Subject: CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update 11/25/2009
CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update
For Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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 NCHSTP Daily News Summary should be cited as the source of the information. Copyright ? 2009, Information Inc., Bethesda, MD.
NATIONAL NEWS
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
MEDICAL NEWS
LOCAL AND COMMUNITY NEWS
NEWS BRIEFS
NATIONAL NEWS
NORTH CAROLINA: Syphilis Cases Climbing Across N.C.
Sadia Latifi
News and Observer (Raleigh NC) (11.23.09) - Wednesday, November 25, 2009
North Carolina syphilis cases have almost doubled in the past year across nearly all ages and racial groups, and health officials say funding to fight the disease is inadequate. During the first nine months of this year, the state had 684 syphilis cases, compared with 359 in the same timeframe in 2008.
In 1999, CDC devoted major resources to fight the STD in US counties facing outbreaks, including five in North Carolina. The help allowed health officials to run awareness campaigns, promote screening efforts among physicians, target hard-to-reach groups, and even screen in bars and jails. Syphilis cases declined after 2000.
After North Carolina reported fewer syphilis cases in 2005 and 2006, CDC in 2007 shifted much of the program's funding to states with higher morbidity. In 2008, North Carolina received less than $600,000, down from more than $1.3 million. With less resources, fewer people are screening and educating people about syphilis, said Jessica Goodman, who leads Wake's HIV/STD Community Program.
"We are back to having this problem again because of a lack of commitment and investment," said Evelyn Foust, director of the communicable-diseases branch at the state Department of Health and Human Services. "I have to be honest: This is pretty bad," she said of the syphilis numbers.
The current outbreak is hitting young black men who have sex with men especially hard, said Dr. Peter Leone, an epidemiologist in the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's Division of Infectious Diseases. In otherwise good health and lacking insurance, these men are less likely to visit health care providers and get diagnosed, he said. "We don't have great forums for discussion within these communities, so it's challenging," he said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
GLOBAL: AIDS Deaths Top 25 Million but Infections Slow
D'Arcy Doran
Agence France Presse (11.24.09) - Wednesday, November 25, 2009
The number of people living with HIV grew by 2.7 million new infections in 2008, but that represented a 17 percent decline from eight years earlier, the UN reported Tuesday.
Since 2001, HIV incidence has plummeted by 25 percent in East Africa, by 15 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, and by 10 percent in South and Southeast Asia, according to the UN's "2009 AIDS Epidemic Update." Compared to the global epidemic's 1996 high point of about 3.5 million new infections, global incidence in 2008 was 30 percent lower.
The number of low- and middle-income HIV/AIDS patients receiving antiretroviral therapy has grown 10-fold in the past five years, said Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS. With improved access to ARVs, HIV-related deaths have been cut, standing at an estimated 2 million last year - a 10 percent reduction since the 2004 peak of 2.2 million deaths. To date, an estimated 60 million people have acquired HIV, and 25 million people have died from AIDS.
"The good news is that we have evidence that the declines we are seeing are due, at least in part, to HIV prevention," Sidibe said. He added, "If we do a better job of getting resources and programs to where they will make the most impact, quicker progress can be made and more lives saved."
Treatment access is still being outpaced by some 7,400 new HIV infections a day, said Sidibe. "Any time we are putting two people on treatment, five people are becoming infected," making effective prevention strategies imperative, he said.
"International and national investment in HIV treatment scale-up has yielded concrete and measurable results," said Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization. "We cannot let this momentum wane."
GLOBAL: Over 33 Million Infected with AIDS Virus: UN
Reuters (11.24.09) - Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Global advances in HIV treatment and prevention continue to be lopsided, UN officials said during the release of the organization's "2009 AIDS Epidemic Update." Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) have extended the lives of millions of patients, yet more than half of patients in low- and middle-income countries who need treatment are not getting it. Expanding access to ARVs is one of several priorities the UN details in the report.
"The major problem we are facing today is inequity," said Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS. "It is very important we don't continue to have 400,000 babies born with HIV in Africa every year. That is something we can deliver. That is why we are calling for virtual elimination of transmission from mother to child by 2015."
In 2008, more than 4 million people living with the virus were receiving ARVs, up from 3 million in 2007, said Teguest Guerma, acting director of the World Health Organization's HIV/AIDS department. Even so, more than 5 million people need treatment and are not receiving it, he said.
Second-line drugs are "still very expensive," Guerma said. "If [patients] fail in the first-line regime, they need to switch to the second. One reason it is not being done is because it is not available and it costs too much. Countries are not purchasing it."
The HIV/AIDS epidemic appears to be stabilizing in most regions of the world, said Paul De Lay, deputy executive director of UNAIDS. "The data we are seeing confirm this," De Lay said. "It is a combination of decreasing deaths, more people therefore living, adding to the total number of infected and decreasing new infections."
Sidibe called for countries to end discriminatory laws that fuel HIV's spread by driving underground such high- risk groups as men who have sex with men. Other UN priorities include ending violence against females and protecting drug users from HIV.
PAKISTAN: Pakistan's HIV Cricket Team Are Positive Role Models
Mark Tutton
CNN.com (11.17.09) - Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Besides racking up wins in the country's national sport, a cricket team in Pakistan has as its mission fighting the considerable stigma against people with HIV/AIDS. Created a year ago by the HIV rights group the Pakistan Society, First Positive Cricket Team's is composed entirely of HIV-positive members. And in August, the team played its first match - and won.
"Every time they play, the players have a boost physically, emotionally, and psychologically, and they feel a lot better," said Dr. Saleem Azam, the society's president. "People assume the team must be very sick-looking, like walking skeletons, but when they see them playing and winning matches they have to think again."
"We're giving them a very strong message that having HIV does not mean you must retire from life and become helpless," Azam said. "You can have HIV and live a very happy life if you take your antiretroviral treatment regularly."
Already, being part of the team has helped reconnect some members with estranged families, Azam said. "The stigma is the worst consequence of this illness, so it will be the greatest service to people with HIV if we are able to help them overcome this stigma," he said.
Next month, the team has two matches away from home, providing it an opportunity to spread its message of hope beyond its Karachi base.
"We are reaching the minds of people," said Abdul Lateef, the team's captain. "Everybody thinks there are things that HIV-positive people cannot do. We have shown we can play and we have proved to everybody we can do anything they can do."
MEDICAL NEWS
UGANDA: Study in Rural Uganda Finds Benefits in Treating AIDS Patients at Home
Donald G. McNeil Jr.
New York Times (11.24.09) - Wednesday, November 25, 2009
A new study from Uganda finds that home-based AIDS care is as effective as that delivered in a clinical setting and is considerably cheaper.
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Boston University and several Ugandan institutions conducted the study, which chiefly involved subsistence farmers. The team assigned 859 patients to home care and 594 to facility care. All the patients had advanced AIDS. Those assigned to home-based care were visited by field officers on motorcycles who delivered drugs, offered counseling, and checked vital signs.
In each group, 11 percent of patients had died after one year. Sixteen percent of the home patients had virological failure, compared to 17 percent in facility care. Eleven percent of home patients were admitted at least once to a medical facility, compared to 13 percent in the facility care group.
Home-based care was slightly less expensive for the government but much less expensive for patients, as they did not have to pay transportation costs associated with visiting a clinic.
An accompanying editorial by Eline L. Korenromp and Kirsi M. Viisainen of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria noted that given the ever-increasing demand for AIDS treatment, cost-effectiveness evaluations are critical. It did caution that home visits by AIDS workers might be less acceptable in other parts of Africa, where HIV infection carries more stigma than in Uganda.
The study, "Rates of Virological Failure in Patients Treated in a Home-Based Versus a Facility-Based HIV-Care Model in Jinja, Southeast Uganda," and the editorial, "ART in Rural Uganda - Efficient Scale-Up with Home-Based Care?" were published online ahead of print in The Lancet (2009; doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61674-3 and doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)62027-4).
LOCAL AND COMMUNITY NEWS
CALIFORNIA: Film Captures Health Workers' Role in Early Days of AIDS
Matthew S. Bajko
Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco) (11.12.09) - Wednesday, November 25, 2009
A new 30-minute film tells the story of San Francisco health care workers who cared for the earliest AIDS patients and how their work continues to shape the delivery of HIV care today.
"Life Before the Lifeboat: San Francisco's Courageous Response to the AIDS Outbreak," features interviews with key health care workers, including Dr. Paul Volberding, then at San Francisco General Hospital.
"We must have learned lessons about ourselves and as a community in how we respond to challenges," said Volberding, now at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
The film also dissects political tensions that emerged on how best to address the epidemic, particularly the question of whether to close the city's bathhouses. The movie quotes the city's public health director at the time suggesting that closing the bathhouses too quickly would be counter-productive.
"If we were seen as police rather than partners in their health care then we would lose the battle," said Dr. Mervyn Silverman, who led the city's public health department from 1977 to 1985.
The history of HIV offers valuable lessons for present-day health workers who are dealing with H1N1 and other communicable diseases, Volberding said.
"There has been talk in the influenza epidemic [if] it is OK for health care workers to refuse to take care of patients. That is like asking would it be OK for a fireman to refuse to enter a burning building. For me it brings some of that AIDS hysteria back."
The movie will be screened during World AIDS Day events Dec. 1 and 2 at San Francisco General Hospital's Carr Auditorium. The San Francisco General Hospital Foundation and the California HealthCare Foundation underwrote its $32,000 production cost. For more information, telephone 415-206-4478.
NEWS BRIEFS
NORTH CAROLINA: Western North Carolina AIDS Project Brings Commemorative Quilt to Pack Place in Asheville
Nanci Bompey
Asheville Citizen-Times (11.24.09) - Wednesday, November 25, 2009
The Western North Carolina AIDS Project is sponsoring a display of 160 panels from the NAMES Project's AIDS Memorial Quilt at Pack Place Education, Arts & Science Center in downtown Asheville. The free exhibit is open daily, except Thanksgiving, through Dec. 2. A candlelight memorial vigil will mark World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. For more information, telephone 828-252-7489 or visit www.wncap.org.
MICHIGAN: West Michigan Joins World AIDS Day 2009
Jan de la Torre
Battle Creek Enquirer (11.23.09) - Wednesday, November 25, 2009
In recognition of World AIDS Day, Community AIDS Resource and Education Services (CARES) is partnering with other organizations to offer free, confidential HIV testing from Nov. 30 through Dec. 4 in several western Michigan locations. Testing will be conducted on Nov. 30 at Ministry with Community in Kalamazoo; on Dec. 1 at the Share Center in Battle Creek; on Dec. 2 at Planned Parenthood in Battle Creek; on Dec. 2 at Planned Parenthood in Kalamazoo; and all week at CARES' Kalamazoo facility. Also, on Dec. 4, panels from the NAMES Project's AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on view at First Congregational Church in Kalamazoo. For more information, visit www.CARESswm.org.
FLORIDA: Free HIV Testing in Lake County for World AIDS Day
Orlando Sentinel (11.23.09) - Wednesday, November 25, 2009
On Dec. 1, the Lake County Health Department is offering HIV testing from 8 a.m. to noon at 249 E. Collins St. in Umatilla. On Dec. 4 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the department will conduct testing at the Seventh Day Adventist Church's Life Changing Christian Center, 18440 US Hwy. 441 in Mount Dora. At both events, testing is free and no appointment is needed.
GEORGIA: World AIDS Day to Be Recognized at UGA
Craig Schneider
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (11.25.09) - Wednesday, November 25, 2009
At the University of Georgia's Tate Plaza on Dec. 1, Health Promotion Department staffers and members of Sexual Health Helpers of UGA and AIDS Walk/Run Athens will distribute condoms, HIV prevention information and AIDS awareness red ribbons. A limited number of free, anonymous rapid-result HIV tests will be available for students; telephone 706-542-8690 for an appointment.
MASSACHUSETTS: How You Can Commemorate World AIDS Day 2009
Hannah Clay Wareham
Bay Windows (Boston) (11.24.09) - Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Many World AIDS Day activities are planned in Boston and other cities in the state. The AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts has posted an extensive listing; visit www.aac.org.
MASSACHUSETTS: Salutes to ACT UP
Hannah Martin
Boston Globe (11.24.09) - Wednesday, November 25, 2009
The images that helped launch AIDS activism are celebrated in "ACT UP New York: Activism, Art and the AIDS Crisis," an exhibit on view through Dec. 23 at the Harvard Art Museum's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. For more information, visit http://www.ves.fas.harvard.edu/ACTUP.html.
Prevention News Update will not be published on Thursday, Nov. 26, or Friday, Nov. 27, in observance of the US Thanksgiving holiday. Publication will resume on Monday, Nov. 30.
Copyright ? 2009 - Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD. 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.
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Originally Posted: 11/26/2009 12:20:13 AM
Last Edited: 11/26/2009 12:20:13 AM
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