Reviewing Strategies for Draining HIV Reservoirs - Michael Palm HIV Basic Science, Vaccines, and Prevention Project Weblog

The April issue of Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics features an excellent open access review by Thomas Rasmussen and colleagues describing approaches to eliminating HIV reservoirs that are advancing into clinical trials. Prominently featured are histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, which have…

HIV Cure Could Come Within Months, Say Scientists

Breakthrough could come “within months”, according to researchers conducting clinical trials of new treatment.

I'm Sorry My HIV Offends You

“It’s easy to be an ass on mobile dating apps because you can hide behind a cell phone. It’s also easy to get your feelings hurt if you don’t quickly come to terms with the fact that guys online can be vicious. Most men online put it all out there and can be so upfront about what they do and don’t like. Some even go as far as to flat out say, “no fems,” or “no Asians,” or “no fatties.” Apparently, honesty can show how ugly someone truly is on the inside. But what I find most offensive is the treatment of HIV-positive guys who are online looking for most likely the same thing you are. “I’m clean, UB2.” -The most ignorant statement most commonly found online.

I get that we all have preferences and I understand that you may think it’s easier to just put it all out there, but the truth is, you are offensive and your tag lines are offensive. I get it, not everyone is up to date on HIV education and not everyone is OK with dating or hooking up with someone who is positive. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s the delivery in which you choose to respond. Each time I am in a good conversation with someone on one of these apps and it turns potentially sexual, I gear up for the question I ultimately know is coming. On a side note, I appreciate the fact that most guys are asking about status. But what do most of these guys online want to hear after asking? Are they just asking to ask and get it out of the way, or do they truly want an honest answer?”

read more at Huffington Post

Op-ed: When Is the Right Time to Tell Your HIV Status on a Date?

My right time is to tell them before I even go on the first date.

“As I prepare to say good goodbye to my 20s, I’ve noticed that getting older has its perks. Department store salesmen no longer roll their eyes when I ask to be fitted for a new suit, I no longer feel the need to sleep until just before the sun starts to set, and my car insurance company no longer hates me. It would seem that this so-called “midlife” isn’t so bad after all. That is, unless you are single. Single, and you are about to go on the dreaded first date. Single, dreaded first date, and you have to find a way to casually disclose that you are HIV-positive. Now, I still don’t believe getting older is all that bad, but it is definitely a hell of a lot more complicated.


Over the past several months I have been grappling with the question of just when is the right time to disclose my HIV status. This has led to many hypotheticals posed over bottles of wine with friends, both positive and negative. Several of my friends say that the cliché third date is most appropriate. Assuming sex is still off the table, this is the point at which both parties have had enough time to get to know one another for who they are, not what disease they are carrying. 

The danger of the “third date rule” is that it allows for feelings to develop, albeit little baby ones. Disclosing your status once a semblance of trust has formed is like placing a loaded gun in front of a person and asking them not to shoot you with it. I don’t know about you, but I am still reeling from the shotgun that tried to take me down when I found out about my status…”

read more at Advocate

STUDY: Pasteur Institute Claims 14 People “Functionally Cured” Of HIV

“A report coming out of France’s Pasteur Institute reveals that 14 people were ‘functionally cured’ of HIV through rapid treatment after early diagnosis.

The institute looked at a group of 70 people who started antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) five to ten 10 weeks after becoming infected but stopped treatment completely after an average of three years. Most saw their T-cell count drop, but 14 patients—four women and ten men, known as the “Visconti cohort”—remained HIV-free.”

read more at Queerty

Dating and Fear in the Age of HIV: ‘I’d Like to Sleep With You — and I’m HIV-Positive’

Justice Dept. Scores Another Win Against HIV Discrimination

“The Gleinbeigh Hospital of Rock Creek, Ohio, has settled a lawsuit with the Justice Department after a patient was denied services because of their HIV status, which is illegal under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The hospital refused to admit someone into their alcohol treatment program because the patient was HIV-positive. Gleinbeigh officials claimed that side effects from the patient’s HIV medications would put other people in the treatment program at risk. The Justice Department determined the hospital could not prove the complainant would have posed a threat to the health or safety of others. The hospital will pay the complainant $32,500 and fork over $5,000 in civil penalties. This is the fourth settlement the Justice Department reached in four weeks pertaining to HIV discrimination…”

read more at Advocate

NYC Dep’t Of Health Warns Gay Men Of “Terrifying” Meningitis Outbreak, Urges Vaccination

“Men who have sex with men are at risk for a potentially deadly strain of meningitis, warns the New York City Department of Health, which is urging gay and bisexual men to get vaccinated against the virus…”

read more at Queerty

Beautiful story on one man’s HIV-positive journey… The Needle Prick Project: Jason Thompson on his HIV-Positive Journey “Jason Thompson had just barely gotten his feet wet in the world of love and dating. He was 20 years old and still stuck in the rural landscape of Southern Illinois. The small town of Aviston was a far cry from a gay metropolis, but he had managed to find a couple of boys around his parts who were worthy of dinner and a movie. At his age, a gay man is typically allowed a couple ‘do-overs’ and ‘never-agains’ until he learns to operate in the land of one-night stands and no-good boyfriends. But sometimes the wrong guy with all the right words can take away the frivolity that comes with youth before you get the chance to learn your lesson. He was on his way to work when his friend called and told him the news—his friend was just diagnosed as HIV-positive. With little knowledge of the disease himself, he did the only thing he knew to do to support him. Jason got tested…” read more at Advocate

Beautiful story on one man’s HIV-positive journey…

The Needle Prick Project: Jason Thompson on his HIV-Positive Journey

“Jason Thompson had just barely gotten his feet wet in the world of love and dating. He was 20 years old and still stuck in the rural landscape of Southern Illinois. The small town of Aviston was a far cry from a gay metropolis, but he had managed to find a couple of boys around his parts who were worthy of dinner and a movie.

At his age, a gay man is typically allowed a couple ‘do-overs’ and ‘never-agains’ until he learns to operate in the land of one-night stands and no-good boyfriends. But sometimes the wrong guy with all the right words can take away the frivolity that comes with youth before you get the chance to learn your lesson.

He was on his way to work when his friend called and told him the news—his friend was just diagnosed as HIV-positive. With little knowledge of the disease himself, he did the only thing he knew to do to support him. Jason got tested…”

read more at Advocate

Thank goodness for bees. STUDY: Bee Venom Shown To Kill HIV “A study in the current issue of Antiviral Therapy reports that nanoparticles loaded with a toxin found in bee venom can destroy HIV while leaving nearby normal cells unharmed…” read more at Queerty

Thank goodness for bees.

STUDY: Bee Venom Shown To Kill HIV

“A study in the current issue of Antiviral Therapy reports that nanoparticles loaded with a toxin found in bee venom can destroy HIV while leaving nearby normal cells unharmed…”

read more at Queerty

Why It’s So Hard To Talk About Bareback Sex “With more than 50% of gay men no longer using condoms consistently, the shame that often prevents candid discussion of bareback sex may prove to be as dangerous as the health risks themselves. I had been living in New York City just long enough to know about the risks of bareback sex, the statistics, the history, and the ghosts. This is not a cautionary tale; this is about a decision I made, and keep making. In October 2010, I met a guy online who was visiting from France. That night, after meeting in a midtown Starbucks, we went to his hotel room. I never asked about his HIV status. I watched him do a line of coke in the bathroom, and even knowing that, knowing he was some unfamiliar man doing things I never envisioned myself doing, we fucked each other without condoms. And it felt good. This was the scariest part for me. Not the risk itself, but the fact that I enjoyed it. The next morning, as I rushed to throw on my clothes to get to work on time, it all came rushing back: the risks, the statistics, the history. And, along with them, the names of authors I’d read who wrote during the onset of the AIDS crisis. I felt ashamed that I was doing something that would put me at risk of an incurable illness, felt ashamed because I knew people in my own life who I was close to who had struggled to come to terms with being HIV positive…” read more at BuzzFeed LGBT

Why It’s So Hard To Talk About Bareback Sex

“With more than 50% of gay men no longer using condoms consistently, the shame that often prevents candid discussion of bareback sex may prove to be as dangerous as the health risks themselves.

I had been living in New York City just long enough to know about the risks of bareback sex, the statistics, the history, and the ghosts. This is not a cautionary tale; this is about a decision I made, and keep making.

In October 2010, I met a guy online who was visiting from France. That night, after meeting in a midtown Starbucks, we went to his hotel room. I never asked about his HIV status. I watched him do a line of coke in the bathroom, and even knowing that, knowing he was some unfamiliar man doing things I never envisioned myself doing, we fucked each other without condoms. And it felt good. This was the scariest part for me. Not the risk itself, but the fact that I enjoyed it.

The next morning, as I rushed to throw on my clothes to get to work on time, it all came rushing back: the risks, the statistics, the history. And, along with them, the names of authors I’d read who wrote during the onset of the AIDS crisis. I felt ashamed that I was doing something that would put me at risk of an incurable illness, felt ashamed because I knew people in my own life who I was close to who had struggled to come to terms with being HIV positive…”

read more at BuzzFeed LGBT

Watch the trailer for this documentary and you’ll know why I am requesting a screening in NYC. “Many of you have been asking when you can see Blood Brother. We have created a screening request form for individuals as well as organizations to let us know that they want to see the film. The link below allows us to start collecting information so that we can rally to bring Blood Brother to your city/town if enough people sign up (so please share with everyone you know!). By signing up and having friends sign up we will be able to provide a rough idea of the desire to see the film in that area - so please have all of your family and friends sign up as well. The more interest, the more likelihood we’ll be able to screen there! We will also alert you if/when it comes to your area. But this also allows organizations or groups interested in hosting a screening to tell us more about their idea. Please take a minute to fill out your information. Request form here”

Watch the trailer for this documentary and you’ll know why I am requesting a screening in NYC.

“Many of you have been asking when you can see Blood Brother. We have created a screening request form for individuals as well as organizations to let us know that they want to see the film. The link below allows us to start collecting information so that we can rally to bring Blood Brother to your city/town if enough people sign up (so please share with everyone you know!). By signing up and having friends sign up we will be able to provide a rough idea of the desire to see the film in that area - so please have all of your family and friends sign up as well. The more interest, the more likelihood we’ll be able to screen there!

We will also alert you if/when it comes to your area. But this also allows organizations or groups interested in hosting a screening to tell us more about their idea. Please take a minute to fill out your information. Request form here”

So true. “Clichés aside, the truth is noone wants to talk about HIV. It doesn’t deserve our silence. Speak up. Ask Questions. There’s always something happening in the world of HIV/AIDS. Educate yourself and you will have taken a big step towards prevention. This issue affects all of us, positive or negative. KNOW HIV = NO HIV.” via The Stigma Project

So true.

“Clichés aside, the truth is noone wants to talk about HIV. It doesn’t deserve our silence. Speak up. Ask Questions. There’s always something happening in the world of HIV/AIDS. Educate yourself and you will have taken a big step towards prevention. This issue affects all of us, positive or negative. KNOW HIV = NO HIV.”

Get set for HIV treatment

Helpful tool to get an idea for starting HIV treatment…

“This tool will help you decide whether you are ready to start taking HIV treatment.

Firstly, you’ll be asked some questions about your health – in order to see if treatment might be needed soon. Then, there are some questions about help and support, your feelings about HIV treatment, and other things that are going on in your life. All of these things can affect your ability to take HIV treatment regularly. 

The tool will then produce a personalized factsheet, outlining some key issues for you to think about and discuss with your healthcare team…”

read more at AIDSmap.com

'Barebacking,' Or Unsafe Gay Sex, Is On The Rise Along With HIV/AIDS (VIDEO)

“With the rising trend of ‘barebacking’ re-entering the gay community, many are asking if there is a correlation between unprotected sex and an increase in HIV/AIDS statistics.

‘We keep talking about barebacking as if its some kind of psychosis, when really all it is is men behaving naturally,’ Mark S. King author and blogger at MyFabulousDisease.com said.

King also outlines that there could be other prevention measures that work for gay men who prefer to have sex without using condoms, such as knowing one’s partner and taking the proper medications when necessary. However, it does seem that unprotected sex is still increasing, with 50 percent of gay men reporting that they no longer use condoms consistently…”

read more at HuffingtonPost