Today is Thursday, November seventh, the 312th day of 2024. There are 54 days left within the 12 months.

Today in history:

On November 7, 1991, basketball star Magic Johnson announced that he had tested positive for HIV and was retiring.

Also on this date:

In 1916, Jeannette Rankin of Montana won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the primary woman elected to either chamber of Congress.

In 1940, Washington state's original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, nicknamed “Galloping Gertie,” collapsed into Puget Sound during a storm just 4 months after it opened to traffic.

In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term, defeating Republican Thomas E. Dewey.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon was re-elected in a landslide against Democrat George McGovern.

In 1989, L. Douglas Wilder won the Virginia gubernatorial race, becoming the primary elected black governor in U.S. history; David N. Dinkins was elected as the primary black mayor of New York City.

In 2011, a Los Angeles jury convicted Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, of involuntary manslaughter for administering a robust narcotic linked to the entertainer's 2009 death. (Murray was sentenced to 4 years in prison. He served two years and was released in October 2013.)

In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden clinched victory over President Donald Trump when Biden crossed the 270 Electoral College vote threshold with a victory in Pennsylvania. Trump refused to concede.

Today's birthdays:

• Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Kaat is 86.
• Former singer Johnny Rivers is 82.
• Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is 81.
• Retired Army general and former CIA director David Petraeus is 72 years old.
• Actor Christopher Knight (TV: “The Brady Bunch”) is 67.
• DJ producer David Guetta is 57.
• Actor Yunjin Kim is 51.
• Rock singer Lorde is 28.

At a pharmacy in Iowa, a 42-year-old gay black man couldn't find a medicine he needed. The pharmacist, a white woman, told him they didn't have that medication in stock. But while he was waiting to pay for his other purchases, he saw one other customer put the medication he had just ordered on the counter.

“I felt really bad,” he said. “I think when people associate their prejudices with their profession, it makes it harder to access (health) services.”

These services include PrEP or Pre-exposure prophylaxisa highly effective prescription medicine that stops the spread of HIV.

Black gay and bisexual men about 38% of the estimated 37,981 latest HIV diagnoses within the United States in 2022. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that About 50% of those men will receive an HIV diagnosis during their lifetime.

Although black gay and bisexual men are disproportionately affected by HIV, they’ve considered one of the lowest PEP usage rates in all age groups. Many of them live within the South, where most individuals living with HIV live within the United States, but PrEP uptake may be very low on account of stigma, cost, and homophobia. Other barriers include lack of trust within the health care system, discrimination, poverty, and lack of information amongst doctors about PrEP.

PrEP faces significant barriers to widespread use amongst probably the most vulnerable populations. In 2022 36% of the 1.2 million people who may benefit from PrEP were prescribed the medication. Public health researchers study why Black gay and bisexual men have low access to PrEP in Iowa – a rural state with rising HIV infection rates, particularly amongst sexual and gender minorities. We recently published a study that highlighted Some ways to enhance prevention.

Trust and discrimination

Non-Hispanic blacks make up only 4% of Iowa’s estimated 3.1 million residents. However, they made up 24% of individuals in Iowa might be living with HIV in 2022.

A report from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services found that just over 23% of individuals in Iowa who need PrEP had lively recipes in 2021Another report found that a government program called TelePrEP, which goals to expand access to PrEP through telemedicine, significant differences in the beginning of treatmentOnly 10% of people that began PrEP through this system were black. In contrast, 83% of those that began TelePrEP were white.

To higher understand the aspects that make it difficult or easier for black gay and bisexual men in Iowa to access PEP, interviewed 12 HIV-negative community members about their experiences with the drug. They ranged in age from 20 to 42 and lived in Johnson and Black Hawk counties, which have a few of the highest HIV infection rates within the state. We recruited them through dating apps, social media platforms and native organizations.

Some men feared that using PrEP could lead on to mistrust of their intimate relationships.

“[F]or you enter into a sexual relationship with a partner, there has to be a certain level of trust,” said one participant. “The fact that you have to take drugs before engaging in sexual activity shows that you do not trust your partner.”

Other men feared they’d be stigmatized and discriminated against. Some people within the gay community associate taking PrEP with sexual promiscuity and are subsequently afraid of being judged for taking the drug.

“If you don’t have sex, why should you take PrEP?” asked one participant.

Some men also had negative experiences with the health care system, including being denied access to medication due to their race.

Most men felt that inadequate medical insurance was a significant barrier to PrEP use. Five of our participants had no medical insurance and only two had public medical insurance. Some of the participants were students and had limited access to non-public insurance.

“There are a lot of people who are uninsured,” said one participant. “It would be nice if the government could actually make it accessible to everyone – just like the HIV self-test.”

Many of the lads had little or no prior knowledge of PrEP. “Yes, I don't know much about PrEP,” said one participant. “That's actually why I decided to take part in this study, to actually learn more about it.”

Some men were afraid of the possible uncomfortable side effects of the drugs. One participant was concerned in regards to the risk of developing cancer from long-term use of the drugs. There are no evidence that PrEP increases the danger of cancer, but a An HIV infection can.

Finally, some men also fearful about how effective the drugs were and whether or not they could depend on them if their partner was HIV-positive. However, when taken appropriately, PrEP can Reduce the danger of sexually transmitted HIV infection by about 99%.

Populations surveyed for other studies expressed similar concerns about treatment, including Transgender women in Colombia And gay and bisexual men within the Midwest of the USA.

Improving access to PrEP

Despite the numerous barriers faced by gay and bisexual black men in Iowa in accessing PrEP, possible solutions highlighted.

Most of our participants agreed that educating the general public about PrEP and raising public awareness about health issues is crucial. “You could reach people through the radio and flyers. You could put them out at the hairdresser, the barbershop, the supermarket,” one participant suggested. “I think those are public places that are really accessible to people.”

Some emphasized the importance of developing culturally sensitive educational programs on different platforms to raised engage the community. One participant said, “Doing seminars and focus group discussions and educating people about PrEP could really help.”

Participants also suggested that making PrEP available no matter insurance status would help reduce financial barriers to accessing this preventive medication. For example, free or low-cost access to all types of PrEP could possibly be a game-changer, especially for low-income people in danger for HIV.

Our participants also emphasized the role that trusted physicians could play.

“To convince me to start something like PrEP, it would have to come from someone I already trust,” said one participant. “Their expertise and personal knowledge of my health condition would make their advice particularly compelling.”

GileadThe experimental twice-yearly HIV prevention drug was 100% effective in a late-stage study, the corporate said said Thursday.

According to an interim evaluation, not one of the roughly 2,000 study participants who received the lenacapavir injection had grow to be infected with HIV. The independent data monitoring committee subsequently advisable that Gilead unblind the Phase 3 study and offer the treatment to all study participants. The other participants had received standard tablets on daily basis.

The results bring Gilead one step closer to launching a brand new type of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and expanding its HIV business. The company's shares rose on Thursday.

“What the world needs is more PrEP options for people so they can choose the option that works best for them,” said Jared Baeten, vice chairman of HIV clinical development at Gilead.

Before Gilead can seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the corporate must first reproduce those results. The company expects to release data from an ongoing Phase 3 trial in men who’ve sex with men later this 12 months or early next 12 months. If these results are positive, the corporate could bring lenacapavir for PrEP to market as early as the tip of 2025.

More than a decade ago, Gilead’s Truvada became the First approved PrEP for people without HIV who’re at high risk of becoming infected. Daily pills dominate the market, but pharmaceutical firms at the moment are specializing in developing longer-acting injections.

PrEP reduces the chance 99% of persons are susceptible to HIV from sex and 74% from drug use when taken appropriately. Yet only a bit greater than a 3rd of individuals within the U.S. who may benefit from PrEP are taking it, in response to Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health politicians and advocates hope Longer-acting options could reach individuals who cannot or don’t want to take a each day pill and higher prevent the spread of a virus that has claimed about 1 million lives. New infections worldwide in 2022.

“It is really important to have more options than daily pills, because oral preparations will not get us to the end of the epidemic,” said Bruce RichmanFounding director of the nonprofit Prevention Access Campaign. “We need to make sure people have options that fit their lifestyle.”

The FDA approved the primary injectable PrEP in 2021. This drug, called Apretude, is run by a health care provider every two months or six times a 12 months. According to the manufacturer ViiV, about 11,000 persons are taking Apretude.

Tim Oliver, a 28-year-old public medical examiner in New York, said he doesn't mind going to the doctor for his Apretude shots. But he added that a few of his friends have told him they'd somewhat proceed taking a each day pill than get a shot. An extended-acting option is perhaps more attractive to patients.

Brian Abrahams, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, expects Gilead's vaccine to significantly increase the number of individuals enthusiastic about HIV prevention drugs. He estimates peak sales will likely be nearly $2 billion. Gilead's newer PrEP pill, Descovy, generated sales of about $2 billion last 12 months.

Activists have called on Gilead to make sure that people in low- and middle-income countries have access to lenacapavir. The company has long been criticized for the costs of its HIV drugs. Descovy costs $26,000 a 12 months to take.

In its statement announcing the discharge of the lenacapavir trial results on Thursday, Gilead said the corporate plans to supply an update on the way it plans to enhance access in countries where populations suffer from high HIV incidence rates.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Three women diagnosed with HIV after undergoing a “vampire facial” at an unlicensed medical spa in New Mexico are believed to be the primary documented cases People became infected with the virus through a cosmetic procedure involving needles, federal health officials said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week in its morbidity and mortality report that an investigation of the clinic from 2018 to 2023 found it appeared to reuse disposable, single-use devices.

Although HIV transmission through contaminated blood through unsterile injections is a known risk, the report said this was the primary documentation of likely infections related to cosmetic services.

Many popular cosmetic treatments are performed with needles, equivalent to Botox for smoothing wrinkles and fillers for plump lips. A “vampire facial,” or platelet-rich plasma microneedling, involves drawing a client’s own blood, separating its components, after which using tiny needles to inject plasma into the face to rejuvenate the skin. Needles are also required for tattoos.

The New Mexico Department of Health began investigate in the summertime of 2018, the spa after it was revealed that a lady in her 40s had tested positive for HIV despite having no known risk aspects. The woman reported that she was exposed to needles in the course of the procedure on the clinic within the spring.

The report said the research showed the importance of requiring infection control measures at firms that provide cosmetic procedures involving needles.

It also noted that the investigation was slowed by poor record-keeping and that firms offering such services should keep higher records in case customers have to be contacted later.