The plan would reduce access to Medicaid for welfare recipients and low-income working people. As a result, critics charge, the uninsured population would rise and health status would decline. The mood at the 11th international AIDS conference, which starts next week in Vancouver, is expected to be considerably more upbeat than at the last meeting in 1994. New, effective treatments and promising basic research findings are fueling a rebirth of optimism. It includes a global surveillance and response system, more resources for research and lab training, and updated regulations for quarantine at U.S. port of entries.
Infectious diseases are the third leading cause of death in the United States.
The FDA approved a new type of insulin that more closely mimics the body's natural rapid output of insulin after eating a meal. Humalog, by Eli Lilly and Co., may reduce the required waiting time between drug use and eating for patients with diabetes. It's the first new insulin drug in more than a decade.