Search Results for: blog hiv and aids fact and fiction

Selenium and Health Issues

Selenium is a trace mineral — a mineral your body needs in small amounts as compared to macrominerals (like iron and calcium) that your body needs in large amounts. But even a trace mineral can have a big impact on your health. Selenium deficiency is often seen in places where concentrations of selenium in the soil are low — like China, and parts of Russia. Studies have shown that selenium deficiency may contribute to a host of health issues, including heart disease, thyroid issues, and a weakened immune system. Researchers believe that a selenium deficiency doesn’t usually cause illness by … Continue reading →

Today is World AIDS Day

December 1st each year is World AIDS Day. The World Health Organization (WHO) started World AIDS Day in 1988 to bring people around the world together to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. But that’s just the beginning. The WHO hopes that World AIDS Day will demonstrate international unity in the face of this disease. It’s a chance for anyone and everyone to spread awareness, encourage HIV and AIDS prevention, raise money for AIDS charities, champion treatment programs, and more — all around the world. Some statistics about HIV and AIDS around the world from a 2008 World Health Organization … Continue reading →

Global AIDS Epidemic Has Stabilized

According to the United Nations AIDS agency — UNAIDS — the epidemic has stabilized. Fewer people are dying of AIDS and more patients are on HIV medication. The good news: The global AIDS epidemic peaked in the late 1990s and deaths from AIDS are on the decline. Approximately two million people died from AIDS in 2007, down from 2.2 million in 2005. AIDS work in the past five years has done more than work in the last two decades, according to UNAIDS. The number of people on medication for HIV has increased dramatically in the last six years — only … Continue reading →

Book Review: There Is No Me Without You

Whether you are interested in adoption, in history, in science, in child welfare or simply in riveting memoirs of children and families, you will find There Is No Me Without You to be a fascinating book. It tells the story of an Ethiopian woman who has taken in children orphaned by AIDS, many of whom were later adopted to Europe and America. There Is No Me Without You is written by Melissa Fay Greene, an award-winning writer and a parent of four children by birth, a child adopted from Bulgaria and several Ethiopian-born children. The book’s main subject, Haregewoin Teferra, … Continue reading →

FIV: Feline AIDS

Today I was reading over the New York Times list of what happened on this day in history. In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the first report on cases that would later come to be known as AIDS. I remember the first time I heard about AIDS. 1984. I remember the first time I heard about a doctor testing a cat for AIDS. 1999. “The vet tested my cat for AIDS. Is he crazy?” Wayne and I were having dinner with our friends Thais and Wlad. As we often did, we swapped funny stories about various … Continue reading →

Chickenpox Vaccine

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Raise your hand if you’ve had chickenpox. I sort of had it twice — my father had it when I was a baby, and my parents tell me I had the rash on my rump. I had it again a few years later, and suffered through the itching by getting painted with calamine lotion. Chickenpox (varicella) is a very common childhood disease; it seems to get harder to deal with as the patient gets older. The disease is most dangerous to infants and adults — as many as 100 people die because of chickenpox here in the U.S. Around twelve … Continue reading →

Indian Court Issues Warrant for Richard Gere

Wow, the Indian Court system is serious! If you remember the other day, I wrote about how Richard Gere was in trouble for giving Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty a hug and kiss during an AIDS awareness function in New Dehli earlier this month. He swept her into his arms and kissed her several times. I think anyone from America could see from the video circulating on youtube.com that he was just hamming it up, but the Indians were not amused. Such public displays of affection are very taboo within the Indian culture and to do it, especially on stage was … Continue reading →