The annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections will be taking place in Boston this week, and new tools to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS will be presented that may be signifying that the end of the disease may be closer than you think. The new technologies include a single pill that can be used to prevent the transmission of HIV, and vaccines to help prevent it.

As reported in the Boston Globe, 1.5 million people around the world become infected with the virus every year, and another 1 million die of AIDS. In the U.S. alone, 1.2 million people are already infected. About 12.8 percent of the population (one out of eight people) are unaware that they are infected. Around the world there are 37 million individuals infected.

When the first AIDS cases were documented in the 1980s treating the infection consisted of taking large quantities of pills on a daily basis, some that had serious side effects. The new pill, which is taken daily and has few side effects, can make individuals less likely to contract the infection and spread it to others. Known as Pre-exposure Prophylaxis, (PrEP), the pill would be taken by high-risk individuals, including homosexuals and bisexuals.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the pill is approximately 90 percent effective in reducing the risk of infection by HIV. One of the drugs is sold under the name Truvada.

Another new tool that is gathering attention is a vaginal ring that holds antiviral medication. Two large studies from South Africa have already tested the effectiveness of the ring. Female volunteers in the study were asked to replace the ring on a monthly basis, which makes it easier for them to stay safe and be protected against infection, even during sex without a condom.

The conference is also expected to present the newest findings in an HIV vaccine. Some individuals have been found to have developed resistance against HIV infection. Modified antibodies have been tested on animals with results that are promising. Another set of antibodies, the VRC01, will soon be tested on 4,000 volunteers from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and the U.S.

The HIV/AIDS treatment revolution has led to important new vehicles for preventing the disease, as well as public health. Two key breakthroughs are pre-exposure prophylaxis and treatment as prevention. The shift now is “combination prevention,” defined as community owned programs that are rights-based and evidence-informed, using a mix of behavioral, biomedical and structural interventions for reducing new infections.

Despite all the progress over the past three decades, key advancements remain elusive, and there is widespread agreement among scientists that “getting to zero” will require an effective vaccine. Recent work at Oregon Health and Science University has sparked hope that this might be close. In the study, 16 rhesus monkeys were infecte with a simian version of immunodeficiency virus and then given an experimental vaccine. Nine were protected and appeared to be “cleared” of the infection.

Report of the “Berlin patient” was presented at the 2012 International Aids Conference. This patient was cured of infection after a bone marrow transplant. The donor was carrying a genetic variant that provided resistance to HIV.

Also, in 2013, researchers made the announcement of the apparent cure of an HIV-infected infant who was aggressively treated with antiretrovirals 30 hours after birth. This case couple provide hope for the approximately 330,000 infants in the developing world who are infected with HIV.

Reports of mumps cases are spreading throughout the eastern U.S. North Carolina has reported three cases of mumps, along with more than a dozen reports for students at Indiana University and one at an elementary school in Indianapolis. There are confirmed cases at University of Kentucky in Lexington.

Indiana, which so far has been the hardest hit by the disease, has set up a hotline through the state’s Department of Health for anyone with questions about the outbreak. The agency is working with county health departments and university officials to identify potential new cases and try to prevent further spread of the disease.

Mumps is a viral infection that affects the salivary glands and is spread by mucous, saliva and respiratory droplets through sneezing, coughing and coming in contact with a person’s saliva. Because it is a virus, antibiotics are ineffective.

Symptoms, which usually appear 16 to 18 days after infection, include headache, fever, loss of appetite, muscle ache and pain, and tenderness and swelling of the glands below the ears. Most transmissions likely occur before symptoms begin. Treatment focuses on relieving symptoms, including bed rest and pain relievers for body aches. Most cases experience only a mild illness, with only about 1 to 3 percent having complications or more serious issues.

People with symptoms of mumps are encouraged to avoid close contact with other people for five days after the salivary glands begin to swell. Do not go to school or work. Also help the virus from spreading by covering the nose and mouth with a tissue while sneezing or coughing, wearing a mask when around others, and washing hands frequently.

The most effective prevention is through vaccination. There are two different vaccines that can prevent the disease, but they only work if administered before exposure to the virus. MMRV (Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Chicken Pox) and MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella).

The vaccine is in the series of children’s required innoculations, but Mecklenburg N.C. County Medical Director Stephen Keener says it is not 100 percent, and that outbreaks can still occur even in populations with high compliance with vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the MMR vaccine is 88 percent effective after two doses.

Mumps cases reported annually in the U.S. typically range from a few hundred to a couple thousand. Before the vaccination protocol began in the U.S. in 1967 about 186,000 cases were reported each year.

A variety of unpleasant symptoms in babies are commonly attributed to teething, but according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics, high-grade fever should not be one of them. While drooling, crankiness and swollen gums are true symptoms of teething, researchers say that high-grade fevers are possibly a sign of another, unrelated illness that should not be ignored.

Teething symptoms should resolve in three to five days. Paul Casamassimo of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, who was not part of the study, says that parents should be concerned if a child will not eat or drink for days, and has significant discomfort and a high fever.

Cohen Children’s Medical Center’s Minu George says parents often find babies’ symptoms confusing, and determining whether they are normal teething symptoms or illness can be difficult. While a slight temperature increase might be expected with teething, George said that if a baby’s temperatures reaches at least 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit it is likely a fever.

According to Rosie Roldan, from Nicklaus Children’t Hospital in Miami, other symptoms that should not be associated with teething are diarrhea and sores and blisters around the mouth.

Teething can best be managed by comforting the child and offering such pain relief as a cold rag. While infant pain relievers may be helpful, regular use may cause tooth decay, and acetaminophen can also cause liver damage.

An unidentified wounded soldier is scheduled to have the first penis transplant in the United States. The man was injured in an explosion that caused him to lose most of his penis while serving overseas. The donated organ is expected to be fully functional after transplantation, giving the soldier the ability to both urinate and procreate.

The transplant will be only the third completed worldwide. The procedure is more complicated than transplanting other organs. The penis is delicate, and the donor has to match the patient’s blood type and skin tone. The donor also needs to be within 10 years of the recipient’s age. The recipient will have to undergo multiple tests prior to the procedure, including psychiatric evaluations, which can take up to a year.

The first successful penis transplant was a South African man in 2014. In 2006 a Chinese man had an unsuccessful transplant.

The operation involves joining nerves and blood vessels through the use of a microscope. Doctors expect that the nerves in the donor organ will be able to regrow, hopefully giving the patient function within 6 months to a year.

Dr. Richard Redett, Johns Hopkins Hospital director of pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgery, said after the surgery the main focus will be on making sure the donor tissue remains healthy, with adequate blood supply and little chance of rejection. He said that is generally known within a few days. The next priority is regaining function.

The patient will start immediately on anti-rejection medication. About 14 days later he will get an infusion of bone marrow from the donor that could help reduce the need for a life time of immunosuppressive drugs.

Surgeons hope to perform penis transplantations on 60 veterans in the upcoming months. Doctors and advocates who work with wounded soldiers note that losing a penis is one of the most traumatic injuries emotionally, as it affects the person’s sense of manhood and identity, especially for men who hope to become fathers.

The procedure will be performed at Johns Hopkins Hospital. It is expected to occur within the next few weeks. Surgeons are currently looking for a donor who is a good match. Unlike donations of other organs, doctors need specific permission for this donation.

Weight loss has long been known to reduce the risk of diabetes and now there is a new tool in the fight against the disease. Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine have now established that Weight Watchers helps people develop the lifestyle changes that can prevent the onset of diabetes.

An article published on Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health reports that people who participated in Weight Watchers after attending one class focused on diabetes prevention lost 5.5 percent of their body weight after 6 months, and maintained the loss after 12 months. People in the control group lost only 1 percent and tended to regain some of that weight at 12 months.

Previous research has shown that losing about 5 percent of body weight reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by 58 percent, so it makes sense that a weight loss program would be beneficial. However, until now it had not been established that Weight Watchers would be effective in specifically preventing the disease.

The study was funded by Weight Watchers, and had 225 participants testing how effective the program could be, as compared to other interventions such as the Diabetes Prevention Program, which combines personal training and individualized coaching. Dr. David Marrero said the study was not trying to determine whether one program was better than the other, but rather whether Weight Watchers would work. The answer was a resounding “yes.”

Similar to the Diabetes Prevention Program, Weight Watchers incorporates a lifestyle change approach that includes healthy eating, monitoring food intaking and encouraging physical activities. Marrero said that he found the Weight Watchers plan to be more user friendly, offering participants more flexibility and more available meeting sites. People can attend meetings on line, and in-person gatherings last only one-half hour, compared to hour and a half sessions in the Diabetes Prevention Program.

The findings have caused Weight Watchers stock to rise, up by 7.69 percent to $13.58 in Friday’s morning training.

According to a new study, acupuncture may be a solution for the chronic pain of fibromyalgia sufferers. The research, from the Pain Treatment Unit at Dona Mercedes Primary Health Center in Seville, showed that 20 minutes of personalized acupuncture for nine weeks helped improve function and reduce pain caused by the chronic pain disorder that affects nearly 5 percent of individuals.

Ten weeks after receiving the treatment patients reported pain scores that dropped an average of 41 percent. Participants who were given simulated acupuncture treatment had a drop of 27 percent. The benefits of the treatment were still seen after a year.

The 153 patients participating were physically examined prior to the study, and at 10 weeks, six months and one year later. They were randomly assigned to treatment by acupuncture or simulated acupuncture. They had nine weekly treatments, each lasting 20 minutes.

In addition to relief of pain, acupuncture patients had reductions in measures of depression, fatigue and anxiety. However Vas noted that, despite taking less pain medication, the acupuncture patients were using higher levels of antidepressants after one year, which may have artificially improved results.

Fibromyalgia, a condition that affects mostly women, causes widespread pain associated with depression, fatigue and poor sleep patterns. Many patients have central nervous systems that are unregulated, meaning too many pain signals are sent to the brain. Typical treatment starts with medications for nerve pain, such as Lyrica. According to physiatrist Dr. Allyson Shrikhande, acupuncture can calm the nervous system and help slow down the transmission of pain signals to the brain.

The patients in the study were allowed to continue their drug treatment, but when the study was finished the patients who received real acupuncture were taking less medication than those who received simulated treatment.

Lead researcher Dr. Jorge Vas said “individualized acupuncture is a safe and good therapeutic option for the treatment of patients with fibromyalgia.”

Dr. Alexander Rances, who is an acupuncturist, pain management specialist and physician at the Manhasset, New York’s North Shore University Hospital, said that both traditional medicine and acupuncture have a place in treating the condition.

The report was published in the Feb. 15 online edition of the journal Acupuncture in Medicine.

Two new studies have found that migraine sufferers who experience visual disturbances called auras may face a higher risk of stroke. One of the studies, presented on Wednesday at the American Stroke Association’s annual meeting, reported that people with migraines with auras may be as much as 2.4 times more likely to have a stroke than are migraine sufferers who do not see auras.

The second paper, also being presented at that meeting, says that women who take the female hormone estrogen may also be at risk, 30 percent more likely to suffer a clot-based stroke than women who do not take estrogen, which is found in birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy.

Dr. Elizabeth Loder, chief of Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s headache and pain division, says the two factors pose a dangerous mix. “Women who have migraines with aura probably want to think more carefully about the potential risk of stroke associated with using estrogen,” she said. However, although the studies found associations between stroke risk, migraines with auras and estrogen therapy, they did not prove cause-and effect.

Dr. Souvik Sen, neurologist at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, says future research into blood flow patterns in the brains of patients who have migraines with auras is necessary. He says auras are an effect on the blood vessels of the brain caused by a migraine.

Regarding the estrogen connection, Loder says that estrogen increases the likelihood of blood cloths, thus increasing stroke risk.

The researchers analyzed data from the Women’s Health Initiative for more than 82,000 women aged 50 to 79. The study was begun in the early 1990s by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. All participants reported having migraines and about 45 percent also used hormone replacement. The women completed a questionnaire at a follow-up visit three years later that assessed if their migraines had worsened.

The findings suggest that women whose migraines worsen while taking hormone-replacement therapy appear to be at 30 percent higher risk for a clot-based stroke than migraine sufferers who never took hormone-replacement therapy, or had stopped the medication.

Loder says that risks can be minimized for migraine sufferers or women taking estrogen by addressing more important risk factors such as controlling blood pressure, quitting smoking, lowering cholesterol, or treating their diabetes.

A team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has demonstrated the first ever mind-controlled robotic arm able to successfully move individual fingers through thoughts. The feat, which was described online this week in the Journal of Neural Engineering, describes a huge advance in the technology that could restore fine-motor hand function to those who have lost arms.

Nathan Crone, senior author of the study, stated in a press release that the technology goes beyond the capabilities of current prostheses, in which the fingers move as a single unit in a grabbing-type motion. The new device allowed the subject to successfully wiggle fingers independently, without extensive training for the user.

The subject testing the arm was not missing a limb, but was equipped with a device that bypassed control of his own arm and hand through a brain-mapping procedure. The man, who has epilepsy, was already at the hospital for brain mapping in order to pinpoint the origin of his seizures.

Before the prosthesis was connected, the researchers mapped and tracked the specific areas of the man’s brain that were responsible for moving each finger. The robotic arm was then programmed to move the corresponding fingers. The computer program the team developed had the man moving individual digits on command, while recording which parts of the brain were activated when each sensor detected a signal.

After collecting the sensory and motor data, the researchers programmed the arm to move individual fingers according to which part of the brain was active. The arm, which was wired to the patient via brain electrodes, was turned on, and the man was asked to think about individually moving his fingers and thumb. Electrical activity in the brain moved the fingers.

The robotic arm initially had 76 percent accuracy. Once the ring and pinkie fingers were coupled together the accuracy rose to 88 percent. Crone says that the part of the brain controlling the ring and pinkie fingers overlaps, and most people actually move the two together.

The news of the mind-controlled prosthetic has come on the heels of an announcement of a bionic spine that attempts to allow people to control robotic limbs with subconscious thoughts. Crone says that making the technology available to people who are actually missing limbs is still years off, and will be costly. The Amputee Coalition says that most of the 100,000 people living in the U.S. who are missing hands or arms could potentially benefit from the new technology.

A new report from the British Action on Sugar campaign group reports that flavored drinks offered by coffee chains such as Starbucks may contain as much as 25 teaspoons of sugar each. That is three times as much sugar as in a can of coke, and more than three times the maximum daily intake recommended for adults by the American Heart Association. The research, which focused on drinks sold in the UK, showed that sugar levels are similar in the U.S. and other locations where the drinks are sold.

Action on Sugar analyzed 131 hot drinks, including chai teas, flavored lattes and mocha coffees from nine major coffee chains in the UK, including Costa, Pret a Manger and Starbucks. The “worst offender” was found to be Starbucks, and the worst drink on the menu is hot mulled fruit grape with orange, chai and cinnamon, which weighed in at 25 teaspoons of sugar per serving, equal to 99 grams. The Starbucks venti Chai Latte, promoted as a healthy drink option, had 13 teaspoons.

Starbucks was not the only chain in the campaigners’ line of fire. KFC’s mocha was listed with 15 teaspoons of sugar, the same as Starbucks’ Signature hot chocolate. This is twice the recommended daily dose. A medium Dunkin’ Donuts vanilla chai has more than 11 teaspoons of sugar, and their hot macchiato has seven teaspoons. McDonald’s large mocha has 11 teaspoons.

The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests 25 grams, or about 6 teaspoons, of sugar daily for a normal weight adult.

Kawther Hashem one of the researchers for Action on Sugar, says these flavored drinks should be an “occasional treat” rather than consumed every day. “They are laden with an unbelievable amount (of) sugar and calories and are often accompanied by a high sugar and fat snack.”

Starbucks has promised to take action to reduce the added sugar in their “indulgent drinks.” They have committed to reducing sugar by 25 percent by the end of 2020, according to a Starbucks spokesperson.

However, Action on Sugar says the UK need to start taxing the sugar in food, and that the reduction in fat and sugar in processed drinks and food needs to be monitored by an independent agency.

Action on Sugar describes itself as a group of specialists who are concerned with the effects of sugar on health, and includes doctors, nutritionists and public health specialists.