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Reasons For Hope (RFH)

is Search For A Cure's national HIV treatment news series.

RFH covers the latest in developing therapies for treating HIV/AIDS.

RFH is published in over 90 community newspapers and found on many websites for people infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. We encourage your comments and critiques. Email hope@sfac.org Feel free to copy and distribute any and all RFH articles.

Helpful Links

• March 24 conference
• SFAC tri-fold brochure
• HIV legal issues
• www.thebody.com
• thebody.com Espanol
• thebody.com Children
• www.natap.org
• AIDS medications
• Medscape Drug Info
• CDC Stats
• CDC HIV Update
• www.unaids.org/
• www.clinicaltrials.gov
• http://aidsmap.com/
• Opportunities with AIDS/HIV

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Why We Should All be in a Clinical Trial

It is hard to get people to join a study of new medicines nowadays. This is mostly because people think the therapies we have are good enough. It's not true. HIV medicines fail some people. And they are too expensive for most of the world to use.

The medicines we have are not a cure, are a lifelong financial burden and have lots of side effects. The only way to see if new therapies work is to test them on people with HIV. The only way to see if a vaccine will work is to test it on people without HIV. If we want the day to come that HIV is a thing of the past the most important thing we can all do is find a study that needs us and join it.

An End to AIDS: Yes We Can

By David Scondras

March 2008

All of us hope that there will be an AIDS vaccine someday. Most scientists believe that this will take a great deal of time.

But we can end AIDS now with what we already know.

It will be much more difficult without having a vaccine that protects from HIV, but it can be done. By all of us working together.

Ending any epidemic means getting the rate of infection lower than one newly infected person infected by a person already infected. As soon as the average rate of infection falls below one new infection for each person already infected, the epidemic will eventually burn out.With this idea in mind, there are five practical steps we could take to ending the epidemic.

Cure for HIV?

June 2007:

Once again we are hearing about efforts to eradicate HIV, at least in some people. These efforts are being made, not by marginal actors, but by the country's top doctors. On May 24th the Bloomberg report (Bloomberg.com) headlined the issue this way:

'Top U.S. Scientist to Use New AIDS Drugs Seeking Cure'
(the scientist referred to is Anthony Fauci, longtime director of many HIV research efforts at the National Institutes of Health).

A summary of scientists' efforts exploring the possibility of eradication can be found here:

The latest news on the new therapies for Hepatitus C in development from NATAP. The NATAP website, a source of good scientific info on drugs is http://natap.org, NATAP stands for the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Program. A little information from the NATAP site:

"Nationally, NATAP works with Federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the National Istitute of Health and advocates on policy and treatment issues. Jules Levin, our Executive Director, is a community representative to the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and the HIV Disease Research Agenda Committee (RAC) of the ACTG, where the Federal government conducts its HIV research."

S.C. sitting on HIV/AIDS 'bomb'

HERE'S ANOTHER instance where South Carolina is first where it would rather be last: More than 80 percent of HIV/AIDS patients on waiting lists for life-saving medications in the United States and its territories live in South Carolina. And many on the Palmetto State's waiting list could stay there until they die ? unless legislators exercise leadership and compassion and approve enough money to serve them all.

The S.C. House has placed $3 million in one-time money in its proposed budget to fund the state's AIDS drug assistance program. But health officials and HIV/AIDS advocates say $8 million is needed. (The state already allocates $500,000 annually to the cause.) Here's hoping the Senate better understands the need and proposes ongoing funding that ends the waiting list for good.

South Carolina is one of only two states in the continental United States ? Montana is the other ? with a waiting list. Alaska and Puerto Rico also have lists. On March 1, there were 571 people on the four waiting lists, according to statehealthfacts.org, the Kaiser Family Foundation Website. Of that number, 463 were South Carolinians. Montana had 20 on its list, while Alaska had 13 and Peurto Rico 75.  continued...

The 2nd Annual New England Conference on HIV Treatment & Prevention
Agenda for March 24

Held March 24th, 2007 -- For more information call 617-945-5350

Slide shows from the presenters: (videos in QuickTime MOV format)
1. "Trends in HIV/AIDS Prevalence in Massachusetts"
   -- Dr. Al DeMaria, Assistant Commissioner of Public Health, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Epidemiologist
   Read online (HTML)   -   PowerPoint   -   Video 1.1   -   1.2   -   1.3   -   1.4   -   1.5   -   1.6

2. "HIV and HCV Coinfection"
   -- Dr. Camilla Graham, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
   Read online (HTML)   -   PowerPoint   -   Video 3.1   -   3.2   -   3.3   -   3.4   -   3.5   -   3.6

3. "Diagnosing acute HIV infection"
   -- Dr. Eric Rosenberg, Harvard Medical School, and Associate Director of Massachusetts General Hospital clinical microbiology lab.
   Read online (HTML)   -   PowerPoint   -   Video 4.1   -   4.2   -   4.3   -   4.4   -   4.5   -   4.6

4. "HIV Vaccines"
   -- Dr. Jeff Kennedy, U.Mass-Worcester School of Medicine
   Read online (HTML)   -   PowerPoint   -   Video 5.1   -   5.2   -   5.3   -   5.4

5. "Use of Anti-retrovirals to protect high-risk HIV-negatives"
   -- Dr. Ken Mayer, Brown University AIDS program, and Chief of Infectious Disease Division of the Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island.
   Read online (HTML)   -   PowerPoint   -   Video 2.1   -   2.2   -   2.3

6. "Women and HIV Treatment"
   -- Dr. Sigal Yawetz, Director of Women in HIV, Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham & Women's Hospital
   Read online (HTML)   -   PowerPoint   -   Video 2.4   -   2.5   -   2.6

XVI International AIDS Conference: An Interview With David Scondras

This is Bonnie Goldman. I'm here with David Scondras, a former Boston councilman who has been an AIDS activist for more than 20 years. He is the president of Search for a Cure, a treatment advocacy organization in Boston. David, I know you have gone to many conferences, can you tell me what were the highlights of this conference for you?  listen to the podcast

Ending the Epidemic

It is time to end the AIDS epidemic in the United States. It is a realistic goal. Some facts from official sources:

In San Francisco, one out of every four gay men is infected with HIV. The gay population of San Francisco has gone up by 25% during the past ten years. The total number of people with HIV has also gone up as people live longer using antiviral drugs that stave off disease progression. continued...

Chemical Condoms

The search for a way to stop the epidemic continues on many fronts including vaccines, microbicides, and chemical prophylaxis. There has been progress in each of these areas. But it is slow. By all estimates, vaccines are many years away. If the vaccines with the most promise which are in testing right now turn out to be effective it would still be 5-10 years before they would be available to the public--and that is if everything goes well. continued...

Malawi Movie

a short movie made by Emerson University students in conjunction with David Scondras on the epidemic in Malawi Africa. Click here for the quicktime version.

As Search for a Cure grows and matures as an organization we are committed to providing up to date online content. Search for a Cure has worked over the last couple months to bring you a newly updated website. In addition to all our old content we have added new media options, including photos, movies, and slideshows. Though we have worked hard to insure full browser support, we understand there are still issues. Please enjoy the new site and contact us with problems or suggestions.

Thank you,

Steven McGaughey (webdesigner)

Jesse Gordon (communications manager)

copyright SFAC 2007