Newly divorced middle aged women are more vulnerable to contract HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, according to new research, because they tend to let their guard down with new sexual partners and avoid using protection since they are not afraid of getting pregnant.

Researchers have developed a new way to identify the genes of harmful microbes, particularly those that have been difficult to study in the laboratory.

For children with HIV infection, the FDA approval of the use of raltegravir, an antiretroviral drug that slows the spread of HIV infection, offers a new weapon to treat HIV infection in children.

New research points investigators toward finding a genital herpes vaccine that works on both viruses that cause disease.

New guidelines will help physicians better choose seizure drugs for people on HIV/AIDS medication, avoiding deadly drug interactions and preventing critical anti-HIV drugs from becoming less effective, possibly leading to a more virulent strain of the disease.

New vaccine research in monkeys suggests that scientists are homing in on the critical ingredients of a protective HIV vaccine and identifies new HIV vaccine candidates to test in human clinical trials.

A woman's ovarian cycle plays a role in susceptibility to infection, according to new research. Specifically, researchers found women are most susceptible to infection, such as Candida albicans or other sexually transmitted diseases, during ovulation than at any other time during the reproductive cycle. This natural "dip" in immunity may be to allow spermatozoa to survive the threat of an immune response so it may fertilize an egg successfully.

The journal Science has chosen the HPTN 052 clinical trial, an international HIV prevention trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, as the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year. The study found that if HIV-infected heterosexual individuals begin taking antiretroviral medicines when their immune systems are relatively healthy as opposed to delaying therapy until the disease has advanced, they are 96 percent less likely to transmit the virus to their uninfected partners.

Scientists have identified how HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- hijacks the body's own defenses to promote infection. This discovery could one day help curb the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

In perhaps the most comprehensive survey of the inner workings of HIV, an international team of scientists led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco has mapped every apparent physical interaction the virus makes with components of the human cells it infects -- work that may reveal new ways to design future HIV/AIDS drugs.