Gizmodo: Aids

First Take-Home HIV Test Available in Britain

Travis Hudson — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 10:55:52 EST

Good news all around in the medical world—the first home HIV test has been launched in the U.K. This test involves swabbing a sample of saliva and sending it off to a laboratory. Upon a negative sample, the person will receive an e-mail, if it is a positive HIV sample a doctor will call directly, urging for more tests because the saliva test isn't as accurate as the blood test.

The home test costs £25, which equals roughly $48. This is excellent news to help stop the spread of HIV. Hopefully the privacy factor will encourage more people to get tested, and maybe this home test will make its way stateside soon. – Travis Hudson

HIV home screening kit [BBC]

Molecular Condom: Mighty Morphin' Molecules Keep HIV Away

Charlie White — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 14:33:09 EST

If scientists have their way, the condoms will be worn by the ladies of the future, because they've develop a vaginal "molecular condom" whose molecules have the unique ability to morph from fluid to semi-solid as soon as they're inserted into that glorious love hole.

The substance coats the walls of the vagina when it's warmed to body temperature, and when it comes in contact with the increased alkalinity of semen, it becomes a gel and releases anti-HIV drugs. That's some versatile stuff; it can readily change states like water but needs an even narrower temperature range to do so.

It'll be a while before we see this technology in action, where scientists are saying it's five years away from the testing phase and then it'll be 10 years from now before it finds its way into the bedroom, or the back seat. – Charlie White

Vagina's Molecular Armor [medGadget]

iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Shipping: Buy a nano, Fight AIDS in Africa

Charlie White — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 09:03:35 EDT

Here's the iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED, and It has the same specs and price as Apple's other 4GB nanos, except $10 of its $199 purchase price will go toward fighting AIDS in Africa. That money will be contributed directly into the Global Fund, according to Apple.

Let's all buy one. Good cause. Or, you could just contribute $10 to the Global Fund and accomplish the same thing without lining Apple's pockets at the same time. – Charlie White

Update: Apple Marketing tells us that the company will also offer Red iTunes gift cards, 10% of which will go to the campaign. Nice touch.

Product Page [Apple]

Portable AIDS Test - Boon for Africa

johnb — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 11:19:53 EST

One of the biggest issues in AIDS testing in the field is the collection, transport, and processing of blood samples. A team of scientists at Harvard Medical School and the University of Texas are trying to meld a mini-processor and a digital camera to create an entirely new form of test, one that fits in a pocket and returns results in minutes, with no lab work needed.

"We etch silicon chips in ways that are very similar to what are used to make Pentium and other computer chips," McDevitt says. "But instead of transistors, we create little test tubes — these little test tubes are miniature reaction vessels that hold artificial taste buds."

To test a sample, you drop some blood onto the chip and then place it into a reader which then tests for the blood CD4 count. Not completely portable—yet—but definitely a step in the right direction.

Handheld Puts AIDS Fight in Field [Wired]