By any measure, the costs associated with addiction and substance abuse in the United States are staggering. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the total costs of drug abuse and addiction due to the use of tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs are estimated at $524 billion a year. Illicit drug use alone accounts…
(CNN) — The case of the first toddler ever to be “functionally cured” of HIV could have wide-ranging effects on the global fight to end the AIDS epidemic. “If we can replicate this in other infants … this has huge implications for the burden of infection that’s occurring globally,” said Dr. Deborah Persaud, a pediatrician…
(CNN) — Science has come a long way since HIV was identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here are some of the most memorable moments in AIDS history. 1981 June 5, the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report publishes the first mention of what later is determined to be HIV. The report…
(CNN) — A 2-year-old Mississippi girl is the first child to be “functionally cured” of HIV, researchers announced Sunday. Researchers said they believe early intervention — in this case within 30 hours of birth — with three anti-viral drugs was key to the outcome. A “functional cure” is when the presence of the virus is…
WASHINGTON (CNN) — By Friday Hobby Lobby would have racked up $14.3 million dollars in fines from the IRS for bucking Obamacare. The company is facing $1.3 million dollars a day in fines for each day they choose not to comply with a piece of the health care law that was set to trigger for…
(CNN) — Charges against actress Lindsay Lohan in an alleged Manhattan nightclub fight “are not ready to proceed at this time,” her attorney said Monday after a hearing at New York criminal court. Lohan did not attend the hearing because there was nothing for her to plead to, said her attorney, Mark Heller. “It’s my…
In a still-expanding market of self-help books, many of which seem to overlap, Coming Out to Ourselves is a refreshing nugget. “Nugget” because it is short enough to devour in one sitting and yet leave the reader fulfilled. “Refreshing” because it focuses on succinct, relatable issues around which we can easily wrap our minds. The…
Mexico has become the first country in North America to lift the ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, according to the Medical Daily. Instead, the new regulations will ask prospective donors to recount their sexual history rather than their sexual orientation. Men who have sex with men (MSM) will be eligible to…
Retirees live on a fixed income, so it is extremely important to get the biggest bang for those bucks. One way to do that is to confirm that you have the best Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. Retirees can boost their spendable income by reducing their Medicare costs with the right drug plan that…
Toward the end of David France’s extraordinary documentary about the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT-UP, and its off-shoot the Treatment Action Group, or TAG, playwright and ACT-UP founder Larry Kramer says, “We, ACT-UP, got those drugs out there. It’s the proudest achievement that the gay population of this world can ever claim.” Kramer,…
