A cross-section of articles we've read this week about HIV/AIDS, STIs and a wide cross-section of structural and systemic factors impacting HIV/AIDS in Black communities.

MSM

HCV Antibody Testing May Miss Recent Infections in Gay Men Living with HIV 

Nucleic acid testing should be used to diagnose acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in gay men living with HIV, Dutch research published in the online edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases shows. HCV antibodies only developed a median of 74 days after infection with the virus. Over half of people who had a successful response to HCV therapy lost their HCV antibodies during follow-up. However, there was a high rate of re-infection, and these could be reliably diagnosed using antibody testing.

Prevention

Bisexual Women Often Overlooked in HIV Education and Safer Sex Efforts 

Who do you think of when you hear the word "bisexual"? A glance through articles referencing bisexual people published this year on TheBody.com shows a focus on bisexual men. But did you know that most people who identify as bisexual are women? Clearly we need to take a closer look at bisexual women and HIV.

Central Ohio Clinic To Offer Drug That Blocks Transmission of HIV 

COLUMBUS, Ohio - It is a major breakthrough in the fight against HIV and AIDS. This week, AIDS Resource Center Ohio will begin offering PrEP, the drug that has proven to prevent transmission of the virus.

Treatment

Coming Out of the PrEP Closet 

Each morning, I take a pill called Truvada to protect me from becoming infected with HIV. This strategy, also known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, reduces the risk of HIV infection by up to 99 percent if the pill is taken once a day. This makes PrEP one of the most effective HIV-prevention measures in existence. After consulting with my physician, I went on PrEP to further protect and take personal responsibility for my health. I'm HIV-negative, and I want to remain that way.

Miscellaneous

Counseling Closes Racial Gaps in HIV Clinical Trials 

Enrolling in a clinical trial to test a new drug or other treatment is intimidating, but with support and counseling from peers, more and more people with HIV are volunteering.

F.D.A. Panel Backs Limits on Testosterone Drugs 

HYATTSVILLE, Md. - An expert panel voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday for the Food and Drug Administration to impose strict new limitations on the multibillion-dollar testosterone drug industry, recommending that the agency tighten labels for the medicines so they are not prescribed to men who only have problems related to aging, such as low energy and libido. The F.D.A. often takes the advice of such panels.

For Those with HIV/AIDS, the Affordable Care Act Isn't So Affordable: Brian Hujdich 

Progress in the fight against HIV disease has been remarkable. Thanks to the advent and continued development of innovative therapies, people living with HIV in the United States can expect to live well into their 70s -- and even beyond. That, of course, depends on whether they can afford the treatments.

HealthCare.gov Is Given an Overhaul 

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is redesigning HealthCare.gov and says that 70 percent of consumers will be able to use a shorter, simpler online application form to buy health insurance when the second annual open enrollment period begins in mid-November.

Missing HIV/AIDS Patients Asked to Come Back Into Care in Birmingham Push 

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - It has been identified as a key problem in combating AIDS/HIV: infected persons falling out of care.

About half of people diagnosed with HIV get regular care, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What about the other half?

Some Good News about Obamacare That Even Conservatives Should Love 

We now have some more good news about the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and it's good news of a type that ought to warm the hearts of the law's conservative critics.

A Witness to AIDS in South Africa 

At the turn of the millennium, when the AIDS epidemic raged unchecked through South Africa with devastating consequences, the rural areas were worst hit. In the men's ward of the impoverished Hlabisa Hospital in rural KwaZulu-Natal, patients shared mattresses on the floor, the terminally ill were sent home to die because of nonexistent facilities and unclaimed corpses were buried in unadorned mass graves on the outskirts of town.