Heads and tales: Healthier outlook

Attacking AIDS: Team UAB is fighting a war abroad — and winning. The Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, a UAB affiliate, started putting more than 25,000 HIV-positive patients on life-saving antiretroviral therapy. It’s part of a $15 billion, 15-country effort. Dr. Jeffrey S.A. Stringer, director of the center, writes in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association that treating AIDS on a massive scale in Africa can be done. Meanwhile, nearly 500,000 Zambians are HIV positive, and 200,000 need those drugs to live. “Many dying patients ‘literally came in in wheelbarrows, a common form of ambulance in Lusaka,’ the Zambian capital, Stringer said. We’ll win the war, but the casualties will be far too high.
• AIDS eases grip on Africa [Birmingham News]

Rehabilitator, heal thyself: HealthSouth was a dominant player in sports medicine and rehabilitation. Still is, though it has stumbled since its accounting scandal. Since then, it took bold steps to regain investor trust and remain afloat. The next step for the Birmingham-based health care giant will be to shed three divisions, sticking solely with inpatient rehabilitation. It also plans to be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange by October. Is this the makings of the greatest comeback in sports (medicine) history? It ain’t over till the jailbird Scrushy sings …
• HealthSouth announces plan for restructuring [Birmingham News]

Hail, yeah! EWTN, the Catholic global cable network based in Irondale, is marking its 25th anniversary, just two weeks behind that other cult sensation. Mother Angelica, the founder and face of the network, still remains in poor health and didn’t attend Saturday’s celebration at the BJCC Arena. How powerful is the network? It has a $30 million annual budget, receiving as much as $3 million in donations a month. Plus, you know it has God on its side, always a help.
• Catholic TV network has celebration [Birmingham News]

The tyranny of safety: The Tiger Walk, the decades-old pre-game ritual at Auburn, is being declawed, sorta. Barricades separating players from fans will line Donahue Drive for the first time this fall. It’s amusing to think 300-pound linebackers need protection from throngs of drunk exuberant fans. Graduate and former player Rich Trucks said, “I couldn’t believe it either. … I got more kisses in Tiger Walk than I got my entire career in college.” Real kisses, too, not audited ones.
• Auburn fans, players have mixed feelings about Tiger Walk changes [Opelika-Auburn News]

Also:

• Suburban cops also get big Birmingham brushoff from chief
• Boutique sale triggers squeals, handbag riot
• Autumn expected to be extra dry, somewhat leafy

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Posted: Monday, August 14, 2006, 6:46 pm, in Headlines.
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