Free Republic

Here’s a great example of the mainstream media distorting information to promote a liberal agenda, an act that is especially pervasive when it comes to immigration coverage. A story published by NBC news, and reiterated by various other outlets, claims illegal immigrants don’t bring disease into the United States. The headline reads: “Migrants don’t bring disease. In fact, they help fight it, report says.” The article focuses on a study commissioned by a medical journal called the Lancet and University College London. The finished product is titled “ Global patterns of mortality in international migrants: a systematic review and meta-analysis”...

UNAIDS, under fire over a mishandled sexual assault investigation, suffers from “a broken organizational culture,” where leaders fail “to accept responsibility” and fear among staff is rampant, an expert report said Friday. The Independent Expert Report was created by UNAIDS’ oversight body following a public uproar triggered by the agency’s handling of sexual assault allegations against former deputy executive director Luiz Loures. The findings, based on dozens of interviews and hundreds of staff surveys, said the agency tasked with coordinating the global response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic is led by a secretariat engulfed in “a crisis which threatens its vital...

Thousands of migrants associated with the caravan have been treated in Tijuana, Mexico for infectious diseases, ranging from simple respiratory infections to tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, according to a recent report from the border.

Earlier this month, health officials reported the sixth confirmed failure of PrEP globally. The latest instance involved a San Francisco man who was consistently taking the HIV-prevention medicine during the time he contracted the virus. PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, involves taking a Truvada pill once daily to stop HIV infection, and it is estimated to be nearly 100 percent effective. Despite these six failures since Truvada was first approved as an HIV-prevention medication back in 2012, Dr. Stephanie Cohen, the medical director at the San Francisco City Clinic, said — unequivocally — that PreP is working as expected. "Nothing is...

full title: Survivors of the tainted blood scandal are given as little as five seconds to explain the devastation it caused them Rosie Taylor and Ben Spencer Hundreds of survivors of a blood transfusion scandal in the 1970s and 80s have been denied the chance to tell their stories. File photo© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited Hundreds of survivors of a blood transfusion scandal in the 1970s and 80s have been denied the chance to tell their stories. File photo Hundreds of survivors of the tainted blood scandal of the 1970s and 1980s are being denied a chance to tell...

The state health department said it is not aware of any new blood-borne infections after the department announced the closure of an Albuquerque spa being investigated for concerning practices. VIP Spa, located on 809 Tijeras Avenue in Albuquerque, is closed indefinitely. The New Mexico Department of Health, along with the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department and the Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists Board, inspected the spa on Friday after a client developed an unspecified infection that may have resulted from a procedure done there, according to a news release from the health department. The health department is now urging...

A "vampire facial," in which a patient's blood is drawn and then re-applied to their own face, could be responsible for infections at a New Mexico spa. Customers who have gotten the beauty treatment are being urged to get tested for HIV. Health inspectors say procedures at this particular New Mexico spa could lead to the spread of not only HIV, but also Hepatitis B and C.

A cluster of eight people in North Seattle, described as heterosexuals, drug users, and recently homeless, have been diagnosed with HIV infections since February, and health officials worry their cases could represent a new pattern of transmission for the virus that has been in steep decline. Officials suspect changes in drug use are to blame. ... The diagnoses are among 19 HIV cases reported so far this year among heterosexuals in King County. For all of last year, that number was seven, according to the health agency. It has averaged 10 for the past decade. Featured Video Gay and bisexual...

A Massachusetts bill that recommended teaching children as young as 12 about oral and anal sex failed in the state House last week amid growing public outrage. The College Fix reports state Senate Bill 2128 passed the state Senate but died in the House last week when the legislative session ended. The bill seemed harmless enough at first. It would have required public schools to provide “comprehensive” sex education that is medically accurate and age-appropriate. This included “the benefits of abstinence and delaying sexual activity” and “the effective use of contraceptives and barrier methods.” However, Andrew Beckwith, president of the...

A mutated strain of HIV spotted in Canada is driving sufferers to develop AIDS quicker than usual, a study reveals. The strain is circulating in Saskatchewan, where 80 percent of people diagnosed with the illness are Indigenous. Doctors started reporting alarmingly rapid declines among patients in 2016, when the rate of HIV infections rocketed to 10 times the rate of other regions. Now, a new study carried out by Simon Fraser University in Vancouver warns there is concrete evidence that this community is the birthplace of a particularly aggressive strain, which is developing faster than modern medicine can keep up...

<p>“He needs to take a big dose of ‘shut the f*ck up' and hide out for a while. It’s sad,” CrossFit’s CEO Greg Glassman told BuzzFeed News.</p> <p>A high-ranking CrossFit employee was fired after tweeting his support for a CrossFit gym’s cancellation of a Pride event, citing his belief that celebrating LGBT pride is a “sin.”</p>

With Parkland high school graduate David Hogg expected to announce a 60-day, 20-state, 75-stop summer bus tour Monday to push for more stringent gun control laws and to register young people to vote, the 18-year-old found himself facing another daunting challenge that could break the internet if he accepts. Kaitlin Bennett, the Kent State grad who took the internet by storm recently when she posed on campus with an AR-10 strapped across her back, took to social media to challenge Hogg to an arm wrestling contest. (snip) “I have a challenge for you @davidhogg111. Let’s arm wrestle. If I win,...

HIV, the fastest mutating organism, now poses the threat of a second drug-resistant epidemic. On 1 December 2011, President Obama declared that we now have the tools for an 'AIDS-free generation'. Made just over 30 years after HIV was discovered, this declaration was a stunning turnaround in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The world had come together to fight a scourge that had killed over 30 million people and transformed it into a manageable, chronic illness. Persons infected with HIV were now referred to as “people living with HIV (PLHIV),” highlighting that HIV is not only a survivable disease...

A hairdresser has been jailed for life after deliberately infecting at least five men with HIV. In the first conviction of its kind in the UK, sadistic Daryll Rowe, 27, was found guilty of unleashing the “cynical campaign” to infect as many men as possible – targeting them through dating apps including Grindr. The sick plot was in “revenge” after he was diagnosed with the potentially killer disease, with the man today jailed for a minimum of 10 years and 253 days. Police had alleged that Rowe, who consistently denied having HIV, had refused treatment. A court previously heard during...

DAYTON, Ohio — CVS Health is facing a federal lawsuit claiming the company unintentionally revealed the HIV status of up to 6,000 Ohio residents though a prescription mailing. The Dayton Daily News reports the lawsuit filed last week claims a letter that had information about getting HIV prescriptions through a CVS program was sent to about 6,000 participants in the state’s HIV Drug Assistance Program between July and August 2017.

Karl Schmid, an on-camera reporter for ABC’s Los Angeles affiliate, came out as HIV positive on Friday night in a powerful Facebook post about stigma and acceptance. The 37-year-old Australian import covers human interest stories and Hollywood on ABC7, reporting from events like the Academy Awards and the annual Vanity Fair Oscar party. After a decade living with HIV, Schmid said he came forward despite numerous industry peers urging him to stay quiet. “For 10 years I’ve struggled with ‘do I or don’t I?’ For ten years the stigma and industry professionals have said, ‘don’t! It’ll ruin you,”’ wrote Schmid....

Strains of HIV are becoming resistant to an antiretroviral drug commonly used to prevent and fight the virus, research has suggested. HIV was resistant to the drug Tenofovir in 60% of selected cases in some African countries, according to the study, which covered a 17-year period. The research, led by University College London, looked at 1,920 HIV patients worldwide who had treatment failure. Lead author Dr Ravi Gupta said the results were "extremely concerning".

Dr. DiCenco says the numbers in a state health department alert about STD’s and HIV among 15-24 year olds in Beaver County are “quite concerning and we, in our practice, have seen an uptick in the number of Gonorrhea and Chlamydia cases.” The state alert says the cases of Gonorrhea among 15-24 year old men and women were up 34 percent in 2017 compared to 2016. HIV was up almost threefold. “The HIV rate increasing 300 percent is very concerning,” says Dr. DiCenco. So why are the numbers among young people rising? Students on the Carnegie Mellon Campus had these...

Alexander Downer — the Australian diplomat whose tip to the FBI about a London pub conversation led to the massive probe of allegations of collusions between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia — is himself closely tied to a Chinese firm experts say is deeply involved in espionage against America. Just last month, all six top U.S. intelligence bosses warned Americans against using digital telecommunications equipment produced by Chinese smartphone producer Huawei.

125 people, including some high school students, have contracted HIV, syphilis or both in one of the largest sexually transmitted infection “clusters” discovered in Milwaukee, health care advocates confirmed to the Journal Sentinel. “This is an epidemic people are not talking about, and it leads to people taking unnecessary risks,” said Melissa Ugland, a public health consultant who works with a number of local organizations that focus on public health. There has been no announcement to the general public from the Milwaukee Health Department as of Tuesday. Fewer than 10% of the 125 people who tested positive are Milwaukee Public...