2002 In Review

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=82 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="05bfd523.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Cape Fear Regional Bureau For Community Action, Inc.</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cape Fear Regional Bureau For Community "><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Educational Articles"><U><B><IMG SRC="04e0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"><B>    </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"><B>  </B><A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="AIDS Epidemic Takes Toll on Black Women"><U><B><IMG SRC="04f0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.capefearregionalbureauforcommunityactioninc.org/mf.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.capefearregionalbureauforcomm"><U><B>Click Here For Site Map</B></U></A></div> <div> <B> <embed src="HTMLobj-348/Year_In_Review.wav" autostart="true" loop="true" hidden="true">  </B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="23fd2993.jpg"> <div>  <img src="HTMLobj-347/aniGif.gif" border="0" align="bottom" width="150" height="197">  </div> </td> <td valign="top" height=398 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I><B>2002 In Review</B></I></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="helvetica" ><B>HIV Research: The Year In Review</B></FONT>  <A NAME="year_in_review"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <bR> <div> Randy Dotinga, Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network </div> <div> Thursday, January 2, 2003 / 04:28 PM</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="helvetica" >SUMMARY:</FONT> <I>While no AIDS cure is in sight, scientists in 2002 did develop greater insight into the disease and its effects.</I> </div> <div> AIDS remains stuck between a rock and a hopeful place. No cure is on the horizon, but scientists in 2002 did develop greater insight into understanding the disease and its effects on people. </div> <div> Here's a summary of what researchers learned over the past year: </div> <div> * As many as 80 percent of HIV patients may suffer from depression and anxiety, according to an October report in the Journal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care. Doctors appear to be missing the severity of the problem. A survey suggested that physicians failed to ask six out of every 10 HIV patients about their mental health. </div> <div> * On the bright side, 2002 did bring one less reason for HIV patients to be depressed: a common sexual activity might be less risky than previously thought. </div> <div> To many people, the idea of oral sex -- a blow job -- with a condom, well, sucks. But researchers in Spain looked at 135 heterosexual couples who had unprotected oral sex an estimated 19,000 times during a 10-year period. One partner -- male or female -- in each couple was HIV-positive, but no one became infected, according to the journal AIDS. </div> <div> "I'm not going to say people can't get HIV from oral sex, but it's a low-risk activity," said a California researcher. </div> <div> * Ten percent of young gay men in the United States may be infected with HIV, and nearly 80 percent of them have no idea they're sick, according to a study released at the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain, in July. Blacks and Latinos were at the highest risk of being oblivious, but whites weren't far behind. </div> <div> * Scientists continue to test HIV vaccines, and they expect results of the most advanced study sometime this year. More tests are expected in countries across the world. But researchers at the U.S. Conference on AIDS in September said they fear that gay men, blacks and IV drug users in the United States will be resistant to vaccine tests because many distrust the government. "There are social and political challenges," a federal official said. </div> <div> * More HIV patients are developing resistance to AIDS drugs, requiring doctors to tinker with their "cocktails" to keep them alive, according to a July report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers found that 27 percent of HIV patients were resistant to at least one drug, but the rise of a "superbug" -- immune to all three main types of AIDS medications -- appears to still be on the horizon. </div> <div> * While some AIDS patients and activists scoff at the idea, doctors have warned for years that HIV patients could "reinfect" themselves if they had unprotected sex (or "barebacked") with another HIV-positive person. Apparently, reinfection can indeed happen: researchers have reported three cases of men who came down with second strains of HIV. </div> <div> "The bottom line is that even consenting partners who are both infected should practice safe sex," said a Harvard Medical School doctor in a letter to the journal Nature in November. </div> <div> * Two out of three HIV patients are turning to some form of alternative medicine, according to research released at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in August. </div> <div> Half of those surveyed said they were taking alternative multivitamins, 24 percent used Chinese herbs or botanicals, 17 percent used mineral supplements and 7 percent took garlic. Experts warned patients to be up front with their doctors about what they're taking. </div> <div> * In September, transgender people made their first appearance ever in front of the microphones at a national HIV conference. Before an attentive audience, activists called for more attention to the HIV risks facing the transgender community. </div> <div> "There are no funds to target transgenders, there's no data, there's no tracking," one activist said. "We don't know how big or small the numbers are. It's a population that doesn't exist." </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>