIDS/HIV Services Group in Charlottesville, Va.
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