People with HIV who drop out of care do not live as long as those who remain under a doctor's treatment, said Baylor College of Medicine and Veterans Affairs researchers in a report published in the June 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases and available on line.

For a growing number of women in rural Mexico - and around the world - marital sex represents their single greatest risk for HIV infection. According to a new Mailman School of Public Health Study, because marital infidelity by men is so deeply ingrained across many cultures, existing HIV prevention programs are putting a growing number of women at risk of developing the HIV virus.

After a University of Cincinnati (UC) study revealed that people living with the HIV virus felt alienated by their churches following diagnosis, researchers began to explore the feelings of religious leaders and congregations about the illness.

New evidence shows that drug-resistant virus passed from mother-to-child can quickly establish itself in infants' CD4+ T cells where it can hide for years, likely limiting their options for future treatment. The study is published in the May 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.

One out of three sexually active older adults infected with HIV has unprotected sex, according to a study by Ohio University researchers. A survey of 260 HIV-positive older adults found that of those having sex, most were male, took Viagra and were in a relationship.

Many patients diagnosed with HIV in the 1980s and 1990s have survived and now are entering their golden years. AIDs cases among the over-50 crowd reached 90,000 in 2003, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will account for half of all HIV/AIDS cases in the United States by 2015.

A convenient, easy to use, and rapid alternative to blood-based HIV testing may become the new standard for field testing according to a new MUHC study. The study shows that the oral fluid-based OraQuick HIV1/2 test is 100 per cent accurate and patients' preferred choice.

After a viral infection, a small percentage of the T cells generated to kill virus-infected cells remain on guard to establish long-term immunity. These so-called memory T cells, which derive from a family of immune cells known as CD8 T cells, engage in a self-renewal process that is essential to their persistence. This ongoing process ensures effective protection against any repeat infection by the same virus, even decades later.

The value of opportunistic chlamydia screening is called into question in this week's BMJ.

Rabies, a relentless, ancient scourge, may hold a key to defeating another implacable foe: HIV. Scientists at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia have used a drastically weakened rabies virus to ferry HIV-related proteins into animals, in essence, vaccinating them against an AIDS-like disease. The early evidence shows that the vaccine - which doesn't protect against infection - prevents development of disease.

HIV-positive people who say religion is an important part of their lives are likely to have fewer sexual partners and engage in high-risk sexual behavior less frequently than other people with the virus that causes AIDS, according to a study issued today by the RAND Corporation.

The number of people in Asia infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS could more than double to 20 million over the next five years without a better government response and more funding, officials warned Friday.