Harvard AIDS Initiative

	Harvard AIDS Initiative Since the late 1980s, the Harvard School of Public Health AIDS Initiative (HAI) has been at the forefront of HIV/AIDS research, education and leadership. Chaired by noted researcher Max Essex, HAI is currently involved in studies to examine drug resistance in patients taking antiretroviral drugs; vaccine development; prevention of HIV transmission from mother-to-infant in utero, as well as through breast feeding; and cost-effectiveness of treatment programs. Through the Fogarty International Training Program in AIDS-related Epidemiology, the Harvard AIDS Initiative trains biomedical researchers and health care workers from resource scarce countries. At Harvard, trainees study epidemiology, biostatistics, immunology, molecular biology or behavioral sciences, then return to their home countries to continue their research. Participants have come from Botswana, Senegal, Tanzania, Thailand, India, Kenya, and Mexico. The KITSO AIDS Training Program in Botswana provides sustainable and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
	Max Essex Myron Elmer "Max" Essex (born August 17, 1939) is the Mary Woodard Lasker Professor of Health Sciences, emeritus in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard University, Chair of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health AIDS Initiative (HAI) in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, and Chair of the Botswana–Harvard AIDS Institute in Gaborone, Botswana. Essex was one of the first to link animal and human retroviruses to immunosuppressive disease, to suspect that a retrovirus was the cause of AIDS, and to determine that HIV could be transmitted through blood and blood products to hemophiliacs and recipients of blood transfusions. With collaborators, Essex also provided the first evidence that HIV could be transmitted by heterosexual intercourse. In 1984, Essex identified gp120, the virus surface protein that is used worldwide for blood screening, HIV detection, and epidemiological monitoring. With collaborators, including African micro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
	Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It is connected to Zambia across the short Zambezi River border by the Kazungula Bridge. A country of slightly over 2.3 million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. About 11.6 percent of the population lives in the capital and largest city, Gaborone. Formerly one of the world's poorest countries—with a GDP per capita of about US$70 per year in the late 1960s—it has since transformed itself into an upper-middle-income country, with one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Modern-day humans first inhabited the country over 200,000 years ago. The Tswana ethnic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	HIV/AIDS Organizations In The United States Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual may not notice any symptoms, or may experience a brief period of influenza-like illness. Typically, this is followed by a prolonged incubation period with no symptoms. If the infection progresses, it interferes more with the immune system, increasing the risk of developing common infections such as tuberculosis, as well as other opportunistic infections, and tumors which are rare in people who have normal immune function. These late symptoms of infection are referred to as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). This stage is often also associated with unintended weight loss. HIV is spread primarily by unprotected sex (including anal and vaginal sex), contaminated blood transfusions, hypodermic needles, and from mother to child during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]