The Rainbow Bridge

AIDS INFORMATION

How It Is Transmitted

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that infects white blood cells primarily, but may also infect cells in the nervous system, colon, and blood vessels. It can be transmitted by (1) by certain kinds of sexual contact; (2)By direct exposure to infected blood; (3)and from an HIV infected woman to her infant during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. HIV is NOT transmitted by saliva, sweat, tears, or urine.

Symptoms of HIV Infection

persistent tiredness, unexplained fevers, recurring night sweats, prolonged enlargement of the lymph nodes, and weight loss are common. There may later be persistent diarrhea and sore throat. IMPORTANT NOTE: HIV infected people may not show symptoms or test positive for up to six months - rarely, years - after the initial infection. Get tested, but do NOT let a negative result take the place of safe sex!

AIDS

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) only occurs when someone who is HIV infected develops one or more of the following symptoms after infection: (1) serious life-threatening infections such as recurring pneumonias, tuberculosis, meningitis, etc., that do not affect people with intact immune systems. (2)certain kinds of cancer, including KaposiÕs sarcoma, lymphoma, and invasive cervical cancer. (3)manifestations of HIV in the nervous system (loss of memory, change in sensation or movement, seizures). (4)progressive weight loss or wasting syndrome. (5)CD4+ T-lymphocyte counts of less than 200cell per microliter People with these qualifications are the only ones with AIDS. HIV infection does not mean the person has AIDS.

Myths

HIV is NOT transmitted by sharing space, classrooms, athletic or recreational facilities, sauna, swimmin pool, bathroom, food, eating utensils, kissing, hugs, clothing, or books with an infected person. Neither animals nor insects can transmit HIV. It is not transmitted by coughing or sneezing on someone. HIV is ONLY transmitted by direct contact with semen, blood, vaginal secretions, breast milk, and menstrual blood.

Please see the Rainbow BridgeÕs Safe Sex Page for more information (men AND women).

REMEMBER: You cannot tell by looking if someone is infected! Practice safe sex and get tested!

AIDS News

Europe's New AIDS Cases Steady

In the European Union overall, the number of new AIDS cases relative to the total population has levelled out, according to a report approved by the European Commission. As in the U.S., AIDS in the EU occurred most frequently among gay men earlier in the epidemic, but in more recent years the new diagnoses are much more likely to result from injection drug use. In those EU member countries where the association between AIDS and injection drug use is strongest -- Spain, Italy and Portugal -- the numbers of new cases have continued to expand.

The EU invested ECU17.5-million in 134 international prevention and study projects during 1994 - 1995 under the "Europe Against AIDS" Action Plan. The newly approved progress report on that plan included statistical findings from the EC-funded European Center for the Epidemiological Monitoring of AIDS. Of the 22,383 new cases identified in 1995, 28% were infected through male-male sex, while 43% were infected through injection drug use and 19% through heterosexual acts. Women received one-fifth of the new diagnoses in 1995.

Continued efforts by the EU are part of its "Program for the Prevention of AIDS and Certain Other Communicable Diseases," adopted in 1996 and running through the year 2000. 17,778 new AIDS cases were identified in the EU from January through September 1996, bringing the EU's grand total for the epidemic to 167,021.

Statement on Resignation of Dr. David Kesler, U.S. FDA

Statement of Spencer Cox, Director, Antivirals Project, Treatment Action Group (TAG) on today's resignation of Dr. David Kessler, Commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The departure of Dr. David Kessler from the US Food and Drug Administration will be a great loss for people living with HIV/AIDS. Although we have not always agreed with Dr. Kessler, the agency has, under his leadership, engaged AIDS advocates in important and innovative partnerships, and has drastically shortened the time required for review of new AIDS therapies. He has been a principled, thoughtful Commissioner, and we deeply regret his decision to move on. We hope that the President will choose a successor who will carry on Dr. Kessler's aggressive advocacy of public health, even in the face of opposition by entrenched special interests, including the radical deregulators among pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Continued vigilance in protecting the American people against unwaranted claims made by the industry must be a priority for the second Clinton administration, as must continuing efforts to ensure that therapies for AIDS are safe, effective, rapidly developed, and, once approved, further studied to optimize treatment for HIV disease and its complications.

The Treatment Action Group (TAG) is the nation's first and only AIDS activist organization dedicated solely to the effort to find effective treatments for AIDS and its associated diseases, as well as a preventive vaccine. TAG supports the work of approximately fifty AIDS treatment activists, many of whom are living with HIV. TAG strives to ensure that all people living with HIV receive the treatment, care and information needed to save their lives.

Consumer Group Appointed to Prescription Drug Information Committee

New York, NY Oct. 25, 1996 --- The AIDS Treatment Data Network has been appointed to a national committee to develop consumer-focused drug information for all new prescriptions sold in the United States. The committee was appointed in mid-September as required by the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agenices Appropriations Act, 1997. The AIDS group, founded in 1988, provides English and Spanish language information about approved and experimental treatments for HIV disease to consumers and providers throughout the United States.

According to Ken Fornataro, the Executive Director of the AIDS Treatment Data Network, "The AIDS community has long recognized the urgent need for user-friendly prescription drug information. The recent FDA approval of powerful new drugs for treat AIDS has demonstrated the crucial and immediate need for all consumers to be well informed about the potential risks and benefits of any prescription drug."

Committee members will develop a long-range comprehensive action plan to achieve goals consistent with the goals of the proposed rule of the Food and Drug Administration on "Prescription Druge Project Labeling: Medication Guide Requirements" (60 Fed. Reg. 44182); relating to the provision of oral and written prescription information to consumers). The full text of the proposed rule can be read and/or downloaded from the Internet site provided by the AIDS Treatment Data Network. The AIDS Treatment Data Networks materials are available on the Internet at www.aidsnyc.org/network.

The Committee is being facilitated by the Keystone center. The keystone Center is experienced in working with policy makers, skilled in conflict resolution, mediation and promoting consensus. Other steering committee members include national organizations representing health care professions, consumer organizations, voluntary health agencies, the pharmaceutical industry, drug wholesalers and patient drug information database companies.

Joel Beard, Technical Assistance and Internet Manager for the AIDS Treatment Data Network will represent the organization on the steering committee. Consumers and other interested individuals are encouraged to provide comments, suggestions and feedback on the work of the committee. The national, toll-free phone number is (800) 734-7104. The fax number is (212) 260-8869. The steering committee home page is http://www.nyam.org/keystone.

Scientists hope protein might help AIDS Patients

Researchers' attempts to boost immune system successful, study says Washington, D.C. Oct. 31, 1996 --- The promising year for AIDS research may have just become better: Scientists announced Wednesday cautious success in another approach to fight the deadly disease.

There is no talk of cures yet, but researchers say their attempts to boost the immune systems of infected patients seem to be working. The successes reported earlier this year were for treatments that attacked the AIDS virus.

"The two approaches are complementary," said Joseph Kovacs, a senior government AIDS researcher. "This is a disease caused by a virus, so it's very important to inhibit the virus. But it's also a disease of the immune system, so it's important to that inhibiting the virus be complemented by boosting the immune system."

Kovacs and his colleagues at the National Institute of Health reported that giving AIDS patients a laboratory replica of a naturally occurring protein called interleukin-2, or IL-2, was able to double and sustain critical infection-fighting immune systems cells, called CD4 cells. Essentially, this is like giving extra ammunition to the immune system to fight of diseases. The central unanswered question that reamins -- something this study wasn't designed to address -- was whether the increase in CD4 counts actually results in patients living longer or getting better. The study also showed the treatment would not boost the AIDS virus while boosting the immune system, something scientists were worried about. And it underlined that successes were sustainable since the virus didn't develop resistance to the medicine -- a common problem with AIDS drugs. "The laboratory data gives us cause to be optimistic," said Anthony Fauci, the government's top AIDS researcher, who oversaw the researchers performing this study, "It's a promising finding."

10-Minute HIV Test is Accurate, Study Says

Philadelphia, PA September 15, 1996 -- A 10-minute test accurately shows whether a person has HIV, much quicker than the standard four hours, and researchers hope it will help get more people who test positive into counseling. In addition to usual hours-long delays, some hospitals run test samples only twice a month, according to a study in today's issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Faster test results would lead to almost immediate counseling for patients found to have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Typically, many patients who get tested never return to learn their test results, let alone get counseling. Rapid tests... could make a big difference in countrolling this worldwide epidemic," said sutdy author Kathleen Irwin of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only one reliable rapid HIV test is available to U.S. labs, although 14 have been developed in the United States, according to an editorial accompanying the study. The cost and time of winning regulatory approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the difficulty in obtaining patents and the perception of a small market have discouraged manufacturers, the editorial said. "Manufacturers... should be encouraged to seek approval of their products in the United States so that two rapid HIV tests could be used in combination to allow for more precise counseling," the editorial said. Both test found 45 positive results. Although the rapid test found seven "Weak" positives later determined to be negative results, researchers still consider the rapid test very accurate. Of the study patients, just 57.5% returned to learn their test results. Researchers were not able to measure how many patients would have stayed for counseling if rapid test results had been reported to them immediately. Even if the results could have been reported, a second test would be needed to confirm the positive results, Irwin said. "But the advatnage of using the rapid test is that people testing positive can be counseled that this is the result of a preliminary test, and they are more likely to come back for the results of the confirmatory test," she said.

Pour a Glass of Juice

A bit of sugar helps the medicine go down, and a glass of orange juice appears to enhance the effect of a new experimental AIDS drug. Researchers at the University of Buffalo School of Pharmacy reported the orange juice supplements inadequacy of stomach acid in HIV patients and therefore boosts the effect of the durg delavirdine, a drug that interferes with an enzyme and which retards reproduction of the AIDS virus. A complication of AIDS in some cases is too little stomach acid which reduces the amount of the drug that gets into the blodd. "If patients have reduced stomach acid, they may absorb less drug and may not receive adequate therapeutic effects," said Gene Morse, associate professor of the Department of Pharmacy Practice.

Helpful Links

Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team (APAIT) - educates about HIV/AIDS infection and provides support and resources for women and men of all Asian and Pacific Islander communities, persons living with HIV, their families and loved ones.

Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) - Hermanos de Luna Y Sol - an empowerment HIV prevention program for Spanish-speaking Latino gay and bisexual men.

Community Health Project - Founded in 1983 in a merger of St. Mark's Community Clinic and the Gay Men's Health Project. CHP provides low-cost, accessible, quality health care, primarily to NYC's lesbian and gay community, in all its diversity, regardless of any person's ability to pay for our services.

Concerned Asians and Friends - volunteer organization that raises money for local AIDS-related charities through selling the Hong Kong Men calendar.

Edward King's AIDS Pages - includes his contributions to a British national l/g newspaper, treatment reports, and links AIDS/HIV sites related to l/g people.

Gay Men's Health Crisis - non-profit AIDS organizations offering hands-on support for men, women and children with AIDS in NYC. Offers updates on AIDS-related topics, living with AIDS and HIV info, counseling, hotline and workship stuff and much more.

James D. Weinrich AIDS and Sexology Home Page - links to serious sites on the Web concerning AIDS and human sexuality; Dr. Weinrich's complete bibliography, abstracts, and even a reprint request form!

Outright Communications - electronic communications service for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people and for people concerned with HIV and AIDS issues.

Positive Directions - support, advocacy and empowerment for all people living with HIV.

Positively HIV - national organization providing direct services to hiv+ individuals via the internet; interactive and educational.

STOP AIDS Project - prevention info, training manuals, media campaigns, and extensive links to other on-line resources.

Toronto People with AIDS Foundation - includes listing of their services, benefits and assistance departments, info on volunteers and outreach, activities and events, and their newsletter.

We welcome suggestions, ideas, link updates, and comments.

This page is frequently updated! Please check back soon!