Persons with HIV often take statins to combat high cholesterol levels caused by taking certain HIV Meds, but a new study suggests statins could benefit HIV+ persons by lowering inflammation and calming the immune system.
It may be a low cost way to lower the damaging effects of HIV in the human body. Read it here.
Tag Archives: HIV
HIV-specific Criminal Laws Popping Up Across Nation
From The Michigan Messenger:
In opposition to President Barack Obama’s Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS), HIV-specific criminal law legislation has popped up in three states in the last two months.
Nebraska is considering a medically unsound piece of legislation making it a crime for HIV+ persons to expose law enforcement officials to their body fluids, while in Utah, the legislature is considering a law that would make engaging in prostitution while HIV+ (either as sex worker or client) more easily punishable.
And of course, Montana gets a mention.
And finally, during a debate on keeping the death penalty in Montana, a state law maker said a perfect reason to keep the law in place was because prisoners were making paper darts which they dip their blood in and then shoot them at guards in the prison.
But you know all about that. Read the whole thing here.
Press Release: Positive Justice Project Denounces Montana Legislator’s Uninformed Comments “…ignorance in the first degree…”
Contact:
Catherine Hanssens, 347.622.1400 chanssens@hivlawandpolicy.org
Sean Strub, 646-642-4915 sstrub@hivlawandpolicy.org
New York, February 9, 2010 – Leading public health officials and advocates for people with HIV responded swiftly to news that a Montana state legislator, while testifying in favor of retaining the state’s death penalty statute, suggested that prisoners with HIV make paper “blow darts”, put their blood or saliva on them and throw them at prison guards in an attempt to kill them.
A video of the legislator’s comments was posted earlier today by blogger Don Pogreba at the Montana-based website intelligentdiscontent.com.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control, HIV is not transmitted by saliva, and HIV in blood dies quickly after being exposed to air. HIV-infected blood does not survive outside the body long enough to cause harm, unless it penetrates mucus membranes.
The Positive Justice Project, a program of the New York-based Center for HIV Law & Policy, is a coalition of more than 40 public health, civil liberties and HIV/AIDS organizations combating HIV criminalization and the creation of a “viral underclass”; they oppose laws that treat people with HIV different from how those who do not have HIV, or who do not know their HIV status, are treated.
The Center’s executive director, Catherine Hanssens, said “Rep. Janna Taylor’s remark is ignorance in the first degree. Quite frankly, it is typical of the ignorance we had to deal with decades ago, early in the epidemic, when little was known about how the virus was transmitted. It is astonishing that an elected official today could be so fundamentally uninformed.”
Julie M. Scofield, executive director of the National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), said “My plea to Rep. Taylor and legislators at all levels concerned about HIV is to do your homework, talk with public health officials and get the facts. Spreading fear about HIV transmission will only set us back in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Montana and every other state in the U.S.”
Other experts from Montana and national organizations also commented on Rep. Taylor’s remarks:
“Ms Taylor’s statement just shows the need for greater support and funding for HIV education and prevention in the State of Montana. Unfortunately, misinformation such as this is all too prevalent, leading to pointless discrimination and myth-based fears and policies. After 30 years of dealing with HIV, the public should be much better informed about its transmission. No wonder HIV infection rates haven’t stopped.”
— D Gregory Smith, MA co-chair of the Montana HIV/AIDS Community Planning Group, a licensed mental health counselor and a person living with HIV
“I am disturbed and disappointed to hear such misinformation coming from a local government official, but sadly I am not especially surprised. As we enter the 30thyear of this worldwide epidemic I am frequently reminded of the need for continued education and outreach, the facts are still not clearly understood by the general masses. Perhaps if we were more willing as a society to discuss more openly the risk behaviors that transmit the virus we would not find ourselves responding to such an insensitive and false statement.”
— Christa Weathers, Executive Director, Missoula AIDS Council, missoulaaidscouncil.org
“HIV infected blood cannot infect someone through contact with intact skin or clothing if the skin underneath is intact.”
— Kathy Hall, PA-C, retired American Academy of HIV Medicine-certified HIV Specialist, Billings, MT
“The comments made by the Montana Legislator really demonstrate total ignorance about how HIV is transmitted. If elected officials don’t understand the basic facts, how can we expect young people and those at greatest risk to understand them?”
— Frank J. Oldham, Jr., President, National Association of People with HIV/AIDS, napwa.org
“This is an example of people with HIV, especially those who are incarcerated, being stigmatized and used as fear-fodder by politicians whose ignorance and quickness to demonize people with HIV outweighs common sense and two minutes of Google research. Even when someone is exposed to HIV, a 28-day course of anti-HIV drugs used as post-exposure prophylaxis is effective in preventing HIV infection. It also isn’t a death sentence; those who acquire HIV today and have access to treatment generally don’t die from AIDS.”
— Sean Strub, founder of POZ Magazine, a 30 year HIV survivor and senior advisor to the Positive Justice Project.
****
The Positive Justice Project is the first coordinated national effort in the United States to address HIV criminalization, and the first multi-organizational and cross-disciplinary effort to do so. HIV criminalization has often resulted in gross human rights violations, including harsh sentencing for behaviors that pose little or no risk of HIV transmission.
For more information on the Center for HIV Law and Policy’s Positive Justice Project, go tohttp://www.hivlawandpolicy.org/public/initiatives/positivejusticeproject.
To see the Center for HIV Law and Policy’s collection of resources on HIV criminalization, go to:http://www.hivlawandpolicy.org/resourceCategories/view/2
The Positive Justice Project has been made possible by generous support from the M.A.C. AIDS Fund, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the van Ameringen Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. To learn more or join one of the Positive Justice Project working groups, email:pjp@hivlawandpolicy.org
MT Legislator Janna Taylor Fears Blowdart-brandishing HIV+ Inmates
This has got to be seen to be believed.
Via Intelligent Discontent, one ignorant legislator’s fear-mongering and ignorance about HIV:
Just to be clear she is WRONG.
HIV is a very fragile virus that dies within seconds outside the body. It is only spread by blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast milk- and there has to be enough virus to enter the bloodstream- it cannot penetrate healthy skin. An excellent resource is here.
On second thought, why don’t we all mail her the link?
Her email: jannataylor@montana.com
And if you’d like to call to register your displeasure at her shameless behavior, 406-849-6096
Update: My letter:
Dear Ms Taylor,
The information you casually threw out on the floor of the Senate today regarding HIV is completely and utterly wrong.
HIV could not be transmitted that way, and it is irresponsible of you to further that ignorant myth.
Some excellent information about HIV transmission is here if you’d care to read it: http://www.thebody.com/content/art30024.html
As an HIV educator and as an HIV+ person, I find your words ridiculous and reprehensible- and I believe you owe the people of Montana an apology.
Sincerely,
D Gregory Smith
Totally feel free to copy, embellish, etc.
Meth To The Madness
Edge New England has a great 2-part article on crystal meth and the gay community, highlighting work by Project Neon in Seattle and my friend Arnold Martin. I wish the author had spent more time talking about prevention, but on the whole, very informative.
Warning: pictures in the story may be triggers for former meth users.
They didn’t back-link the parts, so Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.
Full Interview With Sean Strub Now Available
There was so much to talk about, that we didn’t have time to put it all on Same Sex Sunday!
The full interview with Sean Strub, founder and editor of Poz Magazine and Senior Advisor to the Positive Justice Project is now available. Sean talks to me about HIV criminalization, pre-exposure prophylaxis, post-exposure prophylaxis, the demonization of people with HIV and more.
I found him fascinating- I think you will, too.
Stroke Rate Climbing In HIV+ Persons
The LA Times reports:
While the overall stroke rate in the United States has declined in the last decade, the rate among people infected with the AIDS virus has climbed sharply, researchers reported Wednesday. Although the reason for the increase is not clear, many experts suspect that it is related to the use of protease inhibitors to control replication of the virus. While the drugs, as part of cocktails of antiretroviral medications, have proved remarkably effective in controlling the virus and prolonging patients’ lives, they have also interfered with the patients’ lipid metabolism, increasing the levels of cholesterol and lipids in patients’ blood and altering the distribution of fats in their bodies. Some experts suspect the drugs have also led to an increase in heart attacks among HIV-positive individuals, but that has not been demonstrated.
We’ve known that these drugs are life-saving- but at a price. It’s important to discuss this with your doctor if you have any concerns, and notice this:
The researchers cautioned HIV physicians to be particularly alert to symptoms that might indicate that a patient is at above-normal risk for a stroke. They noted, however, that even with the increased risk, the absolute risk of stroke was still very low, less than 0.2%.
And word of a new find in HIV’s behavior in the body is leading to greater understanding of how it works- and therefore closer to stopping it. Article here.
In Which I Make My Broadcast Debut
From the Bilerico Project today:
“Gregory Smith from the Bilerico Project, joined the SameSexSunday team with an insightful interview about challenging possibly dangerous HIV prevention tactics with POZ Magazine founder Sean Strub. Listen to part of the interview during the podcast, or you can hear the entire interview on SameSexSunday’s YouTube Channel.”
Download the Podcast on iTunes
If you’re not a subscriber, do yourself a favor….
The Experiment
During my sojourn in Seattle, I took only my iPad (well, along with clothes and toothpaste). In part, I wanted to see if I could do most everything with it, instead of lugging my MacBook, my Kindle, and my iPad.
The short answer is no.
I couldn’t update my blog very easily, and I certainly couldn’t do email and responding to facebook posts with the ease with which I was accustomed. So, there’s the explanation for the silence. I’ll be getting a few good things together this weekend.
By the way, all but one of my blood tests are back- and it looks like I passed…. 🙂
Seatown, Here I come!
Time to leave the Estate behind and journey back to the Sound for labs and a pulmonary check up. I’ll be there from Saturday till next Thursday noon- if you want to get together, give me a ring!
From Eternity To Here 