Hiv

Magic Johnson stood with his trademark smile Monday in front of his family, Lakers greats, politicians and friends, all of whom had come to celebrate his life and how his revelation from 20 years ago that he was HIV-positive had received worldwide attention. He could only shake his head and say, "I am here 20 years later…Wow! What a blessing. " On Nov. 7, 1991, Johnson announced that he was retiring from the Lakers because he had the virus that causes AIDS, and now two decades later, Johnson is happy to be the "face of this disease.

Re "Teens Alert Peers to the Perils of HIV," Sept. 18. Where are the teen peers being alerted? What I saw in the related photograph were 7- to 11-year-olds learning about HIV and AIDS. These children are not teen peers and are clearly too young to be presented this material, particularly by someone other than their parents. Were these children told the irrefutable fact that the vast majority of people who have HIV or AIDS contracted this disease through the exchange of bodily fluids through homosexual activity or intravenous drug use?

I read with interest the report quoting Conejo Valley Unified School District Trustee Mildred Lynch regarding her attendance at an AIDS education workshop for district educators. She is quoted as saying that "teaching that anyone can get AIDS is nonsense. It's a behavioral disease." I work daily with children and teens who are HIV/AIDS infected, many through only the behavior of being born. I was appalled that a trustee of the school district would be so lacking in compassion, understanding and information, but I have found through my work that these views are very widespread.

The Food and Drug Administration has amped up warnings on the label of the commonly prescribed HIV antiviral Invirase , adding information about potentially life-threatening cardiac side effects when used in tandem with Norvir, another widely used antiviral. The new labeling requirement follows an FDA warning in February that the drugs taken together could affect electrical activity in the heart, prolonging what are known as QT and PR intervals – indicators of heart rhythm on an EKG. Prolongation of the QT interval can lead to an abnormal heart rhythm known as torsades de pointes, which can cause lightheadedness or fainting and, in some cases, life-threatening ventricular fibrillation.

Officials at the San Fernando Valley clinic where a porn performer tested HIV-positive last month announced Friday that two rounds of tests showed no other adult film actors had contracted the virus. The performer tested HIV-positive Oct. 9 at the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, or AIM, in Sherman Oaks. The clinic routinely tests performers working in the Valley's adult film industry for sexually transmitted diseases and maintains a database of their results. Once the new HIV case was detected, clinic officials created a quarantine list to test performers who had worked with the porn actor, referred to in Friday's announcement as "Patient Zeta.

Instead of infiltrating breaks in the skin, HIV appears to attack normal, healthy genital tissue in women, researchers have found. It had been thought that HIV sought breaks in the skin, such as a herpes sore, to gain access to immune-system cells deeper in the tissue. The findings were presented this week at a meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Francisco.

After 15 years of futile search for a vaccine against the AIDS virus, researchers are reporting the tantalizing discovery of antibodies that can prevent the virus from multiplying in the body and producing severe disease. They do not have a vaccine yet, but they may well have a road map toward the production of one. A team based at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla reports in Friday's journal Science that they have isolated two so-called broadly neutralizing antibodies that can block the action of many strains of HIV, the virus responsible for AIDS.

Re "Scientists Advise Screening All Adults for HIV Infection," Feb. 10: The recommendation by the Yale doctor, the Centers on Disease Control and others that the entire population of the U.S. be screened for HIV infection is a perfect example of science being used to promote a political agenda. Being 56 and monogamous for 30 years, and never having had a blood transfusion, it is not possible that I would be infected. The Times article stated that there are probably 280,000 people in the country who have HIV but do not know it. That is about 0.1% of the population.

Re "Issue of Health, Not Rights," editorial, March 25: The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center shares The Times' legitimate concern about the high prevalence of HIV infection in men who choose to be tested in the anonymous setting of a bathhouse. Yes, we also have civil rights concerns when the discussion turns to closing down the bathhouses. However, The Times is throwing out a red herring in arguing that opposition to closure comes only from people with civil rights concerns. The real issue in the transmission of HIV and the testing for HIV is not location, but education.

Charles Barkley is right--for the first time in his career. RICHARD HUNT, Palm Desert