| prevention-news@cdcnpin.org 2005-05-18, 6:00 pm |
| CDC/NPIN Logo <http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/index.asp>
Friday, May 13, 2005
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. The following summaries were prepared without conducting
any additional research or investigation into the facts and statements
made in the articles being summarized, and therefore readers are
expressly cautioned against relying on the validity or invalidity of any
statements made in these summaries. 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
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.
National News
"CALIFORNIA: African American Religious Leaders Meet
About AIDS"
"UNITED STATES: Trojan Wants Prime-Time Ads"
"UNITED STATES: Very Personal Personals: Dating with an
STD"
International News
"SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS Activists Try to Silence Vitamin
Salesman Who Campaigns Against Medication"
"GLOBAL: Corporate World Begins to Count the Cost of
AIDS"
Medical News
"UNITED STATES: Scalpel-Free Surgery Could Reduce Risk
of HIV and Hepatitis Exposure"
Local and Community News
"VIRGINIA: Fairfax Adopts Edited Sex-Ed Booklets"
"CALIFORNIA: San Francisco Creates Country's First
Citywide Speed Task Force"
News Briefs
"NIGERIA: Nigeria Opens Blood Screening Center to Fight
AIDS"
"WASHINGTON: $1.3 Million Gift to AIDS Group"
"FLORIDA: HIV/AIDS Nonprofit Awarded Grant"
"NEW YORK: AIDS Walk New York"
_____
National News
CALIFORNIA: "African American Religious Leaders Meet About
AIDS"
San Francisco Chronicle (05.13.05):: Jason B. Johnson
At least 60 representatives of several dozen California churches
are meeting today at Faithful Central Bible Church in Los Angeles to
develop a statewide faith-based education and outreach plan to combat
HIV/AIDS in the black community.
African Americans account for more than half the United States'
estimated 40,000 new HIV infections annually, although they make up only
12 percent of the population. In California, African Americans account
for 20 percent of HIV cases and 18 percent of AIDS cases, the California
Health Services Department Office of AIDS reported last year. Only 6.7
percent of California residents are black.
The Statewide HIV/AIDS Church Outreach Advisory Board, which
includes representatives of 20 churches, has worked with state AIDS
prevention officials since 1999, and has printed a guidebook for pastors
on starting an HIV ministry.
Leaders at today's meeting planned to discuss ways to help
churches make HIV prevention part of their overall ministry. Myths that
AIDS was created to harm minorities and that treatments do not work make
it hard to reach African Americans on HIV/AIDS, according to Kevin
Farrell, acting director of the health department's AIDS office. Since
HIV/AIDS is often associated with taboos such as homosexuality, drug
use, and promiscuity, HIV prevention can be a tough issue for black
churches to address. Health advocates and some community groups have
criticized the black clergy in the past for failing to take a leadership
role on HIV/AIDS.
The Rev. Brondon Reems of Oakland's center of Hope Community
said he believes HIV/AIDS has become a top priority among black
churches. "In the beginning, churches were very skeptical about talking
about it," Reems said. "Now we're in a place where every church, every
ministry has been affected by this disease."
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UNITED STATES: "Trojan Wants Prime-Time Ads"
New York Post (05.12.05):: Holly M. Sanders
The manufacturer Church & Dwight is seeking to advertise its
Trojan condoms on prime-time television. The company believes its new ad
campaign is appropriate for prime time because it stresses health issues
such as HIV.
Church & Dwight, in talks with ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox, hopes to
run a prime-time ad within a month. ABC, CBS, and NBC said they have
accepted condom ads and review them on a case-by-case basis. A
spokesperson at Fox, a division of News Corp., which also owns the Post,
said the network is reviewing the ads but has not made a decision. The
current policy is to run condom ads only late at night and only if an ad
"speaks to the health issue."
Prime-time condom ads are not illegal: They have just never been
run. The networks, however, routinely run ads for products such as
Viagra, Levitra, and female contraceptives.
James Craigie, Church & Dwight's CEO, said this week that the ad
campaign would grab the attention of people who do not think they need
to use condoms. "We're trying to shock them and shake their confidence,"
he said.
NBC spokesperson Shannon Jacobs said the network has reviewed
the Trojan spots and will air them as early as 10 p.m. "given the
health-oriented nature of this particular campaign." Previously, the
network has run condom ads no earlier than 11:30 p.m. "Recognizing the
general sensitivity of the issue, we will continue to consider all
condom ads on a case-by-case basis and re-evaluate the situation in the
coming months," Jacobs said.
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UNITED STATES: "Very Personal Personals: Dating with an STD"
Washington Post (05.10.05):: Stephanie Booth
According to the nonprofit American Social Health Association
(ASHA), more than 65 million Americans live with a viral STD such as
herpes, human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B, and HIV. Since these
viral diseases can only be managed, not cured, they become a permanent
part of the patient's dating and sex life.
Internet dating sites such as Positive Personals (HIV), After H
(herpes and HPV), Meet People with Herpes and the Antopia Herpes/HPV
Network serve as educational resources and help people with STDs connect
with others similarly diagnosed. "Disclosing their sexual history is the
hardest part for some people," said Charles Ebel, ASHA's vice president
of program resources.
"When these sites began to emerge, we did worry they would
stigmatize people with STDs like herpes as outsiders," Ebel noted. "But
in many cases - especially when a person's newly diagnosed - these sites
can help break them out of their temporary isolation and provide their
first step back into the dating world."
Most such sites strongly encourage safe sex, and Ebel believes
their users may be more likely to take heed than the general population,
aware as they are of the risks of transmission.
Anthony Matthews, founder of the Antopia Herpes/HPV Network, the
busiest STD community on the Web, said he doesn't believe people should
limit themselves to dating others with the same STDs. "Our goal is
providing information and making people be okay with" their disease, he
said.
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International News
SOUTH AFRICA: "AIDS Activists Try to Silence Vitamin Salesman
Who Campaigns Against Medication"
Associated Press (05.13.05):: Clare Nullis
Today, the AIDS lobby Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) filed a
temporary motion in Cape Town High Court to prevent the California-based
vitamin seller Dr. Matthias Rath from alleging that TAC is a front for
pharmaceutical firms. In full-page ads in the international media, Rath
claims that antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) are poisonous and that his own
multivitamins are more effective against AIDS.
"The Rath Foundation is preying on vulnerable people with
life-threatening illnesses with two aims: to sell their products and to
support the HIV denialists who have caused enormous damage to our
country," said TAC, which seeks an urgent interdict against Rath,
pending a full defamation suit TAC hopes to file later this year. TAC is
also lobbying South Africa's Medicines Control Council (MCC-SA) to crack
down on Rath.
MCC-SA said earlier this week it was investigating Rath, but
refused to speculate on any possible actions.
"Rath is more active in South Africa than anywhere else in the
world because of senior political leaders flirting with quackery and
denialism," said Nathan Geffen, a TAC spokesperson. Health Minister
Tshabalala-Msimang has frequently said she believes garlic, beet root,
lemon, and olive oil are more effective than ARVs in treating HIV/AIDS.
South African health activists are focusing on Rath in order to
eventually shame their government into action, said Geffen.
The hearing was delayed shortly after it began due to noise
emanating from demonstrators outside the courtroom.
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GLOBAL: "Corporate World Begins to Count the Cost of AIDS"
Financial Times (London) (05.12.05):: Gill Plimmer
As the economic impact of HIV/AIDS becomes clearer, some larger
multinationals have realized they must act. "One of the terrible ironies
of AIDS is that it kills people in the most productive years of their
life," said Trevor Neilson of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS
(GBC).
Out of 38 million HIV patients globally, at least 26 million are
workers. According to GBC research, gross domestic product falls 2-3
percent when HIV prevalence rises above 10 percent of a country's
population. "HIV/AIDS is not just a human crisis; it's a corporate
crisis," Neilson said.
Corporate cost/benefit calculations have led some companies to
begin educating their workforces. In 2001, Coca Cola began working with
bottling partners in Africa, providing treatment and prevention programs
for employees, including workshops, condom distribution, free and
confidential testing, and antiretrovirals and counseling. Anglo
American, GlaxoSmithKline, ChevronTexaco, and BP are among other
companies that have begun to expand their HIV/AIDS programs.
GBC said roughly 60 percent of its 200 members pay for employee
care and treatment, while the remainder pay solely for prevention and
education programs. However, many companies in the developing world are
doing little to confront the issue. In some countries, such as Angola
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it is hard to find drugs even
when companies are willing to pay for them.
Since many insurance companies exclude HIV/AIDS from their
coverage, workers - especially in lower-paid jobs - often cannot access
treatment or continue to work. "The general rule," according to Neilson,
"is that the more senior you are, the more you are likely to be able to
keep your job."
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Medical News
UNITED STATES: "Scalpel-Free Surgery Could Reduce Risk of HIV
and Hepatitis Exposure"
The Gazette (The John Hopkins University) Vol. 34; No. 3
(05.09.05):: Trent Stockton
A report in the May issue of Annals of Surgery shows that nearly
40 percent of surgeries at the Johns Hopkins Hospital occur in patients
who tested positive for a blood-borne pathogen.
"While these rates are alarming, they are not entirely
unexpected," said lead author Martin A. Makary, assistant professor of
surgery and public health at the university. "General precautions have
been in effect for some time to prevent the spread of disease to health
care workers in the operating room."
Makary said the hospital has developed new strategies such as
sharpless surgery - using high-tech alternatives to needles and knives -
whenever possible to avoid accidental transmission of disease to health
care workers. Sharpless techniques include laparoscopy, electrocautery
to replace scalpel incisions, and skin clips or glue instead of sewing
to close or repair wounds.
The report states that there are an estimated 40,000 new cases
of HIV each year, and hepatitis C is increasing at an even faster rate.
By studying the rates of HIV and hepatitis B and C among patients
presenting for surgery, the study suggests, a more accurate incidence of
disease can be measured within a community, bypassing the selection bias
of traditional statistics, i.e., known infected patients presenting to
primary care clinics.
The authors found that blood-borne pathogens are associated with
certain types of operations. Operations associated with the greatest
risk of infection - lymph-node biopsy, soft-tissue-mass excision, and
abscess-drainage cases - are often assigned to the most inexperienced
surgeons in training, placing them at greater risk.
"Sharpless surgery techniques combined with traditional
precautions and early education for surgery trainees are the most
practical ways to reduce the risk of infection to health care workers,"
Makary said. "We advocate using these techniques whenever possible in
high-risk settings to further protect health care workers from
accidental transmission."
The researchers studied 709 consecutive adult general surgery
operations performed between July 2003 and June 2004 in the Johns
Hopkins Hospital community surgical service, including inpatient,
emergency department, and outpatient surgical procedures. The
investigators gathered data on HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C test
results; types of operations; and the patients' age, sex, and history of
intravenous drug use.
The researchers found that 38 percent of all operations involved
a blood-borne pathogen, and almost half (47 percent) of all men tested
positive for at least one infection. HIV accounted for 26 percent of
infections, hepatitis B for 4 percent, hepatitis C for 35 percent and
hepatitis C/HIV co-infection for 17 percent.
Up to 65 percent of patients with a history of intravenous drug
use had blood-borne pathogen infection, as did as many as 71 percent of
patients undergoing a soft-tissue abscess procedure or lymph-node
biopsy.
While patients in the current study tended toward low
socioeconomic status and increased substance use, most US university
hospitals are in urban areas and serve a similar patient population,
according to Makary. The report, "Prevalence of Blood-Borne Pathogens in
an Urban, University-Based General Surgical Practice," was published in
Annals of Surgery (2005;241(5):803-809).
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Local and Community News
VIRGINIA: "Fairfax Adopts Edited Sex-Ed Booklets"
Washington Post (05.13.05):: Maria Glod
On Thursday, the Fairfax County School Board voted 10-1 to
approve two edited sex-education pamphlets as replacements for a 1980s
video shown to 10th graders taking the abstinence-based Personal and
Community Health class. In weeks leading up to the vote, board members
received hundreds of e-mails expressing concern that some of the
proposed materials would encourage teen sex.
A curriculum committee of citizens, teachers, and administrators
had initially recommended the board approve "Birth Control Choices" and
"Birth Control Facts," published by a California firm. However, several
parents and board members faulted "Birth Control Choices" for stating
that abstinence "can range from no sexual touching at all to everything
except intercourse." The board rejected "Birth Control Choices" and
instead opted for a pamphlet titled "Abstinence 101."
The pamphlet "Birth Control Facts" was edited to delete a
suggestion that students "may want to ask for a supply of
[morning-after] pills to have in case an emergency happens."
With "Abstinence 101" and "Birth Control Facts" approved, the
school board also directed staff to search for materials that better
emphasize abstinence.
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CALIFORNIA: "San Francisco Creates Country's First Citywide
Speed Task Force"
Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco) (04.28.05):: Matthew S.
Bajko
Backed by Mayor Gavin Newsom, a task force met for the first
time on April 26 to develop a comprehensive approach to what health
officials call an epidemic of crystal methamphetamine use affecting many
groups in the city. Supervisor Bevan Dufty co-chairs the task force.
Since taking office two years ago, Dufty has made tackling crystal meth
a top priority.
The task force, comprising health officials, law enforcement
agencies, social service providers, and concerned citizens, arose from
public hearings Dufty held two years ago on how speed impacts the gay
community. For years, health officials have said speed use is a leading
cause in spikes of syphilis and other STDs. Although the city's HIV
rates have plateaued, officials say speed use is a major reason why HIV
infections are not declining. According to City Clinic, 31 percent of
HIV-positive people reported crystal use during the previous six months.
Newsom reported that San Francisco ranks number-one in the country on a
per capita basis for emergency room visits stemming from crystal use.
City health officials estimate that 12-20 percent of San
Francisco's 60,000 gay and bisexual men have used crystal. "That means
7,000 to 10,000 people are using this drug," said Steven Tierney, HIV
prevention director for the health department and co-chair of the task
force. "HIV and STD infections are related to crystal use."
The task force will tackle treatment issues, prevention issues,
and coordinating criminal justice approaches to the problem with public
health strategies.
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News Briefs
NIGERIA: "Nigeria Opens Blood Screening Center to Fight AIDS"
Reuters (05.13.05)
On Thursday in Abuja, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
opened the nation's first blood transfusion center in an effort to
prevent the transmission of HIV through contaminated blood. The National
Blood Transfusion Center is one of seven such facilities planned by the
government in cooperation with the US-based Safe Blood for Africa
Foundation. At present, many hospitals in Nigeria have no ability to
screen and store blood, and contaminated transfusions kill many
patients. Many who require transfusion turn to unregulated suppliers.
Obasanjo, who donated his own blood at the opening ceremony, said, "We
must. move away from the current practice of relying on touts, blood
sellers, and other questionable sources."
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WASHINGTON: "$1.3 Million Gift to AIDS Group"
Seattle Times (05.05.05):: Warren King
Lifelong AIDS Alliance - which provides housing, food, and
health insurance for King County residents with HIV/AIDS - has received
the largest gift in its history: $1.3 million. The money is a bequest
from the estate of Harvey Muggy and Donald Lothian, a couple who helped
pioneer gay activism in Seattle. Alliance Executive Director Tina
Podlodowski said the gift comes at an opportune time, because government
funding for services to the agency's 5,500 clients has fallen about 25
percent in recent years.
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FLORIDA: "HIV/AIDS Nonprofit Awarded Grant"
Miami Herald (05.08.05)
The Health Foundation of South Florida (HFSF) recently awarded a
$130,000 capacity development grant to the nonprofit Center for Positive
Connection (CPC), a North Miami-based HIV/AIDS service organization. The
money will allow CPC to hire a new finance director and development
directors for a two-year period. The goal is to increase CPC's
administrative functions, boost grant and fundraising revenues, and
stabilize cash flow through strategic planning. HFSF is a nonprofit
grant-making foundation working toward expanding access to affordable,
quality health care for individuals in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe
Counties.
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NEW YORK: "AIDS Walk New York"
New York Times (05.13.05)
Central Park is the site of Sunday's AIDS Walk New York, which
is sponsored by Gay Men's Health Crisis. Sign-up begins at 8:30 a.m.,
followed at 9:30 a.m. by an aerobic warm-up, the opening ceremony and a
performance by Maureen McGovern. The 10K walk steps off at 10 a.m. For
information telephone 212-807-9255 or visit www.aidswalk.net.
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