THURSDAY, Sept. 4 (HealthDay News) -- The virus that causes AIDS infects one form of immune T-cell by rearranging its inner skeleton, allowing it access to the cell, scientists have discovered.

The finding helps explain how HIV maintains pockets of dormant virus in these so-called "resting" T-cells, even when the virus is under attack by antiretroviral drugs. It also points to potential new targets for drug development, experts say.

ATLANTA - The number of Americans infected by the AIDS virus each year is much higher than the government has been estimating, U.S. health officials reported Sunday, acknowledging that their numbers have understated the level of the epidemic.

The country had roughly 56,300 new HIV infections in 2006 — a dramatic increase from the 40,000 annual estimate used for the last dozen years. The new figure is due to a better blood test and new statistical methods, and not a worsening of the epidemic, officials said.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) -- Since 1996, the life expectancy of HIV patients in developed countries taking antiviral therapy has increased more than 13 years, and deaths have dropped by almost 40 percent, researchers report.

Despite these gains, life expectancy still falls short by some 20 years, compared with people in the general population. Life expectancy among injection drug users and those who start their treatment late is even shorter.

THURSDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) -- New research offers more evidence that a new AIDS drug brings significant benefits to patients who have failed other treatments.

The drug, known as raltegravir (Isentress), almost doubles the likelihood that patients will beat back the AIDS virus despite being immune to other medications, according to a study in the July 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

WEDNESDAY, July 16 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that people of African descent are much more likely to have a genetic trait that makes them more susceptible to infection with the HIV virus.

Scientists estimate that the trait -- which also provides protection against a form of malaria -- might account for 11 percent of the HIV cases in Africa, the continent hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic.

TUESDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- Death rates for HIV-infected people lucky enough to get their hands on antiretroviral medications have decreased dramatically since the introduction of these drugs in 1996, new British research shows.

For most, the five-year, post-diagnosis survival for those infected sexually is now about equal to that of the general population.

Death rates were higher, however, for older individuals, for those who had been infected for a longer time, and for those who had been infected through intravenous drug use.

The New York City health department plans to announce on Thursday an ambitious three-year effort to give an H.I.V. test to every adult living in the Bronx, which has a far higher death rate from AIDS than any other borough. The campaign will begin with a push to make the voluntary testing routine in emergency rooms and storefront clinics, where city officials say that cumbersome consent procedures required by state law have deterred doctors from offering the tests.

I never enjoyed my history classes, as they were filled with memorizing names (mostly men's), obscure dates and battle fields. However, I do remember learning about the bubonic plague and cholera in my public health classes (which was interesting to me), and these are only two of the twelve diseases that are discussed in the book, "Twelve Diseases That Changed Our World" (by Irwin Sherman).

By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) -- Stress and depression may make a great difference in the health of people infected with HIV, according to three new reviews of the data on the subject.

Scientists haven't yet proved that personal attitude and mental health directly affect the progress of HIV infection and AIDS. But the research strongly points to a link, said Dr. Gail Ironson, lead author of the one of the reviews.

THURSDAY, June 19 (HealthDay News) -- The herpes drug aciclovir (Zovirax) doesn't reduce the risk of HIV-1 infection in people who have sex with men infected with genital herpes, a U.S. study finds.

Previous research has shown that herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2) infection -- the most common cause of genital herpes -- increases the risk for HIV-1 infection by two- to threefold.