23/8/2007 - 07:24(EST)

Brief news from around the world

The United States House of Representatives lifted the nine-year ban on using District of Columbia taxes for syringe exchange programs for injection drug users.

Pegintron and Rebetol combination treatment for hepatitis C received European approval to be supplied to people with HIV coinfection.

The World Bank will give Kenya 151 million dollars to fight HIV/AIDS over the next four years. Prevalence in the country fell from 6.1 to 5.9 percent between 2004 and 2005 thanks to better access to drugs, increased condom usage and less high risk behavior.

German scientists have managed to extract AIDS virus genes from human cells for the first time, revealed the Science magazine website. The finding could lead to the development of new therapies, although not during the first 10 years.

Argentine law revoked a precautionary measure preventing a local company from manufacturing the antiretroviral drug didanosine, by Bristol Myers Squibb, because this laboratory holds the patent for the enteric coating of the tablets. The patent has already expired on an international level.

Hospitalization of people living with HIV fell by almost 40 percent between 2000 and 2007 in the EU according to a study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Also, the average age of hospitalized people increased. The author of the study attributed this to antiretroviral therapy success.

The World Health Organization is preparing an HIV pharmacovigilance program that aims to map more accurately the side effects caused by antiretroviral drugs and to determine whether there are particular differences between countries.

Agencies