Compiled and edited by Martin Flynn
funding microbicides because trials of these 'barrier chemicals' were technically less daunting to mount, and microbicides might potentially begin to curb the exponential growth in the Aids epidemic in the next five years.
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The director of the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC), Dr Jeffrey Koplan (pictured), has unexpectedly resigned. Tensions have been high between the CDC and the federal government since 11 September and now President Bush has cut the agency's budget by $1 Billion for next year.
US HIV rates hit new record
The number of Americans diagnosed with HIV rose by 50,000 in the last
12 months.
This makes the number of HIV positive people in the US nearly a million,
and a quarter of them are unaware they have the virus. As many as 400,000
are not receiving any kind of treatment for the disease.
Lateness of treatment for HIV is of great concern, particularly in the
poor black and Hispanic communities. Five percent of Aids cases are only
being diagnosed within a month of death.
"A lot of Aids deaths are occurring in people who come in off the
street for care late, with very advanced disease," Dr Harold Jaffe,
of the US Center for Disease Control
(CDC) said.
