Contagious and Infectious Diseases

Welcome to Your Dad's STDs: Syphilis on the Rise In Houston

Hey soldier!! Wrap that rascal!! Loose lips sink ships!! Careless talk costs lives!!! Loose women may also be LOADED with disease!! The WWII vibe is heavy these days in Houston, as health officials have announced a comeback of the Greatest Generation's STD, syphilis. The Houston Department of Heal ... More >>

David France on the Plague Years

The history and survival of ACT UP.

That New HIV Drug is Great (if You Can Afford it)

The Food and Drug Administration's approval Monday of a pill shown to reduce the risk of contracting HIV is a "game-changer," according to AIDS Foundation Houston's director of prevention services. The pill, Truvada, was shown to "cut the risk of infection in healthy gay and bisexual men by 42 perc ... More >>

Happy Malaria Day! A Feverish Playlist

Tuesday night, as blooming flowers filled the Spring air with a heady fragrance, Rocks Off hung a wreath made of empty insect repellant cans on our door, and gently tucked our young daughter in with mosquito netting in order to ensure Santa Carrier wouldn't visit her with his magic bag of plague. ... More >>

World AIDS Day: Artists Who Have Contributed to the Cause

​Today is World AIDS Day. The theme this year is "Getting to Zero," focusing on zero AIDS related deaths. In hopes of achieving this goal, there has been many a celebrity to endorse AIDS awareness and various charities around the world. Quite a few musicians have used their celebrity status ... More >>

Free HIV Testing at Walgreens: Five Reasons To Get Tested

Drop and give us twenty...minutes to test you​Walgreens is all kinds of sexy lately. In March, it became the first pharmacy to carry the female condom, a plastic pouch that gives females the power of putting up their own STI-barrier. Now for the first time ever, Walgreens is offering free HIV ... More >>

A Possible Houston Cure For Crack Addiction Runs Into Red-Tape Problems

Thomas R. Karsten believes he has a vaccine for coke​While a Houston doctor thinks he has found the cure for cocaine addiction, bureaucratic red tape is hindering the vaccine's approval and building doubts for its future success. "My hopes are pretty simple: number one, find some company in t ... More >>

Join Team Chile, Help Fight AIDS

The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place - lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good - so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email introducingliston@gmail.com ... More >>

Day Of The [Digital] Dead

No! Not...that guy!​Yesterday was the 23rd annual World AIDS Day, dedicated to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and remembering those who have succumbed to the disease. It's a sobering occasion. Over 25 million have died of the disease since 1981, and some 33 million live with the infection n ... More >>

Katrina Graffiti

Richard Misrach's photographs document the ordeal.

The Illuminations Project

Local musicians and dancers support HIV/AIDS education

Love in the Time of Leprosy: Leprosy Lives On

In Texas and Louisiana, the disease still exists — and so does the stigma.

Love in the Time of Leprosy: The Critter Connection

Where there's leprosy, there's usually an armadillo.

Love in the Time of Leprosy

The life after death of José and Magdalena Ramirez

Getting the Spin from BARC: Things are just rosy at the pound, according to the Chronicle

Highlights from the Blog at HOUSTONPRESS.COM

The Chronicle's Columnist, Buying BARC's Spin

Photo by elvissaToday's Chron column by Lisa Falkenberg, headlined "Finally, a bit of good news out of BARC," might have been more accurately titled "When Public Relations Attacks!" What the column lacks in actual news value and insight, it makes up for by highlighting what might be one of BARC's th ... More >>

Swine Flu FAQs: The Answers You Need...And The Answers You Deserve

Unlike in 1918, when the flu really bitch-slapped humanity, leading medical experts have the ability to immediately update us with information on how to stay safe, and how to separate myth from fact. For example: By now, unless you're a vapid hotel-fortune heiress who answers the cell phone during s ... More >>

Project Runway Star Talks Houston, AIDS & Stigma

Photo courtesy Living Positive by DesignFormer Project Runway contestant Jack Mackenroth's been to Houston before, although he doesn't remember us. "I know I've been to Dallas, Austin and Houston, but in my brain, I can't remember which is which. So I look around while we're driving and I think, 'Th ... More >>

Have Houston Doctors Cracked the AIDS Virus?

There's a Morning-After Drug to Prevent HIV Infection

The treatment is called post-exposure prophylaxis. So why do so few medical groups in Houston know about it?

MTV in Houston? YES

“Face the Music: An Evening of Jazz Dedicated to Fighting AIDS in Africa”

Music for a good cause

Good News for AFH

No, Thanks. We'll Take Cancer.

Penal Violations

Texas prisons say they can’t allow condoms because they don’t allow sex. So they don’t need condoms. They just need $12 million a year to treat all the HIV-positive prisoners.

One from the Heart

Brotherly Love

Author J.L. King exposes men On the Down Low

Achtung, Baby

The 1936 Olympics in Berlin revealed the tip of the Nazi iceberg

Getting THMPed

Activists fight the state's plan to slash drug help for HIV patients

Getting Ugly

No increase in federal funding for the HIV-positive indigent puts Texas patients in a real bind

Med Check

Texas can't decide whether to pay for drug-resistance tests that could prolong the lives of those with HIV. For John Termine, it's already too late.

Needling the Mayor

Former drug czar Lee Brown has trouble negotiating a question about why there's no needle-exchange program for addicts in Houston

Best Nonprofit

Montrose Clinic

Throwing In the Towel

Linen companies refuse wellness center's dirty laundry

Positive Love

Love proves stronger than fear in these couples where one partner tests positive for HIV, the other negative for the dread disease.

Clinic at Death's Door

With a local Democratic Party official at the helm, an AIDS agency nears collapse

How Now Mad Cow?

Europe has a problem with diseased cattle. Should Texans be wary?

Hot Shots

There's a bull market on the meningitis vaccine. Are some doctors cashing in?

Downing

Brentwood's protests have given way to a calmer acceptance of AIDS patients living there

Houston Press Story Prompts Indictments

Killer On The Loose

Was Walter Waldhauser/ Michael Davis tipped about his latest arrest warrants?

Dealing with Adversity

Immune to Reason

Hundreds of thousands of Texas children, including 250,000 newborn babies, are routinely vaccinated against hepatits B each year. Why? Good question.

What a deal!

Joe Fuentes has no staff, no office, no documentation of the people he says he's helped, but hey, he's a good guy. Let's give him half a million dollars-plus.

Unembraceable You

When it comes to AIDS funding, process takes precedence over children in Harris County

Letters

In Denial

As HIV spreads among blacks and Hispanics, agencies that serve those communities say they're being shortchanged

Time and Money

A battle with the city's premier bank leaves a former VP with the means to do good

Torch Song Trilogy

One woman's mission, and a three-night stand, benefits AIDS organizations

New Wave AIDS

In the French Savage Nights, HIV provides the catalyst for a fierce, complex love story