HIV Vaccine Trial Canceled Over Possible Volunteer Risk
The sponsors of a planned human trial for an AIDS vaccine canceled the project Thursday, saying they doubted the vaccine's effectiveness and noted that the trial could actually put volunteers at risk of acquiring HIV, The New York Times reported.
The trial, called PAVE (Partnership for AIDS Vaccine Evaluation), was to be conducted by a consortium of U.S. agencies and private organizations. It was to have begun enlisting 8,500 volunteers last October to evaluate a vaccine developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The trial was shelved, however, after a similar vaccine developed by Merck & Co. failed to prevent the infection and lower blood levels of HIV among people who had already acquired the AIDS-causing virus, the newspaper said.
Data from the Merck vaccine trial also suggested that the shot might have increased some users' risk of acquiring an HIV infection.
Attempts to create an effective HIV/AIDS vaccine have been in the making for more than 25 years, and developing one still appears years away, scientists told the Times.
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Bullies at Greater Health Risk Than Victims: Study
Bullies are more likely than their victims to become substance abusers and develop accidental or self-injuries that require hospitalization, say researchers at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
People who bully also are more likely than their victims to hurt other people or animals, use weapons, avoid school, and get poor grades, the study found.
"We see that the [obvious] victims are not the only victims," lead author Jorge Srabstein said in a statement cited by United Press International. "The bullies are also victims of their own emotional problems."
The research was published in the International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health.
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Kidney Donation Through the Navel Speeds Recovery
A novel procedure for people who donate a kidney involves removing the organ through the belly button, the Associated Press reports.
The operation requires a single incision that's smaller than an inch -- instead of as many as six "keyhole" incisions for more traditional surgery -- and it makes for a faster recovery, say doctors at the Cleveland Clinic. They have performed the procedure 10 times and have scheduled the 11th for Thursday. A report on the clinic's first four patients appears in the August issue of the Journal of Urology.
Preliminary data from the first nine patients showed they recovered in about a month, versus about three months for donors who had a typical laparoscopic procedure, the wire service said.
And people who had the new procedure were on pain medication for an average of about four days, compared with 26 days for laparoscopic patients.
The belly button procedure isn't recommended for people who have had major abdominal surgery, or for the obese, a Cleveland Clinic surgeon who has been involved in the operations told the AP.
The list of people awaiting kidney transplants in the United States exceeds 80,000. But only about 13,300 donors were available last year, the wire service said.
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Senate Bill Would Relax U.S. Ban on Visitors With HIV
An amendment to a global AIDS bill working its way through the U.S. Senate would ease a two-decade-old ban on people with HIV/AIDS entering the country, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) have attached the repeal to a measure that combats AIDS and other diseases in impoverished areas including Africa.
The United States is among about a dozen nations that don't allow entry by visitors and immigrants with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Others include Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Russia, the AP said.
"There is no excuse for a law that stigmatizes a particular disease," Kerry was quoted as saying Tuesday at a policy speech. China is among nations that recently relaxed its entry policy for people with HIV/AIDS, he said.
In attempting to relax the ban that has been in place since 1987, the Kerry-Smith proposal would equate HIV with other infectious diseases. As such, federal health officials would decide who is eligible to visit the United States, not consular officials at embassies and other diplomatic posts, the AP said.
Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton sought to change the policy, but Congress balked. Current opposition includes Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who says ending the ban could cost the government more than $80 million over the next decade, the wire service reported. Sessions is contemplating his own measure to remove the Kerry-Smith proviso from the rest of the AIDS bill.
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E. coli Outbreak in Beef May Have Widened to 5 States
An outbreak of E. coli-tainted beef in Ohio and Michigan has produced additional cases in the states of New York, Kentucky, and Indiana, the Associated Press reported.
The outbreak has been traced to a meat supplier of the Kroger supermarket chain and other retailers in Ohio and Michigan. The supplier, Nebraska Beef Ltd., has recalled 5.3 million pounds of beef. Kroger also has recalled ground beef sold in both states.
The three new states each have a single confirmed case of the bacterial infection that matches 41 others confirmed in Ohio and Michigan, the wire service said, citing information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While the stricken person in Kentucky lives near Ohio, the other two recent victims did not travel to either Midwestern state where the outbreak originated, a CDC spokesman told the AP.
The outbreak emerged between May 30 and June 24. While 21 of those stricken have been hospitalized, none has died, the CDC said.
Infection with this strain, E. coli O157:H7, can cause bloody diarrhea and dehydration, and in severe cases, kidney failure. Children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems are at greater risk of serious infection.
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