Is the Ebola crisis like the early days of HIV / AIDS
A12 of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's HIV / AIDS advisers signed a letter protesting his Ebola policies. That includes Peter Staley, a legendary AIDS activist and a central figure in the Oscar-nominated documentary "How To Survive a Plague." Staley described Governor Cuomo's policy as 'politics trumping science.'
MH17: Dr. Gupta on HIV researchers and activists killed in the crash
World renowned HIV researcher Joep Lange and dozens of other passengers on Flight 17 were heading to an international AIDS conference in Australia. Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at the impact that their deaths will have on the global health community.
Magic Johnson: "I'm urging people just to get tested and know where you stand"
It has been more than two decades since basketball great Earvin Magic Johnson announced that he was H.I.V. positive and retiring from the L.A. Lakers. A lot has changed since then in the public education and perception of H.I.V. and AIDS and how it's treated medically. Anderson spoke with Johnson about the impact of his decision to go public with his H.I.V. status. They also talked about Johnson’s son, E.J., who came out as gay publicly this year.
NBA legend on HIV/AIDS, gay son
Earvin “Magic” Johnson described himself as "the blessing and the curse of HIV" in an interview with Anderson Cooper and also opened up about his gay son who came out publicly a few months ago.
"I'm the blessing because people were talking about it, they ran out and got tested at that time. Then I'm the curse because…people now say, oh well, HIV is nothing because if I get it I can be like Magic. He's doing good, and I can do the same thing he's doing or take the same medicine he's taking and I'll be okay," Johnson said. "But what they don't understand, in 22 years, millions of people have died."
FULL POST
Baby "cured" of HIV, are adults next?
Dr. Fauci, Dir. of the Natl. Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases, explains the research that could eradicate HIV.
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Post by: Filed under: AIDS • Medical News |
Wilson: Can we keep up our progress on AIDS?
Phill Wilson
Special to CNN
Editor's note: Watch "Hope Survives: 30 Years of AIDS," an AC360° special, at 9 p.m. ET Friday. Phill Wilson is the president and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute, a national HIV/AIDS think tank focused exclusively on black people. Follow him on Twitter.
(CNN) - I was infected with HIV in 1981, the year the disease was discovered.
Back then, most people died in six to 12 months from horrible diseases like Kaposi's sarcoma, a skin cancer normally found in older men of Semitic descent; pneunocystis carinii pneumonia, a fungal infection in the lungs; cryptococcal meningitis, which causes the lining of your brain to swell; or toxoplasmosis: You got that from cat feces, and it turned your brain to Swiss cheese.
There were no treatments, really. A "long-time survivor" was someone who lived 18 months.
I was 24 then. In April, I will celebrate my 54th birthday.
I almost didn't make it. In 1996, my doctor at Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles called my mother in Chicago to tell her that if she wanted to see me alive again, she should fly to Los Angeles immediately. They had given me less than 24 hours to live. I was in a coma in the ICU.
I eventually came out of that crisis, and my doctor prescribed something brand new: a three-drug regimen, commonly referred to as "the cocktail." I recovered from that crisis and went on to found the Black AIDS Institute, an organization I still lead.
What a difference three decades can make. We have gone from no drugs to a few very toxic drugs that didn't really work to more than 25 antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV. The new drugs are highly effective, and the side effects are much reduced.
Read more from Wilson on CNN.com's Opinion Page
Editor's note:
Greater Than AIDS – a new national movement to respond to AIDS in America– is asking Americans to share their “Deciding Moments," personal experiences that changed how they think about the disease and inspired them to get involved. For many it is someone close to them who was infected. For some it was their own diagnosis. For others it was a realization that we all have a role to play. Tell us about your “Deciding Moment” by visiting: www.greaterthan.org/moment.
Related: Visit Greater Than AIDS for answers to frequently asked questions about HIV/AIDS, as well as information about local testing centers.
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