www.Usenet.com
www.Usenet.com
| <-- __Chronological__ --> | <-- __Thread__ --> |
CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
The CDC National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention provides
the following information as a public service only. Providing
synopses of key scientific articles and lay media reports on
HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis
does not constitute CDC endorsement. This daily update also
includes information from CDC and other government agencies, such
as background on Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
articles, fact sheets, press releases and announcements.
Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not
be sold, and the CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update should be
cited as the source of the information. Contact the sources of
the articles abstracted below for full texts of the articles.
HEADLINES
NATIONAL NEWS
"Senate Approves Sessions' Request to Fight Medical AIDS
Transmissions"
"AIDS Program Director Says the State Must Do More"
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
"With Billions of Dollars Pledged for Iraq, Is Enough Left for
Poor Countries, AIDS Sufferers?"
"New HIV/AIDS Funds Won't Go to Free Antiretrovirals"
MEDICAL NEWS
"Many Teenage Girls Underestimate STD Risk: Study"
LOCAL AND COMMUNITY NEWS
"Lehigh Valley Hospital Has Quick Test for HIV"
"Crystal Meth Money Awarded from City"
"AIDS Clinic Sees Face of Epidemic Change"
NEWS BRIEFS
"Nigerian States Halt Polio Campaign over AIDS Fears"
"Ethiopia to Give AIDS Drugs Free of Charge to Poor"
"Hattiesburg Group Home for HIV/AIDS Patients to Open Soon"
"Pop Star Collins Gives Royalties to AIDS Foundation in South
Africa"
************************************************************
NATIONAL NEWS
************************************************************
"Senate Approves Sessions' Request to Fight Medical AIDS
Transmissions"
Associated Press (10.28.03)::Jeffrey McMurray
In the Senate on Tuesday, no member objected when Sen. Jeff
Sessions (R-Ala.) proposed amending a foreign aid package to
ensure that at least $75 million from the global AIDS bill would
go toward the problem of unsafe medical injections in Africa.
Sessions had been concerned that health officials wanted to use
nearly all of the $15 billion in the AIDS bill to curb sexual
transmission of the disease.
Sessions said conservative estimates show that as many as
1,000 people a day in Africa die from unsafe medical treatment.
Sessions said his amendment, which would be one of the few
mandates from Congress on how the Bush administration should
spend the AIDS money, "could save hundreds of thousands of
lives."
Sessions said he is convinced the World Health Organization
has long underestimated the percentage of African HIV cases
caused by tainted injections and transfusions. While WHO has
assumed 2.5 percent of the cases are medical in nature, most
studies show it to be much higher - above 40 percent in at least
two. The conflicting research has created division among experts,
even within WHO. Some want to direct money toward syringe
distribution and blood safety; others fear this would dilute the
focus on unsafe sex, which is largely undisputed as the lead
cause of AIDS in Africa.
Sessions contends the $15 billion bill, which President Bush
signed in May, should focus on both causes. Under his proposal,
at least $46 million would be spent on blood safety, and $29
million on injection safety.
Because there was no roll call vote, it is unclear how many
senators realized what the amendment would do. The House has
already approved its version of the foreign operations bill;
Sessions' amendment could face challenges when negotiators come
together to resolve differences.
"AIDS Program Director Says the State Must Do More"
Associated Press (10.27.03)
Karin Mongeon, North Dakota's AIDS program manager, said the
state must step up efforts to fight the disease, given changing
attitudes and a growing methamphetamine problem. "When you look
at what we are doing here, we are behind other states," she said.
The state has the lowest number of HIV/AIDS cases per capita
in the country, with 312 cases and 117 deaths reported over the
last 18 years. An average of 17 new cases are reported annually.
North Dakota receives more than $1 million per year for
prevention and surveillance from the federal government. One-
fourth of the money goes for housing and medical assistance for
low-income patients. Surveillance receives $60,000, including
testing and partner identification, while $727,000 per year pays
for prevention including advertisements, a Web site and a toll-
free information line. A prevention-planning group works with the
state to allocate the prevention budget. The group includes gay
men, heterosexuals, people with HIV/AIDS and state-level
prevention workers.
Complacency due to new drug therapy, coupled with
conservative attitudes and inadequate funding, cripple aggressive
efforts to stem the spread of the virus, according to Mongeon and
Stephen McDonough, state epidemiologist.
Another concern for health officials is a possible increase
in AIDS cases due to a rise in methamphetamine use. In the last
five years, according to state data, there was a 7 percent
increase in the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS because
of intravenous drug use.
"As far as education, we have a long way to go," said Steve
Wagendorf, an HIV-positive man on the state's prevention board.
"People still think you can catch it by being in the same room,
and it's simply because they haven't been affected by it. Unless
they come up with a cure or vaccine, everyone someday is going to
be affected by it."
************************************************************
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
************************************************************
"With Billions of Dollars Pledged for Iraq, Is Enough Left for
Poor Countries, AIDS Sufferers?"
Associated Press (10.29.03)::Barbara Borst
Development and AIDS officials say that $33 billion in
recent international pledges to rebuild Iraq were
disproportionately generous when compared to their donations to
fight poverty and AIDS in the poorest countries. The funding -
including $20 billion from the United States - is nearly 10 times
the pledges made to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria - diseases that kill millions every year. At
development agencies and in poor countries, leaders worry that
the generosity shown to Iraq - a middle-income country with major
oil reserves - will erode resources for other needs.
Stephen Lewis, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's envoy for
AIDS in Africa, called the contrasting commitments a "weird,
discordant upset in the scale of justice." Lewis said he
understands the focus on fighting terrorism, but it introduced "a
completely unconscionable distortion" of funding priorities. "I
don't deny that Iraqis are under stress and numbers of them are
dying tragically. But I am forced to point out that more than 2
million Africans are dying of AIDS every year, and their poverty
is vastly more wretched," Lewis said.
At least 42 million people worldwide are HIV-infected, more
than 28 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than 20
million have died, according to the World Health Organization.
Iraq's population is about 25 million. President Bush has asked
Congress for $20 billion for Iraq's reconstruction and $2 billion
to fight AIDS overseas - less than expected after a promise of
$15 billion for AIDS over five years. The US Agency for
International Development's 2004 budget for Africa, the poorest
continent, totals $1.3 billion.
With the right funding, WHO says, it could get 3 million
more people onto AIDS medications by 2005. But the Global Fund is
several billion dollars short of its needs, said Lewis.
Julia Taft, director of UN Development Program's crisis
prevention and recovery bureau, saw a "total disconnect" between
the amounts pledged for Iraq and those for sub-Saharan Africa.
Taft added that most donors said they would not curtail funding
other needs.
Rebuilding Iraq is crucial, President Bush has said, because
a stable, prosperous and democratic Iraq could help foster
democracy and stability throughout the Middle East - stability
that is key to the terrorism fight.
"New HIV/AIDS Funds Won't Go to Free Antiretrovirals"
Inter Press Service (10.24.03)::Ranjit Devraj
The pledge of $200 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation to help India fight HIV/AIDS will center on
prevention, and none of the money will go towards the
antiretroviral drugs that activists say could help alleviate the
suffering of the 4 million people living with the virus.
"The Indian government cannot afford to provide
antiretroviral treatment to those already suffering or even
subsidize it," said Prasada Rao, secretary in Union Health
Ministry. "The overall goal is to decrease the prevalence of HIV
in high-risk groups and stabilize it in the general population by
2008," said Rao, former director of the National AIDS Control
Organization.
But those caring for HIV patients say the money could
greatly extend the lifespans of those already suffering. "It is
time that the Indian government moves out of its preventive
approach and helps hundreds of thousands of HIV-positive people
rather than leave them to die," said Shruti Pandey, an activist
with the Human Rights Law Network.
According to Helene Gayle, director of the HIV/AIDS, TB and
reproductive health program at the Gates Foundation, India has a
"very small window of opportunity within which to control the
HIV/AIDS epidemic." Gayle estimates that infection levels could
be rising by as much as 20 percent per year.
The Indian government spends less than $1 per person on
HIV/AIDS treatment and less than $12 overall per capita on health
care. Estimates by the Lawyers Collective's HIV/AIDS unit have
placed the annual cost of antiretroviral treatment at $1,000 per
head, exclusive of the costs of needed changes to the ailing
public health delivery system.
Ironically, Indian pharmaceutical firms like Cipla and
Ranbaxy are poised to provide generic triple-drug cocktail
regimens at less than 40 cents a day per person to several
African and Caribbean countries under a William J. Clinton
Presidential Foundation agreement.
Less than 10 percent of the 300-odd patients at the Naz Care
Home, one of New Delhi's four voluntary institutions providing
HIV care, have had antiretroviral treatment, said its coordinator
Irfan Khan. Most just cannot afford treatment - even at 40 cents
per day, said Khan.
************************************************************
MEDICAL NEWS
************************************************************
"Many Teenage Girls Underestimate STD Risk: Study"
Reuters Health (10.15.03)::Merritt McKinney
Teenage girls who have unprotected sex and engage in other
risky sexual behavior may underestimate their odds of contracting
an STD, a recent study shows.
"Most young women in this study, who were all sexually
active and who demonstrated risk for STDs, did not perceive that
they were at risk for infection," said Dr. Kathleen A. Ethier of
CDC.
Researchers tracked 209 young women, mostly African-American
or Latina, over the course of 18 months. During that time, almost
one out of four adolescent girls in the study were diagnosed with
chlamydia or gonorrhea, even though "most of those had predicted
that there was little or no chance of that happening,"
investigators reported.
About 89 percent of the girls felt they were at little to no
risk of contracting an STD. However, 74 percent reported engaging
in risky sex, having symptoms of an STD or having had an STD in
the past. Each girl's risk factors for STDs, including
unprotected sex and multiple partners, had little effect on her
perception of risk, according to the study, "Adolescent Women
Underestimate Their Susceptibility to Sexually Transmitted
Infections," published in Sexually Transmitted Infections (2003;
79:408-411).
"Adolescents may either be uninformed about or ignoring
their risk for sexually transmitted diseases," according to study
leader Ethier. She said young people may know about risk factors
for STDs but not connect those facts with their own behavior.
Even when they engage in risky behavior, "many adolescents still
feel that it can't happen to them," she noted. "That is clearly a
dangerous assumption."
Why the young women in the study did not think they were at
risk remains unclear, according to Ethier. Possible explanations
include their relationships with male partners and the attitudes
of people in their communities, she said, although she noted that
the study did not examine those factors.
"We need to know more about why adolescents are not
accurately assessing their risk for infection," Ethier stated.
Without a clear understanding of the problem, it will be
difficult to design programs to tackle it, she said.
************************************************************
LOCAL AND COMMUNITY NEWS
************************************************************
"Lehigh Valley Hospital Has Quick Test for HIV"
Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) (10.27.03)::Ann Wlazelek
Free, rapid-result finger-stick blood tests for HIV are
being offered for the first time at Lehigh Valley Hospital in
Allentown, Pa., as part of a state pilot program for diagnosing
and counseling patients in the same visit. The hospital's AIDS
activities office is one of three sites the state Department of
Health chose to administer the 20-minute OraQuick Rapid HIV-1
antibody test. The health department bought 1,000 tests at $12
apiece for the pilot study. The other two Pennsylvania sites
administering the test are the Berks AIDS Network in Reading and
the Delaware County State Health Center in Chester.
If considered effective, the state could make the rapid test
available at other government-funded community testing sites. An
advantage is that people get preliminary results right away, as
opposed to standard HIV tests that require 10-14 days until
results are known.
"Getting results of the blood test in less than an hour
means we can provide vital information to persons who require
immediate counseling on safe practices to avoid spreading the
infection," said Dr. Tim Friel, an infectious disease specialist
who works with the LVH AIDS activities office.
Nationwide, roughly one-third of Americans tested for HIV
never return for results. Pennsylvania's return rate - excluding
Philadelphia, where tests are paid for by CDC - is better, with
93 percent to 95 percent of HIV-positive people returning a week
or two later for results and counseling.
Most of Pennsylvania's 130 HIV-only test centers and 125 STD
clinics offer confidential rather than anonymous testing,
according to Tom DeMelfi, manager of the state's HIV counseling
and testing program. The individual is asked for a name, address,
and phone number that are kept private. That way, health care
providers can reach people with their test results and initiate
treatment.
"Crystal Meth Money Awarded from City"
Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco) (10.23.03)::Matthew S. Bajko
On Oct. 21, San Francisco's health department announced a
$425,000 allocation to help prevent and treat crystal
methamphetamine addiction in the gay community. The funding - an
increase from the $300,000 originally allocated for the problem -
will help eliminate clinic waiting lists for speed users and
develop new adolescent and young adult HIV and substance abuse
services.
"These initiatives result from my City Services Committee
hearings that underscored the epidemic of crystal meth and the
need for specific services to prevent adolescents and young
adults from becoming hooked on crystal and seroconverting because
of high-risk behavior," said committee chair and city Supervisor
Bevan Dufty. "We need quick intervention when young people arrive
in the Castro without resources. Otherwise, these young people
become dependent upon meth, the sex trade, and enter a cycle of
homelessness that's tough to break," said Dufty.
The city's AIDS Office is awarding $75,000 to New Leaf:
Services for Our Community and $100,000 to the Stonewall Project
to help reduce their waiting lists.
"The biggest increase in the last several years is the
number of men coming in with crystal meth problems," said New
Leaf Executive Director Joseph Neisen, who reported that most
clients get in after little more than a week's wait. Six
staffers, all but one full-time, work on substance abuse cases.
Each handles about 20 active clients.
At Stonewall, where 45 clients are on a waiting list, the
extra money will be used to increase staff. Currently, four
counselors work part-time, and 50 men are in the program. The
bulk of the money will go to hiring staff to reduce the wait for
services, said Executive Director Michael Siever.
The city director of HIV prevention, Steven Tierney, will
oversee a $250,000 allocation to community organizations skilled
in working with groups ages 13-17 and 18-24 who face HIV risk and
substance abuse. One potential agency is Ohlhoff Recovery
Programs, whose executive director, Barbara Farrell, met with
Dufty and Tierney last week to discuss her agency's assistance.
"AIDS Clinic Sees Face of Epidemic Change"
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (10.27.03)::Patricia Guthrie
The Ponce de Leon Center in midtown Atlanta opened ten years
ago as a one-stop medical resource for HIV/AIDS outpatients.
Offering doctors, dentists, dermatologists, numerous other
specialists and support groups under one roof, the center was
designed to provide comprehensive care and keep patients outside
the city's public hospital facility, Grady Memorial.
Whereas once HIV/AIDS affected mostly middle-class, white
gay men, over the years the patient profile has changed as
HIV/AIDS incidence rises among minorities, heterosexuals,
females, the urban poor and rural residents. African Americans
make up 29 percent of Georgia's population but accounted for 76
percent of new AIDS cases in 2001. African-American women
accounted for 84 percent of all female AIDS cases in the state.
Of the nearly 28,000 Georgians with AIDS, two-thirds live in
metropolitan Atlanta.
Some of the clinic's clientele are homeless. Fifteen to 20
percent of Atlanta's homeless are estimated to be HIV-positive -
some 4,0000-5,000 people. Many are addicted to crack cocaine,
some suffer from mental illness, and few adhere well to
complicated antiretroviral treatment regimens, nor do they come
into the clinic regularly so doctors can monitor the medicines'
side effects.
"We're seeing more and more people who don't have the life
skills it takes to handle the new drugs," said Angelle Vuchetich,
clinic program manager at the center. "What we have now is an
urban, poor population. Their ability to do all that is required
[to get treated] isn't there."
However, center statistics show that the comprehensive care
offered there has led to fewer clients skipping appointments and
to declines of some common AIDS-related infections.
The Ponce de Leon Center is part of the Grady Health System;
many of its specialists are affiliated with Emory and Morehouse
schools of medicine and CDC. Last year, the University
HealthSystem Consortium selected the center as one of the top
three US HIV/AIDS outpatient clinics.
************************************************************
NEWS BRIEFS
************************************************************
"Nigerian States Halt Polio Campaign over AIDS Fears"
Reuters (10.27.03)
Three mainly Muslim states in northern Nigeria have
suspended a World Health Organization-led polio immunization
program because they feared it spread AIDS and caused
infertility, Nigerian officials said Monday. Chinwere Chukwuani,
a director at Nigeria's National Polio Immunization Office, said
the suspension could cause further spread of polio in Nigeria,
which already has the highest number of cases in the world and is
one of only seven countries where polio is still prevalent. In
Geneva, WHO said there was no question about the purity or safety
of the vaccine and warned that Nigeria was exporting polio to
neighboring countries. The three states follow Sharia Law, a code
of Islamic law whose 2000 introduction in northern Nigeria led to
sectarian riots and polarized the country. Dr. Datti Ahmed,
president of Nigeria's Supreme Council for Sharia Law, said the
vaccine "can give the AIDS virus and that it contains
contaminants that are likely to cause cancer in the human body."
WHO's Dr. David Heymann said, "We are 100 percent certain that
the vaccine is pure and cannot cause any of the problems being
imputed to it."
"Ethiopia to Give AIDS Drugs Free of Charge to Poor"
Reuters (10.28.03)
Ethiopia said Tuesday it plans to distribute antiretroviral
drugs free to poor people living with HIV. "Preparation is
underway to enable people who cannot afford [the drugs] and [are]
certified as HIV/AIDS positive [to] get access to antiretroviral
drugs free of charge," the Health Ministry said in a statement.
"Trained personnel will be engaged in screening those seeking
free medications from the low income bracket," the statement
added. Donors gave Ethiopia approximately $60 million to fight
HIV/AIDS, which infects 2.2 million people of the country's 70
million population. Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest
countries, with 44 percent of its people living below the poverty
line.
"Hattiesburg Group Home for HIV/AIDS Patients to Open Soon"
Associated Press (10.27.03)
Bruce Van Nostrand, program director of a new HIV/AIDS group
home in Hattiesburg, Miss., said a funding shortfall will not
delay the facility's plans to accept patients. Despite a need for
about $10,000 more to fund its $139,642 annual budget, 1-2-1
Haven House will open by Dec. 1, he said. The opening had been
scheduled earlier but was pushed back by problems, including a
delay in receiving nonprofit status. The new opening date
coincides with World AIDS Day. The 10-bed home will be operated
by AIDS Services Coalition. The first such facility in
Hattiesburg, it will be the third group home for HIV/AIDS
patients in Mississippi. Patients will receive one-on-one
counseling and 24-hour supervision.
"Pop Star Collins Gives Royalties to AIDS Foundation in South
Africa"
Agence France Presse (10.27.03)
British pop star Phil Collins has presented $54,000 in South
African royalties to the country's Topsy Foundation, which cares
for children affected by HIV/AIDS, the foundation announced
Monday. "We are delighted with the money from Phil Collins as it
will assist our drive for self-sustainability immensely,"
foundation spokesperson Grant Law said. The foundation works with
rural communities and promotes a holistic approach to caring for
children.
************************************************************
The Prevention News Mailing List is maintained by the National
Prevention Information Network (NPIN), part of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for HIV, STD and
TB Prevention. Regular postings include the Prevention News
Update, conference announcements, current funding opportunities,
select articles from the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
series and announcements about new NPIN products and services.
To join the PreventioNews listserv, send a blank e-mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] For instructions on
how to remove yourself from the listserv, send a blank e-mail
to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
You can also join or leave the PreventioNews listserv from the
NPIN Web site at
http://lists.cdcnpin.org/mailman/listinfo/prevention-news.
Back issues of the CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update can be
found at ftp://ftp.cdcnpin.org/PrevNews. You can search for back
issues in the Prevention News Update Database at
http://www.cdcnpin.org/news/.
We'd like to know what you think of the Prevention News Update.
Please take a minute to send an e-mail with your comments to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] With your help, we will continue to
improve this service to better meet your information needs.
Please send all other e-mail inquiries to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
**This message may be copied and distributed; however, it may not
be distributed for profit.**
************************************************************
| <-- __Chronological__ --> | <-- __Thread__ --> |
