Human Immuno Deficiency Virus

A genetic analysis of a biopsy sample recently discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has led researchers to conclude that the virus that causes AIDS has existed in human populations for more than a century, according to a study released Wednesday. The study, led by evolutionary biologist Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona in Tucson, puts the date of origin at around 1900, which is 30 years earlier than previous analyses.

As a liberal-minded person, Kathy Gerus-Darbison never wanted to stand in the way of equal treatment for gays. As a college professor, she certainly never meant to end up on the wrong side of what many experts consider a settled question of science. But then, she never thought she would watch in helpless horror as her husband, a hemophiliac, received contaminated blood products and ultimately died of AIDS, growing so desperate he begged doctors to radiate his brain in hopes of gaining a little more time with his family.

Darren James saw the news flash on his TV screen last week: A porn actress had tested positive for HIV. James, 45, felt a moment of shock, then sadness. "I feel really bad for this girl," he said. "One thing I can say, I just wish her well. It's the worst thing to get that call." It's the call James got in 2004 when the well-liked porn star known for his courteous nature on set found himself at the center of an HIV outbreak in the San Fernando Valley's multibillion-dollar porn industry.

A stamp in Heidemarie Kremer's passport reveals her health status as HIV-positive. Because of the disease, Kremer -- a native of Germany -- has been barred from becoming a legal resident of the United States. She and her two children are fighting possible deportation, and their plans for the future are on hold. But that soon may change. This month, the federal government cleared the way for HIV-positive foreigners to visit the country and apply for green cards, lifting a bar that has been in place for more than two decades.

The beaming smile on Brad--116 days sober and HIV-positive--is testament to his appreciation for SPECTRUM, a mental health clinic for people who have the AIDS virus. The clinic, whose initials stand for Services for HIV Prevention, Education, Care, Treatment and Research for Underserved Minorities, has been operating for nearly a year at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science near Watts. But it was only on Wednesday that it held a festive formal opening.

A woman who alleged that she was wrongly diagnosed as HIV-positive at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center has reached a settlement with the county, lawyers for both sides said Friday. Plaintiff Lynn Howard claimed the hospital's staff told her she was HIV-positive in October 2002, according to the lawsuit. She was told two years later that she was HIV-negative. But county attorney Richard Reinjohn said hospital personnel never told Howard she was HIV-positive.

An actress who works in Southern California's pornography industry has tested positive for HIV, renewing county and state health officials' concerns that the adult entertainment industry lacks sufficient safety measures to prevent the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

He's a middle-aged black porn actor who had wanted to be a policeman. Known for his conscientiousness, he'd ask costars to refrain from smoking even as they were having unprotected group sex. She's a white French Canadian stripper with waif-like eyes and a history of depression. Her dream was to open her own escort service. Or become a fashion designer. Or cut a rap CD with Missy Elliott.

A low-cost, anonymous HIV-testing program that is expected to draw at least 10,000 people begins today at five Southern California sites. The program, which organizers say is one of the most ambitious undertakings of HIV testing to date, will be conducted in Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside counties today and next Saturday. For $13, participants will receive a blood test and individual counseling before and after the test.

As health officials struggle to get producers of pornographic movies to require their actors to use condoms, AIDS activists and some producers of films aimed at gay men say the rest of the industry could learn from their experience. Starting in the late 1980s, widespread AIDS deaths among actors and outcries by healthcare advocates prompted gay-porn companies to voluntarily adopt safe sex as an industry standard. Since then, condom use has been the norm in gay adult films.

The estimated number of new HIV infections each year has declined about 17% since 2001, but for every five people infected, only two begin treatment, according to a report from the World Health Organization and UNAIDS released Tuesday. About 2.7 million people were newly infected with the virus that causes AIDS last year, compared with about 3.3 million in 2001 -- although direct comparisons are difficult because the numbers are counted differently now. The biggest gains were in sub-Saharan Africa, where there were 400,000 fewer infections, even though the region still accounts for 67% of all new infections.

John Duran was a young lawyer living in West Hollywood in 1984 when he joined what would become one of the nation's longest-running studies of HIV/AIDS. "They were going to try to figure out what this thing was that was killing gay men," Duran said. More than a thousand men signed up for the Los Angeles Men's Study, part of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, or MACS, that also included 5,000 men in Chicago, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. During the next 25 years, the study generated scores of scientific findings as the group of mostly white, openly gay volunteers tested HIV-positive and sought treatment.

Only hours after HIV vaccine researchers announced the achievement of a milestone that has eluded them for a quarter of a century, they began plotting their next steps -- and coming to grips with a sobering reality. Their ultimate goal, halting the spread of AIDS, remains far in the future. A Thai and American team had announced early Thursday in Bangkok that they had found a combination of vaccines that provided modest protection against infection with HIV, offering the first proof of principle that the deadly disease could be tamed by teaching the immune system to recognize the virus and defeat it. Scientists around the world hailed the achievement.

Scientists have discovered that chimpanzees in Tanzania are falling ill and dying from an AIDS-like disease -- a surprising finding that could lead to insights into the illness and, perhaps, to a vaccine. The study, published in Thursday's edition of the British research journal Nature, showed that chimps infected by certain strains of simian immunodeficiency virus, a precursor to HIV, died 10 to 16 times more frequently than uninfected chimps during a nine-year study.

A prominent AIDS advocacy group filed a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday alleging that county public health officials have failed to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the pornographic film industry.

As prominent AIDS advocates called Thursday for Los Angeles County officials to require condoms on porn sets or shut down production, more questions arose about why the Public Health Department has not investigated 18 HIV cases reported in the last five years by the clinic that serves the adult film industry. "L.A.

A stamp in Heidemarie Kremer's passport reveals her health status as HIV-positive. Because of the disease, Kremer -- a native of Germany -- has been barred from becoming a legal resident of the United States. She and her two children are fighting possible deportation, and their plans for the future are on hold. But that soon may change. This month, the federal government cleared the way for HIV-positive foreigners to visit the country and apply for green cards, lifting a bar that has been in place for more than two decades.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Friday ordered a man who infected his former wife with the virus that causes AIDS to pay her $12.5 million. The six-year legal battle between the couple, identified in court documents as "Bridget B." and "John B.," thrust their sexual history into public record and brought them before the California Supreme Court, where justices in 2006 ruled that people could be held liable for failing to inform a new partner of previous risky sexual behavior.

Tired of waiting for a response from the San Fernando Valley-based health clinic where an adult film actress recently tested positive for HIV, state health and safety investigators Wednesday performed a surprise inspection of the medical offices and this week will issue subpoenas demanding access to patient records.

In an effort to prevent the possible spread of HIV in the adult film industry, the San Fernando Valley-based health clinic that serves the porn industry said Monday it is stepping up controls in its online database and urging producers not to accept paper copies of test results.