Matthew 25 unveils mobile STD testing unit
Last August, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention granted $3,000,000 in funding to the organization. Matthew 25 used a large portion of that grant in partnership with Mission Mobile Medical to customize the treatment center.
As for why this was needed, Chief Executive Officer, Courtney Woolfork, said, 'We have clinics in Owensboro, Henderson, and Bowling Green. But everything in between is really hard for people to get access to, because there isn't public transportation always.'
The non-profit covers 25 counties in Kentucky and 12 in Indiana and officials say that they have seen STD trends increasing in those regions. Woolfork says that trends like these are why it's so beneficial to have a mobile treatment unit that can serve vulnerable areas.
The mobile unit will also have PREP pills available to those who have had a Sexually Transmitted Illnesses. Matthew 25 urges those who have come in contact with an STD or STI to get this pill to lessen their chances of contracting HIV in the future.
Over the next couple months, Woolfork and her team plan on traveling to 25 counties in the Tri-State. March 27 will kick off the road trip, as they will be in Owensboro, Kentucky for National HIV Testing Day.
Although they are fighting an uphill battle the mission statement is clear, 'Meeting people where they are and however they are.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Doctors reveal key signs of Lyme disease as tick season intensifies across US
Lyme disease is prevalent this time of year, especially in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and upper-Midwest regions of the U.S. — though there have been reports of cases in expanding areas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterial infection that causes Lyme disease, is transmitted to humans through the bite of a black-legged (deer) tick, per the above source. Deer ticks the size of a poppy seed can inject a numbing chemical when they bite, allowing the infection to go undetected until symptoms begin to show weeks later. The infection can lead to severe muscle and joint pain, Lyme arthritis, cardiac complications and neurological conditions, experts told Fox News Digital. A telltale sign of Lyme disease is a red circular bull's-eye rash or multiple rashes on the skin, especially in tick-endemic regions. Between 60% and 80% of patients will develop a rash, according to experts. "We're looking for specific findings, like the classic bull's-eye rash, a swollen joint or a facial droop called Bell's palsy, which can be seen with Lyme disease," Dr. Andrew Handel, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Stony Brook Children's Hospital on Long Island, New York, said in an interview with Fox News Digital. Symptoms typically emerge two weeks after the bite, becoming more severe if they go untreated. If the infection isn't treated at the time of the rash, patients will typically seek medical attention for later manifestations of the infection, Handel noted. Those can include Bell's palsy (facial nerve paralysis), Lyme meningitis (often marked by severe headache, neck stiffness and fever) and carditis (inflammation of heart tissues). One of the earliest signs of Lyme disease is overwhelming fatigue and joint aches, according to Dr. Daniel Cameron, an epidemiologist in Mount Kisco, New York, who specializes in tick-borne illnesses. Other symptoms may include fever, brain fog, dizziness, palpitations and nerve pain, among others. A blood test can help diagnose Lyme disease, but timing matters. "The way we diagnose Lyme disease in the blood is by looking for antibodies, for the immune system's response to the infection, as opposed to other infectious testing, where you find the bacteria itself," Handel told Fox News Digital. Testing too early can result in a false negative, as antibody tests often don't turn positive until three or four weeks after the tick bite occurred. After sustaining a tick bite, experts recommend immediately removing the tick and seeing a healthcare provider. Doctors will typically prescribe a post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) with a 200-milligram dose of the antibiotic doxycycline to be taken within 72 hours of a high-risk tick bite, epidemiologists told Fox News Digital. "It's the immune system's lingering response to the infection that you had in the past." Although studies have found this dose to be effective in the majority of cases, some physicians prefer a longer course of treatment for tick bites. "I'm not a big fan of a single dose of doxycycline [200 mg] for a tick bite, even though it's pretty popular," Cameron told Fox News Digital. "I don't feel comfortable with a single dose if I really want to avoid Lyme." Instead, Cameron prefers a four-week course of antibiotics for suspected Lyme disease cases. For patients who don't want to take antibiotics right away, he said he will "watch and wait" to see if symptoms emerge and then treat accordingly. The doctor recommends that patients follow up in a month to be assessed and undergo screenings for other infections if necessary. In the event that a patient develops Lyme, the disease typically responds well to a course of antibiotics, which may include doxycycline, amoxicillin or cefuroxime, according to experts. Treatment duration can vary from 10 days up to four to six weeks. Chronic Lyme disease — also known as post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) — is a condition that affects a subgroup of patients who were already treated for Lyme disease, but continue to have symptoms. "The bacteria is dead and gone. It's the immune system's lingering response to the infection that you had in the past," Handel told Fox News Digital. For these cases, doctors typically prescribe symptom-based therapies rather than additional antibiotics. More research is needed in the field of PTLDS, experts agree. "It remains an area that requires further understanding and investigation as to how to optimally treat the symptoms that patients have," Dr. Aaron Glatt, a hospital epidemiologist at Mount Sinai South Nassau on Long Island, New York, and spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said in an interview with Fox News Digital. "However, the current data do not support providing additional antibiotic therapy for this condition." If someone suspects they have PTLDS, they should discuss with their physician the possibility of other diseases, such as babesiosis, which is widely regarded as the second-most common tick-borne illness in the Northeastern U.S. While babesiosis is spread by the same tick as Lyme disease, it is caused by a parasite called Babesia microti rather than a bacterium, per the CDC. "It's the same tick, but doxycycline doesn't do a thing for it, whether you take two pills or the full course," Cameron said. "You'll never get control of Babesia until you take some anti-parasite medicine." If someone does not respond to Lyme treatment, Cameron recommends that they get tested for babesiosis and receive antiparasitic medications if necessary. The best way to prevent Lyme disease is to avoid tick bites in the first place, experts agree. They recommend taking the following preventive measures. For more Health articles, visit If you do find a tick on your body, Cameron and Handel suggest following the protocol below.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Could a single shot at birth shield kids from HIV for years?
There's potentially exciting news from a trial conducted in monkeys: A single shot of gene therapy given to newborn monkeys appears to shield them from HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, for at least three years. Of course, studies conducted in animals don't always pan out in humans. But scientists say that if it does, it could save the lives of babies and children still imperiled by HIV. The study authors estimate that more than 100,000 children worldwide (largely in subSaharan Africa) are believed to contract HIV soon after birth, primarily via breastfeeding with an HIV+ mother. "Nearly 300 children are infected with HIV each day," said lead author Dr. Amir Ardeshir, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the Tulane National Primate Research Center in New Orleans. "This approach could help protect newborns in high-risk areas during the most vulnerable period of their lives." His team published its findings July 30 in Nature. It noted that the new work hinges on the notion that in the first few weeks of a primate's life -- humans are primates, too -- the body's immune system is naturally more tolerant of "invaders," including gene therapies. The research focused on a tried-and-true form of HIV-fighting gene therapy. It works by programming cells to continuously produce HIV-fighting antibodies. The gene therapy was piggybacked onto a harmless adeno-associated virus (AAV) to help deliver it to the muscle cells of newborn rhesus macaques. Muscle cells were chosen because they are particularly long-lived, Ardeshir's team explained. The gene therapy instructs these cells to produce broadly neutralizing antibodies, or bNAbs, which are capable of neutralizing multiple strains of HIV. It's not the first time bNAbs have been used in gene therapy to fight HIV. However, in prior trials repeat injections were required to keep the immune system vigilant. In the new trial, "we turn these muscle cells -- which are long-lived -- into micro factories that just keep producing these antibodies," Ardeshir explained. When such an approach is used in older monkeys, however, the animals' robust immune systems turn against the therapy, shutting it down. That didn't happen when Ardeshir's team introduced it during a macaque's first few weeks of life. All of the monkeys who got a single shot of bNAbs therapy soon after birth were shielded from infection with HIV for at least three years, with no need for a booster. Tulane researchers said that's roughly the equivalent of a treatment that could ward off HIV in humans deep into adolescence. If the gene therapy was delivered even a bit later -- 8 to 12 weeks after birth -- the young monkey's more developed immune system swung into action to fight it, eroding its effectiveness. Giving the shot soon after birth seemed key, Ardeshir said. "This is a one-and-done treatment that fits the critical time when these mothers with HIV in resource-limited areas are most likely to see a doctor," he noted in a Tulane news release. "As long as the treatment is delivered close to birth, the baby's immune system will accept it and believe it's part of itself." Will it work in human babies? That's not entirely clear, since it's possible infants might be less amenable than monkeys to therapies that are delivered via AAV, the team said. The monkey trial also used only one strain of simian-human immunodeficiency virus, which is similar in some ways to HIV but may not reflect the variety of circulating strains of HIV strains. Still, the research team is hopeful. Giving families a one-shot preventive tool to protect their children would be especially useful in areas where access to repeat medical treatments can be tough, the researchers said. "Nothing like this was possible to achieve even 10 years ago," Ardeshir said. "This was a huge result, and now we have all the ingredients to take on HIV." More information Find out more about HIV and AIDS at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). SOURCE: Tulane University, news release, July 30, 2025 Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
A single injection for newborns could protect them against HIV for years, study suggests
A single injection at birth could shield children from HIV for years, a study has suggested. The study is one of the first to show that the first weeks of life offer a critical window where the immune system is naturally more tolerant, meaning it is the optimal time to deliver gene therapies that would otherwise be rejected at older ages. Researchers hope the gene therapy jab could be used in the future to fight against paediatric infections in high-risk areas. 'Nearly 300 children are infected with HIV each day,' said first author Amir Ardeshir, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the Tulane National Primate Research Center in the US. 'This approach could help protect newborns in high-risk areas during the most vulnerable period of their lives.' The study, published in the journal Nature, created a gene therapy that programs cells to produce HIV-fighting antibodies. An animal study that tested the injection on non-human primates found it protected them from infection for at least three years without the need for a booster shot. But this was only if the injection was administered in the first month of life. In comparison, those that received the gene therapy between eight and 12 weeks after birth did not tolerate the treatment, study authors explain. 'This is a one-and-done treatment that fits the critical time when these mothers with HIV in resource-limited areas are most likely to see a doctor,' Dr Ardeshir said. 'As long as the treatment is delivered close to birth, the baby's immune system will accept it and believe it's part of itself.' Globally, an estimated 1.3 million women and girls living with HIV become pregnant every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But if they do not receive medication, the rate of transmission of HIV from the mother to her child either during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding ranges between 15 per cent and 45 per cent, according to WHO data. Although antiviral treatments can suppress the virus and limit transmission, adherence to treatment and doctor visits decline after childbirth, particularly in areas with limited access to healthcare, the study authors noted. This gene therapy uses a harmless virus that can deliver genetic code to cells, but is different to a vaccine. This virus was injected into muscle cells and delivered instructions to produce antibodies that are capable of neutralising multiple strains of HIV. Researchers explained that previous studies have found repeated infusions of the injection are needed for it to work. But by injecting it into muscle cells, researchers say they become 'micro-factories that just keep producing these antibodies'. Newborns showed greater tolerance to the jab, which prevented infection during breastfeeding. However, older infants and juveniles were more likely to have produced anti-drug antibodies that shut down the treatment. In addition, exposing a foetus to the antibodies from the gene therapy before birth helps older infants accept the therapy. However, because it has only been tested on animals, researchers still do not know if it will work on human children. If successful, this treatment could dramatically reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission rates in high-risk regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, where 90 per cent of paediatric HIV cases can be found. 'Nothing like this was possible to achieve even 10 years ago,' Dr Ardeshir said. 'This was a huge result, and now we have all the ingredients to take on HIV.'