Advocates' Blog

Advocates' Blog

House Passes Measure Restricting Medical Training on Abortion

by Nikki Serapio, Manager, New Media Strategies

GOP Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, who represents the 5th Congressional District in North Carolina, has once again put her loaded extremism on full display: last Wednesday, a measure that she introduced, which denies federal funding to medical schools and health centers that teach about abortion procedures, passed the House 234-182 (with 13 Democrats voting for it and 10 Republicans voting against it). Foxx's measure prevents federal funds from being used to train medical residents on abortion procedures.

Representative Foxx is no friend of common sense.

via GLSEN:

Help GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) inform education policymakers and the public about what’s really going on in our nation’s schools by completing the 2011 National School Climate Survey, GLSEN’s seventh national survey about the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth in school.

If you attended high school or middle school sometime during the last school year (2010-2011) and are at least 13 years old, tell us about your experiences in school. (If you did not complete the entire school year you can still participate in the survey.) The survey is completely anonymous.

For more info and to complete the survey online, visit: www.glsen.org/2011survey

Breakthrough in HIV Research

by Emily Bridges, Director of Public Information Services

A breakthrough study has confirmed what researchers have long suspected: among heterosexual couples, taking HIV medications very soon after an HIV diagnosis significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV to a partner.

A study of 1,763 “serodiscordant” couples, where one partner is HIV positive and the other is HIV negative, found that beginning ARV (antiretroviral) therapy early led to a 96 percent reduction in HIV transmission. There were 28 total HIV infections among the couples in the study, and 27 occurred to couples where the HIV+ partner had not yet begun ARV.

Although the results may be unsurprising to many in public health, they could be a bombshell to the HIV prevention and treatment field. HIV attacks the body by killing off the immune system’s “t-cells” or “CD4 cells.” An HIV negative person has between 500-1200 CD4 cells (per ml of blood). When a person is diagnosed HIV positive, they do not necessarily begin taking ARVs immediately – only once their CD4 count drops below a certain number. Current World Health Organization guidelines recommend beginning treatment when the CD4 count drops below 350. This study is the first to demonstrate so decisively that earlier treatment prevents transmission so effectively.

But the patients in the study began treatment immediately, no matter how high their CD4 count was – and it protected their partners from acquiring HIV.

What does this mean for HIV treatment guidelines?