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CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update 05/01/2009 (AEGiS)

Submitted by Editor on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 11:42

CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update 05/01/2009 (AEGiS) -
CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update
For Friday, May 01, 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
UNITED STATES: Obama Choice of PEPFAR HIV/AIDS Coordinator Draws Praise from Advocacy Groups
Howard Lesser
Voice of America News (04.29.09) - Friday, May 01, 2009
AIDS advocates are praising President Obama's nomination of Dr. Eric Goosby to serve as the State Department's global AIDS coordinator.
Goosby brings more than 25 years of HIV/AIDS experience, ranging from his early years treating patients at San Francisco General Hospital to serving in the Clinton administration as deputy director of the National AIDS Policy Office and director of HIV/AIDS policy in the Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, he has coordinated campaigns in Asia, Southern Africa, and Rwanda, favoring an approach that integrates HIV treatment with diseases such as TB and malaria that often coincide with AIDS.
"They've chosen someone with a lot of experience, not only in HIV/AIDS policy, but in actual implementation of HIV/AIDS programs, from Rwanda to Eastern Europe. So it's a very exciting choice as far as we're concerned," said David Bryden of the Center for Global Health Policy.
If approved by Congress, Goosby will be tasked with heading up the $48 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program and will play a significant role in next year's PEPFAR appropriation process.
Bryden noted that Obama promised an additional $1 billion annually for PEPFAR during the presidential campaign. Details of Obama's budgeting priorities for AIDS should be released soon, as Congress and the president are working to formulate US funding for the 2010 fiscal year. "The program, I think, in terms of HIV/AIDS, has been in a kind of a holding pattern, unfortunately, while President Obama has tried to select this official," Bryden said.  
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
GLOBAL: Report Says Bank's AIDS Effort Are Failing
Celia W. Dugger
New York Times (05.01.09) - Friday, May 01, 2009
Projects to combat AIDS accounted for most of World Bank's efforts against communicable disease in the last decade with poor results, says a recently released internal evaluation.
In Africa, the center of the AIDS pandemic, the World Bank's efforts were particularly disappointing. Eighty percent of the organization's AIDS projects there were ineffective, compared to 70 percent of such projects around the world, the report said. Since 1997, the World Bank has financed about $17 billion in projects aimed at improving global health, nutrition, and population. Efforts against AIDS accounted for about 60 percent of its projects addressing communicable disease.
The head of the division evaluated in the report acknowledged the shortcomings. "Too often we had overambitious objectives, given the capacity of the country and sometimes our own," said Julian Schweitzer, World Bank director of health, nutrition, and population.
The poorly performing projects, which typically involved numerous donors, nonprofit groups, and government agencies, were too complex for the governments asked to implement them, the report said. Evaluators recommended the World Bank focus on simpler, less ambitious projects that involve fewer governmental agencies.
Outside observers suggested that the World Bank's focus on AIDS shortchanged other public health problems, and they called for a reordering of priorities. Report lead author Martha Ainsworth, for example, championed efforts to address Africa's fertility rates as a way to reduce the region's high maternal mortality figures.
The World Bank's public health initiatives not related to AIDS were generally more successful, with 90 percent of such projects performing satisfactorily. At the same time, other communicable diseases were funded at levels much lower than was AIDS: Malaria accounted for 3 percent of the projects, tuberculosis for 2 percent.


BRAZIL: Bid to Name Rio's HIV Carriers Online Sparks Row
Tom Phillips
The Guardian (London) (05.01.09) - Friday, May 01, 2009
Human rights activists, AIDS advocates, and fellow members of parliament are condemning a lawmaker's recent proposal to require Rio de Janeiro's state government to publish an online list of people who have HIV. The member of parliament, Jorge Babu, is a former member of the ruling Workers Party, having been recently expelled for his alleged involvement with paramilitary vigilantes in Rio.
Babu argues that his bill is geared toward preventing occupational infections of medical staff by HIV-positive patients. "All professionals involved in attending [patients] have the constitutional right to know if they are treating an HIV-positive patient," he said.
However, another bill provision would require people with HIV to carry identification cards, which AIDS activist Roberto Pereira likened to the Nazis' requirement that Jews wear a yellow Star of David. "The bill is misled and profoundly discriminatory and injures the basic principles of human rights," Pereira said.
Brazil has become a model for developing countries fighting HIV/AIDS. The country distributes free antiretroviral drugs to HIV patients and continues to target prevention efforts among at-risk groups such as sex workers.  
MEDICAL NEWS
UNITED STATES; CANADA: In Treating HIV Infection, Sooner Is Better, Study Finds
Roni Caryn Rabin
New York Times (04.30.09) - Friday, May 01, 2009
A new observational study has found that asymptomatic, antiretroviral-naive HIV patients had better survival rates the earlier they were treated. A similar study in the Lancet two weeks ago came to a similar conclusion, suggesting patients should initiate treatment before CD4 counts fall below 350. The study published Thursday suggests even earlier treatment may be beneficial.
The new study analyzed two groups of HIV patients from the United States and Canada during 1996-2005. Among the first group of 8,362 HIV patients, 2,084 initiated antiretroviral therapy when their CD4 counts were 351-500 cells/cubic millimeter, while 6,278 patients with similar counts delayed therapy until counts fell to 350. Among the delayed-therapy group, the risk of dying was 69 percent higher compared with the early-therapy group.
In another analysis involving 9,155 patients who had CD4 counts of more than 500, 2,084 initiated therapy within six months, and 6,935 deferred therapy. Among 3,881 delayed-therapy patients whose CD4 counts dropped, 539 initiated therapy within six months of a CD4 count of 500 less. The risk of death for delayed-therapy patients was 94 percent higher compared to early-treatment patients.
The new analysis is based on observational research, not a controlled, prospective study, so it does not provide a definitive answer as to when patients should initiate therapy, Dr. Paul E. Sax, clinical director of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study.
The study, "Effect of Early Versus Deferred Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV on Survival," and editorial, "When to Start Antiretroviral Therapy - Ready When You Are?" were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2009;360(18):1815-1826 and 1897- 1899, respectively).  
LOCAL AND COMMUNITY NEWS
INDIANA: Teen-Led Event to Offer HIV Tests, Teach About STDs
Andy Gammill
Indianapolis Star (05.01.09) - Friday, May 01, 2009
Today, students from three central Illinois high schools are learning about HIV and STDs during an event at the Indianapolis Urban League. "Teens Get Tested" is the culmination of a year-long senior project by Indianapolis Metropolitan High School seniors Edward Huffman and LaRenda Davis.
The two students learned from classmates and friends that most were having sex and took little protection against STDs, and yet still believed they were not at risk for HIV. Last year, one of Huffman's sister's friends died of AIDS at age 19. As Huffman and Davis examined the issue, they were surprised that few health agencies had any specific, coordinated outreach for teens.
"Teens Get Tested" will feature free HIV tests, health education speakers, a skit on teen relationships, and an HIV-positive speaker. Marion County has a high rate of STDs, particularly gonorrhea and chlamydia, and teens are especially at risk, said Deidre Coleman, health and wellness coordinator for Indianapolis Urban League.
While many area teens have taken on the task of educating their peers about sex, holding a countywide HIV testing and education event is unique, said Coleman. "Youth are educated from other youth," she said. "That's who they listen to, whether we like it or not. It's a true need."
Though Huffman and Davis will soon be off to college, they are hopeful the outreach they launched will continue in future years, and maybe even go national.


ARIZONA: Kyrene Adds Condom Instruction to Health Curriculum
Chelsea Schneider
Arizona Republic (Phoenix) (04.29.09) - Friday, May 01, 2009
The Kyrene school district's governing board on Tuesday adopted a new, expanded health curriculum for middle school students. In seventh and eighth grades, students will be taught an abstinence-based sex education program that includes information about condoms, dating safety, self-esteem, and body image.
The health risks of withholding information about condoms from students would be significant, said members of Kyrene's health steering committee. "We believe kids need the information before high school," said Carry Furedy, a committee member and program administrator for instructional services.
Condom use will not be demonstrated, nor will condoms be distributed. Parents will be able to opt their children out of participation in the lessons.
Eighth-grade students in Kyrene will continue to receive a sex education curriculum provided by Catholic Charities Community Services of Arizona. Lessons about contraception will be taught after CCCS's presentation by trained district staff members who will work from a script.
Board President Ross Robb asked whether the district would forfeit any funding for providing comprehensive sex education. Kyrene's health director, Susanna Yost, assured him that the district would lose no funding and that the lessons were in compliance with the state Department of Education.  
NEWS BRIEFS
NORTH CAROLINA: N.C. Panel OKs Sex Education, Anti-Bullying Bills
Associated Press (04.30.09) - Friday, May 01, 2009
On Wednesday, the state Senate Mental Health and Youth Services Committee gave its approval to a bill that would require schools to offer two types of sex education in grades seven through nine: one curriculum focused on abstinence until marriage, and the other including information about contraception. Parents would be permitted to select either course, or no sex education at all, for their child. The House passed the bill two weeks ago. The committee also endorsed a measure that would instruct schools to adopt anti-bullying policies. Some conservative Christians oppose the anti-bullying bill, arguing it would give special protection to gay people.


NORTH CAROLINA: TB Tests to Be Given at West Mecklenburg High
David Perlmutt
Charlotte Observer (04.29.09) - Friday, May 01, 2009
Some 80 students and staff will be tested for TB at West Mecklenburg High School, where a person has been diagnosed with the disease. The patient is being treated in isolation at home and will not be permitted to return to school for three to four weeks, health officials said. "I expect a normal recovery for the [diagnosed] individual," said Dr. Stephen Keener, medical director for the Mecklenburg health department. Those tested will be retested in eight weeks. Persons testing positive will be given a nine-month regimen of preventive medicines, Keener said, adding, "The main thing here is that the individual was identified and the contacts were identified, and we're taking every step to assure parents their children's health and safety are being protected." Concerned students or their parents can telephone Maria Bonaiuto, the school medical director, at 704-304-6703, or the health department's TB program at 704-432-2665.


FLORIDA: Healthy Families' Event Will Focus on HIV
Shary Lyssy Marshall
St. Petersburg Times (04.30.09) - Friday, May 01, 2009
On Saturday in Brooksville, a special community outreach entitled "I Believe in Healthy Families" will be presented at the Fredrick Kelly Elks Lodge. "The goals of the event are to promote education, awareness and testing for HIV," said Laura Dunn, an organizer. Jeannie White Ginder is scheduled to speak. Ginder is the mother of the late Ryan White, the young man whose fight against AIDS helped break down taboos against the disease in the United States. Free oral testing for HIV, as well as screening for syphilis and hepatitis, will be available, and a free lunch will be served to the first 100 visitors. Eye exams and blood pressure testing will also be offered, along with career and employment counseling. The health fair's numerous sponsors include the Hernando County Health Department.


MAINE: AIDS Group Plans Awareness Walk May 3
Bangor Daily News (04.16.09) - Friday, May 01, 2009
Sunday is the date for the 20th annual AIDS Awareness Walk in Machias, which benefits the Down East AIDS Network. Registration will take place at 11 a.m. at the DEAN office, 5 Water St., with step-off at noon. For information, telephone 207-255-5849 or 888- 991-7400.

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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