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

Study Shows Dire Consequences from Elevated HIV Cases Among US Black Gay Men 

Researchers assessed how existing disparities in HIV prevalence and in the HIV continuum of care explain differences in HIV incidence in MSM.

Science

Fetal Hearts Can Be Damaged by Anti-HIV Medicines 

A study by a Wayne State University and Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Medical Center research team is shedding new light on the troubling question of whether the drugs often given to HIV-positive pregnant women can cause significant long-term heart problems for the non-HIV-infected babies they carry.

Masking HIV Target Cells Prevents Viral Transmission in Animal Model 

Cloaking immune cells with antibodies that block T cell trafficking to the gut can substantially reduce the risk of viral transmission in a non-human primate model of HIV infection, scientists report.

Treatment

Most Americans With HIV Aren't Treated 

Only 3 in 10 people with HIV have the virus in check. Young people have the worst results.

Starting Treatment Soon After HIV Infection Improves Immune Health, Study Finds 

HIV-1-infected U.S. military members and beneficiaries treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART) soon after infection were half as likely to develop AIDS and were more likely to reconstitute their immune-fighting CD4+ T-cells to normal levels, researchers reported Nov. 24 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Miscellaneous

Bridging the AIDS Generation Gap 

"Don't trust anyone over 30!"

That was the mantra of my youth. And though I still feel that way at times, I had to admit long ago that I'm on the other side of that number. The gap is still there; it's always there. And nowhere does that divide seem wider than in the AIDS community.

Change in Health Care Law Would Take Aim at Consumer Inertia 

People who bought Affordable Care Act health plans for 2014 but who don't go back to shop again for 2015 will automatically keep the plan they first chose, even if its price goes way up.

Docu-Series Dirty 30 Offers Modern Outlook on Living with HIV/AIDS 

According to the Center for Disease Control, blacks account for almost 50 percent of all new HIV infections among adults and children in the U.S. It is a staggering statistic when you consider blacks represent less than 13 percent of the entire population. Globally, living with HIV and AIDS is a debilitating reality for 35 million people, and an everyday existence for someone you possibly know and love. But the face of the disease today-predominantly black men and women, and "men who like to have sex with men"-has become a matter discussed with less frequency. With that in mind, director Hannelore Williams set out to present a fuller, more vibrant picture of the epidemic thirty years since the virus was first identified.

Experts Weigh Officer's Decisions Leading to Fatal Shooting of Michael Brown 

In his first public interview this week, Darren Wilson, the white police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., was asked whether he could have done anything differently that would have prevented the killing.

Fury After Ferguson 

The reaction to the failure of the grand jury to indict in the shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, touched something deep and ancient and anguished in the black community.

Mass Imprisonment and Public Health 

A new report identifies the American incarceration epidemic as one of the greatest public health challenges of our time.

Race Inequality Between U.S. Whites and African-Americans by the Numbers 

With regard to employment, African-Americans got hit harder by the Bush Depression than did whites, and jobs have not come back for them at nearly the same rate.

10 Moments in HIV/AIDS Stigma and Bias in 2014 

Unfortunately, there are many examples to choose from when it comes to modern-day HIV stigma. Here's our look at "Ten Moments in HIV/AIDS Stigma in 2014."