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.

TUESDAY, Aug. 5 (HealthDay News) -- The drug nevirapine -- widely used in developing countries to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to babies -- persists in the breast milk and blood of mothers, a new Stanford University study finds.

That, in turn, could increase the risk that they and their children will develop drug-resistant strains of HIV, the researchers added.

TUESDAY, Aug. 5 (HealthDay News) -- A widely used HIV infectivity rate doesn't take into account multiple risk factors, say U.S. researchers who reviewed published data.

FRIDAY, Aug. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Minority women are at higher risk for HIV/AIDS, and doctors need to make a special effort to encourage them to be tested for HIV.

That's the new recommendation released Thursday by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

WEDNESDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News) -- The odds of HIV infection increase fourfold for male injection drug users who were deported to Tijuana from the United States compared to non-deportees in the Mexican border city, a new study reports.

The findings, expected to be presented Aug. 5 at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, suggest further investigation is necessary into the risk factors of displacement and the need for programs that offer support to displaced persons on either side of the U.S./Mexico border.

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.

I don't know any women who use them but I know they are around and are supposed to be very effective. Does (or has) anyone use them? Everyone I know uses the Pill, an IUD or male condom.

Does the female condom protect against disease and infection as well as pregnancy and does sex feel the same with them? And where can I get them?

THURSDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- In developing countries where breast-feeding is a necessity, and HIV is rampant, the risk of disease transmission through breast milk might be reduced if infants were first fed a freeze-dried formula full of good bacteria that could capture and potentially destroy the deadly virus.

We have selected several of the best entries from our Gift of Giving contest, which asked women to share their best health advice, and here is one of them. Please share your best health advice with us here. Your advice could be the answer that someone has been waiting for.