Homophobic Blood Donation Ban Contributes to Shortage

Last year, I went to participate in a local blood drive. It was routine enough. The nurse checked my heart rate, weighed me, and then asked me a few questions. "In the last twelve months," she droned, "Have you had sex with an intravenous drug user?" No. "A person who has been exposed to HIV?" No. "A prostitute?" Of course not. "A man who has had sex with men?" I paused. My fiance is, like me, bisexual. Knowing that we were both perfectly healthy, I considered lying, but ultimately decided to be honest. "Yes," I told her, and was immediately brushed away and told that I couldn't donate.

Since the 1980s, people like me and my partner -- healthy adults with no blood-transmissible illnesses -- have been prohibited by the FDA from donating blood. The homophobic, outdated ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, as well as their female partners, is costing people their lives. The Red Cross is currently experiencing a significant shortage of blood donations, with donations dropping a full 10 percent in June, according to CNN. Their strict criteria designed to prevent the spread of HIV is likely contributing to the problem. The FDA forces organizations to refuse healthy donors because of these outdated fears and homophobic judgment.

A comprehensive report in 2010 examined the patterns of blood donation and eligibility among gay and bisexual men, demonstrating how essential it is for the FDA to lift this ban. The authors of the study estimated that some 2,603,004 healthy men would be eligible to donate blood in any given year if the ban were lifted, and nearly half of them would actually donate. This estimate accounts only for men who have sex with men. If the ban for their female partners were to also be lifted, it would open the door for many more life-saving donations from people like myself.

The blood donation ban for these men and their partners is based in bigotry, not science. Citing strong evidence of overall safety, the American Red Cross regards the ban as "medically and scientifically unwarranted." Since the 1980s, donated blood has been thoroughly tested for any trace of HIV or other transmissible diseases. Infection through donated blood is so rare in the United States that the staff at Harvard Medical School calls the risk "close to zero." Even if a person with advanced HIV were to donate blood repeatedly, it would be eliminated from the donation pool each time through rigorous testing.

The blood donation ban is grossly unfair in its stereotype of men who have sex with men. While gay and bisexual men do have slightly higher than average rates of HIV infection, many are diligent about practicing safe sex and routinely seek testing to confirm that they are free of the virus. Many others, including my own fiance, are involved in committed, monogamous relationships with partners -- male or female -- who have been confirmed to be virus-free. It is grossly unfair to lump all of these men and their partners into one "high risk" category, ignoring the factors that vary between individuals. It is also blatantly ignorant to exclude men who may have been with the same healthy partner for twenty years, while accepting men who might have had dozens of unprotected female partners in just a few short months. Unsafe sex is not limited to the GLBT community.

The Red Cross's recent shortage of donated blood has the capacity to cost people their lives. Unless the shortage is addressed promptly through an influx of new donations, people in desperate need of blood transfusions might die. Given this -- and the organization's own support of an overturn of the ban on gay male blood donations -- it's appalling to think that eligible, healthy donors are being turned away. I am a responsible adult with a desire to save the life of someone in need, and my donation is needed now more than ever. My orientation, and the orientation of the person I love, should not block me from being able to help another individual.

Juniper Russo is a freelance writer, health advocate, and dedicated mom living in Chattanooga, Tenn.

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Teens' Lifestyle Choices Affect Their Blood Pressure

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Bavarian says U.S. expands group eligible for Imvamune

Reuters – 22 hrs ago COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish biopharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic said on Wednesday the U.S. government had expanded the population eligible to receive its attenuated smallpox vaccine, Imvamune, during an emergency.

The company said on Wednesday that in the event of a public health emergency involving smallpox, the government may now authorize the use of Imvamune to protect individuals of all ages with HIV infection or atopic dermatitis (AD), a type of eczema.

Children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers with HIV or AD are eligible to receive Imvamune, despite limited clinical data in these specific populations, the company said.

Previously, only certain people with HIV were eligible.

(Reporting by Mette Fraende; Editing by Dan Lalor)

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GSK's HIV drug beats Gilead market leader in study

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Pills to prevent HIV raise many questions: studies

"A pharmacist shows anti-retroviral drugs in 2006 at the Mildmay Centre in Seguku, near Kampala, Uganda. Various trials examining the use of anti-retroviral drugs in healthy heterosexuals as a way to prevent HIV have shown drastically different results, research showed Wednesday. (AFP Photo/Stuart Price)" title

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Studies Show Value of AIDS Drugs as Prevention

HealthDay – 1 hr 3 mins ago WEDNESDAY, July 11 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have released the final results of two studies that suggest AIDS drugs can prevent exposed people in Africa from getting infected with HIV by their sexual partners. However, another study indicates that it's a tough job to convince African women who aren't at the highest risk to take preventive medications.

In the big picture, the studies show that "we have a new HIV-prevention strategy, one that's quite powerful but also depends on adherence," said Dr. Jared Baeten, an associate professor of global health at the University of Washington, in Seattle. "The next step is figuring out how to motivate people to take it."

The studies appeared online July 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The general findings of the studies have been previously released, but only now has the research become available in a medical journal after going through a peer-review process.

Two studies offer promising details about the potential for the drugs to prevent -- although not all the time -- the transmission of HIV to heterosexual men and women from their infected partners.

One study in Kenya and Uganda looked at heterosexual couples -- almost all married -- in which one person was infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The uninfected partners were randomly assigned to take an inactive placebo or a once-daily dose of the drug tenofovir (Viread) or a tenofovir-emtricitabine combination (Truvada) for up to three years. Nearly 5,000 people completed the study.

Those who took Truvada had a 75 percent lower risk of becoming infected with HIV compared to those who received a placebo. The risk was 67 percent lower in those who took Viread compared to a placebo. Even in those who got the placebo, the overall risk of getting infected was low: 52 of 1,468, or a little more than 3 percent, did so.

Truvada treatment in the United States costs several thousand dollars a year, Baeten said, but the discounted price can be as cheap as 25 cents a day in Africa. The drug, which stops the AIDS virus from reproducing in people who are infected, appears to do the same thing in uninfected people who are exposed to the virus, he said. In their cases, the virus doesn't already have a foothold in the body so it dies off.

In this study, 10 percent or less of those who took the drugs reported side effects such as fatigue, diarrhea and nausea, and only in the first month.

The second study of 1,219 HIV-negative adults in Botswana looked at Truvada versus a placebo. Comparing the 33 participants who became infected during the trial -- nine people in the drug group and 24 people on a placebo -- the study found those who took Truvada were 62 percent less likely to become infected with HIV.

In this study, significant loss of bone mineral density was a side effect for participants receiving the drug, compared to those on a placebo.

Another study, in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania, assigned 2,120 women at higher risk of HIV infection to receive Truvada or a placebo. However, there wasn't much difference in HIV infection rates between the two groups -- about 5 percent in both became infected.

Baeten explained the finding, saying many women stopped taking the drug, which prevented an accurate assessment of its effectiveness.

The next step in research into the use of the drugs to prevent infection is to "figure out how to make them work in the real world, outside of an intensive research setting," Baeten said. In the United States, for example, researchers are studying their use in gay men who are at high risk for infection.

As for condoms, another major player in HIV prevention, Baeten said the prevention drugs will add to their level of security or provide some protection in cases where people can't use condoms.

In an editorial accompanying the studies, two experts stressed that medications should never be viewed as a substitute for the condom.

"Although no evidence of increased risky sexual behavior or decreased condom usage was reported in these studies, we must ensure that pre-exposure prophylaxis does not indirectly encourage such behavior," wrote Dr. Myron Cohen of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Dr. Lindsey Baden of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.

They added that more research is needed to properly assess who stands to benefit most from these drug regimens, the best timing and dosage, as well as any potential side effects from long-term use.

More information

For more about AIDS, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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HIV Drug May Prevent Bone Marrow Transplant Complication

HealthDay – 1 hr 3 mins ago WEDNESDAY, July 11 (HealthDay News) -- An HIV drug significantly reduced the risk of graft-versus-host disease, an all-too-common complication in blood cancer patients following bone marrow transplants, new research finds.

Bone marrow is the spongy tissue inside the bones that contains immature cells, or stem cells. In an "allogeneic" bone marrow transplantation, also called a stem cell transplant, a patient's own stem cells and immune system are wiped out by chemotherapy and radiation. Then, the patient receives the transplant, or bone marrow, from a closely matched donor.

The treatment is used for several types of blood cancers, including lymphoma and leukemia.

But a common complication of a bone marrow transplant is graft-versus-host disease. It occurs when transplanted immune cells attack patients' healthy tissue, a complication that can be minor or life-threatening.

"Graft-versus-host disease affecting the skin, liver, gut and other organs is a dreaded complication of allogeneic stem cell transplantation either from a related or unrelated donor," said one expert, Dr. Jasmine Zain of NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. "The rates are 35 percent with related donors and up to 57 percent by day 100, even in reduced-intensity transplants," added Zain, who is director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program and assistant professor in the division of hematologic malignancies and medical oncology at the center.

The study was conducted by a team at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine and included 38 patients with several types of blood cancers. The cancers included acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, lymphoma and myelofibrosis. All of the patients were given the drugs tacrolimus and methotrexate, which suppress the immune system and are a standard treatment to prevent graft-versus-host disease.

The patients were also given a 33-day course of the HIV drug, maraviroc, beginning two days before their transplant.

None of the patients treated with maraviroc developed graft-versus-host disease in the gut or liver within the first 100 days after their transplant. The liver and gut are the most serious locations for the complication, the researchers noted.

After six months, 6 percent of these transplant patients developed severe graft-versus-host disease compared to 22 percent of a group of similar patients who weren't treated with the HIV drug.

In addition, fewer in the group given the HIV drug developed graft-versus-host disease in their liver or gut compared to those given the standard treatment.

One year following transplant, about 15 percent of patients given the HIV drug developed severe graft-versus-host disease compared to 29 percent of patients who received standard therapy.

The study was published in the July 11 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers explained that the HIV drug redirects these immune cells without having to suppress patients' immune systems. Because their immune systems aren't compromised by the drug, patients should be less vulnerable to infections and to a relapse of their cancer.

"It appears that our new approach allows us to prevent some patients from developing

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U.S. cracks down on "world's largest" medical marijuana dispensary

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'Toe-besity': Rise in Surgery for Fat Toes

E.R. recently went in for surgery to reshape his big toe. (Courtesy Dr. Oliver Zong)

When patients seek out cosmetic surgery from New York-based Dr. Oliver Zong, they're often looking to remove fat, but not from their bellies or thighs.

Zong is a podiatrist, and one of his specialties is slimming down people's fat toes -- "toe-besity," he calls it.

He's been in practice for about a decade, and when he started, toe reshaping was unheard of.

"When people first started asking, I said 'What?'" said Zong, who is surgical director at NYC FootCare. "We were mostly doing toe shortenings in the begining."

Now, he said, more and more people are zoning in on the smaller details of their feet, like the width of their toes.

For many patients, an odd-looking toe is a source of great embarrassment.

E.R., a patient of Zong's, said he hid his fat right big toe for years.

"I always had issues with it," said E.R., who asked to remain anonymous. "It was one of those things that you're just not comfortable with and try to hide it."

On top of being unattractive, the toe also caused discomfort.

"The bone was pushing the nail up, and the nail curved up a little bit, so it was hitting the shoe," he said.

Three weeks ago, the 37-year-old New Yorker had surgery to shave off some fat and bone. His second toe was also a hammertoe, so Zong shaved down the bone of that toe as well.

There's still a lot of swelling, but E.R. said he already feels better about his foot.

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Watch: Rare Form Of Alzheimer's Sheds Light On Disease

Naked Woman Walks California FreewayMore Popular VideoSuperbug Tied to 8 Million At-Risk WomenStrange Sex: Erotic Breast MilkGator Attack Victim: 'I'm Glad It Chose Me'Obama Needles Boston Supporters Over Red Sox...Facebook Page for Accused Killer Porn Actor...In The NewsU.S.PoliticsEntertainmentWeird and WackyRare Form Of Alzheimer's Sheds Light On DiseaseDr. Steven Arnold says we can learn a lot from genetic Alzheimer's.01:27

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Moderate Drinking May Cut Women's Odds for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Study

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Health Highlights: July 11, 2012

HealthDay – 1 hr 2 mins ago Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Billions Pledged for Family Planning in Developing Countries

Pledges made at an international summit Wednesday will direct more than $2.6 billion toward family planning in developing nations.

The goal of the summit in London was to secure new funding promises to provide an additional 120 million women and girls worldwide with access to birth control by 2020, Agence France-Presse reported.

The money was pledged by rich nations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The summit included more than 150 representatives from donor and developing countries, international agencies and the private sector.

"Enabling an additional 120 million women in the world's poorest countries to access and use contraception, something women in the developed world take for granted, will save millions of lives and enable girls and women to determine their own futures," said British International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, AFP reported.

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Climate Change Boosts Risk of Weather Extremes: Study

Human-created climate change makes major heat waves and other weather extremes around the world more likely, according to a new study.

For example, climate change made the severe heat wave that struck Texas last year 20 times as likely to happen as it would have been in the 1960s and made the extremely warm temperatures in Britain last November 62 times as likely, The New York Times reported.

For this study, researchers analyzed six weather events from 2011. The findings are to be published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

The research represents an increased effort by scientists to respond to public demand for information about what is happening to the world's climate, according to The Times.

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Republicans Continue Attack on Health Reform Law

They have no chance of succeeding, but House Republicans voted Wednesday to repeal the U.S. health care reform law.

It's the latest of more than 30 House Republican efforts to scrap the 2010 Affordable Care Act. But any House attempt to repeal the law is certain to be blocked in the Democrat-led Senate, and the White House told House leaders that President Barack Obama would veto such a measure, CNN reported.

Democrats say the issue was settled when the U.S. Supreme Court last month upheld the law's constitutionality, and that the House repeal vote is a waste of time and tax dollars. Republicans say the repeal vote is part of their effort to turn voters against the law and to defeat Obama in the November presidential election.

On Monday, the White House said repeal of the health care reform law "would cost millions of hard-working middle-class families the security of affordable health coverage and care they deserve," CNN reported.

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Deadly Illness in Cambodia Caused by Mix of Pathogens

A combination of pathogens caused the mysterious illness that killed more than 60 children in Cambodia over the past four months.

That's the conclusion to be announced by the World Health Organization and the Cambodian Ministry of Health, doctors familiar with the investigation told CNN on Wednesday.

The pathogens responsible for the outbreak include enterovirus 71, streptococcus suis and dengue, according to the doctors. They also said that inappropriate use of steroids, which can suppress the immune system, worsened the illness in many of the patients.

No new cases of the illness have been confirmed since last Saturday, Dr. Beat Richner, head of Kantha Bopha Children's Hospitals in Phnom Penh, told CNN.

The illness kills children so fast that nearly all of those infected with it die within a day or two of being admitted to hospital. Of the 66 patients cared for at Kantha Bopha, 64 died, CNN reported.

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Bird Flu Outbreak Hits Mexican Poultry Farms

More than 2.5 million birds have been killed at poultry farms in western Mexico over the past three weeks in an effort to contain an outbreak of the H7N3 bird flu virus, according to the agriculture ministry.

The United Nations says the virus has occasionally caused human disease in some parts of the world but is not easily transmissible between people, Agence France-Presse reported.

The virus has been confirmed at 31 of 148 poultry farms visited by officials, while tests at 34 farms have been negative and the results for the rest of the farms were not yet available.

The outbreak was first detected on June 20 in Jalisco state and a national animal health emergency was declared by the Mexican government on July 2. Officials say they have developed a vaccine and that four laboratories will produce more than 80 million doses initially, AFP reported.

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