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Heart patients may be nervous or anxious about having sex, but most of them can do so safely — and they shouldn’t be afraid to bring up the topic with their doctor.

So says the American Heart Association in its first scientific statement on sexual activity and cardiovascular disease, published online by Circulation.

Seasonal flu has been tame this year, but more people are getting vaccinated in hopes of protecting themselves against the virus, according to government data out today.

The growth is strongest among children. Some 36.7% of children aged 6 months to 17 years had received a flu shot as of early November, an increase of 6.1 percentage points from the same time last year, according to a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Trial Disappointment: A trial conducted in Africa of a microbicide gel containing the anti-HIV drug tenofovir has ended because the gel didn’t protect women from contracting the virus, the New York Times reports. Part of the study — which also looked at whether two different pills protected against the virus — is continuing and data have not yet been released, making it difficult to figure out why, exactly, the gel didn’t appear to work, the paper says.

For the Health Blog, the major trauma of the chickenpox was breaking out in itchy blisters mere weeks before the senior prom. But in rare cases, chicken pox can actually kill people, and new research shows how vaccination has helped curb the number of annual deaths from the disease.

Scientists have identified an Achilles’ heel in HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, with a powerful mathematical method previously applied to the stock market, and think the spot could be a prime target for vaccines or drugs. Mark Schoofs explains.

See original here:  News Hub: Wall St. Tool Has Success in AIDS Fight/a>

This month marks 30 years since the first case reports were published about HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. A new report analyzes the factors that helped patient advocates drive research into and drug development for that disease, and tries to figure out whether there are lessons to be learned for other disease advocates.

New HIV Drug Option: The FDA approved Johnson & Johnson’s HIV drug rilpivirine, which will be marketed as Edurant and used in combination with other drugs in previously untreated patients infected by the virus, Dow Jones Newswires reports. The drug blocks replication of HIV.

Hepatitis Tie-Up: Roche will promote Merck’s newly approved hepatitis C drug Victrelis alongside two of its own therapies used against the virus as part of a non-exclusive U.S. marketing agreement that could expand to other countries, Dow Jones Newswires reports. The market for hepatitis C drugs is expected to heat up further if the FDA approves a competitor to Victrelis made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson, which those companies plan to market as Incivek.

As we noted a few years ago, the same antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV infection and AIDS are also being eyed as a way to prevent the spread of the disease.