A few clouds early, otherwise mostly sunny. High 47F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph..
A mostly clear sky. Low 32F. Winds light and variable.
Updated: December 15, 2022 @ 2:39 am
Lynchburg & Highview Cemeteries- 12/17/22 at 11:00 am
Lynchburg & Highview Cemeteries- 12/17/22 at 11:00 am
The Motlow Bucks stormed back from a second-half double-digit deficit and beat the Volunteer State Pioneers 92-81 Saturday in front of a large, loud crowd at Copperweld Arena on Motlow’s Moore County campus.
You don’t have to search very hard to detect the traces of Native People in Tennessee. The town names of Tullahoma, Chattanooga, and Sewanee are all directly sourced from Native languages. Our state’s name itself is derived from the word Tanasi, which is a word for ‘where the river bends’.…
This holiday season, Jack Daniel’s Barrel Trees were constructed in 12 cities across the U.S. in addition to the original tree here in Lynchburg. Whiskey barrels from Jack Daniel’s Barrel Trees constructed around the country are now available for purchase with proceeds benefiting Jack Danie…
An Andrew County Health Department employee sets out a display of condoms last week at the health department. Early test results from an HIV vaccine study recently were published in Science medical journal. A vaccine would be promising but doesn’t reduce the importance of safe sexual practices, said Eariana Stockton, a health department case worker.
An Andrew County Health Department employee sets out a display of condoms last week at the health department. Early test results from an HIV vaccine study recently were published in Science medical journal. A vaccine would be promising but doesn’t reduce the importance of safe sexual practices, said Eariana Stockton, a health department case worker.
Research is being done on a vaccine against HIV, and the first round of testing indicates positive signs.
The vaccine was tested on about 50 people, according to a study published recently in Science journal by Scripps Research scientists.
Public access could be a long way off, with thousands of subjects likely needed, but the early research holds promise, said Eariana Stockton, a case manager with the Andrew County Health Department.
“Historically, vaccines have been the most effective way in preventing infectious disease,” she said. “So that is incredibly exciting that it’s made it through the first phase of that. However, obviously, there’s still a lot of research to be done on that. I think it would be great.”
Many people, particularly those who are sexually active and considered at-risk, will use a pre-exposure prophylaxis to almost completely reduce the risk of contracting HIV. People who already have HIV can take post-exposure prophylaxis. But both medications must be taken daily, as opposed to a vaccine shot that can be administered much less frequently.
The vaccine has only finished its first round of testing and involves a pair of shots about every two months as opposed to daily medications.
“There’s still a lot of research that still has to be done in that, but obviously, vaccines are cost-effective and safe and it’s just less of a hassle than having to remember to take medication every day,” Stockton said.
It also could help because there still are widely held stigmas against the PrEP, PEP preventives and HIV as a whole, she said.
“I think we just have to continue to educate on that, on HIV,” Stockton said. “It’s not really just one specific type of person who gets it. Anyone can really get HIV.”
While having widespread access to an HIV vaccine in the future would be helpful, it wouldn’t change the importance of providing education about safe sexual practices, she said.
Alex Simone can be reached at alex.simone@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter at @NPNOWSimone.
Originally published on newspressnow.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.