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CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update 05/15/2009 (AEGiS)

Submitted by Editor on Sat, 05/16/2009 - 16:04

CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update 05/15/2009 (AEGiS) -
CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update
For Friday, May 15, 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
IOWA: HIV, STI Diagnoses On the Rise in Iowa
Megan Carney
Press-Citizen (Iowa City) (05.11.09) - Friday, May 15, 2009
Unprotected sex among young adults is partly responsible for increases in sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, in Iowa, but so is the lack of testing among those infected, say experts.
New HIV diagnoses are on the rise in the state, while the proportion of Iowans ever tested for HIV has remained at about 30 percent for the past decade, said Dr. Jeff Meier, associate director of the AIDS Clinical Trial Unit at University Hospitals. Regular testing is a key component of safer sex, he said.
Iowa had 128 new HIV diagnoses last year, a record since the state began recording HIV cases in 1998. Diagnoses among residents ages 15-24 rose 45 percent in 2008, from 11 cases to 16, said Randy Mayer, an epidemiologist and chief of the HIV, STD and hepatitis bureau at the state Department of Public Health. Residents ages 20-29 accounted for 25 percent of cases.
The majority of new young adult HIV diagnoses likely occur in the non-student population, with higher correlations to poverty, drugs, and commercial sex, Meier said. "There is obviously much less of that in the student population."
Heterosexual HIV cases in the state decreased from 21 percent in 2007 to 15 percent of new diagnoses last year. However, experts are concerned that heterosexuals may not link their own sexual behavior to HIV risk.
"I think HIV will continue to rise because people out there still engage in risky behaviors and don't think it can happen to them," said Kurt Pierick, a program coordinator of the Iowa Center for AIDS Resources and Education.
"Knowing your status is one of the healthiest behaviors there is" for anyone who is sexually active, said Tricia Kitzmann, deputy director of the Johnson County Public Health Department. "If [people] don't know their status, it's really hard to stay safe."


ILLINOIS: HIV/AIDS Advocates Urge Quinn, Lawmakers to Prevent Funding Cuts
Amy Wooten
Chicago Free Press (05.14.09) - Friday, May 15, 2009
At a time when demand is increasing, Illinois AIDS activists are critical of a proposed state budget that cuts funding for HIV education and services.
The 2010 budget proposed by Gov. Pat Quinn cuts 3 percent from the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), HIV prevention, HIV correctional services as well as other programs. No funding increases are allocated for Minority HIV/AIDS Prevention Outreach, Brothers and Sisters United Against HIV/AIDS, and the Quality of Life Endowment Fund.
"It's a 3 percent cut, but it's still significant and we're very concerned about it," said John Peller, a spokesperson for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC).
AFC estimates that an increase of $3 million will be needed to accommodate the 500 additional clients every month expected to use ADAP in the next fiscal year.
Overall, the state budget calls for $800 million in budget cuts.


UNITED STATES: Helping Doctors Ask About Drug, Alcohol Problems
Lauran Neergaard
Associated Press (05.04.09) - Friday, May 15, 2009
Helping health care workers get past the stigma of asking about alcohol or illegal drug use is the aim of a new program from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The ultimate goal is to boost the proportion of Americans who get the treatment they need, now estimated at only 2 million of 23 million with a substance abuse problem.
Health care providers are in a position to make a difference because so many health care interactions involve substance abuse - as many as half of ER visits involve illegal drugs or alcohol, for instance.
People with a substance abuse problem are more likely to see a doctor than those without such issues - whether to address an immediate consequence, such as an injury, or to deal with something more long-term, such as liver disease. "There are all sorts of people who are using alcohol, drugs, who are continuing to work and do their jobs and slowly spiraling down, who are not the hard-core users," said Dr. Brian Jack, a Boston University Medical School family medicine specialist.
The NIDA program offers a detailed guide that, using patients' answers to various questions regarding their behavior, analyzes their risk for substance abuse and advises doctors how to use the information.
For example, a provider whose patient admits to experimenting with heroin can follow up with additional questions that assess the risk for ongoing drug use and whether intervention is needed. It can also prompt the doctor to test for HIV and hepatitis.
For physicians, success rests in part on their ability to discern whether a patient is being truthful and to convince patients that their medical information is confidential, not to be released to law enforcement. "We're not the police," says Dr. Gail D'Onofrio, chief of emergency medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital.  
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
IRAN: Vigils Aim to Sway Iran
Paul Grondahl
Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) (05.13.09) - Friday, May 15, 2009
The recent release from prison of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi has prompted vigils and newspaper editorials around this world this week calling for the release of two AIDS physicians in Tehran's Evin prison.
The physicians, brothers Kamiar and Arash Alaei, are internationally recognized for their work in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment models, including the establishment of clinics in Iran that focused on IV drug users. Iranian authorities cited the brothers' attendance at numerous international AIDS conferences as evidence the pair was plotting revolution against the state.
"The release of Ms. Saberi has shifted the world's attention to the plight of others who are likewise jailed in Iran on trumped-up charges," said Jonathan Hutson, spokesperson for Physicians for Human Rights, which is working for the brothers' release.
On Tuesday, the effort on the brothers' behalf took the form of vigils in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and more than a dozen other cities in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. The New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the Los Angeles Times published editorials calling for the brothers' release.
Kamiar Alaei is pursuing a doctoral degree at the State University of New York-Albany School of Public Health. Arash Alaei is the former director of international education and research cooperation at Iran's National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.  
MEDICAL NEWS
UNITED STATES: Infidelity, Trust and Condom Use Among Latino Youth in Dating Relationships
Sonya S. Brady, PhD; Jeanne M. Tschann, PhD; Jonathan M. Ellen, MD; Elena Flores, PhD
Sexually Transmitted Diseases Vol. 36; No. 4: P. 227-231 (04..09) - Friday, May 15, 2009
When compared to non-Hispanic white youth, Latino youth in the United States are at greater risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the authors noted. For the current study, 647 sexually active heterosexual Latino youth ages 16-22 were recruited for interviews through a large health maintenance organization or community clinics.
After adjusting for gender, age, ethnic heritage, and method of recruitment, the following were found to be independently associated with inconsistent condom use and engagement in a greater number of sexual intercourse acts unprotected by condoms: "woman's consistent use of hormonal contraceptives, ambivalence about avoiding pregnancy, longer length of sexual relationship, and greater overall trust in main partner." The perception that one's main partner had potentially been unfaithful, but not one's own sexual concurrency, was associated with consistent condom use and fewer acts of unprotected sexual intercourse. "Sexually concurrent youth who engaged in inconsistent condom use with other partners were more likely to engage in inconsistent condom use and a greater number of unprotected sexual intercourse acts with main partners," the authors observed.
"Increasing attachment between youth may be a risk factor for the transmission of STIs via normative declines in condom use," the researchers wrote in their conclusion. "Perception that one's partner has potentially been unfaithful may result in greater condom use. However, many Latino adolescents and young adults who engage in sexual concurrency may not take adequate steps to protect their partners from contracting STIs. Some youth may be more focused on the emotional and social repercussions of potentially revealing infidelity by advocating condom use than the physical repercussions of unsafe sex."  
LOCAL AND COMMUNITY NEWS
PENNSYLVANIA: STDs Hit Blacks Hard; Health Department Officials Look for a New Strategy to Fight the Problem
David Templeton
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (05.14.09) - Friday, May 15, 2009
The Allegheny County Health Department on Wednesday held a conference in Oakland to discuss the county's STD numbers and develop ways to reduce the disproportionate number of cases in the African-American community. "There are disparities, but not to the magnitude of cities in other parts of the country, including the Eastern seaboard," said Dr. Bruce Dixon, the department's director. "We have an opportunity in Allegheny County to do something about it."
Though they represent just 13.5 percent of the county's population, African Americans last year comprised more than 50 percent of county syphilis cases (49/89). Also in 2008, blacks accounted for 52 of 92 HIV/AIDS cases, about 1,585 of 2,164 gonorrhea cases, and 3,070 of 5,206 chlamydia cases.
Statewide, African Americans comprise 10 percent of the population, while accounting for about 52 percent of chlamydia cases, 65 percent of gonorrhea cases, and 51 percent of syphilis cases. These disparities can be addressed with screening and education, especially in schools, and outreach to high-risk adults, say state health and CDC officials.
High-risk minorities remain isolated and largely ignored by the health system, said Dr. Walter Smith, executive director of Family Resources of Allegheny County. As a result, tapping into social networks is necessary to break through barriers of poverty, isolation, and mistrust, Smith said.
"This is really complex and really difficult and not as simple as it might seem to design a program to reach persons of highest risk," Smith said. "The people at highest risk are the most socially and emotionally isolated, and they are suspicious. There is an increased rate of STD in their community? Surprise! Surprise! We're not reaching them."


ILLINOIS: Tiny Church Names Community Minister; HIV-Positive Pastor Aims to Break Down Barriers
Jennifer Day
Chicago Tribune (05.15.09) - Friday, May 15, 2009
In the late 1980s, the Rev. Rudra Dundzila founded the first HIV/AIDS ministry in Madison, Wis., a few years after learning he was HIV-positive. On May 17, Dundzila will be installed as community minister at the Second Unitarian Church in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, where he will coordinate pastoral care services. Living with HIV and working through a period when the pastoral needs of people with HIV/AIDS were acute, he said, allow him to be sensitive to the issues ill people face.
"For me, it's very important to be very public about [having HIV], and break down those barriers and break down those walls of misunderstanding," said Dundzila, "If you think back to the 1960s when cancer was such a dirty word, now we recognize cancer as a disease of the body, and it's transformed the way people think of cancer. HIV/AIDS still carries a lot of stigma, and society is still struggling with how to deal with people who have HIV/AIDS."
The church has about 275 members, about 20 percent of whom are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, said membership coordinator Lisa Todd. Dundzila is a professor of humanities and comparative religion at Truman College, and he has worked with the church in short-term roles since 2001.  
NEWS BRIEFS
UNITED STATES: New York City Official Is Obama Pick for CDC
Gardiner Harris; Anemona Hartocollis
New York Times (05.15.09) - Friday, May 15, 2009
President Barack Obama is expected to announce today the selection of Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City's health commissioner, as his choice to head CDC. The appointment does not require a Senate confirmation, and Frieden is expected to take office next month. Frieden, an infectious-disease specialist, has a long history of tackling public health threats that endanger many. His accomplishments in New York City include helping to stop a growing epidemic of drug-resistant TB; pushing to make HIV tests a routine part of medical exams; banning smoking in restaurants and bars; and championing a program that hands out more than 35 million free condoms a year. "I think the administration selected Tom Frieden because he can take public health to a new place," said Jeffrey Levi, executive director of Trust for America's Health, a nonprofit public health advocacy group. "He's a transformational leader." The CDC has been led by acting director Dr. Richard E. Besser since January.


CALIFORNIA: Wiggins-Sponsored Bill Boosts Cancer Coverage
Vallejo Times Herald (05.13.09) - Friday, May 15, 2009
On Monday, a bill aimed at preventing human papillomavirus infection and the conditions it causes passed the state Senate by a vote of 23-13. SB 158, sponsored by Sen. Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa), would require health care plans and insurance companies that cover the cost of cervical cancer treatment or surgery to also pay for the HPV vaccine. According to Wiggins' office, the measure, if passed, would result in an enormous cost savings to health plans, insurers, and the state.


NEBRASKA: College Student in Kearney, Neb., Has Tuberculosis
Associated Press (05.13.09) - Friday, May 15, 2009
A spokesperson for the University of Nebraska-Kearney has confirmed a case of active TB in a student there. Cynthia Shultz said the student remains in isolation at his off-campus apartment and is recovering from the disease. According to officials, the student's two roommates, a study partner, and a close friend have all been tested and found to be free of TB.

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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