THURSDAY, Aug. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Some parents' refusal to vaccinate children seems to be behind the highest rate of measles cases reported since 1996, federal officials said Thursday.

Between Jan. 1 and July 31 of this year, 131 measles cases have been reported in the United States, many of them among children whose parents have philosophical or religious objections to the vaccine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At least 15 patients, including four children 15 months or younger, were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

MONDAY, Aug. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Human embryonic stem cells trigger an immune response in mice, a new study finds. If the same thing happens in humans, it could prove a big roadblock to stem cell-based treatments, researchers say.

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine found that common anti-rejection medications could counter the mice's immune response. However, the new finding dashes prior hopes that the immune system gave foreign embryonic stem cells a "free pass" through the body.

Could a $25 gift card given to the right person help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS?

According to the Associated Press, U.S. government officials think it's worth trying, to the tune of $1.5 million.

With the latest statistics showing that the majority of HIV cases in the United States still occur among homosexual males, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reviving a 2005 North Carolina program that resulted in encouraging results for more young gay men practicing safe sex (using a condom), the A.P. reports.

THURSDAY, Aug. 7 (HealthDay News) -- B cells may be more responsible for causing autoimmune diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis than initially thought, according to a new study.

The finding, published in the Aug. 7 online issue of the journal Immunity, may give scientists a new path to pursue in finding ways to stop the immune system's chronic attacks on the body's own tissue during these diseases.

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

SUNDAY, Aug. 3 (HealthDay News) -- New guidelines for treating HIV and AIDS patients with treatments known as antiretrovirals suggest earlier therapy might be effective.

The findings were slated to be presented at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City Sunday. They will also appear in the Aug. 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

FRIDAY, Aug. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Once-daily treatment with tazanavir/ritonavir (A/R) is as effective as twice-daily treatment with lopinavir/ritonavir (L/R) in HIV patients who are starting antiretroviral treatment for the first time, a European study shows.

Based on their findings, the researchers recommended once-daily A/R as a first-line treatment option for treatment-naive HIV patients since it has a number of advantages over the currently recommended twice-daily L/R.

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.

FRIDAY, July 18 (HealthDay News) -- The prevalence of mantle cell lymphoma, an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, is increasing, and most patients are diagnosed with advanced stages of the disease, notes a study by researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Mantle cell lymphoma is a fast-growing, incurable cancer of the immune system, characterized by cancer cells that may be in the lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow, blood or gastrointestinal system.

The sponsors of a planned human trial for an AIDS vaccine canceled the project Thursday, saying they doubted the vaccine's effectiveness and noted that the trial could actually put volunteers at risk of acquiring HIV, The New York Times reported.

The trial, called PAVE (Partnership for AIDS Vaccine Evaluation), was to be conducted by a consortium of U.S. agencies and private organizations. It was to have begun enlisting 8,500 volunteers last October to evaluate a vaccine developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

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.