On this day in 1985, Rock Hudson passed away at 59 years old

Rock Hudson was one of Hollywood's premier leading men in the 50s and early 60s, though sadly, he is perhaps most notable for being the first major U.S. celebrity to die of complications from AIDS.


He made his big screen debut in 1948, but muddled around in bit parts for years  until 1955′s Magnificent Obsession. The following year’s Giant, co-starring fellow queer film icons Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean, proved Hudson to be a strong dramatic actor (and earned him an Oscar nomination) while he found even more success in a series of romantic comedies with Doris Day, starting with 1959′s Pillow Talk.

While Hudson was enjoying being the nation’s top box office draw in the 1950s and 60s, he and  Wilson were busy covering up Hudson’s homosexuality. Hudson's homosexuality was a well-kept secret in Hollywood, resulting in a sham marriage to Wilson’s secretary, Phyllis Gates.

His health began to decline in 1981 and worsened with his diagnosis of HIV on June 5, 1984. On July 25, 1985, Hudson became the first major public figure to announce he had AIDS. September 19 of that year, Hudson, too sick to attend a special AIDS fundraiser, sent the following telegram:

“I am not happy that I am sick. I am not happy that I have AIDS. But if that is helping others, I can at least know that my own misfortune has had some positive worth.”

Hudson died in his sleep on October 2, 1985. He was 59.

Remarking on the late screen idol, Morgan Fairchild said “Rock Hudson’s death gave AIDS a face.”

(source)

UN Official: AIDS epidemic could end in less than 20 years

Thanks to treatment, control and prevention, a leading AIDS advocate believes the epidemic side of HIV/AIDS could be passed by 2030.

Luis Loures, a deputy executive director of UNAIDS, the UN agency leading the fight against HIV/AIDS says “I think that 2030 is a viable target to say that we have reached the end of the epidemic. HIV will continue existing as a case here or there, but not at the epidemic level we have today.”

According to AFP, Loures was in Panama last week to to discuss AIDS strategy with UN agencies in Latin America. With three million new HIV infections and 1.7 million people deaths each year from complications due to AIDS, the epidemic is still very much an issue at hand.

But Loures is quick to trumpet the progress made in treating the disease and controlling infection.  AFP reports:

Two decades ago the average annual cost of treatment per person with HIV was $19,000 while today it is $150 thanks to generic drugs.

Moreover, people with HIV are getting treatment earlier, which retards the disease’s development. According to UNAIDS, the annual incidence of new infections has fallen 20 percent over the past decade, and in 25 countries, including 13 in sub-Saharan Africa, it has fallen by 50 percent. Over the past two years, the number of people who have obtained treatment for HIV has increased by 60 percent.

(via Queerty)

Canadian HIV vaccine sees first phase trial success

The first phase trial results of a new HIV vaccine being developed at Western University show strong promise:

The first phase of trials wrapped up last month, with researchers optimistic about the vaccine's future.

“We infect the cells with a genetically modified HIV-1,” team leader Dr. Chil-Yong Kang told Ontario Business Report. “The infected cells produce lots of virus, which we collect, purify and inactivate so that the vaccine won’t cause AIDS in recipients, but will trigger immune responses.”

Sumagen, the South Korean biotech firm sponsoring the vaccine, cited manufacturing, as well as USFDA requirements as hurdles in bringing the vaccine to market, but, if all goes well in trials, it could be commercially available in five years.

“We are now prepared to take the next steps towards Phase II and Phase III clinical trials," CEO Jung-Gee Cho said in a press release.

(source)

Trailer: "Test"

TEST, by writer/director Chris Mason Johnson, premieres at the Seattle International Film Festival on June 7, 2013.

From the film's official website:

TEST is a poignant, powerful story of friendship and hope in a time of crisis, set in the San Francisco modern dance scene of 1985 in the early years of the AIDS epidemic: when headlines threatened a gay quarantine, when nobody knew for certain how the disease spread, when dancers were afraid to touch each other because they might get it from sweat...

The early history of the epidemic is big and complicated, and there are untold stories that frame the subject in a different light and need to be heard now as well.

TEST is one of these.

I was just beginning my career as a dancer in 1985, and I remember the fear and whispers at the time. A sad and dark period for a sad and dark issue.

For tickets to the premiere, click here.

Honey Boo Boo's "Uncle Poodle" reveals HIV-positive status

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo cast member Lee Thompson, who is known on the show as Uncle Poodle and who gained praise last year for being out on the program, has revealed that he had his former boyfriend charged with HIV transmission after learning that he himself was HIV-positive last year.

Dino: Lee, when did you find out about your HIV status?

Lee: I was adamant about getting my HIV status checked on a regular basis. On March 16, 2012, I tested negative. Then, in May of 2012 my test results came back positive. I knew it had been my boyfriend who infected me. I later learned he had been HIV positive and was not taking medication and had not bothered to tell me about it. I was advised that I should press charges and, hesitantly, I did. It was the right thing to do.

Dino: What happened to your ex?

Lee: He is serving a 5-year sentence. I would have been cool with his HIV status if he had been honest. I don’t have an issue with the disease. I would have known how to protect myself.

Dino: What is your message to folks having unsafe sex?

Lee: They are damn fools! They are playing Russian roulette; they are playing with their lives and that of their sexual partners.

(source)

FDA approves pre-exposure medication for HIV

The FDA has just given the green light to Truvada, the first drug approved to reduce the risk of HIV infection in uninfected individuals.

Taken daily, the drug is being touted as part of a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) strategy, in combination with safer sex practices, to reduce the risk of HIV infection in high-risk adults, including those with HIV-infected partners. The FDA previously allowed Gilead Sciences to manufacture Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) for use in conjunction with other antiretroviral agents for HIV-positive people.

“Today’s approval marks an important milestone in our fight against HIV,” said FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg. “Every year, about 50,000 U.S. adults and adolescents are diagnosed with HIV infection, despite the availability of prevention methods and strategies to educate, test, and care for people living with the disease. New treatments as well as prevention methods are needed to fight the HIV epidemic in this country.”

The medication shouldn’t be perceived as a cure or vaccine: Truvada for PrEP is only prescribed fpr individuals who are confirmed to be HIV-negative prior to using the drug. In double-blind studies of 2,499 HIV-negative men and women in high-risk categories, Truveda was effective in reducing the risk of HIV infection by 42% compared with the placebo. There are also potential side-effects including changes in fat distribution in the body and blood, kidney and liver dysfunction and weakening of the bones.


Via Queerty

CDC launches campaign to lessen stigma of living with HIV

To combat two major obstacles to HIV prevention — stigma associated with the infection and complacency about the epidemic — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today launched Let’s Stop HIV Together, a national communication campaign that gives voice to Americans living with HIV, and to their loved ones.

“In the fight against HIV, stigma and complacency are among our most insidious opponents,” said Kevin Fenton, M.D., director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. “This campaign reminds us that HIV affects every corner of society, and that it will take every one of us—regardless of HIV status, gender, race or sexual orientation—working together to stop this epidemic.”

The campaign features people living with HIV standing with their friends and family, and calling on all Americans to join the fight against the disease. The campaign will reach millions of Americans through print, online and outdoor advertisements and through social media, including Facebook and Twitter. Outdoor and transit ads began running this week in six cities heavily affected by HIV—Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City and Washington, D.C., —with 21 other cities to be added later in 2012.

Read the press release here.

Billboard on Sunset Blvd: No kisses for Hershey

Photo: Brian Edwards

The billboard is part of a boycott of Hershey candy to protest the refusal of a boarding school with ties to the company to admit a teenager because he is HIV-positive.

The AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania sued the school in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia last year, contending that the school violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in denying admission to the boy, whose name has not been made public.

Lawyers for the group say the boy is an honor roll student who controls the HIV with medication and poses no health threat to the other students. A person can have the virus that causes AIDS but not have the disease.

Ronda Goldfein, attorney for the AIDS Law Project, said she is not involved with the boycott effort but the protests have been a morale booster for the boy and his mother.

"For a 14-year-old to hear that he's danger, he's a threat, that has really been hard for him," Goldfein said.

Review: How To Survive A Plague

From Towleroad: Frank Bruni, former New York Times restaurant critic and current all-purpose NYT essayist, today published an excellent review of How To Survive a Plague, the new David France documentary which chronicles the worst days of the AIDS epidemic, particularly as it unfolded in New York, and particularly as seen from the vantage point of ACT UP and its spin-off, TAG. From the review:

[I expected] to cry, and cry I did: at the hollowed faces of people whittled to almost nothing by a disease with an ugly arc; at the panicked voices of demonstrators who knew that no matter how quickly research progressed, it wouldn’t be fleet enough to save people they loved; at the breadth and beauty and horror of the AIDS quilt ...

I expected to be angry. Here, too, I wasn’t disappointed. The words of a physician on the front lines in the early days reminded me that “when people died in the hospital, they used to put them in black trash bags.” Many politicians mustered little more than contempt for AIDS sufferers. “There’s nothing ‘gay’ about these people, engaging in incredibly offensive and revolting conduct,” snarled Senator Jesse Helms ...

But, Bruni reports, there's a lot of beauty and heroism and hope here, too:

While the movie vividly chronicles the wages of bigotry and neglect, it even more vividly chronicles how much society can budge when the people exhorting it to are united and determined and smart and right.

... 25 years ago, a tribe in desperate trouble did something that religious conservatives who can get their minds out of people’s crotches should in fact admire. It elected self-reliance over self-pity, tapping its own reserves of intellect, ingenuity and grit to make sure its members were cared for.

Take a look at the review, and watch David France talk about his film:

Canadian HIV vaccine approved for human trials

A Canadian-developed vaccine to prevent HIV has been approved for testing in human clinical trials, the Toronto Star reports.

The vaccine, developed by researchers at the University of Western Ontario, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to start being tested in humans in January.

It is the first preventive HIV vaccine approved for clinical trials to use a whole HIV-1 virus, which has been both killed and genetically engineered, to activate immunity. In this way, the new vaccine is much like the killed whole virus vaccines that are successful against polio, rabies and influenza.

“FDA approval for human clinical trials is an extremely significant milestone for our vaccine, which has the potential to save the lives of millions of people around the world by preventing HIV infection,” said Dr. Chil-Yong Kang, professor of virology at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario, in a release.

Previous studies have shown the vaccine triggers a strong immune response and has yet to show any adverse effects or safety risks.

Highlights from "Gypsy of the Year" including the original cast of GREASE

Last year, Gypsy of the Year raised $3,776,720, pushing the competition's 22-year total to $44,136,720. This year's grand total reached a whopping $4,895,253! All funds go to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The opening number featured the original Broadway cast of Grease reuniting for a special 40-year anniversary tribute. Among the stars returning to the stage from one of the most popular musicals in Broadway history are Barry Bostwick (Danny), Carole Demas (Sandy), Adrienne Barbeau (Betty Rizzo), Alan Paul (Teen Angel/Johnny Casino) and Walter Bobbie (Roger). Also joining the opening number reunion are original cast members Don Billett (Vince Fontaine), James Canning (Doody), Daniel Douglas (Burger Palace Boy), Katie Hanley (Marty), Tom Harris (Eugene Florczyk ), Ilene Kristen (Patty Simcox), Joy Rinaldi (Pink Lady) and Mews Small (Frenchy).

Grease, with book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and WarRen Casey, garnered seven Tony Award nominations and played 3,388 Broadway performances before closing April 13, 1980.

These Greasers can still do it!

From Broadwayworld

Possible advance towards HIV vaccine

A team of labs at Caltech and UCLA decided to "short-circuit" the need for a vaccination, or even antibody-producing immune cells:

They created a disarmed adenovirus that contained the genes needed to produce a broadly effective antibody from humans, optimizing the DNA to make sure that the antibody was made in muscle cells, and then secreted into their environment.

The modified virus was then injected into mice that had had their immune systems humanized (the stem cells in their bone marrow were killed off and then repopulated with human cells).

The mice were then exposed to levels of HIV many times higher than are normally present during initial infections. Not all antibodies effectively blocked new infections, but at least one did so consistently. The resistance to new HIV infections persisted for the life of the experiments.

Good news. Of course, it goes without saying that this new approach will take years - with solid progress - to reach any public usage IF it works out that the idea is transferable to human.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Pennsylvania school denies admission to HIV-positive student

The Milton Hershey School was founded by the chocolate tycoon as a school that "nurtures and educates children in social and financial need to lead fulfilling and productive lives."

But it seems that fulfillment won’t be coming for a 13-year-old honor student from Delaware County who is infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

"I feel no other teenager should go through this, being denied just because they have HIV," the boy said in an exclusive interview with NBC Philadelphia’s Denise Nakano.

The private boarding school doesn’t deny that they rejected the boy’s admission because of concerns for the health and safety of fellow students.

The 13-year-old has lived with HIV all of his life but doesn’t feel it defines him.

He excels in school, is active in sports and is learning to speak two foreign languages. He was hoping to go to Hershey -- a cost-free, private boarding school for children from low-income families -- to advance his education.

I personally feel this is profoundly disappointing.  This is NOT how we treat the children of this country; this is NOT how we encourage the young people of this country to succeed.

I'm very saddened to hear that this is how the Milton Hershey School would handle an issue as sensitive and delicate as this.

Very sad.

Study in mice suggests hope for AIDS protection

As scientists struggle to find a vaccine to prevent infection with the AIDS virus, a study in mice suggests hope for a new approach — one that doctors now want to test in people.

The treated mice in the study appeared to have 100 percent protection against HIV. That doesn't mean the strategy will work in people. But several experts were impressed.

"This is a very important paper (about) a very creative idea," says the government's AIDS chief, Dr. Anthony Fauci. He didn't take part in the research.

The new study involved injecting mice with a protective gene, an idea that's been tested against HIV infection in animals for a decade.

In the nearly 30 years since HIV was identified, scientists haven't been able to find a vaccine that is broadly effective. One boost came in 2009, when a large study in Thailand showed that an experimental vaccine protected about a third of recipients against infection. That's not good enough for general use, but researchers are now trying to improve it.

The mouse work is reported by David Baltimore and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology.

Baltimore's team used a harmless virus to carry an antibody gene and injected it once into a leg muscle. The researchers found that the mice made high levels of the antibody for more than a year. The results suggest lifetime protection for a mouse, Baltimore said, although "we simply don't know what will happen in people."

If all goes well, a preliminary experiment to test the safety of the approach might begin in about a year, he said. Baltimore said his group is also planning human experiments that he hopes will start in the next couple years.

More at Yahoo News

Wendy Williams - HIV Ends with Us

Love Wendy! And her "Chippendales" style...

President Obama on World AIDS Day 2011

For more information on World AIDS Day, click here.

Sacha Harding, Britain's Manliest Man, bares all for Elton John's charity

Rugby star - and Britain's "Manliest Man" - Sacha Harding recently stripped down for a photo shoot and interview for the U.K. magazine Gay Times to support Elton John’s AIDS foundation.

“AIDS is such a devastating disease for so many people around the world and I was honored to get this opportunity to try and do my part to help raise awareness of the disease and ultimately save lives," Harding says.

Last year Harding, who plays with Bedford Blues, was also voted "Britain’s manliest man" after winning a nationwide competition organized by men’s grooming brand The Bluebeards Revenge.

Harding says he is happy to help a cause he believes in. “I know I’m going to get some stick from the lads at Bedford but it’s all good fun and the whole campaign has a very serious message which needs promoting,” he says.

Rugby star, "manliest man," LGBT ally, and activist - what's not to like?

Documentary: 30 Years From Here

30 Years From Here examines the trials and tribulations the AIDS pandemic has created over the past 30 years.

The documentary looks at how this nondiscriminatory disease has affected many lives over many years. Hear personal accounts from people who were there in the beginning and have seen both the sorrow over lives lost and the hope generated by advances in medical research.

Activists, medical experts, and people who were on the ground describe their stories from the war on AIDS.

Interviewees include playwright Terrence McNally; activist and ACT UP found Larry Kramer; Marjorie Hill, CEO of Gay Men’s Health Crisis; physician Frank Spinelli; director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell; author, actor and activist David Drake; and radio talk show host Larry Flick.

For more info, got to heretv.com

30 years ago today in NY Times: "Rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals"

30 years ago today, in an article in the New York Times, a rare cancer was written about that would eventually lead researchers to learn about and identify AIDS.

Doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men 41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer. Eight of the victims died less than 24 months after the diagnosis was made.

Dr. Friedman-Kien said he had tested nine of the victims and found severe defects in their immunological systems. The patients had serious malfunctions of two types of cells called T and B cell lymphocytes, which have important roles in fighting infections and cancer.

More than 60 million people were infected with HIV, and more than 30 million people lost their life to the AIDS virus. At its peak in 1996, an estimated 2.6 million people became infected with HIV.

An estimated 34 million people are currently living with HIV — including nearly 1.2 million in the U.S. — and stigma continues to prove as deadly as the disease itself, keeping people from getting tested and treated for HIV/AIDS.

30 years later, immeasurable fundraising and research behind and ahead of us, no cure has been found.

The NY Times article was featured in the trailer for the film "Longtime Companion."



(via gay.americablog.com)

20 years later - AIDS patient essentially cured

Almost 20 years after he became infected, Timothy Brown is, essentially, cured of AIDS.

Brown, now 45, is known in medical-journal circles as "The Berlin Patient," a moniker assigned him by a February 2009 case study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In a "Brief Report," oncologist Gero Huetter and his colleagues at Berlin's University Hospital described the unique stem-cell transplant of an HIV-infected patient — Brown — who had acute myeloid leukemia, and the remarkable result: Twenty months after the procedure, the virus had not reappeared in Brown's body, even though he was no longer taking antiretroviral drugs.

The bone marrow Brown received in a time-tested treatment for leukemia also transferred to Brown's immune system an uncommon genetic variation — present in an estimated 10% of northern Europeans — that rendered it resistant to HIV.

When he learned he was HIV-positive in 1995, a friend told him gravely that he probably had two years to live.

Ten years later, he was alive and taking antiretroviral medications. Then, in 2006, a bout of exhaustion sent him to the doctor, who diagnosed leukemia and proposed the customary treatment: Wipe out Brown's immune system with radiation and rebuild it with the bone marrow of a healthy donor.

From the 230 possible matches found for Brown, Dr. Huetter deliberately picked a donor who carried genetic resistance to HIV, hoping they might lick both diseases in a single shot.

Now living in San Francisco, Brown has found himself a bit of a celebrity at AIDS functions around the city. Two weeks ago, he spoke at an event titled "Cure — Still a Four-Letter Word?" organized by the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Afterward, he says, "everybody wanted to get their picture taken with me."

Certainly, the treatment Brown received could not be applied to the millions of people infected with HIV — it is far too risky and expensive for that. But its results offer proof that there are ways to turbo-charge the immune system to prevent and even fight off established infection without taking a cocktail of pills everyday, the officials wrote in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Read more at LATimes.com