Consumers may soon be able to test themselves for HIV and quickly learn the results in the privacy of their own homes following a unanimous approval recommendation from a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee on Tuesday.

The panel said the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test should be made available over-the-counter (OTC) saying the test is safe and effective and that the benefits far outweigh the potential risks.

If approved by the FDA, the test will be the first OTC test to be marketed for HIV or any infectious disease.  FDA advisory committee recommendations are not binding, but they are generally followed.

An estimated 1.2 million Americans are living with HIV, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.  One in five of those are unaware of their HIV status.  And about 50,000 new cases of HIV are reported each year.

OraSure Technologies, Inc., the manufacturer of this new test, also makes the already approved OraQuick ADVANCE Rapid HIV-1/2 Antibody Test.

That test can only be used in a clinical setting and results are provided in 20 minutes.  The In-home test is a modified version where the individual swabs the upper and lower gums with a test pad device.  That device is then inserted into a vial of solution. Much like a pregnancy test, one line shows up if the test is negative, two lines means it's  positive.

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A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week reveals clues for understanding the human immune response to the HIV virus.

“This analysis has produced some intriguing hints about what types of human immune responses a preventive HIV vaccine may need to induce,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“With further exploration, this new knowledge may bring us a step closer to developing a broadly protective HIV vaccine.”

The findings created a buzz when they were originally presented at the annual AIDS Vaccine conference in Bangkok, Thailand in September 2011.

They don't call it "The Big C" for nothing. People don't even like to say the word out loud.

The good news, we're told, is that there are many things we can do – or not do – in our adult lives to lower our risk of developing different types of cancer. Want to avoid lung cancer? Don't smoke. Want to lower your risk of skin cancer? Stay out of the sun, or utilize a proper sunscreen.

But a new study published Monday in Cancer suggests that at least one decision our parents make FOR us may have an impact on our predisposition to certain types of cancer.

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New research published Thursday by the British Medical Journal shows that 80% of 50 to 90 years olds are sexually active.  And with that, cases of sexually transmitted diseases have more than doubled in this age group over the past 10 years.

“You never have to retire from sex,” says clinical psychologist Judy Kuriansky. “But you should always behave as the 20-30 year-olds do. You need to be cautious about it.”

Numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that incidences of syphilis and chlamydia in adults aged 45 to 64 have nearly tripled over the past decade. Cases of Gonorrhea are up as well.

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The road to a vaccine to protect against HIV and AIDS has run into a lot of dead ends, but a new study in monkeys suggests a new path may have been found.  Researchers say two new experimental vaccines partially protected monkeys from an HIV like infection, reducing the likelihood of contracting the disease by 80% to 83%, compared to the placebo.  

Both studies, published online Wednesday in the journal Nature, tested several Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) vaccine regimens on 40 rhesus monkeys each.  Researchers found the vaccines provided some protection to monkeys that were exposed to an extremely virulent, hard to neutralize strain of SIV. Not only did the vaccines reduce the chance of infection, but for monkeys that became infected, it substantially reduced the amount of virus in their blood.

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Every year World AIDS Day is held on December 1 as an opportunity for countries and organizations around the globe to come together in their fight against the infectious disease. The Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS estimates that 30.8 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in 2009.

In the United States, many people struggle with prevention, education and treatment. These iReporters shared their personal connection to HIV/AIDS with CNN.com.

Ben, 21, of Minneapolis, Minnesota

Ben contracted AIDS from his partner of a year who hadn't told Ben that he had the disease. “I was shocked, a little scared,” he said. “[But] I had already done a lot of research so I knew what it was about.” He has been volunteering with HIV/AIDS awareness organizations for two years and is currently in a supportive relationship.
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Three out of four people with HIV in the United States do not have their infection under control, even though anti-HIV drugs have been available for more than 15 years, according to a study released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“That’s a very poor rate. We have to do much better than that,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Keeping HIV under control is crucial not only for the 1.2 million people in the United States who carry the infection, but also for their sexual partners. Suppressing the virus decreases the chances it will be transmitted to a sexual partner by more than 95%, Fauci said.
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Dr. Vincent Marconi travels to Durban, South Africa, every summer with his family to work with hundreds of HIV and AIDS patients. Despite global support for research and high-profile activists, AIDS continues to batter many developing countries. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS estimates that there are 5.6 million people in South Africa alone living with the deadly disease.

Still, after every trip to Africa, Marconi returns home to Atlanta, Georgia, to continue his work at the Ponce De Leon Center, one of the largest HIV/AIDS facilities in the United States. The center's staff provides medical services to approximately 5,000 men, women, adolescents and children.

Here in the southeast U.S., he says, HIV/AIDS is very much a neglected problem.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that all teens 16 to 18 years old receive regular, routine HIV tests if they live in an area where the prevalence of HIV is greater than 0.1% of the population.

The AAP also advises that adolescents of any age who are tested for other sexually transmitted infections also be tested for HIV.

Previous guidelines recommended HIV testing only for teens who admitted to being sexually active. The new recommendations were outlined in a position paper released Monday that also advocates that the routine screening be done using a rapid response test that gives a diagnosis about 20 minutes after the test is conducted.
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Women in Africa who used injectable contraceptives doubled their risk of  becoming HIV-infected and passing the virus on to their male partners, according to a new study published Monday.

"Among couples in which there was an HIV positive man and an HIV negative woman, if she was using hormonal contraceptive, her risk of getting HIV was doubled," said study author Jared Baeten of the University of Washington in Seattle. "Similarly, in couples where there was an HIV infected woman and an HIV negative man, if the woman was using hormonal contraceptives her chances of passing the virus to her partner were doubled."

Almost  3,800 couples with one HIV-infected partner from the African countries of Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe participated in the study. The majority were in their mid-30s and  they were followed for up to two years. FULL POST