Tuesday, September 4 - Positive Life Series returns!   

Currently, Positive Life is on summer hiatus with no programs in August.  But our next seminar is coming up soon on Tuesday, September 4.  It will feature Los Angeles physician Dr. Alex Del Rosario (pictured) discussing the latest in HIV treatments.  A light supper will be served at 6:00 PM, and the program will begin at 6:30 PM.  The location is the Sinatra Auditorium at Desert Regional Medical Center (at the corner of Tachevah and Via Miraleste in Palm Springs), and the event, sponsored by Jewish Family Services of the Desert, is always free.  ASL translation will be provided.  Questions?  Email positivelifeseries@gmail.com or call 760.566.6POZ (6769).  However, YOU DO NOT NEED TO RSVP!  The following Positive Life Series seminar will be on Tuesday, October 2 and will be about treatments for HIV-related lipodystrophy.  See you there! 

The D.A.P. Client Community Center hosts regular activities and events every week (listed below).  Community Center special events and other activities can be found on the main D.A.P. website.  Click here for the complete list of upcoming special events.

Friday, August 10, Noon - 1:00 PM 

Community Center Presents: Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. on

Intelence and other medications updates

Long Beach HIV specialist, Dr. Rodriguez will be here to discuss Intelence (etravirine) and other medications updates. Intelence is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) manufactured by Janssen Therapeutics.  It's been in use since 2008 to treat patients with HIV strains that are resistant to other NNRTIs, but has not yet been approved for people starting antiretroviral therapy for the first time.  Lunch starts at 11:45 AM.  RSVP to Ray at 760. 323.2118 ext. 295, or  rrobertson@desertaidsproject.org.

Improve your quality of life through education!  

Do Ask, Do Tell Dance Party raises $34,000 for D.A.P.

More than 560 party-goers joined D.A.P. in honoring our military men and women at the Do Ask, Do Tell Mid-Summer Dance Party V at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club on Friday, July 13.  "Our co-chairs Kenny Jervis, Michael Crisp, and Dennis Hernandez did us proud," said David Brinkman, CEO of Desert AIDS Project.  "The money raised for our Red Band program purchases HIV test kits and is essential to our commitment to getting everyone in the Coachella Valley tested.  Wearing the Red Band shows the world that you've pledged to be a part of the solution, right here in our community, to this global epidemic."  Kristine W's performance (pictured) was a highlight.  D.A.P. also thanks founding members of the party, Kimberly Nichols and Scott Hines, as well as those on the host committee: Chad Ballard, Bella da Ball, Kathleen Bennett, Ryan Cummings, Ben Fenn, Manny de la Rosa, Trini Garza, Albert Gonzales, Lonny Gorrill, Kerry Hendrix, Jeff Jones, Mark Jones, Nick Joseph, Kandy Lee, Mac Meehan, Jerry Meza, John Moore, Alexis Ortega, Paul Parkinson, Antonio (Trio) Peñaloza-Nieto, David Pennington, Greg Pettis, Greg Polzin, Willie Rhine, Denise Rodriguez-Bowman, Amanda  Smith, Brian Vatcher, and Larry and Laurie Weitz.  Sponsors include Ace Hotel & Swim Club, Desert European Motorcars, ITEX in the Desert, Kenny Jervis & Michael Crisp, SIR Entertainment, The Bottom Line, Brighthaus Marketing, Classic Party Rentals and LIVE Magazine.  (sb)

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Click here to read now! (jl) 

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Next HIV & Cancer Support Group meeting is Monday, August 13 at 3:30 PM   

The new peer-led HIV & Cancer Support Group will meet again on the second Monday of the month, August 13, at 3:30 PM.  The group is facilitated by D.A.P. client and cancer survivor Mike Wayne.  Regular meetings are second and fourth Mondays from 3:30 to 5:00 PM, and are open to non-D.A.P. clients as well, provided they are HIV-positive.

Learn what happened at the Conference online

David Brinkman, CEO of Desert AIDS Project, returned last weekend from Washington describing "the enormity of International AIDS Conference."  He noted that the optimistic theme, Turning the Tide Together, was balanced by a sense of what was realistically and practically possible.  Virtually all key speakers addressed or acknowledged that dealing with HIV/AIDS on a global basis--as we must--requires truly unprecedented and highly significant political, cultural, and economic realities involved with prevention, care,  treatment and, it's to be hoped, an eventual cure.  Enormous indeed.

In fact, there is so much information, DAPCAN can only help you get started if you want to read everything about the Conference.  A Google search will return a huge amounts of coverage, but here are a few good places to start:  Click here for an overview from the official Conference site; here for daily bulletins; here for daily plenary sessions and speakers; here for a seven-minute summary YouTube video; here for the UNAIDS Conference site; and here for the local Desert Sun's take.  In addition to the links mentioned in this issue's articles, our regular source sites are worth a general visit as well: aidsmeds.com; hivandhepatitis.com; blogaids.gov; poz.com; thebody.com; and one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date on everything dealing with HIV/AIDS, natap.org--the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project.  (sb)

A scientific, coordinated strategy focusing on a cure has been launched by an International AIDS Society working group.  The strategy, dubbed Towards an HIV Cure, includes seven major areas of research.  "The strategy," explained Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, PhD, "is the result of a collaborative effort which has produced a roadmap that will constructively move HIV cure research forward."  The seven research areas include :

• Cellular and viral mechanisms that maintain HIV persistence.
• Tissue and cellular sources of persistent HIV in long-term antiviral-treated individuals.
• Origins of immune activation and inflammation in presence of antiretroviral therapy and consequences for HIV persistence.
• Host and immune mechanisms that control infection but allow viral persistence.
• Assays to measure persistent infection.
• Therapeutic agents or immunological strategies to safely eliminate latent infection in people on antiviral therapy.
• Enhancing capacity of host response to control active viral replication.

Pasteur researchers advocate early therapy as "functional cure"

A small group of patients with HIV at L'institut Pasteur in Paris has stopped taking antiviral drugs without any resurgence of the virus in their bodies, giving scientists new hope that a "functional cure" for HIV may be possible.  The "Visconti Cohort," as the 14 patients are  called, were all given antivirals very soon after becoming infected with HIV, which has not been common practice in either Europe or the U.S.  The Cohort remained on medication for at least three years, then stopped.  Usually, virus levels increase quickly without drug suppression and cause the patient to become ill and eventually to develop AIDS.  But the Visconti Cohort has remained well, with extremely low viral levels for a median of seven years.  This seems to advocate for early-as-possible antiviral therapy.  "We believe that this is a promising group of patients," said Pasteur researcher Asier Saez Ciron.  Read more here.  (sb) 

Not much progress with new drugs

There wasn't much focus on breakthrough antiviral medications at the Conference simply because there are only two new ones in the FDA approval pipeline.  Dolutegravir and Elvitegravir (aka a "quad" pill which combines four previous drugs) are both integrase inhibitors and currently in mid-clinical trials.  However, neither is considered radically new or unusually promising since they are both essentially reformulations of earlier drugs, designed to improve resistance and interaction problems.  For more information about these medications, click here and scroll down the list on the left-side column.  At right is the strangely busy and confusing marketing poster for Dolutegravir.  Does anyone else besides your editor wonder who comes up with these drug names?  (sb)  

AIDS Quilt, displayed on Mall, remains a powerful memorial 

Throughout its 25-year history, the AIDS Memorial Quilt, a masterpiece of homemade craftmanship lovingly and sorrowfully created "by the people, for the people" has been used to fight prejudice, increase awareness and raise funds for direct service and advocacy groups.  It remains a catalyst and conduit, a tool for healing and grief therapy, a springboard for frank dialogue, both civic and private.  It gives voice to far too many lives lost, reminding us that we must never again leave a community in need and dying, ignored and uncared for.  While activists, researchers and doctors talked policy, funding and treatment indoors during long plenary sessions of the Conference, several thousand panels of the Quilt were unfolded on the Mall.  And once again, the Quilt served its purposes: a place of retreat, healing and remembering.  For more about the Quilt in Washington, click here for the CNN story and video.  (sb)

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Will a world without AIDS ever be a reality?

Many people were asking that question at last week's Conference.  Although a cure and vaccine remain distant hopes, many enthusiasts listening to various speakers answered strongly in the affirmative.  However, longtime HIV specialist Dr. Lawrence K. Altman, (pictured) one of the most respected and experienced in the field, provided a realistic and measured response to the question.  In summarizing the Conference, he said, "Some speakers defined an AIDS-free generation as the absence of  people sick from the disease.  But even if there is no one with AIDS, there will still be millions of HIV-infected people with us for a very long time."  Not exactly what we hoped to hear, but Dr. Altman provides a realistic and practical point of view and good summary that's worth a read.  Click here for his article in The New York Times.  (sb)

Iowa man sentenced to prison under state's draconian HIV laws

A 38-year-old Iowa man was charged under the state's outdated laws related to "intimate contact" with another person with intent to expose the person to HIV. Using a condom, Nick Rhoades (pictured) had consensual sex with an HIV-negative man who was not infected from the encounter.  Due to his undetectable viral load and upon his doctor's advice, Rhoades did not disclose his status. A few weeks later, armed detectives showed up at Rhoades' workplace, forced him to take an HIV test, subpoenaed his medical records and searched his home.   He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, placed on Iowa's sex offender registry and owes tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, court costs and restitution.  Fortunately, a judge later vacated the prison sentence but the conviction stands.  With the help of Lambda Legal, Rhoades is appealing the conviction and advocating change of the 1980s-era law which Iowa conservatives continue to use to criminalize HIV.  Click here to read the article in the Des Moines Register, here to read Rhoades' appeal brief to the Iowa Supreme Court and here for a portal about HIV and criminalization laws in general.  (sb)  

"Webinar" on HIV and aging issues will focus on isolation, stigma, caregiving 

As we've reported over the past year, activists and healthcare providers are increasingly focusing on how people are aging with HIV/AIDS.  A "webinar" on the subject will be conducted on August 15 out of New York City by the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA), examining several topics:

• A high degree of social isolation among older adults with HIV;
• How isolation is related to a paucity of social support resources as well as poorer psychosocial functioning re: depression and perceived stigma;
• How isolation, mental health and stigma issues negatively affect treatment outcomes and caregiving supports; and
• Strategies that can meet socialization and caregiving needs of people aging with HIV.

More help paying for prescription medications 

Among the resources available to HIV-positive people to help pay for prescription medications is NeedyMeds.  The mission of NeedyMeds is to make information about assistance programs available to low-income patients and their advocates at no cost.  Go  to the website, look up the medications you need and you'll be directed to the patient assistance program website for that manufacturer.  The site  also offers a free drug discount card that is accepted at more than 62,000 pharmacies.  If you are having trouble paying for your medications this site is worth a look!  (jl) (sb)

Medically Indigent Services Program  (MISP) 

AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP)

951.486.5375 - English         

951.486.5400 - Spanish

951.486.4635 - fax   

NOTICE: Faxed MISP applications can get lost in the process. Most persons who have faxed their application have had to re-apply later. It's best to apply in person in Moreno Valley, and get a "receipt of application", and use that as proof that you applied to avoid any uninterrupted services with your DAP medical doctor visits. (rv) (jl)

To contact state and federal officials click on name:

President Barack Obama
Senator Diane Feinstein
Senator Barbara Boxer
Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack 
Congressman Jerry Lewis
Governor Jerry Brown
State Senator Bill Emmerson
State Senator Juan Vargas
Assembly member Brian Nestande
Assembly member Manual Perez

Desert AIDS Project - Community Action Newsletter (DAPCAN) presents published material, reprinted with permission, and neither endorses or opposes any material.  All information contained in this newsletter, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments is for informational purposes only.  It is often presented in summary or aggregate form.  It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional.  Always discuss treatment options with a physician who specializes in treating HIV.  Publication of the name or likeness of any individual in articles in this newsletter is not to be construed as any indication of the HIV status of such individual.  If you do not wish to receive this e-newsletter, please notify us by using the email address below:

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