The AIDS Infection Rate In Africa Declines Sharply

Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are leading a global decline in new HIV infections, the UN has said.

UNAids said 22 countries in the world's worst affected region had seen a drop in new cases of more than 25%.

The fall was because of greater awareness and better use of preventative measures, it said.

But UNAids also noted that cases of HIV were increasing in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and among gay men in developed countries.

Michel Sidibe, UNAids executive director, said the world was making "real progress" towards achieving the sixth Millennium Development Goal (MDG6) of halting and reversing the spread of HIV/Aids by 2015.

"For the first time change is happening at the heart of the epidemic. In places where HIV was stealing away dreams, we now have hope," he said.

UNAids says there are now 5.2 million people worldwide receiving treatment for HIV/Aids, which has helped to ensure that 200,000 fewer people died from the virus in 2008 than in 2004.

The agency said young people "are leading the prevention revolution by choosing to have sex later, having fewer multiple partners and using condoms, resulting in significantly fewer new HIV infections in many countries highly affected by Aids".

The use of male condoms has also doubled in the past five years, while the report notes that "tradition is giving space to pragmatism" in many communities as they embrace male circumcision, which research shows has the potential to reduce HIV infections among men by nearly 60%.

'Challenges remain'

China, where cases are largely concentrated within high-risk groups, was praised for its efforts to increase preventative measures for drug users.

UNAids said South Africa had also rapidly increased "efforts to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support".

But there was a warning that "challenges remain" in the global fight against HIV/Aids, including expanding epidemics in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and resurgence in new infections in wealthier nations among men who have sex with men.

The UN also called for greater investment in HIV/Aids prevention, warning that there was a $10bn (£6.4bn) shortfall in 2009.

It said those countries most severely affected by HIV/Aids could not handle the crisis with their own resources alone.

"At this turning point flat-lining or reductions in investments will set-back the Aids response and threaten the world's ability to reach MDG 6," said Mr Sidibe.

"Investing for Aids is a shared responsibility - between development partners and national governments."

Entertainment: CELEBRITY TATTOO ARTIST IS HIV POSITIVE

Allhotnewz.blogspot.com just received a disturbing report. Apparently a VERY POPULAR British tattoo artist has caught the monster. But get this, dude is REFUSING to tell the people who he tatts up of his status.

For all those interested, the dude lives in Britain and his name is Henry Hate. Here’s how London’s Sun newspaper is reporting it:

Henry — who runs the Prick Tattoo and Piercing parlour in Shoreditch, East London — said he always wore gloves while etching with single-use needles.

He went on: “I don’t tell the general public.

“But some of my close customers who I have had for years are very aware.”

They include recovering drug addict Winehouse, 25, but he had not told junkie rocker Doherty, 30.

Henry explained: “We don’t have discussions like me and Amy have … There are a few celeb clients who have known for a while — but I don’t tell all my friends.”

We ain’t too sure how we feel about this. It seems like dude is taking precautions to not spread that package around. So maybe he’s right about not having to tell…

Health: HIV patient cured with Bone Marrow Transplant

What would you call it-a miracle,magic or a bonus life gifted by the Almighty?It could be anything,but the fact is the patient is still in better condition now than he was a few months back.

As we know until now, HIV has no cure and has led to the deaths of over 25 million people.But Dr. Gero Hütter, 39--a brilliant physician in Germany , is the new hero who found out an AIDS cure, and the most astonishing thing is he is not an AIDS expert. He treated a 42-year-old American living in Berlin who had leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant.

After a successful surgery, the patient is recovering but seems to be free from AIDS as well. Doctors have not been able to detect the HIV virus that causes AIDS in his blood stream for more than 600 days even after the patient stopped taking AIDS medications. The doctors said when a patient stops taking AIDS medication; the virus generally regenerates very rapidly, within weeks or days. However, they were amazed not to see any of it in the patient.The Doctor himself was surprised seeing the result when he replaced the patient's bone marrow cells with those from a donor who had a naturally occurring genetic mutation that renders his cells immune to almost all strains of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

If this method is successful for other patients, this type of gene therapy technique will be much better than the regular AIDS treatment which is quite expensive for patients and if this therapy technique works, then it will save thousands of lives.