HIV is largely passed from man to man through sex, in Hong Kong. HIV infection in gay and bisexual men has dramatically increased since 2003.

The number has elevated from 50 to 112 in the period of 2003 to 2006, while new infections among heterosexuals remained within 110-116 each year.

“If all our actions fail, by 2020 we can have one-third infected in the community. Some of them may go on to infect women,” said Wong Ka-hing, Govt. Center for Health Protection.

Four percent, of gay and bisexual population is HIV-positive and three different strains of HIV are circulating in the local community.

“There are three clusters (of people infected by the three strains) … we investigated and found common risk factors like a number of people attending the same sex parties, Internet use (to search for sex partners), using recreational drugs, unsafe sex and STD,” Wong said.

“Not many people (in this community) think safe sex is important. Their condom use is lower than heterosexual men.” Wong said.

“Early diagnosis is very important. We need to identify newly infected cases, especially among people who are sexually active. Immediately after infection, the viral load is very high, so the chance of transmitting to others is very high,” Chen said.

Chen suggested the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which detects viruses in the blood right after infection and well before the body starts producing antibodies.

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Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) usually occurs in children and leukemia symptoms include fevers, poor growth, and infections.

Diagnosis of JMML, in early stage is utmost important, since the only treatment is a bone marrow transplant. Current diagnosis of JMML involves monitoring the response of JMML cells to a growth-stimulating factor called GM-CSF, which takes two to three weeks for cells growth in the laboratory.

Now researchers had discovered a new technique that based on flow cytometry.

In flow cytometry, fluorescently marked antibodies are used for cells classification, depends on proteins on their outer surface. The new method proceeds by injecting antibodies inside the cell to bind to target proteins.

To diagnose leukemia, an antibody that binds only to the activated form of a protein called STAT5 is used in cell sample of twelve JMML patients. Eleven out of twelve JMML cell samples show high levels of STAT5 against low doses of GM-CSF.

“I was surprised how much more we can learn about the inner nature of these cells by ‘interrogating’ them with different conditions,” senior co-author Garry Nolan said, “Time and again, we are finding this to be a powerful amplifier of the fate of a diseased cell and a good way to understand why it responds to certain treatments and not others.”

Because the new technique can track disease progress, the researchers are trying to monitor the effectiveness of potential drug treatments for JMML and other disorders through it.

“Identifying populations of cells by their responses to specific stimuli will facilitate our ability to assess the efficacy of specific agents in relevant subsets with increased precision,” researchers said in a release.

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