Cure for AIDS at last?

20 months after receiving a genetically selected bone marrow transplant an American man who suffered from AIDS appears to have been cured of the deadly disease. Doctors say that bone marrow transplant is generally used to combat leukamia but cleary caution that this may be a “miracle case”.

Many people across the world are however inspired and say it may motivate research in gene therapy to fight the disease that claims 2 million lives each year. The deadly AIDS virus has infected 33 million people across the globe.

Dr. Gero Huetter said that his 42-year-old patient, an American living in Berlin had been infected with the AIDS virus for more than a decade. The patient no longer shows signs of carrying the virus after 20 months of undergoing a transplant of genetically selected bone marrow.

The Berlin’s Charite hospital and medical school have confirmed that tests on his blood, bone marrow, and other organ tissues have all been clean and Huetter said that a bad reading has not come so far.

One of the easiest and best ways to lose body weight and maintain good health is walking.

A brisk 30 minutes walk every day takes you a long way in building your health and balancing your weight.

Huge benefits can be reaped when walking is woven into our lifestyle.

Tips from diehard walkers

…

A few years ago one frequently heard of patients from the middle east coming to India for quality medical treatment, but of late there seem to be a lot of people from developed countries like the US, UK and Canada coming here.

At first health insurance was thought of as an expense and while that does seem to play a role in driving medical tourism to poorer countries…to my surprise I found out that there are other complex reasons…

…

In a country where the demand for health insurance is growing by 25% every year, and where health insurance penetration is less than 0.02% of the GDP, there is no specific expertise for health insurance in the insurance industry, according to a report commissioned by USAID.

The report, which was released on Monday, to study the impact of private life insurance on health coverage in Focus on claims control hurts health insurance

…

Financial incentives

While the desire to protect savings by itself is a strong motivator, India may well consider proposing enhanced tax treatment of insurance costs for individuals (some of which exists.) Another path not currently present in India is structuring financing alternatives such as medical savings accounts, which combine higher-deductible insurance coverage with money set aside in tax-favored accounts for future health …