Monday, August 17, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
BSF units in Punjab hit by AIDS attack
Ferozepur : Apart from Pakistani bullets, Border Security force (BSF) Jawans in Punjab are facing new threat -----AIDS. Each of the seven units posted in the Ferozepur sector along the Indo-Pak border has at-least two full blown cases of the deadly virus ---- most probably passed on by sex workers.
"The last few years have seen an alarming rise in AIDS Cases in the Border force," said Shailnder Kaur, medical officer, BSF Ferozepur sector. "A couple of Jawans in each BSF unit in the area have contracted the deadly virus and are undergoing treatment," she added.
The officer, however, denied that the virus ha spread widely. The 14 personnel, she said, are being treated in jalandhar with some even having been referred to Delhi. But another officer, who did not want o be named, contested her claim saying the virus has spread alarming within BSF.
Working for he force entails long field deployments with few domestic breaks. "The Jawans usually visit brothels in the areas, which is where the AIDS virus is spreading from," he said.
Endorsing this view, a jawan being treated for AIDS, said "we should be granted leave and allowed to stay with our families on BSF campuses."
TOI
"The last few years have seen an alarming rise in AIDS Cases in the Border force," said Shailnder Kaur, medical officer, BSF Ferozepur sector. "A couple of Jawans in each BSF unit in the area have contracted the deadly virus and are undergoing treatment," she added.
The officer, however, denied that the virus ha spread widely. The 14 personnel, she said, are being treated in jalandhar with some even having been referred to Delhi. But another officer, who did not want o be named, contested her claim saying the virus has spread alarming within BSF.
Working for he force entails long field deployments with few domestic breaks. "The Jawans usually visit brothels in the areas, which is where the AIDS virus is spreading from," he said.
Endorsing this view, a jawan being treated for AIDS, said "we should be granted leave and allowed to stay with our families on BSF campuses."
TOI
Monday, August 10, 2009
Gates' gift: $80m to fight AIDS
Kounteya Singh/ TNN
NEW DELHI: India`s fight against HIV just got an $80 millions push. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) on Thursday increased its funding commitment to Avahan -- its initiative to reduce the spread of HIV in India --to $338 million or Rs 1,652crore.
Prior to the announcement, the foundation had committed $258 million to the programme .
The announcement by Microsoft founder and one of the world's richest men Bill Gates, who is in India, comes at a time when the foundation has been facing allegation that it failed to make a lasting impact in India`s HIV fight.
It has also faced criticism for deciding to "shut down" Avahan and hand over the programme to government national AIDS Control Organization (NACO),which does not want to bear the burden.
However, officials of the foundation told TOI." BMGF does not believe in continuous funding". Avahan's whole purpose was to equip India in its fight against HIV. We were to build the programme, help scale it up, make it sustainable and give it to its natural holders like members of the community or the government. The foundation lunched Avahan in 2003 to help fight HIV in India for a decade.
The foundation said it was inaccurate to suggest that Avahan was about to wind down. Gates told TOI, "In fact,we have already awarded grants that extend into 2014.It's not that the foundation is leaving India. The amount we spend in India on health and development will actually go up but will focus on other things like nutrition, maternal and child health and vaccines."
Prior to the announcement, the foundation had committed $258 million to the programme .
The announcement by Microsoft founder and one of the world's richest men Bill Gates, who is in India, comes at a time when the foundation has been facing allegation that it failed to make a lasting impact in India`s HIV fight.
It has also faced criticism for deciding to "shut down" Avahan and hand over the programme to government national AIDS Control Organization (NACO),which does not want to bear the burden.
However, officials of the foundation told TOI." BMGF does not believe in continuous funding". Avahan's whole purpose was to equip India in its fight against HIV. We were to build the programme, help scale it up, make it sustainable and give it to its natural holders like members of the community or the government. The foundation lunched Avahan in 2003 to help fight HIV in India for a decade.
The foundation said it was inaccurate to suggest that Avahan was about to wind down. Gates told TOI, "In fact,we have already awarded grants that extend into 2014.It's not that the foundation is leaving India. The amount we spend in India on health and development will actually go up but will focus on other things like nutrition, maternal and child health and vaccines."
Thursday, August 6, 2009
HIV's "Mising link" in chimps
Source TOI July 24 , 2009
Scientists believe they have found a "missing link" in the evolution of the virus that causes AIDS. It bridges the gap between the infection that does no harm to most monkeys and one that kills millions of people. That link is a virus that is killing chimpanzees in the wild a disturbingly high rate, according to a study in Nature.
Chimpanzees are the first primates besides man shown to get sick in the wild in significant numbers from a virus related to HIV. The discovery of disease killing chimps may help doctors come up with a workable vaccine for humans.
The monkey version of the virus that causes AIDS is called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), but most apes and monkeys that have it show no symptoms or illness. So "if we could figure out why the monkeys don't get sick, perhaps we could apply that to people", said lead author BEAtrice Hahn, a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The study found chimps infected with SIV had death rate 10 to 16 time higher than uninfected chimps. Necropsies of dead infected shows low counts of T-cell white blodd protiens that are just like the levels found in humans with AIDS. And when experts looked at a particular strain, they found that it wa closest relative possible to the virus that first infected humans.
Chimpanzees are the first primates besides man shown to get sick in the wild in significant numbers from a virus related to HIV. The discovery of disease killing chimps may help doctors come up with a workable vaccine for humans.
The monkey version of the virus that causes AIDS is called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), but most apes and monkeys that have it show no symptoms or illness. So "if we could figure out why the monkeys don't get sick, perhaps we could apply that to people", said lead author BEAtrice Hahn, a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The study found chimps infected with SIV had death rate 10 to 16 time higher than uninfected chimps. Necropsies of dead infected shows low counts of T-cell white blodd protiens that are just like the levels found in humans with AIDS. And when experts looked at a particular strain, they found that it wa closest relative possible to the virus that first infected humans.
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