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  One of the hardest tasks at the Ali Forney Center is telling one of our youths that they have tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Having already been dealt the cruel blows of family rejection and homelessness, our youths struggle daily with despair. When they find out that they are HIV-positive, many of our youths become so despondent that we have to have them hospitalized for risk of suicide.   Every month, 1,000 young people in our nation between the ages of 13 and 24 are infected with HIV. A hugely disproportionate number of these new infections …

 From FACT Bucks County President, Louis Licitra  Dear Friends, Coming into summer and FACT Bucks County has been very busy indeed. Our BINGO events are now almost always SOLD OUT each quarter. We hate to turn people away, but we are limited to the number of seats we are allowed to have at the New Hope Eagle Fire House. The best bet is to reserve your seat(s)  on line and you can do it as an individual or as a group. Just go to www.FACTBucksCounty.org  and on the home page on the right there is a “button” that will take …

“We are so pleased to be able to continue our charitable giving during today’s economic climate,” explains Kassie Erb, President, Fox & Roach Charities, “and help so many in need.” Fox & Roach Charities has contributed more than $4 million through office fund donations and board of trustee grants, since its inception in 1995, to more than 250 organizations in the Greater Philadelphia and Tri-State area.   Through Fox & Roach Charities, the New Hope Office recently made a charitable contribution to Fighting AIDS Continuously Together (FACT)-Bucks County to benefit the 2013 Annual AIDS Walk. Pictured here (center) Timothy Philpot, …

  Article as adapted from original press release by NIH   A team of NIH scientists has developed a new tool to identify broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) capable of preventing infection by the majority of HIV strains found around the globe, an advance that could help speed HIV vaccine research. Scientists have long studied HIV-infected individuals whose blood shows powerful neutralization activity because understanding how HIV bNAbs develop and attack the virus can yield clues for HIV vaccine design. But until now, available methods for analyzing blood samples did not easily yield specific information about the HIV bNAbs present or …

   Click on the headline to read more… For this article, go to http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/259679.php  

As adapted from the Annals of Internal Medicine (April 2013) New recommendations from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) urge physicians to screen all adults and adolescents aged 15 – 65 for HIV. In addition, all pregnant women should receive screening, even those who are in labor but have not yet been screened. Rapid screening tests and conventional tests are considered equally accurate for screening. In 2005, the Task Force recommended that doctors offer HIV screening to all adults and adolescents at increased risk for infection (men or women having a blood transfusion from 1978 to 1985; men …

UCLA scientists have shown that temporarily blocking a protein critical to immune response actually helps the body clear itself of chronic infection. Published in the journal Science, the finding suggests new approaches to treating persistent viral infections like HIV and hepatitis C. The research team studied type-1 interferons (IFN-1), proteins released by cells in response to disease-causing organisms that enable cells to talk to each other and orchestrate an immune response against infection. Constant IFN-1 signaling is also a trademark of chronic viral infection and disease progression, particularly in HIV. “When cells confront viruses, they produce type-1 interferons, which trigger …

(As taken from The Huffington Post) WASHINGTON — A baby born with the virus that causes AIDS appears to have been cured, scientists announced Sunday, describing the case of a child from Mississippi who’s now 2 1/2 and has been off medication for about a year with no signs of infection. There’s no guarantee the child will remain healthy, although sophisticated testing uncovered just traces of the virus’ genetic material still lingering. If so, it would mark only the world’s second reported cure. READ MORE….http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/03/baby-cured-of-hiv_n_2803041.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D278049