News (Updated October 19, 2008)

[Home]  [Previous news]

Infectious diseases claim 949 lives in China in Sept.

HIV infections up sharply among Hong Kong gay men

By Tan Ee Lyn

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Up to a third of gay and bisexual men in Hong Kong may be infected with HIV by 2020 if prevention programs to reduce new infections and promote safe sex fail to work, experts warned.

HIV is primarily passed from person to person in Hong Kong through sex. The number of gay and bisexual men confirmed with the virus has risen sharply every year since 2003.

The figure rose from 50 in 2003 to 67 in 2004, 96 in 2005 and 112 in 2006, while newly confirmed infections among heterosexuals stayed within a range of 110-116 each year.

"If all our actions fail, by 2020 we can have one-third infected in the community. Some of them may go on to infect women," said Wong Ka-hing, consultant for the Hong Kong government's Center for Health Protection.

Rising numbers of gay and bisexual men are becoming infected in many countries, perhaps because of the availability of HIV drugs, which can control the virus but not cure the infection.

Four percent of Hong Kong's gay and bisexual men are HIV-positive and genetic analyses of virus samples found three HIV strains circulating in the local community.

"There are three clusters (of people infected by the three strains) ... we investigated and found common risk factors like a number of people attending the same sex parties, Internet use (to search for sex partners), using recreational drugs, unsafe sex, STI (sexually transmitted infections)," Wong said.

"Not many people (in this community) think safe sex is important. Their condom use (70 percent with casual partners, 40 percent with regular partners) is lower than heterosexual men (80-90 percent with prostitutes)," Wong said.

FASTER TESTS NEEDED

Chen Zhiwei, director of the AIDS Institute, which conducts HIV/AIDS studies in Hong Kong and on mainland China, called for faster testing techniques.

HIV test kits used in Hong Kong search for antibodies to the virus. But Chen said they tend to miss newly infected cases as the body does not start producing anti-bodies until two weeks to a few months after infection.

However, it is during this "window period" that the newly implanted virus is at its most active -- multiplying rapidly and making the person potentially very infectious.

"Early diagnosis is very important. We need to identify newly infected cases, especially among people who are sexually active. Immediately after infection, the viral load is very high, so the chance of transmitting to others is very high," Chen said.

"If we rely on antibody tests, we have to wait for the immune system to kick in. And in the window period, the guy may have transmitted the virus to many people," he told Reuters.

Chen recommended the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which can detect viruses in the blood -- very soon after infection and well before the body starts producing antibodies.

SAfrica's new health minister signals fresh approach in AIDS battle

CAPE TOWN (AFP) – South Africa's new health minister called Monday for renewed global efforts to find an AIDS vaccine, signalling a sharp change from her controversial predecessor in a country with the world's most HIV infections.

"It was imperative to get ahead of the curve of this epidemic 10 years ago. We all for various reasons have lost ground," Barbara Hogan said at the opening of an international meeting of scientists searching for ways to prevent AIDS.

"It's even more imperative now that we make HIV prevention work. We desperately need an effective HIV vaccine."

Her remarks were in marked contrast to those of her predecessor, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who was derided as "Dr Beetroot" for championing use of the vegetable to fight AIDS.

Hogan took over the ministry in a political shake-up last month, in a move hailed by activists as an end to Tshabalala-Msimang's policies that for years questioned whether the HIV virus causes AIDS.

"We know that HIV causes AIDS. The science of HIV and AIDS is one of the most researched subjects in the medical field," said Hogan, later slamming "wasted time" which contributed to the country's high AIDS prevalence.

Some 5.5 million people out of South Africa's 48 million population are living with HIV.

Researchers at the conference welcomed Hogan with open arms, welcoming the end of denialism about AIDS in South Africa.

Vice chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Malegapuru Makgoba said it was a relief to finally reach a point where everyone agreed HIV causes AIDS.

"It is a liberating experience, you don't know how long we have suffered in bondage about this issue."

Some 900 researchers and scientists are attending the conference, being held for the first time outside of the United States or Europe.

"This is a country with the greatest number of HIV infections in the world. Nowhere else is the need for a vaccine greater than right here," said conference chair Lynn Morris.

"As we all know the field is at a turning point. One thing is clear, we need to continue with these steps and they need to be bold. The field needs more input, fresh ideas and new directions."

A quarter of a century after AIDS first became widely known, the search for a vaccine has proved unsuccessful and the pandemic continues unheeded, with about 33.2 million people living with HIV worldwide in 2007.

The drive for a vaccine has suffered several setbacks as two recent clinical trials proved test drugs were ineffective or appeared to heighten chances of becoming infected.

The two trials, conducted in the United States and South Africa, were the most promising candidates for a vaccine, and their failure stunned scientists who have questioned the safety of putting people into the test groups.

Researcher Stanley Plotnick, who has worked on several vaccines, said a trial under way in Thailand could provide a step forward.

"If that vaccine even shows potential success, it will turn things around completely," he said.

Iran reports 30% rise in HIV infection on 2007

TEHRAN (AFP) – The number of people in Iran who have been infected with the AIDS virus has reached 18,320 people, a 30 percent increase on the 2007 figure, health ministry statistics showed on Tuesday.

"So far 1,592 of the infected people have developed AIDS... and 2,800 have died," said the ministry report quoted by the state television website.

Intravenous drug use is still the main cause of infection at 80.8 percent. Sexual contact accounted for 11.9 percent of cases.

A full 93.7 percent of those infected were men.

Iranian officials have warned of the dangers of a rise in infections with the Human Immune-Deficiency Virus amid a surge in intravenous drug usage.

Officials estimate Iran has two million drug users in a population of more than 71 million.

The country is situated on a major drug trafficking route from the opium fields of Afghanistan to the wealthy consumer markets of Europe and the Gulf.

Ugandan community outlaws female circumcision

Women need empowerment in fight against AIDS - UN

BEIJING, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Women must be more involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS, a disease increasingly being spread through sex, and men must also be encouraged to respect women more, a senior U.N. official said on Friday.

Nafis Sadik, U.N. special envoy for HIV/AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region, told a poverty alleviation conference in Beijing that lack of respect for women was helping drive the spread of the virus.

"Gender-based violence and discrimination on grounds of gender drive the HIV and AIDS epidemic among women. Empowerment of women -- equipping them with self-esteem, the knowledge, the ability to protect themselves -- will be of critical importance in winning the battle," Sadik said.

"Women suffer doubly. First, from HIV and AIDS itself, and secondly from the stigma associated with the disease. Women are routinely blamed for infecting their husbands, though it is almost always the men who infect their wives," she said.

In Asia , at least 75 million men regularly buy sex from about 10 million female sex workers, she said.

"The results of male behaviour can be seen in changing patterns of infection. Today, about one-third of all people living with HIV in China are women, compared with one in 10 in 1995," Sadik said.

The human immunodeficiency virus infects 33 million people globally, half of them women, and kills 2 million annually.

In August, U.N officials at a major AIDS conference in Mexico warned that rising food prices around the world were likely to drive poor women to trade sex for basic goods like fish and cooking oil, raising the risk of new AIDS infections.

Sadik said that she hoped China 's predominantly male politicians would get more involved in spreading the safe sex message. About 700,000 people live with HIV/AIDS in China and it is now mainly transmitted through sex.

" China must enlist the support of its male leadership and men generally, encouraging them to adopt consistently responsible sexual behaviour, and ensuring that they respect their partners, and all women, as equals," she said. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie and Paul Tait)

[Home]  [Previous news]