SOFIA, BULGARIA - Bulgaria insisted Friday on a speedy appeal for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in an AIDS case in Libya , a case that has triggered outrage in the country. Libya has denounced Western criticism of the case, saying it is politically motivated and biased against Muslim
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Bush s ambitious AIDS-fighting program in poor countries has pushed so hard for fast results that basic record-keeping often went by the wayside, making it hard to judge the true success, according to government audits and officials. Investigators have found that the 3-year-old, $15-billio
Robert Manor, Tribune staff reporter, rmanor@tribune.com
The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that it is proposing to expand access to experimental drugs for seriously sick patients, and would allow drug companies to charge for as yet unapproved therapies. For decades the FDA has allowed some patients to take drugs that are still under investigation and awaiting gove
PALOS HEIGHTS -- As part of a mission to help the underserved, students at Trinity Christian College will hold an art sale Friday to raise money for the Lawndale Christian Health Center in Chicago, which serves AIDS patients in Lawndale and Garfield. The sale includes up to 20 student paintings, photographs, handmade s
LAKE FOREST, Calif. -- Sen. Barack Obama, a pro-abortion rights Democrat contemplating a presidential run, on Friday received a warm embrace from one of America s best-known evangelical pastors and an enthusiastic ovation from a national gathering of church leaders not traditionally welcoming of liberal social views.
Charles Sheehan, Tribune staff reporter, csheehan@tribune.com
When Chuck Hyde started tending bar 25 years ago at a nightclub on Chicago s North Side, word began to arrive from California that a horrifying new disease was killing gay men by the scores. Now a managing partner of the Sidetrack nightclub, an institution in the heart of Chicago s gay community, Hyde recently leaned a
LONDON, BRITAIN -- Within the next 25 years, AIDS is set to join heart disease and stroke as the top three causes of death worldwide, according to a study published online Monday. Now fourth behind heart disease, stroke and respiratory infections, AIDS is set to become No. 3, says a report in the journal Public Library
Laurie Goering, Tribune foreign correspondent based in South Africa
In March 2003, when my baby daughter was 3 months old, my husband and I hired Hlengiwe Leocardia Mchunu as our nanny. I liked her right away. After weeks of interviewing women who looked at their shoes when they spoke or mumbled replies to my questions, Leo looked me in the eye and told me what she thought. She was sma
Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporter, mbrachear@tribune.com
NEWARK, N.J. -- Louie Crew lives with his male partner of 30 years in a suburban South Orange high-rise with a view of nearby Manhattan. But he worships in the heart of Newark s barren downtown in a smells and bells mass of the high church tradition. On a recent Sunday, he stood in Grace Episcopal Church as the priests
By Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporter, mbrachear@tribune.com
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori wrapped up her first week as chief pastor of the Episcopal Church on Sunday in Chicago by celebrating an institution she believes can heal the world. Jefferts Schori also believes that the fractured U.S. arm of the Anglican Communion can heal itself while eradicating poverty and halting
If you think there s nothing funny about hemophilia or HIV, Shawn Decker thinks you re probably not much fun yourself. If he can find the humor in either disease then, quite frankly, so can you. I know a lot of people think things that have happened to me have been tragic, he said, recently, while in town to promote M
Johnathon E. Briggs, Tribune staff reporter, jebriggs@tribune.com
Dismayed that the 2007 city budget proposed by Mayor Richard Daley has no increase in HIV-prevention funding , Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) is seeking an amendment to mandate a $1.7 million boost to fight the disease. The number of reported HIV/AIDS cases in Chicago has increased 20 percent since 2003--particularly among Afr
460,000: Number of fatal heart attacks each year. 10: Percentage of hospitals that have a pediatric-care unit. 47: Average number of minutes a patient waits to see a doctor in the emergency room. 17: Percentage of children and adolescents (ages 2-19) who are overweight. 66: Percentage of adults who are overweight or ob
In an effort to end health disparities, roughly 200 women attended the fourth Black Women: Loving the Mind, Body & Spirit Health Symposium on Saturday to learn more about HIV prevention, birth control, healthy eating and financial planning. We really approach the issues looking at the totality of women s lives, sa
JOHANNESBURG -- Retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu is not a man to mince words. South Africa s ruling party, under President Thabo Mbeki, demands obsequious conformity and has done too little to help the country s legions of poor, he has charged. Jacob Zuma, an ambitious populist politician who hopes to succeed Mbeki, has
Kayce T. Ataiyero, Tribune staff reporter, kataiyero@tribune.com
When charity and celebrity collide, as they did with Madonna s recent adoption of a little boy from Malawi , the cause at hand is often overlooked. People aren t focused on the needs of little David Banda and the reported 1 million orphans in the impoverished southern African nation. Instead, we are fixated on discerni
E. COLI 0157:H7, WHICH RECENTLY TAINTED U.S. SPINACH, MAKES SHIGA TOXIN. SUCH TOXINS ALSO CAUSE DYSENTERY AND WORK LIKE THE DEADLY TERRORIST POISON RICIN. Though drug-resistant bacteria and viruses are an ever-growing problem, the drug industry has cut way back on development of new antibiotics and antivirals. Firms ma
Jeremy Manier, Tribune staff reporter, jmanier@tribune.com
In a maternity ward room filled with relatives, Carmen Chinea fussed over her 20-year-old daughter s intravenous lines and helped her prepare for a baby they all awaited with a mix of hope and fear. Two decades earlier, Chinea had unknowingly passed HIV to her daughter during childbirth. The disease sapped Chinea s hea
In a case that could break new legal ground, a state appeals court on Thursday threw out a $350,000 jury award to a Chicago man who was incorrectly diagnosed as HIV-positive. Mark Jones, 37, of Chicago alleged that the misdiagnosis in 1992, when he was 23, sent him into a downward spiral that included gang-related crim
Mike Hughlett and Sandra Jones, Tribune staff reporters
What an all-star crew, and all together on Michigan Avenue Thursday: talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, pop music prince Bono, rap kingpin Kanye West, movie actress Penelope Cruz and Motorola mobile phone chief Ron Garriques. Wait, what s with the Motorola phone guy hanging with the A-List from People magazine? Welcome to
Several hundred people braved bitter weather this morning to line up along North Michigan Avenue to get a glimpse of U2 frontman Bono and talk-show diva Oprah Winfrey as they promoted the expansion of Bono s project to assist AIDS victims in Africa. By 9:30 a.m., when the celebrities were supposed to make their appeara
When your doctor draws blood for testing, she generally doesn t tick off the entire list of tests that will be done. Maybe you re concerned about your cholesterol. Maybe it s something more serious--an STD or diabetes. A complete blood workup may encompass a dozen or more tests. But in Illinois and elsewhere, it won t
Peter Gorner, Tribune science reporter, pgorner@tribune.com
Like so many scientific discoveries, this one started with a mystery: In the early 1990s, plant scientists in the U.S. and the Netherlands were adding genes to petunias in hopes of making them brighter, only to achieve the opposite effect. Instead of deep purple or deep red, the blossoms were partially or entirely whit
Sister Juliana Kelly, a nun and former administrator of St. Joseph Hospital, was known for her compassion and ability to make a quick decision during a health-care career that spanned more than half a century. She proved to be an iconoclastic leader at St. Joseph, where she dedicated a floor to the treatment of AIDS pa
Russell Working, Tribune staff reporter, rworking@tribune.com
The summer before Christy Peed s senior year at Wheaton Academy, a Zambian workman who had been like an uncle to her died. Peed had lived her first 12 years in Zambia, and the man worked at her missionary parents home. She was a flower girl at his wedding, and he used to help her pick pineapples ripening in their yard.
DARLING, South Africa -- Evita Bezuidenhout, South Africa s grande dame, sweeps into the room in a purple African mumu, her scarlet fingernails clutched around a clear plastic bag holding a gold-sequined purse and Nelson Mandela s autobiography. Just back from London! she coos to the audience. Then, settling herself in
New U.S. recommendations calling for routine HIV tests for all Americans between the ages of 13 and 64 could be a boon to Abbott Laboratories and a partnership it has with a Pennsylvania company. North Chicago-based Abbott and OraSure Technologies Inc. agreed four years ago to co-market an HIV test that detects the pre
Kelly Haramis, Tribune staff reporter, kharamis@tribune.com
New York may have been abuzz about Edun last week after the socially conscious clothing company wrapped up Fashion Week, but Chicago is also vibrating. After all, Edun s team--Rogan Gregory, Ali Hewson and husband Bono--hit Nordstrom, 55 E. Grand Ave., mere hours after their New York show to launch the One T-shirt, fro
Students at Columbia College Chicago can take a new approach to an old problem this fall. The school has launched Critical Encounters, a project that addresses AIDS and HIV and, during a three-year arc, will teach students what civic engagement really means, through classes, projects and public events. There was a lot
Jeremy Manier, Tribune staff reporter, jmanier@tribune.com
Testing for HIV should be a routine part of doctor appointments and emergency-room visits for all patients between ages 13 and 64, according to new federal guidelines designed to identify AIDS patients before they develop life-threatening symptoms. The policy may be difficult to implement, especially in Illinois, where
JOHANNESBURG -- A judge dismissed corruption charges against South Africa s former deputy president Wednesday, renewing hopes among Jacob Zuma s supporters that he could become the next president. After refusing prosecution requests for a delay in the trial--apparently part of an effort by the state to have new evidenc
Madonna s cross routine may not be ready for prime time. The bigwigs at NBC haven t decided if they will show the Material Girl staging her mock crucifixion when it airs her concert special, Live to Tell, recorded during the latest leg of her hugely popular and equally controversial Confessions tour. Madonna, 48, has s
Calling the case nothing less than shocking, a judge sentenced a former city employee convicted of fatally running down a Chicago cabdriver with his own cab to 15 years in prison Wednesday. Michael Jackson was convicted last month of second-degree murder in the death of Haroon Paryani, 62, after the two fought over an
It s not that easy to find a good actor, a good writer or a good dancer. All three combined is a rarity indeed. So it proves with Peter Carpenter. His Bareback into the Sunset, playing through Saturday at the Dance Center of Columbia College, manages a number of achievements: an update on the AIDS crisis; a well-writte
In the diagnostics industry s version of David vs. Goliath, a federal jury awarded a tiny Belgian biotechnology company $7 million in damages after determining that Abbott Laboratories infringed on one of its key patents. A jury in U.S. District Court in Madison, Wis., earlier this month found Abbott infringed on an In
Laurie Goering, the Tribune's Africa correspondent, lgoering@tribune.com
KIGALI, Rwanda -- Jeanette Uwimana was eight months pregnant when Rwanda s genocide began in 1994. Desperate to save her six children, she fled to a hill above her home in Butare. The killers found her anyway. First, they put a bullet in the head of her 15-year-old daughter, ending a dispute among the armed men over wh
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA -- The government scaled back the influence of its embattled minister for AIDS policy after a group of international scientists labeled South Africa s program inefficient and immoral and called for her to be fired. Government spokesman Themba Maseko defended Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-M
Do you want to be One with Lindsay Lohan, Naomi Watts, Rosario Dawson, James Iha, Djimon Hounsou, Damon Dash, Kate Bosworth, oh, and did we mention U2 s Bono? In the September issue of In Style, these celebrities (and others) lend their support for Bono s One initiative by donning Edun s One shirt. The Edun team--Bono,
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA -- A killer strain of extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis has been found in at least 28 hospitals across South Africa and might have spilled across borders, a specialist said Thursday. The super bug could jeopardize efforts to deal with an AIDS epidemic that has hit South Africa particularl
Former NBA great Bob Lanier stood at a basketball clinic in Johannesburg on Thursday morning and watched Bulls Luol Deng and Chris Duhon perform magic that had nothing to do with a hoop. They were talking to campers about keeping a positive attitude and work ethic, Lanier said by phone from South Africa
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA -- More than 80 international scientists condemned South Africa s AIDS policies as ineffective and immoral and called for the firing of the health minister in a letter to President Thabo Mbeki released Wednesday. The scientists called Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang an embarrassment
Singers Lisa Marie Presley, Debbie Harry and Eve and burlesque queen Dita Von Teese are the newest models to grace MAC s Viva Glam ad campaign. And the eclectic group is modeling for an altruistic reason: 100 percent of the sales of Viva Glam lipsticks and lip glosses are donated to HIV and AIDS programs, including tre
The Illinois Appellate Court on Friday overturned a decision that granted $2 million to a woman who sued her fiance s parents for allegedly covering up that he was dying of AIDS. The woman, known only as Jane Doe, was infected through unprotected sex with her fiance, Albert Dilling, in August 1996, said Hall Adams, the
Jeff Zeleny, Tribune correspondent, jzeleny@tribune.com
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Sen. Barack Obama said Monday that Kenya would struggle to step out of poverty and find its true economic potential unless the nation s entrenched government corruption and deep-seated tradition of tribal politics were abandoned. If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it e
Jeff Zeleny, Tribune correspondent, jzeleny@tribune.com
KISUMU, Kenya -- The last time he came here, they called him Barry. He arrived in this western Kenyan city aboard an overnight train, rumbling across the mountainous Rift Valley, walking a half-mile to the bus depot. A gaggle of family led the tour, making a pilgrimage designed to show the American-born relative his Af
CHICAGO -- As the twin scourges of AIDS and unemployment ravaged their rural district, the women of the South African fishing village of Hamburg fought back with the weapons they were given: embroidery needles. What began as a simple plan to earn money for medicine through handicrafts has led to the creation of several
Jeff Zeleny and Laurie Goering, Tribune correspondents
KHAYELITSHA, South Africa -- Sen. Barack Obama said Monday that the South African government must awaken from its denial over the widespread AIDS crisis, and he pledged to set an example for men across Africa by being tested for HIV when he arrives in Kenya late this week. There needs to be a sense of urge
Carlos Sadovi, Tribune staff reporter, csadovi@tribune.com
A former city of Chicago employee was found guilty of second-degree murder Monday in the 2005 killing of a cabdriver that stemmed from a fight over a fare. But jurors acquitted Michael Jackson, 38, of the more serious charges of first-degree murder and aggravated vehicular hijacking. Both Cook County prosecutors and de
Jeff Long, Tribune staff reporter, jjlong@tribune.com
Eunice Nombulelo Mangwane moved from Cape Town, South Africa , to the tiny seaside village of Hamburg and found a community ravaged by AIDS. Named for the hometown of its early German settlers, the South African town also was ravaged by ignorance regarding the disease. Few of the village s 3,500 residents knew anything
Jeff Zeleny, Tribune national political correspondent
KHAYELITSHA, South Africa -- Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said today that he intends to get an HIV test here in Africa, hoping to send a message to men across the continent to follow his lead. All leaders have a responsibility to speak loudly and clearly about this issue, Obama said, speaking to a group of young AIDS edu
Jeff Zeleny, Tribune correspondent, jzeleny@tribune.com
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- The last time he traveled to Africa, he wore a backpack and walked with anonymity. Fourteen years later, he arrives with a title, an entourage and such fanfare that some roads in his father s village have been freshly paved in his honor. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) arrived here Saturday to beg
The youngest of seven children, 1-year-old Safia Lindholm-Nimrod knows how to steal the spotlight. First, she monopolizes her mother with grins and giggles. Then, she focuses her chubby-cheeked smile on her father, demanding -- and receiving -- the biggest and longest hug when he comes through the door at the end of th
Carlos Sadovi, Tribune staff reporter, csadovi@tribune.com
A former Chicago Department of Public Health employee is a cold-blooded killer who repeatedly ran over a cabdriver with his own cab after a dispute over the fare, prosecutors said on the first day of the man s murder trial. Lawyers for Michael Jackson, 38, said it was their client who was the victim, and that Haroon Pa
Carlos Sadovi, Tribune staff reporter, Csadovi@tribune.com
The trial of a former Chicago Public Health Department worker charged with killing a cab driver over an $8 fare began this morning with opening statements and testimony from several witnesses who said they saw the man run over the driver with his own cab. Michael L. Jackson, 38, is charged with three counts of murder a
Opening statements are expected to begin this morning in the trial of a former Chicago Public Health Department worker charged in the killing of a cabdriver over an $8 fare last year in the Lakeview neighborhood. Michael L. Jackson, 38, is charged with three counts of murder and one count of aggravated vehicular hijack
TORONTO, CANADA -- It is time for the African-American community to face the fact that AIDS has become a black disease and find ways to defeat it, said Julian Bond, the chairman of the NAACP, at the international AIDS summit Monday. Bond, Jesse Jackson and other African-American leaders urged their community to accept
TORONTO, CANADA -- Thousands of AIDS experts, activists and politicians arrived Saturday for the world s largest conference on the disease, many of them determined to speak for the world s 2.3 million infected children. Experts say drugs can prevent infected mothers from transmitting the disease to children at birth, b
Under criticism for pricing of its AIDS drugs, Abbott Laboratories on Sunday added 45 countries to its preferential pricing program-reaching beyond just the poorest of nations in the world to the low- to low-middle income. The North Chicago-based drug giant already makes its blockbuster AIDS pill
KIGALI, Rwanda -- Sweden and Norway once claimed the world s highest percentage of female lawmakers. Now that distinction belongs to an African nation: Rwanda. Women in the tiny, land-locked country still recovering from a 1994 genocide hold 48 percent of the country s legislative seats.
Madonna, as expected, went through with her mock crucifixion during a concert in Rome, leaving religious leaders in a snit, the BBC reported Monday. Cardinal Ersilio Tonini, who spoke with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI, called the concert a blasphemous challenge to the faith. Madonna says the part of her show when
Madonna has announced plans to raise at least $3 million for programs to support the nearly 1 million children in Malawi who have lost parents to AIDS. The southern African nation is among the poorest countries in the world. According to the National AIDS Commission, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has left close to 1 million or
SPRINGFIELD -- Rep. Larry McKeon, the first openly gay member of the Illinois General Assembly and a persistent advocate for equal rights, said Monday he will not seek re-election to the House seat he has held for almost a decade. McKeon, a Chicago Democrat, has struggled in the past year with cancer and with an AIDS-r
Johnathon E. Briggs and Gary Washburn, Tribune staff reporters
In its first report focused on improving treatment for drug addicts in the criminal justice system, the National Institute on Drug Abuse released 13 research-based guidelines Monday that the agency contends can reduce crime and save money and lives. The criminal justice community must understand that drug addiction is
Twelve years ago, when the international Gay Games were played in New York, the Clinton administration granted a blanket waiver to allow foreign athletes and spectators to enter the country even if they were HIV-positive. The Bush administration did the same for this year s Gaymes, which end this weekend in Chicago.
Charles Storch, Tribune staff reporter, cstorch@tribune.com
After three eventful years as chief executive of Alexian Brothers AIDS Ministry in Chicago and Waukegan, Merrill Kenna is resigning, effective Aug. 18. Kenna said he is moving to Thailand in hopes of working on the HIV/AIDS crisis in that country and other parts of Southeast Asia. But his motives are not entirely altru
Tommy Morrison--a few parts former fighter, one part former actor--is back. Or wants to be, anyway. You remember Morrison, 37, whose boxing career was derailed in 1996 after he revealed he had HIV. Six years earlier, Morrison had starred with Sylvester Stallone in Rocky V as Tommy Machine Gunn. That part had come three
Brian Devin has been HIV-positive for almost two decades. The five pills a day that he swallows cause bad dreams, anemia and fatigue. At the slightest sign of a cold, he restricts himself to bed rest and dining in. Yet on weekends the tall and wiry athlete can be found running 18 to 20 miles a day on his hometown stree
Mark Silva and Alex Rodriguez, Tribune correspondents
STRELNA, Russia -- The leaders of the United States and other major industrial nations, eyeing the high and volatile price of oil, have left their annual Group of Eight summit with a pledge to develop open and competitive markets for energy in a world of increasingly interdependent nations. They have pledged billio
Peter Gorner, Tribune science reporter, pgorner@tribune.com
It s only a lab feat so far, but government researchers said Thursday that they had discovered a potent inhibitor of human papilloma viruses--particularly the types that cause cervical cancer and genital warts--in a chemical commonly found in commercial products, including food and sexual lubricants. In a test tube, ca
WASHINGTON -- People infected with the virus that causes AIDS will soon be able to take a once-a-day pill that combines three drugs in a cocktail therapy that can be swallowed in a single dose. The pill, called Atripla, includes three Food and Drug Administration-approved medicines that already form one of the most wid
Margaret Ramirez, Tribune religion reporter, mramirez@tribune.com
After finding out she had AIDS in 1993, Connie Statz believed her Catholic faith would be her strength. But soon after she was diagnosed, a priest at her church in rural Minnesota delivered a cruel message. From now on, the priest said, she would no longer be able to drink the wine at Communion, which Catholics believe
Bonnie Miller Rubin, staff reporter, brubin@tribune.com
In the early years of AIDS, when many people thought a deadly disease dubbed the gay cancer might be transmitted via drinking glasses or doorknobs, Congress added HIV to the list of infections that could prevent a foreign visitor from entering the country. Nearly two decades later, as the international Gay Games begin
Walgreen Co. said Wednesday that it has acquired C&M Pharmacy LLC, a Chicago-based specialty pharmacy. The acquisition extends Deerfield-based Walgreens ability to serve patients with specialized pharmacy needs in the Chicago area. Since 1996, C&M Pharmacy has served patients with HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and beha
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first 3-in-1 antiretroviral pill for use by the U.S.-sponsored plan for AIDS treatment, something that the White House s acting global AIDS coordinator said Tuesday should greatly improve treatment for AIDS patients in poor countries. Although it is not yet clear how mu
North Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories received marketing authorization from the European Commission for a tablet formulation of Kaletra , a more convenient version of its leading protease inhibitor prescribed for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.
Andrew L. Wang, alwang@tribune.com and Lisa Black, lblack@tribune.com, Tribune staff reporters
The Illinois attorney general s office has sued the host of a nationally syndicated radio program on HIV/AIDS, claiming that Christopher DeChant diverted more than $1.4 million of the non-profit organization s funding into his checking accounts for personal use. DeChant, executive producer of the HIV Talk Radio Project
The world s richest countries are falling short on pledges made last year to provide Africa with lifesaving AIDS drugs, expanded trade and increased aid, Bono says. Bono and fellow Irish rocker Bob Geldof have used their fame to fuel a campaign for Africa, organizing concerts last year to press leaders of rich countrie
New HIV/AIDS cases fell slightly in Illinois in 2005, according to figures released Monday by the Illinois Department of Public Health, but experts still found several worrisome trends. Blacks are still disproportionately affected. And not enough people are being tested--which in part accounts for the lower number of r
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a new drug, Prezista, to treat HIV. It is the first new HIV drug approved since last June and is the first approved HIV medication for Johnson & Johnson . The drug, also known as darunavir, is a member of the protease inhibitor class of drugs.
NEW YORK -- Wall Street execs, leggy models and one-named celebrities shimmied into the night as Kanye West held court at the exclusive Cipriani s for an intimate concert. I used to sneak into events like this! declared the Grammy-winning rapper-producer and Chicago native, who performed hits such as Jesus Walks and
Mike Hughlett, Tribune staff reporter, mhughlett@tribune.com
Bono, Beckham and Bachchan. The first is a global pop music icon, the second an international sports celebrity, and the third a heartthrob movie star in India . In the past month, all three have become promoters of Motorola cell phones. Has the Schaumburg-based phonemaker gone star crazy? Well, it s certainly not t
Bonnie Miller Rubin, brubin@tribune.com and Judy Peres, jperes@tribune.com, Tribune staff reporters
In a groundbreaking study that could influence the debate over sex education, researchers have found that consistent use of condoms significantly reduces the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer. University of Washington researchers will report Thursday that female college stu
Jury selection is expected to begin today in the trial of a former city Health Department employee charged with killing a taxi driver over an $8 fare. Michael L. Jackson, 38, is charged with three counts of murder and one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking for the February 2005 killing of Haroon Paryani, a 61-year
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would like to see testing for HIV become a part of routine physical exams for every American between the ages of 13 and 64, as common as a cholesterol test. To bring that about, the agency plans to issue new guidelines this summer that would eliminate the requireme
Gary Marx, Tribune foreign correspondent, gmarx@tribune.com
HAVANA -- It was bad enough when Belkis suspected that her husband, a construction worker and loving father named Yassel, was having an affair with another woman. Then she learned the truth: Yassel was in love with another man. You re not a man, not a woman, nothing! Belkis shouted. I don t want to see you again!
Bono, the star of the Irish rock band U2, has leveraged his fame to bring international attention to Africa s fight against AIDS, extreme poverty and investment barriers. Last weekend he delivered a blunt message to African finance ministers gathered in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Corruption, he told them, is as dea
Sid Smith, Tribune arts critic, sismith@tribune.com
There s hyperbole and even hubris in calling a modestly sized traveling troupe the Children of Uganda . The implication is that this company of 22 performers somehow represents all the offspring of one giant African country. And yet, the more you learn about this extraordinary organization, its makeup and its mission,
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Although it faces an escalating epidemic, Russia stands to lose tens of millions of dollars in international AIDS funding because the World Bank has reclassified it as an upper middle-income country, officials said Friday. Non-governmental groups that rely largely on funding from the Global Fund to Fig
Mike Hughlett, Tribune staff reporter, mhughlett@tribune.com
When Bono met Moto--first in New York, then in Chicago--he saw red. And a business courtship began. Bono and Motorola Inc. on Monday unveiled a blazing red mobile phone in London, the latest installment in the Irish rock star s Product Red crusade to fight pestilence in the developing world. The phone, a red version of
Mike Hughlett, Tribune staff reporter, mhughlett@tribune.com
Pop star Bono is teaming up with wireless giant Motorola Inc. to launch a cell phone that will effectively help fight AIDS and other diseases in the developing world. Bono s Product Red project was expected to announce Monday in London that Schaumburg-based Motorola will be Product Red s fifth major corporate partner,
Kim Barker, kbarker@tribune.com, Tribune foreign correspondent
AHMEDABAD, India -- For as long as the leprosy patients can remember, the nuns have cared for them in the government hospital, bandaging their wounds, handing out pills and giving them food. But last month the state government kicked out the sisters. Soon, the Leprosy Hospital will close its doors.
Judith Graham, jegraham@tribune.com and Ronald Kotulak, rkotulak@tribune.com, Tribune staff reporters
A government proposal to make testing for HIV as routine as testing for cholesterol is drawing criticism from some Chicago advocacy groups but winning praise from local physicians. The proposal signifies a major shift in strategy by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has been frustrated for years by
JOHANNESBURG -- South Africa s former deputy president was acquitted Monday of charges of raping an HIV-positive family friend, a verdict that sent thousands of his ardent supporters dancing into the streets, hoping for his political comeback. But Jacob Zuma, who made clear he still harbors ambitions to lead South Afri
CHICAGO -- A Chicago man charged with killing a cabdriver by running him over with his cab last year is expected to have a jury at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building hear his case next month. Michael L. Jackson, 38, a former HIV/AIDS communications specialist for the city, is charged in the February 2005 slaying
Bruce Japsen, Tribune staff reporter, bjapsen@tribune.com
For the second year in a row Abbott Laboratories shareholders Friday resoundingly defeated shareholder proposals that would have forced the drug and device maker to disclose more information about political donations, divide the chief executive and chairman roles and tie executive pay to a performance standard. The pay
After his partner s AIDS-related death in 1985, he helped found Chicago House hospice facility and later served as CEO of Howard Brown Health Center On the morning of the 1985 Gay Pride Parade, Thomas Dombkowski rode a hot air balloon high above the Chicago suburbs to spread the ashes of his former partner, who had die
Chicago Public Schools will require that students in the 6th grade and beyond take a sex education course next year that covers birth control. Adolescent health advocates and a group of high school students who have fought for such a policy hailed Wednesday s action by the Chicago Board of Education as a major step for
A devastating fungus is sweeping the world, wiping out entire populations of amphibians at such a rate that Brookfield Zoo biologists are helping pull together a massive Noah s Ark project to capture frogs, toads and salamanders and put them in safe places. A variety of factors already have combined to cause more than
JOHANNESBURG -- The most promising way to stem Africa s worst AIDS epidemics appears to be encouraging male circumcision and faithfulness to a single partner at a time, not promoting condom use or abstinence, a new look at AIDS studies across the continent suggests. Condoms are rarely used by regular sex partners, who
Michael L. Jackson, a former Chicago HIV/AIDS communications specialist charged in the murder of a cabdriver and the assault of a nurse, has been charged with having sexual relations in the DuPage County Jail and not disclosing that he is HIV positive. Jackson, 38, has been in the DuPage County Jail since May, charged
JOHANNESBURG -- A shortage of health workers in 57 countries--two-thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa--is handicapping efforts to combat HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases and is contributing to falling life expectancy in some of the worst-hit countries, the World Health Organization said Friday. In
MOMBASA, Kenya -- Alicia Keys visited a pediatric HIV clinic on Thursday that she has been supporting through the charity Keep a Child Alive. Dr. Anderson Kahindi, head of the clinic, said about 400 children are benefiting from the program, which provides free anti-retroviral drugs. He said Keys has been involved s
JOHANNESBURG -- The man charged with rape testified that he had known his HIV-positive accuser wanted sex that night because she had worn a knee-length skirt to his home and crossed her legs suggestively. He hadn t bothered to wear a condom because he didn t have one handy and considered the odds of catching the virus
-- In an afflicted African nation, Swaziland males -- young and old -- crowd clinics for circumcisions after reports spread that the procedure can substantially reduce the spread of the AIDS virus MBABANE, Swaziland -- Slipping into a green hospital gown in the waiting room, Sipo Mnisi admitted he was a bit nervous.
The vibrantly colored line A Bathing Ape (or BAPE), based in Tokyo and popular in the hip-hop world, claims celebrity fans like Pharrell Williams and Kanye West. They re about as cool as sneakers come right now, says Giant s Dorment. About $60 a pair (men and women) at fashionpartz.com. For men, Common Projects crosses
Maura Possley, mmpossley@tribune.com and Judy Peres, jperes@tribune.com
SPRINGFIELD -- Newborns would be tested for HIV if there is uncertainty about the mother being infected, under legislation the Senate sent to the governor Tuesday. The action unfolded in a busy legislative day as House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), racing to adjourn in early April, told members of his majority c
David Greising, the Tribune's chief business correspondent, dgreising @Tribune.com
The protesters have had the chief executive in their sights for some time now. They ve paraded outside his corporate offices. They ve lobbied the companies he serves as a board member. They ve flooded his phones with calls. And what has this chief executive done to deserve this treatment? His company discovered one of
JOHANNESBURG -- Each day, 13,000 people worldwide contract the virus that causes AIDS, the United Nations estimates. But two decades after the disease was first identified, scientists are still struggling to find a vaccine that could help contain its spread. More than 70 AIDS vaccines have reached human trials. Only on
KAFUE, Zambia - Capt. Paul Kakana weighed just 80 pounds and was barely conscious when he staggered into the military s new AIDS treatment clinic six years ago. He had lost all his fingernails and most of his hair, he remembers, and could no longer write or think, much less work. Today, after a $300 treatment program
A mentally retarded man who is HIV positive will be allowed to work, but not live, at an organization renowned for its efforts with the developmentally disabled, officials said Thursday while announcing the settlement of a federal lawsuit. The man, known in the suit as John Doe, 55, sued Lambs Farm in October after it
Doctors say you can t fully understand human skin unless you first recognize the differences among African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and other ethnic minorities. That sounds obvious, yet for generations, the medical establishment has treated skin with little distinction for the immense varieties in hues and types.
You can catch more flies with honey, the adage goes, but Lloyd Kelly knows vinegar will get your attention. So he pays no mind when the verbal grenades he launches explode into stares that he says seem to ask: Has this boy lost his mind? Alternately described as passionate and impetuous, visionary and controversial, th
The federal government has ruled that non-U.S. citizens with HIV or AIDS can travel to attend Gay Games 2006, to be held in Chicago this summer. The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world to deny entry to visitors infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS. But Gay Games co-Vice Chairman K
RUILI, China - This ancient road has had many names: Old tea-horse trail. The Burma Road. Route 320. But the label that matters most today is one that appears on no sign at all: the AIDS road. Past truck-stop brothels and through disease-ravaged cities and villages in China s far southwest Yunnan province, this two-lan
Jeremy Manier, jmanier@tribune.com and Tonya Maxwell, tmaxwell@tribune.com
Soon after Don Whelpley read a Tribune report Thursday morning about suspect donor tissue that reached Chicago-area patients, he opened a registered letter with disturbing news from his oral surgeon: Some of the bad bone tissue had been used in Whelpley s gums. The letter recommended that Whelpley, a 57-year-old Naperv
JOHANNESBURG - Zackie Achmat is on his way to the gym where he exercises at least three days a week. South Africa s leading AIDS treatment campaigner has never looked better, never felt better. At 43, he has started a new relationship. He has adopted a dog. He s even thinking of adopting children. I m seriously conside
First, let s define terms. Gay Sex ... in Joseph Lovett s documentary Gay Sex in the 70s is largely male gay sex, with nary a lesbian in sight, or in mind. ... in the 70s means from 1969 to 1981, from the Stonewall riots in New York to the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. No one will accuse filmmaker Lovett of false adv
A new AIDS and HIV prevention group has launched in the western suburbs with an ambitious mission: getting religious leaders to sensitively address AIDS from the pulpit. The non-profit group, The Mosaic Initiative, hopes area ministers will become powerful new voices on AIDS education, despite messy questions that may
By Judy Peres, jperes@tribune.com and Maura Possley, mmpossley@tribune.com
The Illinois General Assembly is considering legislation that would force hospitals to determine the HIV status of every newborn baby with or without the mother s consent, setting off alarms among AIDS activists, civil libertarians and health-care experts who worry about privacy violations. The bill, approved Thursday
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND -- Rhode Island on Tuesday became the 11th state to legalize medical marijuana and the first since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that patients who use the drug can still be prosecuted under federal law. The House overrode a veto by Gov. Donald Carcieri, 59-13, allowing people with illnes
Susan Bergman, author of the 1994 book Anonymity, revealed herself through her writing, and found her solace there. She expressed herself most beautifully and best on the page, said her husband, Judson. She always created beauty of what life dealt her. She was gentle, beautiful, fiercely intelligent and very brave. She
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