Results tagged “hiv”

A clinical trial is taking place in San Francisco for HIV+ people who are exhibiting flu symptoms in which they can qualify for free in-home doctor visits. Quest Clinical Studies, Conant Medical Group and Adamas Pharmaceuticals are testing a triple combination antiviral drug (TCAD) therapy for influenza. If you or someone you know has HIV and is exhibiting 100-degree or higher fever in addition to fatigue and other symptoms, you should call 1-888-5-HIV-FLU to see if you qualify. In addition to receiving home treatment, study subjects will have all their treatment, including prescriptions and lab costs, covered, and will be compensated for time and travel.

Conducted by the Thailand Ministry of Public Health, a new vaccine study has shown "modest" benefits in preventing HIV. Said results show that we could have a "safe and effective" preventive vaccine at some point in the near future. According to CBS 5/AP, "The vaccine—a combination of two previously unsuccessful vaccines—cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by more than 31 percent in the world's largest AIDS vaccine trial of more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand, researchers announced Thursday in Bangkok."

The fine folks over at the Bay Area Reporter have word that local health officials will postpone "cutting AIDS contracts until mid-October in order to give the Board of Supervisors time to respond to a nearly $4 million cut in state funding." The nearly $60 million cuts to AIDS health care and HIV prevention services, which could prove disastrous, might even get restored. Somehow. While vacationing in Provincetown, San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty told the BAR, "'It should be a top priority, that is what those funds are for. I will start by asking for full restoration and see where we end up,'" going on to say, "'Neither myself, nor Supervisor David Campos, nor my other colleagues on the board will stand by and let agencies be decimated because of this state action.'" Read more about it here.

While we'll wait to ask you all to throwout your condoms, we did just come across this interesting story about an American man who, it seems, "appears to have been cured of [the wily HIV virus] 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia." It seems doctors in Germany are claiming this major win. But! American Dr. Andrew Badley, the director of the HIV and immunology research lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., claims that said tests have probably not been extensive enough. Still: This news is always good to hear. We're certain to hear more about this alleged curing in the next few days. (CBS 5)

                       

(By Joe Kukura)

        

Gay men and uppers go together like peanut butter and chocolate. It's just the way God wanted it. But that hasn't stopped Joel Schumacher's "I Lost Me to Meth" campaign from saturating San Francisco, even though meth use is down as of last year, before the campaign began.

And speaking of methamphetamines, this above always unleashes a big brouhaha in the bent community: to chastise or not to chastise zippy drug use. The most recent ad campaign--a four-month media blitz produced by the California Methamphetamine Initiative called "Me, Not Meth"--can been seen throughout the city, mainly in the Castro and SOMA arrondisments. And those ads you've seen on TV, featuring men sitting at their desks and talking into webcams? Part of the same ad and directed by Joel Schumacher. SF Aids Foundation has more info here.

For better or for worse, spring is in the air. And with that comes the many AIDS Lifecycle Fundraisers that will litter the city for the next few months or so. While AIDS charities aren't necessarily our bag -- they come off as a tad too insufferably A-gay for us or for anyone who makes less than a six-figure income -- this one will surely make the gays squeal for a while.

While not all of us are fortunate enough to zip around in swank Aston Martins, or have sleek Tesla waiting for us on the horizon, the "bus of the future" is the next best thing. Well, almost.

With over a dozen or so problems that the above graffiti could have critiqued about this poster advertising the Academy of Friends annual "gala" fundraiser for HIV/AIDS -- such as paying to attend an event to watch the Oscars; or the lack of originality with this year's title, "Shaken Not, Stirred" -- he or she takes the easy route here, pointing out the obvious homosexual nature of the event. Meh.

Your Black Muslim Bakery -- the prominent and notorious Oakland setting featured in many a Chauncey Bailey story -- will probably be sold today to Vital Life Services, a nondenominational "nonprofit serving people living with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses," founded in 1987. The high bidder NCK LLC, a limited liability corporation, plans on buying the space, then turning it over to VLS. (Aw.) The property was also sought after by several other interested...

So are we!

As mentioned in today's Chronicle, the idea of a safe-space in which intravenous drug users can shoot up -- without fear of arrests, beatings, rapes, or whatever happens in those movies after heroin's sweet release -- might become a reality. Or at least, discussed in length at this Thursday's all-day symposium hosted by the city Department of Public Health.

Last week's winner, the San Jose Metro: Gary Singh wants the San Jose flea market to move to City Hall. Folks moving from city to city to run for office -- hey, at least they actually move into the city they want to represent down in the South Bay. Ed Jew, take a note! Cover: yay the environment, reduce your carbon footprint by buying a Prius. There's a gymnastics meet on the Olympics circuit this weekend. Stick the landing! Judd Apatow continues to have problems writing good female characters. A local guy's short films are really good. They screen Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes in a movie theater in Campbell? The new Philip Glass symphony sounded really good in Santa Cruz. Central Vietnamese food in a new Vietnam Town Santana Row-ish setting, And mmmm, stone fruit.

Happy Anniversary, PAWS!

Gay marriage, GLBTQQGQQ$#@ discrimination, HIV issues, queers in the military, Donna McKechnie (we can only assume), health care, and more are what's on tap for tonight's presidential debate. Disgusting, we know. But 84% of eligible gays voted in the last election, so why not? (Who knew gays could even vote? Huh.)

What a day, what a day, what a day...

Actually, this is some good news:

Who needs a little culture after a weekend of mayhem? (We do, we do!) Here are a few things going on tonight that might pique your interest.

The Oakland Trib has an extremely depressing story about a pediatric AIDS study that's had its funding cut. The Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trial Group, a combined effort of UCSF and the Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland, had been getting $750,000 a year from the National Institutes of Health to study mother-to-child transmission of the virus and the effectiveness of drugs in pediatric care. No longer. The problem? They've done it too well.

. 2263 Mission (x 18th), 8 p.m., $5.

Hey, there's lots of stuff going on this weekend! And in exchange for telling you about it, we're going to ask again for a favor in return -- if you go to any of these events, would you mind terribly sending us your pictures of them, and we'll show them off on the site for you? Tag 'em SFist on Flickr, or mail them to editor-at-sfist.com!

In a horrific incident, an 3-year-old bouncing on a set of mattresses eight stories up fell to her death through a screen shielding an open window in the room. The 20-year-old babysitter, who was in charge of watching six or seven kids (including two of her own), had fallen asleep in another room. The babysitter was attacked by angry bystanders, and had to be rescued by authorities. The authorities have ruled the incident an accident, though an investigation is continuing.

If there's anything we love, it's saving the world through song and dance. That's why we're so jazzed about performing; the show bosts a veritable shmear of showbiz who's-whos (and a few who's-thats).

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 59.

A flat fee for BART? -- And speaking of BART, a new BART stop is about to be built, the first one since the SFO extension in 2003. It'll be called the West Dublin/Pleasanton stop and will be built between the ten minute gap in stops between Dublin/Pleasanton and Castro Valley

Over the weekend we were flipping through the TV and came upon the old classic sci-fi flick, The Andromeda Strain, that movie from the 70's about dangerous microbes causing death and destruction and the end of the world in ways only movies from the early 70's could. Good thing, we thought to ourselves, we didn't have to worry about it. So naturally, this morning, we checked out the Examiner's web site only to see that a court hearing has been set over the Bush administration wanting to put a biodefense lab at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. LOL!

You know everyone on the Muni board THINKS it, but we've really got to admire someone who actually comes out and says that they've got better stuff to worry about than busses and trains. Tom Nolan, Gavin's recent nominee for the board, has experience working for a sunshine ordinance committee, SamTrans, Caltrain, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission; most recently, he's worked for Project Open Hand, about which he says, and we quote, "Project Open Hand is my number one priority."

Here at SFist, we'll admit to a bias toward events where fabulousness and social conscience go hand in hand. That's why we're looking forward to Sunday night, when The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation is presenting Help is on the Way for the Holidays VII. Northern California’s largest annual Aids benefit concert, this night of performances from stage and screen stars will benefit the HIV/AIDS Program at Children’s Hospital Oakland, Project Inform, and Maitri.

Sigh -- one less oak in Oakland. Oakland's oldest coast live oak tree in Dimond Park was cut down on Sunday. The tree was diseased and had to be cut down before it fell and hurt someone. The tree will be left in the park to decompose, and pieces of the wood will be saved for woodcutters and artisans. The rest of the money that the Oakland city council had designated to save the tree will be used to save other trees in the area instead. A small fire behind the SF VA Hospital on Clement Street was put out on Monday, with no damage or injury to anything or anyone. Unfortunately, while fighting the fire, some of the firefighters got into a patch of poison oak. Itchy! And they've caught the man who robbed the Banana Republic in Union Square with a syringe that he claimed was filled with HIV-positive blood. He had tried the same trick at a Fortress Telecom the day before. (does Fortress Telecom also have expensive sweaters?)