Spring/Summer 2013
Image: Flickr/Trygve Utstumo
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A Cure For AIDS? Perhaps Closer - But Not Quite Yet ...In recent weeks and months, there have been excited media reports suggesting that a cure to AIDS may finally be in sight. The impetus for these reports was several anecdotal cases in Berlin, France, and Mississippi that chronicled cases where AIDS appeared to be cured in certain patients.
This analysis by the New York Times gives a good overview of the current medical status of HIV/AIDS, how treatment may change, and what still needs to be done to find a cure. Also - to get a good snapshot of the current state of HIV/AIDS around the world, see this infographic. |
Latin America Threatened by Mounting Cancer EpidemicA recent study published in The Lancet Oncology has found that growing prosperity and lifestyle changes in Latin American are creating a cancer epidemic that may overwhelm the region unless governments take urgent preventive action.
Find out what has changed in Latin America - and why Latin Americans who develop cancer may be twice as likely as Americans to die from this disease. |
Photo: Flickr/Daniel Zanini H.
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"This burgeoning cancer problem threatens to cause widespread suffering and economic peril to the countries of Latin America.” |
Children's Health
Study: Foreign-born Children in US Less Likely to Develop Allergies Photo: Flickr/NeilsPhotography
In recent years, allergies in American children have been on the rise.
A new study published in JAMA Pediatrics surveyed 90,000 US children under the age of 18, and found that foreign-born American children were 59 percent less likely to have developed one or more of the allergic diseases studied. Here's what the study authors think may be providing the protection in children not born in the US. |
Measles Epidemic Spreading Worldwide, Prompting Rush for Vaccination Photo: Flickr/Dave Haygarth
An epidemic of measles is rapidly spreading throughout the world, and authorities are rushing to contain it. Here are some of the latest stories:
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"U.S. patients will not indefinitely pay a 20-fold increase on the price of medicines that Indian consumers pay." |
Photo: Flickr/Alex E. Proimos
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Why Chemotherapy That Costs $70,000 in the U.S. Costs $2,500 in IndiaFrom The Atlantic: By rejecting patent applications, developing countries have kept down the costs of much-needed medications.
Can they continue to do so without harming efforts to develop new drugs? |