HIV

“Our major partner in this critical area is the Australian Government through Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT),” the Health Secretary Pascoe Kase revealed yesterday.

“Despite recent reporting that DFAT is withdrawing funding for HIV in PNG, the fact is that DFAT is continuing to fund treatment support for HIV, directly through NGO programs, as well as funding Health Department HIV support projects,” he said.

The study, in Science Translational Medicine, found the children's immune systems were "keeping calm", which prevented them being wiped out.

An untreated HIV infection will kill 60% of children within two and a half years, but the equivalent infection in monkeys is not fatal.

The findings could lead to new immune-based therapies for HIV infection.

They looked at responses to annual surveys that the WHO had sent to 127 countries between 2012 and 2014 asking about capacity and usage of blood tests that check HIV status and health.

They found worrying gaps in provision.

They warn that United Nation targets for HIV could be missed as a result.

Associate Professor David Harrich made the antiviral protein, known as the "Nullbasic", by mutating an existing HIV protein.

Once HIV-infected cells were treated with the protein, they stopped making virus particles.

Associate Professor Harrich, head of the HIV molecular virology laboratory at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, said the results exceeded his expectations."The protein didn't just inhibit the virus' ability to produce virus particles and spread to other cells, it shut it down completely," he said.

The leaks, which were both repaired as of Monday, are believed to have left the personal information of Hzone and iFit users vulnerable since at least late November and last week, respectively, according to the cybersecurity blog DataBreaches.net, which first reported them.

Kevin Miles, the Head of Grants for the Oil Search Foundation and a HIV expert with 25 years’ experience in the field of HIV, shared his personal and intimate account of caring for patients and loved ones with HIV in the early days of the epidemic.

“If we are to unite in the response to HIV, we have to share our stories, acknowledge our differences and decide how we will respond as individuals and as a community,” he said.

He recounted the enormous change he witnessed when anti-retroviral treatment became available and HIV was suddenly no longer a death sentence.

Mr Polye made the remark when delivering a speech to mark the World AIDs Day at the Sir John Guise Indoor complex in Port Moresby.

He said he is the father of seven kids of whom three are teenagers.

“With them growing up in a modern society where almost everyone is having access to the internet is a challenge for me.

“They can fall into the temptation of being lured by those living with the virus,” he said.

“Poverty and lack of quality education lead to sexual risk. Skills development, employment creation and good governance can help fight HIV/AIDS,” said Mr Polye when delivering a closing speech to mark the World AIDS Day at the Sir John Guise Indoor complex in the capital city.

He said as a leader of a remote district in the country, the World AIDS Day provided a forum to debate about the epidemic to extract better policies and laws to combat HIV/AIDs.

“We all have to be committed in addressing the issue and show love and care to those living with the virus.

He received more than 4 ½ years in prison for making false statements in research reports.

Dong-Pyou Han, 58, also must pay $7.2 million to a federal government agency that funded the research. He entered a plea agreement in February admitting guilt to two counts of making false statements.

Government prosecutors said Han's misconduct dates to 2008 when he worked at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland under professor Michael Cho, who was leading a team testing an experimental HIV vaccine on rabbits.