Tuesday, August 14, 2007

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In this issue:
• URGENT - Last Call
• SIHA Summer Student Returns from Guyana
• Portmanteau inhibitors offer new way to tackle HIV
• New ED at Canadian HIV/AIDS Network
• Prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C virus infections among inmates of Ontario remand facilities
• Prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C virus infections among inmates of Quebec provincial prisons.
• Infected inmates pose wider health risk: studies
• High Number of HIV Cases Found Among Female Inmates in Washington, D.C.
• Scientists Probe How HIV Infection Turns Into AIDS
• Canadian Drug Company To Manufacture Generic Antiretroviral for Rwanda
• Lewis Calls on Canada To Commit $855M to Global Fund

URGENT - Last Call

 CAS Board Nominations
The Canadian AIDS Society is looking for nominations for the position of Prairie Regional PLWHIV/AIDS Director on its Board of Directors and a PLWHIV/AIDS Youth Director. 
The Canadian AIDS Society is a national coalition of over 125 community-based AIDS organizations from across Canada. Dedicated to strengthening the response to HIV/AIDS across all sectors of society, we also work to enrich the lives of people and communities living with HIV/AIDS. We accomplish this by advocating on behalf of people and communities affected by HIV/AIDS, facilitating the development of programs, services and resources for our member groups, and providing a national framework for community-based participation in Canada’s response to AIDS.

>> For more info and Nomination Form Click Here

SIHA Summer Student Returns from Guyana

(By Richelle Walsh - SIHA Summer Student)    Here I was, at the beginning of a two month stint in Guyana, on a rickety six person speedboat, pulling up to a weathered pier on Hogg Island. In the distance, balancing on stilts, lay the humble schoolroom where we would be living for the weeks to come. The village was quiet to say the least, as there were no vehicles, no roads, no electricity or running water. It appeared to be a far cry from the city of Edmonton where I spent my days at a comfortable nine to five summer student position at HIV Edmonton.  Up until this point, I had considered myself fairly knowledgeable on the topic of HIV and AIDS and was ready to challenge this notion with a volunteer trip (run through a non-governmental, non-denominational grassroots agency) to the country of Guyana in South America.

>> To read more Click Here

Portmanteau inhibitors offer new way to tackle HIV

(Medical Research News - July23,2007)    Researchers at the University of Minnesota's Center for Drug Design have developed a new method to combat HIV/AIDS, potentially replacing the traditional cocktail drug approach.   The new approach - proven accurate in lab tests - merges the features of two antiviral agents into one drug, achieving the same effect as when two or more drugs are taken separately. The cocktail approach most commonly prescribed to HIV-infected patients is expensive and high in toxicity because many drugs are taken at one time.

>> More details from full report Click Here

New ED at Canadian HIV/AIDS Network

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Elliott as Executive Director, effective August 30, 2007.

Click below to find messages from Thomas Kerr, President of the Legal Network, outgoing Executive Director Joanne Csete, as well as the news release announcing Richard Elliott's appointment.

>> For Details Click Here

Prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C virus infections among inmates of Ontario remand facilities

(CMAJ, Canadian Medical Association Journal -  2007 July 31; 177(3): 257–261.)    In Canada, the prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) infections in the general population is estimated to be 0.8% and 0.18% respectively.   Studies conducted in Canadian penitentiaries have shown that the rates are alarmingly high in inmate populations.  The elevated prevalence of HIV and HCV infections among inmates has been closely linked to injection drug use and the sharing of injection equipment. Reports have shown that 30%–50% of Canadian inmates have a history of injection drug use. 

>> For full report Click Here

Prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C virus infections among inmates of Quebec provincial prisons.

(CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2007 July 31; 177(3), p. 252-256.)    This article reports the findings of a study on the prevalence of HIV and HCV infection among male and female inmates in Quebec provincial prisons. The study found a high prevalence of both infections, with the prevalence of HCV infection higher than HIV infection. The overall prevalence of HIV infection was significantly higher among women than among men. The researchers also found that injection drug use was the most important risk factor for infection. Because many of the infected inmates were unaware of their status, the researchers of the study recommend offering HIV and HCV antibody testing and counselling to all inmates entering prison.

>> For Full Report Click Here

Infected inmates pose wider health risk: studies

(Updated Tue. Aug. 7 2007 10:34 AM ET - CTV.ca News Staff)    Prisoners in Quebec and Ontario have alarmingly high rates of HIV or hepatitis C infections, finds two new studies published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. And this public health crisis is reaching beyond prison gates.   Richard Elliott, an advocate with the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, wrote a commentary on the studies that appeared in the same edition of the journal. In it, he notes the public is also at risk thanks to lacking efforts by health care officials.   "They go back to their family and friends and they go back to their communities and any diseases they may have acquired while in prison come with them," Elliott said about the prisoners.

>> For the CTV Story Click Here

High Number of HIV Cases Found Among Female Inmates in Washington, D.C.

(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report)    A high number of HIV cases has been detected among female inmates in the Washington, D.C., jail, according to data released recently by the district Department of Health as part of a summary of its six-month campaign encouraging district residents to be tested for HIV, the Washington Post reports (Levine, Washington Post, 8/2).

District health officials and HIV/AIDS advocates in June 2006 launched the campaign -- titled "Come Together D.C., Get Screened for HIV" -- which emphasized the importance of HIV testing. The campaign aimed to reach 400,000 men, women and children ages 14 to 84 in the district. According to statistics presented at the Mayor's Task Force on HIV/AIDS, which convened for the first time in June 2006, up to 25,000 people, or more than 4% of all residents, in the district might be HIV-positive. District health officials ordered 80,000 rapid HIV tests for the campaign, which organizers planned to distribute at no cost to hospital emergency departments, private physician offices, community health programs, detoxification and substance use centers, and sexually transmitted infection treatment clinics (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/5). According to the Post, the jail was "ahead of city health officials' push to make HIV testing a routine part of most medical screenings."

>> For more Click Here

Scientists Probe How HIV Infection Turns Into AIDS

(HealthDay News - CBC.ca - August 3, 2007) - The common scientific wisdom on how HIV infection proceeds to full-blown AIDS might be wrong, two U.S. researchers say.  They hope that their new insights, if proven, will lead to exciting new treatment targets down the line.    Working from a complex mathematical model of viral replication and immune cell death, the researchers now suspect that AIDS begins when one especially fast-killing strain of HIV gains the upper hand over a less-lethal, but more prolific, strain.

>> For full CBC Report Click Here

Canadian Drug Company To Manufacture Generic Antiretroviral for Rwanda

(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report)    GlaxoSmithKline on Wednesday announced that it has given consent to Toronto-based drug company Apotex to use two of its patented antiretroviral drugs, lamivudine and zidovudine, to manufacture Apo-triAvir -- a fixed-dose combination of the two drugs and the antiretroviral nevirapine -- for Rwanda, the Toronto Star reports. According to the Star, consent was given through Canada's Access to Medicines Regime (Talaga, Toronto Star, 8/9).

The World Trade Organization last month in a statement announced that Rwanda plans to override the pharmaceutical patents and import 260,000 packs of Apo-triAvir. Under an August 2003 waiver to WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as the "paragraph 6 system," developing countries with a public health crisis are allowed to import generic drugs when they cannot manufacture the drugs themselves.

>> For Remainder of Article Click Here

Lewis Calls on Canada To Commit $855M to Global Fund

(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report)    Former U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Lewis Calls on Canada To Commit $855M to Global Fund     Stephen Lewis, former United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, on Friday at a press conference called on the Canadian government to commit 900 million Canadian dollars, or about $855 million, during the next three years to the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Toronto Star reports. Lewis also called on Canada's leaders to increase foreign aid contributions as part of the country's membership in the Group of Eight industrialized nations (Black, Toronto Star, 8/11).  Lewis at the press conference said that Canada is decreasing its financial aid commitments aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS in developing countries. Lewis said Canada is "going in reverse" in funding commitments, adding, "It's just delinquency to fall further behind" (CanWest/Calgary Herald, 8/11).

>> For more on this item Click Here

Boom for Whom?

Interfaith End of Life Care Conference

Edmonton District Labour Council Annual BBQ

Grandmothers March, September 8th

16th Annual AIDS Walk for Life

Invigorating Communities with Dr. America Bracho

For more info and Registration Form Click Here

Dynamics of HIV

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