In The News

Progress on Global Access to HIV Antiretroviral Therapy

July 1, 2005
The number of people receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS is increasing in every region of the world, tripling in the last 12 months in both sub-Saharan Africa and Asia – the two areas most affected by the disease. According to this newly released report by the WHO and UNAIDS, however, it is unlikely that the "3 by 5" goal of treating three million HIV-...

A Report from the Ground Zero of China’s AIDS Crisis

Pierre Haski June 30, 2005
The international community has praised the Chinese government for its recent change of heart toward the AIDS crisis. Whereas central authorities considered the epidemic a foreign issue just five years ago, Chinese leaders today acknowledge the severity of the problem and are participating in international programs aimed at the prevention and treatment of the disease. Journalist Pierre Haski...

Social Network's Healing Power Is Borne Out in Poorer Nations

Shankar Vedantam June 28, 2005
A three-decade-long study by the World Health Organization has shown that patients diagnosed with the mental illness schizophrenia consistently tend to recover better in poorer nations than in developed nations. Researchers attribute these surprising results to the cultural differences in treatment. Seen by most Western psychiatrists as an organic, incurable brain disease, schizophrenia is...

Genetic Analyses Suggest Bird Flu Virus is Evolving

Dennis Normile June 2, 2005
Genetic analyses of samples from avian influenza patients may suggest that new strains of the virus are developing in northern Vietnam. The samples, analyzed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were compared with samples taken earlier this year, and scientists found several differences. What do the changes mean? Without further testing, scientists are unsure. A worrisome...

Bird Flu Spreads Among Java's Pigs

David Cyranoski May 27, 2005
International health experts have kept a wary eye on the avian influenza virus, identified as H5N1. Though transmission to humans has not been widespread, scientists in Indonesia have made an unsettling discovery. Earlier this year, a virologist found the H5N1 strain – though without symptoms of the disease – in pigs in western Java. Why the concern? According to the journal Nature, "...

More Creative Thinking Needed On Drug R&D

Priya Shetty May 4, 2005
Countries worldwide are investing more and more in research and development on diseases and drugs to fight them. But few of these projects are aimed at illnesses afflicting the world's poorest regions – illnesses which account for widespread death and devastation. A major reason for this neglect is the patent system, which prioritizes duplication over innovation; new global intellectual...

Preparing for a New Global Threat – Part II

Thomas Abraham January 28, 2005
Almost as quickly as scientists upgrade vaccinations, communicable viruses are adapting – by genetic mutation – to break through vaccine barriers and transmit faster. Thomas Abraham warns against a "biological tsunami" that is "brewing deep within the microbial world": avian influenza virus, or H5N1. Bird-to-human transmission was once believed impossible, but recently...