Results tagged “aids”

Conducted by the Thailand Ministry of Public Health, a new vaccine study has shown "modest" benefits in preventing HIV. Said results show that we could have a "safe and effective" preventive vaccine at some point in the near future. According to CBS 5/AP, "The vaccine—a combination of two previously unsuccessful vaccines—cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by more than 31 percent in the world's largest AIDS vaccine trial of more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand, researchers announced Thursday in Bangkok."

The fine folks over at the Bay Area Reporter have word that local health officials will postpone "cutting AIDS contracts until mid-October in order to give the Board of Supervisors time to respond to a nearly $4 million cut in state funding." The nearly $60 million cuts to AIDS health care and HIV prevention services, which could prove disastrous, might even get restored. Somehow. While vacationing in Provincetown, San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty told the BAR, "'It should be a top priority, that is what those funds are for. I will start by asking for full restoration and see where we end up,'" going on to say, "'Neither myself, nor Supervisor David Campos, nor my other colleagues on the board will stand by and let agencies be decimated because of this state action.'" Read more about it here.

While we'll wait to ask you all to throwout your condoms, we did just come across this interesting story about an American man who, it seems, "appears to have been cured of [the wily HIV virus] 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia." It seems doctors in Germany are claiming this major win. But! American Dr. Andrew Badley, the director of the HIV and immunology research lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., claims that said tests have probably not been extensive enough. Still: This news is always good to hear. We're certain to hear more about this alleged curing in the next few days. (CBS 5)

                       

(By Joe Kukura)

We don't think there are many people who would consider politicians as containing much in the way of a sense of humor or any sense of irony, but in an awesome move of political satire, Republican Senator Libby Dole of North Carolina added an amendment to an AIDS bill now winding itself through the Senate that would name it after recently deceased senator Jesse Helms. The bill would give about $50 billion dollars in funding to fight AIDS and other diseases around the world and with it, a possible lifting of a travel ban on people with HIV. What makes the amendment such a great bit of political satire (right up there with the New Yorker cover) is that Helms was a long time racist and homophobe who said any number of things against gay people and people with AIDS and fought any and all funding to try and help people with it. In fact, it was Helms who created the travel ban on people with HIV Oh wait...this just in....it's not a bit of satire. Dole is completely serious about what she's doing.

Well, this is disgusting.

        

Gay men and uppers go together like peanut butter and chocolate. It's just the way God wanted it. But that hasn't stopped Joel Schumacher's "I Lost Me to Meth" campaign from saturating San Francisco, even though meth use is down as of last year, before the campaign began.

And speaking of methamphetamines, this above always unleashes a big brouhaha in the bent community: to chastise or not to chastise zippy drug use. The most recent ad campaign--a four-month media blitz produced by the California Methamphetamine Initiative called "Me, Not Meth"--can been seen throughout the city, mainly in the Castro and SOMA arrondisments. And those ads you've seen on TV, featuring men sitting at their desks and talking into webcams? Part of the same ad and directed by Joel Schumacher. SF Aids Foundation has more info here.

For better or for worse, spring is in the air. And with that comes the many AIDS Lifecycle Fundraisers that will litter the city for the next few months or so. While AIDS charities aren't necessarily our bag -- they come off as a tad too insufferably A-gay for us or for anyone who makes less than a six-figure income -- this one will surely make the gays squeal for a while.

With over a dozen or so problems that the above graffiti could have critiqued about this poster advertising the Academy of Friends annual "gala" fundraiser for HIV/AIDS -- such as paying to attend an event to watch the Oscars; or the lack of originality with this year's title, "Shaken Not, Stirred" -- he or she takes the easy route here, pointing out the obvious homosexual nature of the event. Meh.

Gus Van Sant isn't the only one who might make you a shiny, coke-addled star here in San Francisco. Take, for example, MTV and NBC who want to use you for their up-and-coming reality programming.

• Tiger attack victims "yelled" at Tatiana. [SFGate]
• SF Main Library re-opened its first floor. We had no idea that is was closed. Still, yay! [CCBlog]
• Evacuating together. Aw. (Wasn't this an SNL commercial parody ages ago? With Phil Hartman and Victoria Jackson? Also: we're old.) [The Snitch]

Your Black Muslim Bakery -- the prominent and notorious Oakland setting featured in many a Chauncey Bailey story -- will probably be sold today to Vital Life Services, a nondenominational "nonprofit serving people living with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses," founded in 1987. The high bidder NCK LLC, a limited liability corporation, plans on buying the space, then turning it over to VLS. (Aw.) The property was also sought after by several other interested...

Today, Hate Hurts America (chortle) and the Interfaith Coalition announced that WalMart and AT&T either stopped advertising or now refuse to place ads on Michael Savage's "Savage Nation" program, joining a list of advertisers that have shunned the talk show host. (AutoZone, Citrix, TrustedID, JC Penney, and OfficeMax have also pulled their advertising.) Why? Because Michael Savage is a big ol;' meanie , crusher of warm fuzzies, and wisher of AIDS upon you sodomites....

So are we!

Katie Couric just looked freaked out as all hell telling us about it, but that might be because she's about to lose her job. Still, a drug-resistant staph "superbug," might result in the deaths of each and every one of us! Fatalities may exceed AIDS-related deaths! By tomorrow! No, by tonight!

Although neither death nor illness have been reported, State health officials are warning people not to eat tofu produced by South San Francisco-based Quong Hop and Co.

As you have probably already noticed, we've made some changes around here. Yesterday morning SFist, its publisher Gothamist, and our sister sites unveiled a new option: guest comments are automatically not displayed for users. But if you do want to read guests' comments, simply click "Show Guest Comments" and -- poof! -- all will be revealed. At least for now.

Larry Craig's police interrogation audio

After Supervisor Sandoval introduced a resolution to brand hyperbolic grandpa Michael Savage as a hate speech-spewing loon, it wasn't voted on unanimously yesterday, care of SFsit's favorite coverboy, Ed Jew. (Ah, World Net Daily, where we go to get all of our fair and balanced news, drizzled with a infusion of organic Nazism.) On July 5, after Savage predictably asked that students undergoing a weeklong fast for immigration reform (and, bonus, to slim down...

Happy Anniversary, PAWS!

Submit your Bay Area finds to found [at] sfist [dot] com or tag them sfist and found on Flickr! Let us know when and where you found the item and any other helpful info. This one reads like its straight off of Passive-Agressive Notes, although it's of a much more subtle caliber than this one. SFist reader CD found this note on his door, written by his neighbors. CD pointed out that the marathon-runners were...

It's now been ten days since C.W. Nevius went off on the Gav for letting people camp in Golden Gate Park. Things shook out pretty much as you'd expect: follow-up articles , reactions from the Supes, letters to the Editor, promises from the Mayor, frothy commentary here on SFist, and a new issue du jour: what to do with all of the used heroin needles that turn up everywhere?

When we read the above headline on GavinWatch -- a site we enjoy reading; no offense, Gavin -- we waited to hear about a "disturbingly (but not surprisingly) skeevy" rape, AIDS, or Polish joke that came from our Mayor's cherry-stained lips. It seems that while he was getting signatures for his re-election effot, Newsom went up to a few guys at The Cafe and made this shockingly innocuous remark. GavinWatch's anonymous tipster recounts the harrowing encounter in graphic detail:

Actually, this is some good news:

Photo from the 2007 AIDS walk

Isn't it awesome to live in this city? It's a beautiful summer, all our political news is extremely entertaining, and we have tons of amazing film festivals all the freaking time! So many, in fact, that you've got not one but TWO to pick from this weekend!

Starting today, The Frameline LGBT Film Festival will be rolling out its rainbow carpet at the Castro and the lineup of guests is glittery. Besides appearances by RuPaul (for ), the fest is again offering a super smart lineup of LGBT themed fare with a special mention of the fest’s foreign language section.

Look! Just like we promised -- to celebrate the Frameline GLBT film fest, we're giving away free passes throughout the festival (running June 14-24).