China to relax ban on HIV/AIDS carriers entering the country
A Chinese nurse prepares an injection at a Shanghai hospital, 2002. China is planning to relax regulations barring HIV/AIDS carriers from entering the country. The move came in response to improved public understanding about the way the virus spreads, health officials said, without specifying when the new rules would come into effect.(AFP/File/Liu Jin)BEIJING (AFP) - China plans to relax rules that are currently barring HIV/AIDS carriers from entering the country, the health ministry said on Monday.
Ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said the decision was based on current knowledge of the way the AIDS virus spreads.
He said the existing restrictions, strongly criticised by AIDS activists as discriminatory, were introduced when people were "unfamiliar" with how the disease may spread.
Mao did not disclose when the new rules would take effect, or if the relaxation would mean a complete end to limits on HIV/AIDS carriers' entry into China.
China had 650,000 HIV/AIDS patients according to an estimate put forward jointly by the government and United Nations health agencies in January 2006.
Mao said the government would release its latest estimate of the number of people having HIV/AIDS in China at the end of November.
Showing posts with label HIV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HIV. Show all posts
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Drug injecting triggers most Mauritius HIV cases
Drug injecting triggers most Mauritius HIV cases
A volunteer aiming to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS displays clean syringes at Baie du Tombeau, Mauritius, November 12, 2007. (Ed Harris/Reuters)ROCHE BOIS, Mauritius (Reuters) - Drug abuse accounts for92 percent of new HIV infections in Mauritius, up from just 14percent in 2002, the government said on Monday.
The Indian Ocean island nation has an estimated HIVprevalence rate of 1.8 percent, which is low for the region. Onthe African mainland, HIV infection rates stand at 16.1 percentin Mozambique and 18.8 percent in South Africa, for example.
But officials say risky practices like sharing needles usedfor injecting drugs are causing many more infections. Mauritiussuffers the second highest rate of heroin and opiate use in theworld, according to U.N. figures.
"Some 92 percent of the virus' transmission today isthrough the exchange of needles by drug addicts," saidMauritius' minister of health and quality of life, SatyaFaugoo.
The government was expanding a needle exchange program tosupply drug users, he said.
"Initially, we are targeting some 2,000 drug addicts byJune," Faugoo told Reuters, adding that the authorities werealso planning to treat another 1,000 addicts with opiatesubstitute methadone.
Mauritius has an estimated 20,000 drug addicts among its1.3 million population, according to government figures, butmany people who work with users think the real number ishigher.
(Reporting by Ed Harris; Editing by Daniel Wallis andCaroline Drees)
A volunteer aiming to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS displays clean syringes at Baie du Tombeau, Mauritius, November 12, 2007. (Ed Harris/Reuters)ROCHE BOIS, Mauritius (Reuters) - Drug abuse accounts for92 percent of new HIV infections in Mauritius, up from just 14percent in 2002, the government said on Monday.
The Indian Ocean island nation has an estimated HIVprevalence rate of 1.8 percent, which is low for the region. Onthe African mainland, HIV infection rates stand at 16.1 percentin Mozambique and 18.8 percent in South Africa, for example.
But officials say risky practices like sharing needles usedfor injecting drugs are causing many more infections. Mauritiussuffers the second highest rate of heroin and opiate use in theworld, according to U.N. figures.
"Some 92 percent of the virus' transmission today isthrough the exchange of needles by drug addicts," saidMauritius' minister of health and quality of life, SatyaFaugoo.
The government was expanding a needle exchange program tosupply drug users, he said.
"Initially, we are targeting some 2,000 drug addicts byJune," Faugoo told Reuters, adding that the authorities werealso planning to treat another 1,000 addicts with opiatesubstitute methadone.
Mauritius has an estimated 20,000 drug addicts among its1.3 million population, according to government figures, butmany people who work with users think the real number ishigher.
(Reporting by Ed Harris; Editing by Daniel Wallis andCaroline Drees)
Abbott says gets FDA nod for lower-strength HIV pill
Abbott says gets FDA nod for lower-strength HIV pill
(Reuters) - Abbott Laboratories said it received approvalfrom U.S. health regulators for a new lower-strength tabletformulation of its HIV drug, Kaletra, which is also marketed asAluvia in developing countries.
The lower-strength Kaletra tablets, which will be used totreat children, would be available in the United States thismonth.
(Reporting by Aniruddha Basu in Bangalore; Editing byPratish Narayanan)
(Reuters) - Abbott Laboratories said it received approvalfrom U.S. health regulators for a new lower-strength tabletformulation of its HIV drug, Kaletra, which is also marketed asAluvia in developing countries.
The lower-strength Kaletra tablets, which will be used totreat children, would be available in the United States thismonth.
(Reporting by Aniruddha Basu in Bangalore; Editing byPratish Narayanan)
China to revise law on HIV foreigners
China to revise law on HIV foreigners
BEIJING - China will relax a long-standing rule that bars foreigners with HIV from entering the country, a health official said.
The law will be revised but a date has not yet been set, said Mao Qun'an, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, according to a transcript of a news conference posted on the ministry's Web site late Monday.
Under a 1994 law, foreigners applying for a residency permit in China must take an HIV test. Visitors to the country are asked to declare whether they have the virus — and can be refused entry or deported if they do. The law also affects those with other sexually transmitted diseases or tuberculosis.
But Mao said China's attitudes have changed.
"At present, we are considering, and we are changing the present regulation that stops foreigners with HIV and AIDS from entering the country, and this job is under way," he said. He did not give any details on how the law would be revised.
The country has made more open efforts to tackle the disease in recent years, but still clamps down on some AIDS-awareness activists who are critical of the government's policies on the spread of the virus.
In the past, the law has stopped those with HIV or AIDS from attending conferences on the disease in China.
"The change is correct and significant. It will benefit international cooperation on HIV/AIDS and will eliminate most Chinese people's concept that AIDS comes from foreigners," said Wan Yanhai, a Chinese activist for AIDS awareness and effective public health policies. Chinese police have occasionally detained him for his work.
Wan said the Geneva-based Global Fund was behind the government's decision. The group finances programs that combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and recently granted China $5.8 million to fight HIV and AIDS.
The fund is holding a board meeting this week in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, and may have pressured the government to revise the law, Wan said.
China holds a seat on the board of the Global Fund, which has approved a total of $424 million to fight disease in the country.
The World Health Organization welcomed the news Tuesday, saying it was a major step in fighting discrimination and will lead to a greater understanding of how the virus is transmitted.
"Decisions like this show that the Chinese government is continuing to make important progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS," said a statement issued by Joanna Brent, a WHO spokeswoman in China.
An estimated 650,000 people in China live with HIV, according to the most recent government statistics, which date from 2005.
BEIJING - China will relax a long-standing rule that bars foreigners with HIV from entering the country, a health official said.
The law will be revised but a date has not yet been set, said Mao Qun'an, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, according to a transcript of a news conference posted on the ministry's Web site late Monday.
Under a 1994 law, foreigners applying for a residency permit in China must take an HIV test. Visitors to the country are asked to declare whether they have the virus — and can be refused entry or deported if they do. The law also affects those with other sexually transmitted diseases or tuberculosis.
But Mao said China's attitudes have changed.
"At present, we are considering, and we are changing the present regulation that stops foreigners with HIV and AIDS from entering the country, and this job is under way," he said. He did not give any details on how the law would be revised.
The country has made more open efforts to tackle the disease in recent years, but still clamps down on some AIDS-awareness activists who are critical of the government's policies on the spread of the virus.
In the past, the law has stopped those with HIV or AIDS from attending conferences on the disease in China.
"The change is correct and significant. It will benefit international cooperation on HIV/AIDS and will eliminate most Chinese people's concept that AIDS comes from foreigners," said Wan Yanhai, a Chinese activist for AIDS awareness and effective public health policies. Chinese police have occasionally detained him for his work.
Wan said the Geneva-based Global Fund was behind the government's decision. The group finances programs that combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and recently granted China $5.8 million to fight HIV and AIDS.
The fund is holding a board meeting this week in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, and may have pressured the government to revise the law, Wan said.
China holds a seat on the board of the Global Fund, which has approved a total of $424 million to fight disease in the country.
The World Health Organization welcomed the news Tuesday, saying it was a major step in fighting discrimination and will lead to a greater understanding of how the virus is transmitted.
"Decisions like this show that the Chinese government is continuing to make important progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS," said a statement issued by Joanna Brent, a WHO spokeswoman in China.
An estimated 650,000 people in China live with HIV, according to the most recent government statistics, which date from 2005.
HIV programs in workplace save money: IOM
HIV programs in workplace save money: IOM
GENEVA (Reuters) - Companies can save money and retain morestaff by offering their workers HIV programs, particularly inareas where infection rates are high, an international aidagency said on Tuesday.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) analyzedconditions in Zambia, where 17 percent of adults have HIV andmany large private-sector companies depend on migrant workerswho are particularly vulnerable to the disease.
Its study, which looked at copper mining and agriculturalfirms, found that HIV "had an enormous impact on all companiesamong all ranges of skills," IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandyasaid.
"By implementing a range of HIV programs for staff, thebenefits far outweigh the costs, both human and financial," shetold a Geneva news briefing.
HIV programs in the workplace -- including health care,testing and counseling -- gave employees a chance to combatdiscrimination and learn about prevention, the IOM found.
They also helped prevent absenteeism, employee turnover,and lost productivity, according to the study which assesseddata from seven of the biggest companies in Zambia, employingbetween 350 and 10,000 people.
The typical company spent nearly $9,000 per employee lostto the disease, including funeral expenses and the costs havinga supervisor train a successor. Six of the seven companiesshowed net benefits for their programs, amounting to an averageof $47 per employee in the year 2006, according to the report.
The largest company saved nearly $500,000 in what wouldhave been lost productivity from sick employees, Pandya said,adding: "The larger the company, the greater the benefits itderived."
The IOM reported a general belief among companies in Zambiathat labor was "plentiful, cheap and always there," but warnedthis was extremely short-sighted.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Laura MacInnis)
GENEVA (Reuters) - Companies can save money and retain morestaff by offering their workers HIV programs, particularly inareas where infection rates are high, an international aidagency said on Tuesday.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) analyzedconditions in Zambia, where 17 percent of adults have HIV andmany large private-sector companies depend on migrant workerswho are particularly vulnerable to the disease.
Its study, which looked at copper mining and agriculturalfirms, found that HIV "had an enormous impact on all companiesamong all ranges of skills," IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandyasaid.
"By implementing a range of HIV programs for staff, thebenefits far outweigh the costs, both human and financial," shetold a Geneva news briefing.
HIV programs in the workplace -- including health care,testing and counseling -- gave employees a chance to combatdiscrimination and learn about prevention, the IOM found.
They also helped prevent absenteeism, employee turnover,and lost productivity, according to the study which assesseddata from seven of the biggest companies in Zambia, employingbetween 350 and 10,000 people.
The typical company spent nearly $9,000 per employee lostto the disease, including funeral expenses and the costs havinga supervisor train a successor. Six of the seven companiesshowed net benefits for their programs, amounting to an averageof $47 per employee in the year 2006, according to the report.
The largest company saved nearly $500,000 in what wouldhave been lost productivity from sick employees, Pandya said,adding: "The larger the company, the greater the benefits itderived."
The IOM reported a general belief among companies in Zambiathat labor was "plentiful, cheap and always there," but warnedthis was extremely short-sighted.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Laura MacInnis)
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Four Chicago transplant recipients contract HIV
Four Chicago transplant recipients contract HIV
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Four transplant recipients at threeChicago hospitals have contracted HIV and hepatitis C from asingle organ donor, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday.
The cases mark the first incidence of HIV infectioncontracted from organ donation in more than 20 years, accordingto Dr. Matthew Kuehnert, who oversees organ safety at the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kuehnert said outside testing has confirmed that both thedonor and all four transplant recipients have tested positivefor both HIV and hepatitis C.
"It is very unlikely that all four would be infected withHIV and hepatitis C by chance," Kuehnert said in a telephoneinterview.
He said the CDC is conducting its own tests to match thestrain of HIV in the donor with the infected recipients and todetermine the best course of treatment.
Hospital officials confirmed that two patients at theUniversity of Chicago Medical Center, one patient atNorthwestern Memorial Hospital and one at Rush UniversityMedical Center tested positive for HIV or humanimmunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS.
"All of the policies were followed correctly and all of thetests were done correctly. Unfortunately, the tests came backas a false negative result," said Mandy Claggett, a spokeswomanfor United Network for Organ Sharing or UNOS, which sets policyfor organ donation and has been monitoring the investigation.
'ALWAYS RISK'
Kuehnert said the organs came from a high-risk donor,meaning from someone who fit under one of several criteria thatwould increase the chances that the person might have beinfected with HIV.
Those include men who have had sex with another man in thepreceding five years, intravenous drug users, prisoners, andpeople who have had sex for money or drugs.
Dave Bosch of the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donation,the regional organ procurement agency that handled the donororgans, said the donor's high-risk status was confirmed on aquestionnaire. "We were aware of that from the beginning," hesaid.
But standard testing using the enzyme-linked immunosorbentassay or ELISA antibody screening test was negative.
When Gift of Hope was notified of the infections, it sentsamples from the donor to an outside lab, Bosch said. A secondELISA test turned up negative, but a more sensitive test calledthe nucleic acid-amplification test or NAT was positive.
Bosch said it is possible the HIV infection in the donoroccurred within three weeks of donation -- too recent for theELISA test to detect.
He said Gift of Hope and others involved in organ donationare weighing which test might be best against the need for theneed for rapid testing.
He said about 9 percent of the 22,000 organ transplants inthe United States involve high-risk organs.
The CDC's Kuehnert said the problem is part of the riskthat goes with organ transplantation.
"You can't disinfect an organ. You can't process it. Thereis always going to be some risk," Kuehnert said."One thing people should take from this is that the reasonthere are high-risk donors being accepted is because of a lackof available organs," he said."For someone on the organ transplant list, they should talkto their physician about the risk," he said.(Editing by Eric Walsh)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Four transplant recipients at threeChicago hospitals have contracted HIV and hepatitis C from asingle organ donor, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday.
The cases mark the first incidence of HIV infectioncontracted from organ donation in more than 20 years, accordingto Dr. Matthew Kuehnert, who oversees organ safety at the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kuehnert said outside testing has confirmed that both thedonor and all four transplant recipients have tested positivefor both HIV and hepatitis C.
"It is very unlikely that all four would be infected withHIV and hepatitis C by chance," Kuehnert said in a telephoneinterview.
He said the CDC is conducting its own tests to match thestrain of HIV in the donor with the infected recipients and todetermine the best course of treatment.
Hospital officials confirmed that two patients at theUniversity of Chicago Medical Center, one patient atNorthwestern Memorial Hospital and one at Rush UniversityMedical Center tested positive for HIV or humanimmunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS.
"All of the policies were followed correctly and all of thetests were done correctly. Unfortunately, the tests came backas a false negative result," said Mandy Claggett, a spokeswomanfor United Network for Organ Sharing or UNOS, which sets policyfor organ donation and has been monitoring the investigation.
'ALWAYS RISK'
Kuehnert said the organs came from a high-risk donor,meaning from someone who fit under one of several criteria thatwould increase the chances that the person might have beinfected with HIV.
Those include men who have had sex with another man in thepreceding five years, intravenous drug users, prisoners, andpeople who have had sex for money or drugs.
Dave Bosch of the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donation,the regional organ procurement agency that handled the donororgans, said the donor's high-risk status was confirmed on aquestionnaire. "We were aware of that from the beginning," hesaid.
But standard testing using the enzyme-linked immunosorbentassay or ELISA antibody screening test was negative.
When Gift of Hope was notified of the infections, it sentsamples from the donor to an outside lab, Bosch said. A secondELISA test turned up negative, but a more sensitive test calledthe nucleic acid-amplification test or NAT was positive.
Bosch said it is possible the HIV infection in the donoroccurred within three weeks of donation -- too recent for theELISA test to detect.
He said Gift of Hope and others involved in organ donationare weighing which test might be best against the need for theneed for rapid testing.
He said about 9 percent of the 22,000 organ transplants inthe United States involve high-risk organs.
The CDC's Kuehnert said the problem is part of the riskthat goes with organ transplantation.
"You can't disinfect an organ. You can't process it. Thereis always going to be some risk," Kuehnert said."One thing people should take from this is that the reasonthere are high-risk donors being accepted is because of a lackof available organs," he said."For someone on the organ transplant list, they should talkto their physician about the risk," he said.(Editing by Eric Walsh)
Adherence to HIV therapy linked to health literacy
Adherence to HIV therapy linked to health literacy
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - HIV infected patients with lowliteracy levels often don't understand the medicationinstructions offered by healthcare providers and are thereforemuch less likely to be compliant with treatment, study findingssuggest.
The findings also indicate that African Americans with HIVinfection are more than twice as likely to be nonadherentcompared with their white counterparts. However, when the datawere analyzed, lead investigator Dr. Chandra Y. Osborn, atNorthwestern University, Chicago, and colleagues found thathealth literacy mediated the racial disparities.
The level of health literacy was determined by thesubjects' overall literacy skills, the researchers explain.Past studies have shown that low health literacy is associatedwith poor health outcomes and is more common among AfricanAmericans than whites.
Osborn's group investigated the association between healthliteracy and racial differences in medication adherence overtime among 204 HIV-infected patients attending outpatientclinics in Chicago and Shreveport, Louisiana. The patients, 80percent male and 45 percent African American, were 40 years ofage, on average.
Overall, more than 70 percent of the study participantswere taking three or more HIV medications and more than halfwere being treated for other chronic illnesses, theinvestigators report in the American Journal of PreventiveMedicine.
A health-related word recognition test identified 68.6percent of the patients with adequate health literacy (readingat a ninth grade or higher level). Slightly more than 20percent of the participants had marginal health literacy (7thto 8th grade reading level) and about 11 percent had low healthliteracy.
The researchers found that the African Americans were 2.4times more likely to be non-adherent to their medicationregimens compared with non-African Americans when the analysisfactored in the effects of age, gender, income, number ofmedications, and non-HIV comorbidities, Osborn said.
Osborn told Reuters Health that when the effects ofliteracy were considered, "literacy was a significant predictorof non-adherence, such that patients with low literacy were 2.1times more likely to be non-adherent to their medicationregimen than patients with adequate literacy."
Limited health literacy is a potentially modifiable barrierto medication adherence, the investigators note. Those at riskfor medication non-adherence may benefit from culturallyrelevant health education materials and medication labelingwritten for all literacy levels.
SOURCE: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, November2007
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - HIV infected patients with lowliteracy levels often don't understand the medicationinstructions offered by healthcare providers and are thereforemuch less likely to be compliant with treatment, study findingssuggest.
The findings also indicate that African Americans with HIVinfection are more than twice as likely to be nonadherentcompared with their white counterparts. However, when the datawere analyzed, lead investigator Dr. Chandra Y. Osborn, atNorthwestern University, Chicago, and colleagues found thathealth literacy mediated the racial disparities.
The level of health literacy was determined by thesubjects' overall literacy skills, the researchers explain.Past studies have shown that low health literacy is associatedwith poor health outcomes and is more common among AfricanAmericans than whites.
Osborn's group investigated the association between healthliteracy and racial differences in medication adherence overtime among 204 HIV-infected patients attending outpatientclinics in Chicago and Shreveport, Louisiana. The patients, 80percent male and 45 percent African American, were 40 years ofage, on average.
Overall, more than 70 percent of the study participantswere taking three or more HIV medications and more than halfwere being treated for other chronic illnesses, theinvestigators report in the American Journal of PreventiveMedicine.
A health-related word recognition test identified 68.6percent of the patients with adequate health literacy (readingat a ninth grade or higher level). Slightly more than 20percent of the participants had marginal health literacy (7thto 8th grade reading level) and about 11 percent had low healthliteracy.
The researchers found that the African Americans were 2.4times more likely to be non-adherent to their medicationregimens compared with non-African Americans when the analysisfactored in the effects of age, gender, income, number ofmedications, and non-HIV comorbidities, Osborn said.
Osborn told Reuters Health that when the effects ofliteracy were considered, "literacy was a significant predictorof non-adherence, such that patients with low literacy were 2.1times more likely to be non-adherent to their medicationregimen than patients with adequate literacy."
Limited health literacy is a potentially modifiable barrierto medication adherence, the investigators note. Those at riskfor medication non-adherence may benefit from culturallyrelevant health education materials and medication labelingwritten for all literacy levels.
SOURCE: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, November2007
Some OBs unclear on HIV testing requirements
Some OBs unclear on HIV testing requirements
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although virtually allobstetrician-gynecologists recommend HIV testing to all theirpregnant patients, some are unaware of their state requirementsfor recommending such testing, according to a report in theObstetrics & Gynecology.
Several organizations, including the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention, have recommended that all pregnantwomen be screened for HIV, using an opt-out approach, as partof routine prenatal care, the authors explain.
With the opt-out testing strategy, the woman tested unlessshe explicitly refuses. She is provided information on HIV andtold that a test will be performed as part of a battery ofstandard tests. She is also informed that she has the right todecline testing.
The opt-in testing approach requires an explicit requestfor an HIV test. After a woman has received HIV information,she is asked if she wants an HIV test. She is tested only ifshe specifically agrees and, in most cases, signs and aninformed consent form.
Dr. Jay Schulkin and colleagues from the American Collegeof Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Washington, DC surveyedobstetrician-gynecologists regarding HIV knowledge. A total of1,032 questionnaires were sent out and 582 were returned.
All but 3 percent of obstetrician-gynecologists reportedthat they recommend HIV testing to all of their pregnantpatients, the authors report, though nearly three quarters ofobstetrician-gynecologists considered 5 percent or fewer oftheir pregnant patients to be at high risk for HIV infection.
Obstetrician-gynecologists were fairly evenly divided as towhether they tested their pregnant patients for HIV using theopt-in approach (52 percent) or the opt-out approach (48percent).
Just over half the obstetrician-gynecologists (57 percent)reported using the HIV testing approach required in theirstates, the researchers note, while 43 percent reported usingan approach not consistent with their state's regulation.
Nearly one third of obstetrician-gynecologists said theydid not know if their state required HIV testing duringpregnancy.
Most obstetrician-gynecologists responding to the surveyreported that they provide pretest counseling before HIVtesting (73.7 percent) and post-test counseling (84.6 percent).
"The results of this study suggest thatobstetrician-gynecologists may benefit from additionalinformation that could improve their knowledge and practiceregarding HIV screening," the investigators write.
"Although most respondents report being at least moderatelyknowledgeable about HIV during pregnancy and reportrecommending HIV testing to all pregnant patients, they mayneed to be more aggressive in following up with patients whodecline HIV testing."
SOURCE: Obstetrics & Gynecology, November 2007
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although virtually allobstetrician-gynecologists recommend HIV testing to all theirpregnant patients, some are unaware of their state requirementsfor recommending such testing, according to a report in theObstetrics & Gynecology.
Several organizations, including the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention, have recommended that all pregnantwomen be screened for HIV, using an opt-out approach, as partof routine prenatal care, the authors explain.
With the opt-out testing strategy, the woman tested unlessshe explicitly refuses. She is provided information on HIV andtold that a test will be performed as part of a battery ofstandard tests. She is also informed that she has the right todecline testing.
The opt-in testing approach requires an explicit requestfor an HIV test. After a woman has received HIV information,she is asked if she wants an HIV test. She is tested only ifshe specifically agrees and, in most cases, signs and aninformed consent form.
Dr. Jay Schulkin and colleagues from the American Collegeof Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Washington, DC surveyedobstetrician-gynecologists regarding HIV knowledge. A total of1,032 questionnaires were sent out and 582 were returned.
All but 3 percent of obstetrician-gynecologists reportedthat they recommend HIV testing to all of their pregnantpatients, the authors report, though nearly three quarters ofobstetrician-gynecologists considered 5 percent or fewer oftheir pregnant patients to be at high risk for HIV infection.
Obstetrician-gynecologists were fairly evenly divided as towhether they tested their pregnant patients for HIV using theopt-in approach (52 percent) or the opt-out approach (48percent).
Just over half the obstetrician-gynecologists (57 percent)reported using the HIV testing approach required in theirstates, the researchers note, while 43 percent reported usingan approach not consistent with their state's regulation.
Nearly one third of obstetrician-gynecologists said theydid not know if their state required HIV testing duringpregnancy.
Most obstetrician-gynecologists responding to the surveyreported that they provide pretest counseling before HIVtesting (73.7 percent) and post-test counseling (84.6 percent).
"The results of this study suggest thatobstetrician-gynecologists may benefit from additionalinformation that could improve their knowledge and practiceregarding HIV screening," the investigators write.
"Although most respondents report being at least moderatelyknowledgeable about HIV during pregnancy and reportrecommending HIV testing to all pregnant patients, they mayneed to be more aggressive in following up with patients whodecline HIV testing."
SOURCE: Obstetrics & Gynecology, November 2007
U.S. regulators join HIV transplant probe
U.S. regulators join HIV transplant probe
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Centers for Medicare and MedicaidServices has joined an investigation into how four Chicagotransplant recipients contracted HIV and hepatitis C from asingle organ donor, U.S. officials said on Friday.
CMS, a federal agency that regulates organ procurement, ischecking whether three Chicago hospitals fully informedtransplant recipients that the organ donor was at high risk ofbeing infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, whichcauses AIDS.
A Chicago attorney has asked the Cook County Circuit Courtto order one hospital to preserve all records related to itsorgan donation procedures.
Thomas Demetrio said his client, one of the organrecipients, was not told the kidney she received was from ahigh-risk donor until this week.
Tests of the organs initially showed them to be free ofinfection, but a more sophisticated test done later detectedHIV and hepatitis C, health officials said.
"We are still doing an investigation of the organprocurement organization and we also are looking at thehospitals to make sure information was shared with both thetransplant programs and the recipients," said Jan Tarantino,director of the division of continuing care providers at CMS, apart of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
SERIOUS SITUATION
"This is a serious situation," Tarantino said in atelephone interview.
Typically, CMS contracts with the state health department,but she said CMS has sent its own investigator to accompanystate officials. "We've never gotten a report of this beforeand the consequences are very serious for the patientsinvolved," she said.
Hospital officials have confirmed that two patients fromthe University of Chicago Medical Center, one from NorthwesternMemorial Hospital and one at Rush University Medical Centertested positive for HIV and hepatitis C.
If the hospitals are found to have violated procedures,they could face sanctions and ultimately could be dropped fromparticipation in Medicare, Tarantino said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hassaid the cases mark the first incidence of HIV infectioncontracted from organ donation since 1986.
Dave Bosch of the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue DonorNetwork, the regional organ procurement agency that handled thedonor organs, this week confirmed the organs came from ahigh-risk donor. He said standard tests failed to pick up theinfections, likely because they occurred within three weeks ofthe donor's death -- too soon for the tests to detect.
Demetrio said in a telephone interview his client, a womanin her early 30s, had been on the transplant list for more thanfive years before receiving a kidney from the University ofChicago Medical Center. "Right now she's a wreck. She's stillin shock," he said.
Demetrio said his client had been undergoing kidneydialysis and could have waited for another organ.
A University of Chicago Medical Center spokesman confirmedthat the hospital received a petition from Cook County CircuitCourt and said the hospital will provide necessary records withthe patient's consent.
A spokeswoman for Rush said the hospital has been contactedby CMS and is cooperating with the investigation.
Bosch said about 9 percent of the 22,000 organ transplantsin the United States involve high-risk organs.(Editing by Will Dunham and Vicki Allen)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Centers for Medicare and MedicaidServices has joined an investigation into how four Chicagotransplant recipients contracted HIV and hepatitis C from asingle organ donor, U.S. officials said on Friday.
CMS, a federal agency that regulates organ procurement, ischecking whether three Chicago hospitals fully informedtransplant recipients that the organ donor was at high risk ofbeing infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, whichcauses AIDS.
A Chicago attorney has asked the Cook County Circuit Courtto order one hospital to preserve all records related to itsorgan donation procedures.
Thomas Demetrio said his client, one of the organrecipients, was not told the kidney she received was from ahigh-risk donor until this week.
Tests of the organs initially showed them to be free ofinfection, but a more sophisticated test done later detectedHIV and hepatitis C, health officials said.
"We are still doing an investigation of the organprocurement organization and we also are looking at thehospitals to make sure information was shared with both thetransplant programs and the recipients," said Jan Tarantino,director of the division of continuing care providers at CMS, apart of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
SERIOUS SITUATION
"This is a serious situation," Tarantino said in atelephone interview.
Typically, CMS contracts with the state health department,but she said CMS has sent its own investigator to accompanystate officials. "We've never gotten a report of this beforeand the consequences are very serious for the patientsinvolved," she said.
Hospital officials have confirmed that two patients fromthe University of Chicago Medical Center, one from NorthwesternMemorial Hospital and one at Rush University Medical Centertested positive for HIV and hepatitis C.
If the hospitals are found to have violated procedures,they could face sanctions and ultimately could be dropped fromparticipation in Medicare, Tarantino said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hassaid the cases mark the first incidence of HIV infectioncontracted from organ donation since 1986.
Dave Bosch of the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue DonorNetwork, the regional organ procurement agency that handled thedonor organs, this week confirmed the organs came from ahigh-risk donor. He said standard tests failed to pick up theinfections, likely because they occurred within three weeks ofthe donor's death -- too soon for the tests to detect.
Demetrio said in a telephone interview his client, a womanin her early 30s, had been on the transplant list for more thanfive years before receiving a kidney from the University ofChicago Medical Center. "Right now she's a wreck. She's stillin shock," he said.
Demetrio said his client had been undergoing kidneydialysis and could have waited for another organ.
A University of Chicago Medical Center spokesman confirmedthat the hospital received a petition from Cook County CircuitCourt and said the hospital will provide necessary records withthe patient's consent.
A spokeswoman for Rush said the hospital has been contactedby CMS and is cooperating with the investigation.
Bosch said about 9 percent of the 22,000 organ transplantsin the United States involve high-risk organs.(Editing by Will Dunham and Vicki Allen)
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Russian health chief disputes UN's HIV numbers
Russian health chief disputes UN's HIV numbers
Russia's chief epidemiologist, Gennady Onishchenko answers journalists' questions in Moscow, 2006 during a press conference. Onishchenko on Wednesday accused the UN's AIDS agency of publishing "incorrect" statistics on the number of HIV infections in the country.(AFP/File/Alexander Nemenov)MOSCOW (AFP) - The head of Russia's health services on Wednesday accused the UN's AIDS agency of publishing "incorrect" statistics on the number of HIV infections in the country.
"We have seen incorrect estimations from several international organisations, including UNAIDS, the World Health Organisation and other UN institutions concerning the situation in Russia," said Gennady Onishchenko, cited by Interfax news agency.
UNAIDS said in its 2007 report on Wednesday that Russia accounts for 66 percent of all new infections in the former Soviet Union, confirming the steady worsening of the AIDS pandemic following a period from 2001 to 2003 when AIDS was on the decline.
The total number of people living with HIV in the former Soviet Union has climbed to 1.6 million, a 150-percent increase from 2001, it said.
"None of the former Soviet republics, expect for Russia, are undertaking serious work toward detecting and caring for HIV infections," he said. "Where work is not being done, the problem does not seem to exist."
He added: "That unilateral judgement without basis is beginning to worry us."
Onishchenko said some 403,000 HIV infections had been detected in Russia since the appearance of the virus in the former Soviet Union in 1987. Those still living number 314,000, he said.
Russia's chief epidemiologist, Gennady Onishchenko answers journalists' questions in Moscow, 2006 during a press conference. Onishchenko on Wednesday accused the UN's AIDS agency of publishing "incorrect" statistics on the number of HIV infections in the country.(AFP/File/Alexander Nemenov)MOSCOW (AFP) - The head of Russia's health services on Wednesday accused the UN's AIDS agency of publishing "incorrect" statistics on the number of HIV infections in the country.
"We have seen incorrect estimations from several international organisations, including UNAIDS, the World Health Organisation and other UN institutions concerning the situation in Russia," said Gennady Onishchenko, cited by Interfax news agency.
UNAIDS said in its 2007 report on Wednesday that Russia accounts for 66 percent of all new infections in the former Soviet Union, confirming the steady worsening of the AIDS pandemic following a period from 2001 to 2003 when AIDS was on the decline.
The total number of people living with HIV in the former Soviet Union has climbed to 1.6 million, a 150-percent increase from 2001, it said.
"None of the former Soviet republics, expect for Russia, are undertaking serious work toward detecting and caring for HIV infections," he said. "Where work is not being done, the problem does not seem to exist."
He added: "That unilateral judgement without basis is beginning to worry us."
Onishchenko said some 403,000 HIV infections had been detected in Russia since the appearance of the virus in the former Soviet Union in 1987. Those still living number 314,000, he said.
HIV drug resistance seen in central China: expert
HIV drug resistance seen in central China: expert
A worker tests blood samples at an AIDS laboratory in Hefei, east China's Anhui province, November 22, 2007. Significant numbers of people living with HIV in central China have developed full-blown AIDS despite receiving free anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, a leading AIDS researcher said on Thursday. (Jianan Yu/Reuters)HONG KONG (Reuters) - Significant numbers of people livingwith HIV in central China have developed full-blown AIDSdespite receiving free anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, a leadingAIDS researcher said on Thursday.
"Recent studies found that a significant portion ofpatients still developed AIDS after two years of treatment dueto the problem of drug resistance," said Chen Zhiwei, directorof the newly-opened AIDS Institute at the University of HongKong.
Before moving to Hong Kong, Chen was based in the UnitedStates where he collaborated with researchers in China toconduct surveillance on HIV drug resistance. Chen said thepatients were in central China, but he did not specify whichprovinces.
"In the past four years, we have been working on it andtrying to understand how the nation provides free HIV drugs tofarmers and villagers and what actually happened after thoseyears of treatment," Chen told a news conference.
Hundreds of thousands of farmers in the central Chineseprovince of Henan were infected in the 1990s through schemes inwhich people sold blood to unsanitary, often state-run healthclinics, making the province the centre of China's AIDSepidemic.
Antiretroviral drugs help keep the HIV virus in check andcan prevent the progression to full-blown AIDS. But regimenscan be complicated and sufferers can easily develop drugresistance if they miss doses. Those who develop resistance tofirst-line drugs will have to resort to stronger, moreexpensive treatments.
However, HIV drug resistance is a difficult problem inChina as there are few second-line drugs to choose from due tohigh costs. Chinese pharmaceuticals are also unable to producemany of them due to patent laws.
Activists say those who can afford it, procure drugs fromoverseas, while the rest simply wait to die.
Chen said the new AIDS Institute would work on possibleAIDS vaccines and try to understand and curb the development ofthe disease in Hong Kong and China.
The United Nations AIDS agency slashed its global estimatesthis week of how many people were infected from nearly 40million to 33 million, mainly due to revised figures fromIndia. But UN officials quickly warned that the world risks aresurgence of the AIDS epidemic if countries let their guarddown.
(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
A worker tests blood samples at an AIDS laboratory in Hefei, east China's Anhui province, November 22, 2007. Significant numbers of people living with HIV in central China have developed full-blown AIDS despite receiving free anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, a leading AIDS researcher said on Thursday. (Jianan Yu/Reuters)HONG KONG (Reuters) - Significant numbers of people livingwith HIV in central China have developed full-blown AIDSdespite receiving free anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, a leadingAIDS researcher said on Thursday.
"Recent studies found that a significant portion ofpatients still developed AIDS after two years of treatment dueto the problem of drug resistance," said Chen Zhiwei, directorof the newly-opened AIDS Institute at the University of HongKong.
Before moving to Hong Kong, Chen was based in the UnitedStates where he collaborated with researchers in China toconduct surveillance on HIV drug resistance. Chen said thepatients were in central China, but he did not specify whichprovinces.
"In the past four years, we have been working on it andtrying to understand how the nation provides free HIV drugs tofarmers and villagers and what actually happened after thoseyears of treatment," Chen told a news conference.
Hundreds of thousands of farmers in the central Chineseprovince of Henan were infected in the 1990s through schemes inwhich people sold blood to unsanitary, often state-run healthclinics, making the province the centre of China's AIDSepidemic.
Antiretroviral drugs help keep the HIV virus in check andcan prevent the progression to full-blown AIDS. But regimenscan be complicated and sufferers can easily develop drugresistance if they miss doses. Those who develop resistance tofirst-line drugs will have to resort to stronger, moreexpensive treatments.
However, HIV drug resistance is a difficult problem inChina as there are few second-line drugs to choose from due tohigh costs. Chinese pharmaceuticals are also unable to producemany of them due to patent laws.
Activists say those who can afford it, procure drugs fromoverseas, while the rest simply wait to die.
Chen said the new AIDS Institute would work on possibleAIDS vaccines and try to understand and curb the development ofthe disease in Hong Kong and China.
The United Nations AIDS agency slashed its global estimatesthis week of how many people were infected from nearly 40million to 33 million, mainly due to revised figures fromIndia. But UN officials quickly warned that the world risks aresurgence of the AIDS epidemic if countries let their guarddown.
(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Friday, December 28, 2007
Post-exposure HIV drugs won't boost risky behavior
Post-exposure HIV drugs won't boost risky behavior
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Giving antiretroviral drugs topeople after they may have been exposed to HIV is an effectiveway to prevent them from contracting the virus, a new studyshows.
What's more, people who know this option is available tothem don't appear to be more likely to engage in riskybehavior, Dr. Steve Shoptaw of the UCLA Department of FamilyMedicine in Los Angeles, who was involved in the research, toldReuters Health. "This is a viable way of helping people stay(HIV)-negative," he said.
So-called post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, has long beenavailable to people who risk HIV infection on the job, forexample a health care worker accidentally jabbed by acontaminated syringe. In 2005, the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention expanded its PEP guidelines to cover peopleexposed to HIV outside the workplace, for example through riskysex, condom breakage or drug use. But PEP still isn't widelyused in such cases, Shoptaw and his team note, because it isn'tcovered by health insurance and is only very rarely offered aspart of community health programs.
To investigate the feasibility of a community organized andfunded non-occupational PEP program, the researchers conducteda demonstration project in which people were offered a 28-daycourse of anti-HIV drugs within 72 hours of potential exposureto HIV.
One hundred people, 95 of them men, participated. Theyreceived the drug treatment, HIV testing, and counseling for upto 26 weeks after enrolling in the study. Fifty-eightparticipants reported having unprotected anal sex, while 18percent reported condom breakage.
Among the 84 people given the full course of medication, 75percent actually took all the drugs. No one became HIV-positiveduring the course of the study.
Some health authorities have been reluctant to offer PEPafter risky sex or drug use for fear that people wouldn'tchange their behavior if they knew "there's a parachutesomewhere they can take to stay negative," Shoptaw noted.However, he and his colleagues found people reduced their riskbehavior after using PEP, rather than increasing it.
He and his colleagues call for making non-occupational PEPprograms more widely available to people at high risk ofbecoming infected with HIV. For now, Shoptaw noted, PEP isavailable only to people who can access it and pay for it outof pocket -- drugs and counseling together cost about $2,200.
Right now, "this is more of a social justice issue,"Shoptaw said. "People who have means have access to this,people who don't, don't."
SOURCE: AIDS Care, published online October 24, 2007.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Giving antiretroviral drugs topeople after they may have been exposed to HIV is an effectiveway to prevent them from contracting the virus, a new studyshows.
What's more, people who know this option is available tothem don't appear to be more likely to engage in riskybehavior, Dr. Steve Shoptaw of the UCLA Department of FamilyMedicine in Los Angeles, who was involved in the research, toldReuters Health. "This is a viable way of helping people stay(HIV)-negative," he said.
So-called post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, has long beenavailable to people who risk HIV infection on the job, forexample a health care worker accidentally jabbed by acontaminated syringe. In 2005, the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention expanded its PEP guidelines to cover peopleexposed to HIV outside the workplace, for example through riskysex, condom breakage or drug use. But PEP still isn't widelyused in such cases, Shoptaw and his team note, because it isn'tcovered by health insurance and is only very rarely offered aspart of community health programs.
To investigate the feasibility of a community organized andfunded non-occupational PEP program, the researchers conducteda demonstration project in which people were offered a 28-daycourse of anti-HIV drugs within 72 hours of potential exposureto HIV.
One hundred people, 95 of them men, participated. Theyreceived the drug treatment, HIV testing, and counseling for upto 26 weeks after enrolling in the study. Fifty-eightparticipants reported having unprotected anal sex, while 18percent reported condom breakage.
Among the 84 people given the full course of medication, 75percent actually took all the drugs. No one became HIV-positiveduring the course of the study.
Some health authorities have been reluctant to offer PEPafter risky sex or drug use for fear that people wouldn'tchange their behavior if they knew "there's a parachutesomewhere they can take to stay negative," Shoptaw noted.However, he and his colleagues found people reduced their riskbehavior after using PEP, rather than increasing it.
He and his colleagues call for making non-occupational PEPprograms more widely available to people at high risk ofbecoming infected with HIV. For now, Shoptaw noted, PEP isavailable only to people who can access it and pay for it outof pocket -- drugs and counseling together cost about $2,200.
Right now, "this is more of a social justice issue,"Shoptaw said. "People who have means have access to this,people who don't, don't."
SOURCE: AIDS Care, published online October 24, 2007.
Former Soviet Union sees most new HIV infections: report
Former Soviet Union sees most new HIV infections: report
LONDON (Reuters) - Former Soviet states had the largestnumber of new HIV infections last year in the European region,mainly due to shared drug needles, an EU report said on Friday.
Former Soviet states reported 59,866 new cases of HIV,which causes AIDS, or 210.8 infections per million people, theEuropean Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said.
That was more than all the new cases in Western and CentralEurope combined. The report defined Eastern Europe as the 15countries of the former Soviet Union.
"Although this rate is lower than the epidemic peakobserved in 2001, the number of reported new HIV ... diagnoseshas increased in recent years," the EU agency said.
"Over a quarter of the new HIV diagnoses were among youngpeople aged 15-24 years and 41 percent of the cases werereported amongst females."
Earlier this week, the United Nations slashed its estimatesof how many people globally are infected with the AIDS virusfrom nearly 40 million to 33 million, mainly due to revisedfigures for India.
The agency also said the evidence showed the epidemic iscreeping back in countries that have become less vigilant,mainly industrialized nations where many people with AIDS haveaccess to drugs that can extend their lives.
In the EU study, Western Europe reported 25,241 new HIVcases, a rate of 82.5 infections per million, while CentralEuropean countries had 1,805 HIV cases, or 9.4 infections permillion. Heterosexual contact was the main driver oftransmission in those areas.
The agency also estimated about 30 percent of people livingwith HIV in Europe are unaware they are infected, which meansthey likely engage in risky behavior that can spread the virus.
"It is anticipated that higher testing rates across Europewill link more HIV infected people to prevention and treatmentservices," the study said.
(Reporting by Michael Kahn, editing by Michael Winfrey)
LONDON (Reuters) - Former Soviet states had the largestnumber of new HIV infections last year in the European region,mainly due to shared drug needles, an EU report said on Friday.
Former Soviet states reported 59,866 new cases of HIV,which causes AIDS, or 210.8 infections per million people, theEuropean Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said.
That was more than all the new cases in Western and CentralEurope combined. The report defined Eastern Europe as the 15countries of the former Soviet Union.
"Although this rate is lower than the epidemic peakobserved in 2001, the number of reported new HIV ... diagnoseshas increased in recent years," the EU agency said.
"Over a quarter of the new HIV diagnoses were among youngpeople aged 15-24 years and 41 percent of the cases werereported amongst females."
Earlier this week, the United Nations slashed its estimatesof how many people globally are infected with the AIDS virusfrom nearly 40 million to 33 million, mainly due to revisedfigures for India.
The agency also said the evidence showed the epidemic iscreeping back in countries that have become less vigilant,mainly industrialized nations where many people with AIDS haveaccess to drugs that can extend their lives.
In the EU study, Western Europe reported 25,241 new HIVcases, a rate of 82.5 infections per million, while CentralEuropean countries had 1,805 HIV cases, or 9.4 infections permillion. Heterosexual contact was the main driver oftransmission in those areas.
The agency also estimated about 30 percent of people livingwith HIV in Europe are unaware they are infected, which meansthey likely engage in risky behavior that can spread the virus.
"It is anticipated that higher testing rates across Europewill link more HIV infected people to prevention and treatmentservices," the study said.
(Reporting by Michael Kahn, editing by Michael Winfrey)
Russia has almost one million HIV-positive people
Russia has almost one million HIV-positive people
An AIDS activist protesting in Moscow in 2006. The head of an international AIDS lobby group said between 900,000 and one million people in Russia have the HIV virus.(AFP/File/Denis Sinyakov)MOSCOW (AFP) - Between 900,000 and one million people in Russia have the HIV virus, the head of an international AIDS lobby group said Monday.
Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund for to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a private-public group which has injected substantial funds into research, said the UNAIDS agency has completed substantial work "in order to obtain objective figures."
The Interfax and Ria Novosti news agencies quoted him as saying: "According to their estimates, between 900,000 and one million people in Russia are HIV-positive."
The Global Fund was created with public and private funds in 2002 with former UN secretary general Kofi Annan taking a leading role.
Last week, top Russian health official Gennadi Onishchenko accused UNAIDS, the UN agency charged with coordinating the fight against AIDS, of publishing "incorrect" figures regarding the number of HIV-positive people in Russia.
UNAIDS said in a report published November 21 that Russia currently represents 66 percent of the number of new HIV cases in the former Soviet Union.
According to official figures released by the Russian AIDS agency in October, 403,100 HIV-positive people were counted in Russia since the virus appeared in the country, of which 19,924 people died. Russian experts say the true number of HIV-positive is close to 1.3 million.
An AIDS activist protesting in Moscow in 2006. The head of an international AIDS lobby group said between 900,000 and one million people in Russia have the HIV virus.(AFP/File/Denis Sinyakov)MOSCOW (AFP) - Between 900,000 and one million people in Russia have the HIV virus, the head of an international AIDS lobby group said Monday.
Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund for to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a private-public group which has injected substantial funds into research, said the UNAIDS agency has completed substantial work "in order to obtain objective figures."
The Interfax and Ria Novosti news agencies quoted him as saying: "According to their estimates, between 900,000 and one million people in Russia are HIV-positive."
The Global Fund was created with public and private funds in 2002 with former UN secretary general Kofi Annan taking a leading role.
Last week, top Russian health official Gennadi Onishchenko accused UNAIDS, the UN agency charged with coordinating the fight against AIDS, of publishing "incorrect" figures regarding the number of HIV-positive people in Russia.
UNAIDS said in a report published November 21 that Russia currently represents 66 percent of the number of new HIV cases in the former Soviet Union.
According to official figures released by the Russian AIDS agency in October, 403,100 HIV-positive people were counted in Russia since the virus appeared in the country, of which 19,924 people died. Russian experts say the true number of HIV-positive is close to 1.3 million.
Routine HIV testing may benefit teenagers
Routine HIV testing may benefit teenagers
An Indian health official stores blood samples from sex-workers and their clients in a HIV-positive test laboratory in Sonagachi, the red-light district of the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, November 30, 2005. (Jayanta Shaw/Reuters)NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Early, routine HIV testingmight help stem the spread of the infection among teenagers,according to researchers.
In a study of more than 1,200 sexually active 15- to21-year-olds, the researchers found that key HIV risk factors-- like having unprotected sex or having a high-risk partner --had no bearing on whether the study participants sought HIVtesting over the next three months.
Instead, the single most important factor was whether theyhad ever been tested before. Those who had were about threetimes more likely to seek testing during the study period, theresearchers report in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
"These findings were a bit surprising, since we thoughtteens would be more likely to get an HIV test if they engagedin risky behaviors, such as substance use during sex, orattended an HIV prevention workshop," Dr. Larry K. Brown, thesenior researcher on the study, said in a statement.
Since a history of HIV testing was so important, theimplication is that early, universal testing might encouragemore teenagers to get tested as they grow older, according toBrown and his colleagues at the Brown University Medical Schoolin Providence, Rhode Island.
Widespread testing of younger adolescents could have a"dramatic effect" on HIV infection rates, the researcherswrite, given that one-quarter of Americans with HIV are unawareof it -- and could be passing it on to others.
The study included 1,222 teenagers and young adults fromthree U.S. cities who were considered to be at high risk of HIVbecause they admitted to having unprotected sex. They wererandomly assigned to either attend a 3-hour HIV-preventionworkshop or go on a wait-list; the researchers then trackedtheir rates of HIV testing over the next three months.
They found that the prevention workshop seemed to make nodifference in the odds of participants getting tested for HIV;one-quarter in each group said they gotten a test during thethree-month study period.
Instead, the teenagers' history of HIV testing emerged asthe primary factor.
The findings suggest that getting kids into the habit ofHIV testing early on may affect their behavior down the road,according to Brown's team. They suggest that routine testingcould be offered not only in doctors' offices, but innon-traditional settings like schools and community centers aswell.
SOURCE: Journal of Adolescent Health, December 2007
An Indian health official stores blood samples from sex-workers and their clients in a HIV-positive test laboratory in Sonagachi, the red-light district of the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, November 30, 2005. (Jayanta Shaw/Reuters)NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Early, routine HIV testingmight help stem the spread of the infection among teenagers,according to researchers.
In a study of more than 1,200 sexually active 15- to21-year-olds, the researchers found that key HIV risk factors-- like having unprotected sex or having a high-risk partner --had no bearing on whether the study participants sought HIVtesting over the next three months.
Instead, the single most important factor was whether theyhad ever been tested before. Those who had were about threetimes more likely to seek testing during the study period, theresearchers report in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
"These findings were a bit surprising, since we thoughtteens would be more likely to get an HIV test if they engagedin risky behaviors, such as substance use during sex, orattended an HIV prevention workshop," Dr. Larry K. Brown, thesenior researcher on the study, said in a statement.
Since a history of HIV testing was so important, theimplication is that early, universal testing might encouragemore teenagers to get tested as they grow older, according toBrown and his colleagues at the Brown University Medical Schoolin Providence, Rhode Island.
Widespread testing of younger adolescents could have a"dramatic effect" on HIV infection rates, the researcherswrite, given that one-quarter of Americans with HIV are unawareof it -- and could be passing it on to others.
The study included 1,222 teenagers and young adults fromthree U.S. cities who were considered to be at high risk of HIVbecause they admitted to having unprotected sex. They wererandomly assigned to either attend a 3-hour HIV-preventionworkshop or go on a wait-list; the researchers then trackedtheir rates of HIV testing over the next three months.
They found that the prevention workshop seemed to make nodifference in the odds of participants getting tested for HIV;one-quarter in each group said they gotten a test during thethree-month study period.
Instead, the teenagers' history of HIV testing emerged asthe primary factor.
The findings suggest that getting kids into the habit ofHIV testing early on may affect their behavior down the road,according to Brown's team. They suggest that routine testingcould be offered not only in doctors' offices, but innon-traditional settings like schools and community centers aswell.
SOURCE: Journal of Adolescent Health, December 2007
Capital has severe HIV epidemic, report finds
Capital has severe HIV epidemic, report finds
The setting sun casts an orange glow on passing clouds over the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington September 19, 2006. (Jason Reed/Reuters)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington, D.C., has the highestrate of AIDS in the United States, and more babies are bornwith the AIDS virus in Washington than in other U.S. cities,according to a report released on Monday.
People living in Washington also are not getting tested forHIV and show up with advanced infections that progress quicklyto AIDS, the report by city health officials found.
The report found that Washington, with a population ofaround 600,000 people, has a rate of 128 AIDS cases per 100,000people in 2006, compared with a national rate of 14 cases per100,000. The city accounted for 9 percent of all pediatric AIDScases in the United States during 2005.
"The District's rate for newly reported AIDS cases ishigher than rates in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City,Detroit and Chicago," the report said.
Of the 12,428 people infected with HIV in Washington, 80percent are black, the report found. More than 8,300 had fullyprogressed to AIDS and 224 died of AIDS in 2006.
"Heterosexual contact in the District is the leading modeof HIV transmission at 37 percent of newly reported infections,while nationally men who have sex with men lead newtransmissions," it said.
The report, the first to look at the HIV epidemic inWashington specifically, found that nearly 70 percent of allpeople with HIV developed full-blown AIDS within a year, whichmeans they were diagnosed years after having been infected.
This compares with 39 percent nationally.
Dr. Shannon Hader of Washington's Department of Health saidthe report does not examine why Washington is hit so hard bythe human immunodeficiency virus.
A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING
"We have a lot of transmission going on amongheterosexuals, we have a lot of transmission going on with menwho have sex with men and we have a lot of transmission amonginjecting drug users," Hader said in a telephone interview.
Washington has a unique status among U.S. cities. When itwas established as the U.S. capital, it was kept apart fromstates and put under congressional management, although it hasan elected mayor and city council.
Hader said the city has adopted a policy of routine HIVtesting, which means people should get the test whenever theyget a check-up or visit an emergency room.
Currently, people usually have to specifically ask to betested for HIV.
Hader said the city aimed to reduce mother-to-childtransmission of HIV to zero by 2009 with better testing andtreatment of pregnant women. Women who take HIV drugs aroundthe time of delivery are far less likely to transmit the virusto their babies.
Chip Lewis of the Whitman-Walker clinic, an HIV treatmentcenter in Washington, said the report shows the need foruniversal HIV testing.
"This is a 100 percent preventable disease," Lewis said bytelephone. Yet one in 20 adults in Washington has HIV and onein 50 has AIDS, he noted.
"HIV and AIDS has really become a disease that grows inareas of poverty. There is lots of poverty in the District,"Lewis said.The United Nations estimates that 33 million people areinfected with the AIDS virus globally, about a million of themin the United States.(Editing by Will Dunham and Philip Barbara)
The setting sun casts an orange glow on passing clouds over the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington September 19, 2006. (Jason Reed/Reuters)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington, D.C., has the highestrate of AIDS in the United States, and more babies are bornwith the AIDS virus in Washington than in other U.S. cities,according to a report released on Monday.
People living in Washington also are not getting tested forHIV and show up with advanced infections that progress quicklyto AIDS, the report by city health officials found.
The report found that Washington, with a population ofaround 600,000 people, has a rate of 128 AIDS cases per 100,000people in 2006, compared with a national rate of 14 cases per100,000. The city accounted for 9 percent of all pediatric AIDScases in the United States during 2005.
"The District's rate for newly reported AIDS cases ishigher than rates in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City,Detroit and Chicago," the report said.
Of the 12,428 people infected with HIV in Washington, 80percent are black, the report found. More than 8,300 had fullyprogressed to AIDS and 224 died of AIDS in 2006.
"Heterosexual contact in the District is the leading modeof HIV transmission at 37 percent of newly reported infections,while nationally men who have sex with men lead newtransmissions," it said.
The report, the first to look at the HIV epidemic inWashington specifically, found that nearly 70 percent of allpeople with HIV developed full-blown AIDS within a year, whichmeans they were diagnosed years after having been infected.
This compares with 39 percent nationally.
Dr. Shannon Hader of Washington's Department of Health saidthe report does not examine why Washington is hit so hard bythe human immunodeficiency virus.
A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING
"We have a lot of transmission going on amongheterosexuals, we have a lot of transmission going on with menwho have sex with men and we have a lot of transmission amonginjecting drug users," Hader said in a telephone interview.
Washington has a unique status among U.S. cities. When itwas established as the U.S. capital, it was kept apart fromstates and put under congressional management, although it hasan elected mayor and city council.
Hader said the city has adopted a policy of routine HIVtesting, which means people should get the test whenever theyget a check-up or visit an emergency room.
Currently, people usually have to specifically ask to betested for HIV.
Hader said the city aimed to reduce mother-to-childtransmission of HIV to zero by 2009 with better testing andtreatment of pregnant women. Women who take HIV drugs aroundthe time of delivery are far less likely to transmit the virusto their babies.
Chip Lewis of the Whitman-Walker clinic, an HIV treatmentcenter in Washington, said the report shows the need foruniversal HIV testing.
"This is a 100 percent preventable disease," Lewis said bytelephone. Yet one in 20 adults in Washington has HIV and onein 50 has AIDS, he noted.
"HIV and AIDS has really become a disease that grows inareas of poverty. There is lots of poverty in the District,"Lewis said.The United Nations estimates that 33 million people areinfected with the AIDS virus globally, about a million of themin the United States.(Editing by Will Dunham and Philip Barbara)
Thursday, December 27, 2007
More than 27,000 new HIV infections in Europe in 2006: report
More than 27,000 new HIV infections in Europe in 2006: report
An AIDS symbol made from balloons. The European Centre for the Epidemiological Monitoring of AIDS said Tuesday that more than 27,000 new HIV infections were recorded in European countries last year.(AFP/File/Sergei Supinsky)PARIS (AFP) - More than 27,000 new HIV infections were recorded in European countries last year, the European Centre for the Epidemiological Monitoring of AIDS said Tuesday.
More than half of the 27,259 new infections, or 54 percent were recorded in France and Britain, with 5,750 and 8,925 cases respectively, said the EuroHIV centre.
The overall figure for the 27-nation European Union was 67.7 cases per million inhabitants, with the highest ratio in Estonia, 504.2 per million and 668 cases; and Portugal, 205 per million and 2,162 cases.
Slovakia and Hungary had the lowest rate with five per million, or 27 cases and eight per million, or 80 cases respectively.
France's rate of 91.9 per million inhabitants compared to Belgium's 95.3 per million (995 cases) and Switzerland's with 104.2 per million (757 cases).
With 66 percent men bore the brunt of the epidemic, and 11 percent of the new cases were diagnosed among 15- to 24-year-olds.
Heterosexual intercourse was the main source of infection with 42 percent, while infections due to sex between men accounted for 29 percent. Seven percent of infections were caused by intravenous drug use.
The overall caseload of more than 27,000 new infections includes figures from Iceland, Norway and Switzerland which are not members of the European Union.
UNAIDS, the global standard-bearer in the fight against HIV/AIDS, estimates the total number of people with HIV/AIDS in 2006 at 740,000 in western and central Europe and at 1.5 million in eastern Europe and central Asia.
An AIDS symbol made from balloons. The European Centre for the Epidemiological Monitoring of AIDS said Tuesday that more than 27,000 new HIV infections were recorded in European countries last year.(AFP/File/Sergei Supinsky)PARIS (AFP) - More than 27,000 new HIV infections were recorded in European countries last year, the European Centre for the Epidemiological Monitoring of AIDS said Tuesday.
More than half of the 27,259 new infections, or 54 percent were recorded in France and Britain, with 5,750 and 8,925 cases respectively, said the EuroHIV centre.
The overall figure for the 27-nation European Union was 67.7 cases per million inhabitants, with the highest ratio in Estonia, 504.2 per million and 668 cases; and Portugal, 205 per million and 2,162 cases.
Slovakia and Hungary had the lowest rate with five per million, or 27 cases and eight per million, or 80 cases respectively.
France's rate of 91.9 per million inhabitants compared to Belgium's 95.3 per million (995 cases) and Switzerland's with 104.2 per million (757 cases).
With 66 percent men bore the brunt of the epidemic, and 11 percent of the new cases were diagnosed among 15- to 24-year-olds.
Heterosexual intercourse was the main source of infection with 42 percent, while infections due to sex between men accounted for 29 percent. Seven percent of infections were caused by intravenous drug use.
The overall caseload of more than 27,000 new infections includes figures from Iceland, Norway and Switzerland which are not members of the European Union.
UNAIDS, the global standard-bearer in the fight against HIV/AIDS, estimates the total number of people with HIV/AIDS in 2006 at 740,000 in western and central Europe and at 1.5 million in eastern Europe and central Asia.
China says estimated HIV/AIDS cases rise to 700,000
China says estimated HIV/AIDS cases rise to 700,000
A couple walk past an AIDS billboard inside a Beijing subway station, August 2006. China is estimated to have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, with tens of thousands of new infections each year, the government has said, but activists warned the problem was far greater.(AFP/File/Frederic J. Brown)BEIJING (AFP) - China is estimated to have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, with tens of thousands of new infections each year, the government said Thursday, but activists warned the problem was far greater.
"The result of estimates is that at the end of 2007, China will have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, and 85,000 with AIDS," Health Minister Chen Zhu told a press conference in Beijing.
Chen said there were an estimated 50,000 new HIV infections in 2007, when 20,000 people died from AIDS, figures he described as a slightly better than previous years.
"The upward trend of AIDS disease has slowed, but we should still strengthen our work," Chen said.
The health ministry said there were 223,501 confirmed HIV/AIDS cases in China at the end of last month. This compares with 183,733 cases reported at the same time last year.
The latest figures were based on work carried out by the Chinese government, the United Nations and the World Health Organisation.
In January last year, the three sides said there were an estimated 650,000 people with HIV/AIDS, following similar research carried out together.
But independent AIDS activists have long warned that these figures underestimate the rampant spread of the disease.
"We believe the actual figures far exceed these official estimates," said activist Hu Jia.
Hu said provincial authorities tended to under-report the real figures to the central government, which still banned third parties from carrying out independent investigations.
"In fact, during the past two years, local governments have stepped up their crackdowns on the grass-roots non-government organisations... they are not willing to have them witness the AIDS situation," he said.
Another leading AIDS campaigner, Wan Yanhai, has previously said the number of people suffering from the disease in China could be 10 times higher than official estimates.
The health ministry on Thursday said heterosexual contact was a top cause of new infections in 2007, accounting for 44.7 percent.
Intravenous drug abuse caused 42 percent of the infections, and sex between men 12.2 percent, while 1.1 percent of the cases happened because infected mothers passed it on to their unborn children, the ministry said.
But Hu said the official statistics announced omitted infections through unsafe blood transfusions, especially those at public hospitals, possibly because the government was nervous about facing up to its responsibility.
Thousands of people, mainly uneducated peasants, were infected mainly in Henan province during the 1990s through tainted blood transfusions at illegal blood collection stations.
Gao Yaojie, a retired doctor and veteran Chinese AIDS activist, told AFP in an interview earlier this week that the deadly practice was still going on despite government attempts to eradicate it.
"Farmers sell blood because they are too poor to make a living and pay school fees for their kids and so on," Gao said from Henan province.Accurate AIDS statistics are hard to come by in China, mainly because of huge size of the country and the lack of transparency.
A couple walk past an AIDS billboard inside a Beijing subway station, August 2006. China is estimated to have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, with tens of thousands of new infections each year, the government has said, but activists warned the problem was far greater.(AFP/File/Frederic J. Brown)BEIJING (AFP) - China is estimated to have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, with tens of thousands of new infections each year, the government said Thursday, but activists warned the problem was far greater.
"The result of estimates is that at the end of 2007, China will have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, and 85,000 with AIDS," Health Minister Chen Zhu told a press conference in Beijing.
Chen said there were an estimated 50,000 new HIV infections in 2007, when 20,000 people died from AIDS, figures he described as a slightly better than previous years.
"The upward trend of AIDS disease has slowed, but we should still strengthen our work," Chen said.
The health ministry said there were 223,501 confirmed HIV/AIDS cases in China at the end of last month. This compares with 183,733 cases reported at the same time last year.
The latest figures were based on work carried out by the Chinese government, the United Nations and the World Health Organisation.
In January last year, the three sides said there were an estimated 650,000 people with HIV/AIDS, following similar research carried out together.
But independent AIDS activists have long warned that these figures underestimate the rampant spread of the disease.
"We believe the actual figures far exceed these official estimates," said activist Hu Jia.
Hu said provincial authorities tended to under-report the real figures to the central government, which still banned third parties from carrying out independent investigations.
"In fact, during the past two years, local governments have stepped up their crackdowns on the grass-roots non-government organisations... they are not willing to have them witness the AIDS situation," he said.
Another leading AIDS campaigner, Wan Yanhai, has previously said the number of people suffering from the disease in China could be 10 times higher than official estimates.
The health ministry on Thursday said heterosexual contact was a top cause of new infections in 2007, accounting for 44.7 percent.
Intravenous drug abuse caused 42 percent of the infections, and sex between men 12.2 percent, while 1.1 percent of the cases happened because infected mothers passed it on to their unborn children, the ministry said.
But Hu said the official statistics announced omitted infections through unsafe blood transfusions, especially those at public hospitals, possibly because the government was nervous about facing up to its responsibility.
Thousands of people, mainly uneducated peasants, were infected mainly in Henan province during the 1990s through tainted blood transfusions at illegal blood collection stations.
Gao Yaojie, a retired doctor and veteran Chinese AIDS activist, told AFP in an interview earlier this week that the deadly practice was still going on despite government attempts to eradicate it.
"Farmers sell blood because they are too poor to make a living and pay school fees for their kids and so on," Gao said from Henan province.Accurate AIDS statistics are hard to come by in China, mainly because of huge size of the country and the lack of transparency.
HIV vaccine trial volunteers may face social blow
HIV vaccine trial volunteers may face social blow
Haitian-American Rapper Wyclef Jean, seen here in october 2007, blasted a US study that said AIDS made its way to the United States via Haiti as prejudicial and unjust.(AFP/DDP/File)NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many volunteers who take partin clinical trials of experimental HIV vaccines report negativesocial consequences because of their participation in thestudies, according to a new report.
"Since a majority of the negative social impact events weredue to negative reactions from friends and family whomisinterpreted what a preventive HIV vaccine trial entails,trial sites need to continue their educational efforts withboth study participants and with local communities emphasizingthat you cannot become HIV-infected from the vaccine itself andthat these trials seek HIV-negative individuals toparticipate," Dr. Jonathan Fuchs told Reuters Health.
Fuchs, from the San Francisco Department of Public Health,and his associates evaluated the negative social impactsreported by 5417 mostly male volunteers in an HIV vaccineefficacy trial.
Just under 1000 volunteers reported negative social eventsduring 36 months of follow-up.
Most such events were negative reactions from friends,family, and partners, the authors report in the Journal ofAcquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. These reactions wereprimarily attributed to a misunderstanding of the volunteer'sHIV status or risk of infection.
Less than 1 percent of the group reported problems withdisability or life insurance, employment, medical or dentalcare, health insurance, government agencies, or housing.
Among the 368 participants who became infected with HIVafter enrollment in the trial, only 12 reported a negativesocial incident, the investigators say. Most involved personalrelationships, such as friends or family members asserting thatthe vaccine caused the individual to become HIV-infected ormore susceptible to infection.
Although the vaccine could affect HIV test results, none ofthe HIV antibody-related negative social events reported by 29volunteers were attributed to vaccine-induced antibody results,the researchers note.
"A substantial proportion of vaccinees may test'false-positive' on a standard HIV antibody screening test,"Fuchs explained. "Providers should remember to first askwhether their patients have participated in an HIV vaccinetrial before they perform HIV testing, to avoid potentialmisinterpretation of antibody results and possible socialharm."
SOURCE: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes,November 1, 2007.
Haitian-American Rapper Wyclef Jean, seen here in october 2007, blasted a US study that said AIDS made its way to the United States via Haiti as prejudicial and unjust.(AFP/DDP/File)NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many volunteers who take partin clinical trials of experimental HIV vaccines report negativesocial consequences because of their participation in thestudies, according to a new report.
"Since a majority of the negative social impact events weredue to negative reactions from friends and family whomisinterpreted what a preventive HIV vaccine trial entails,trial sites need to continue their educational efforts withboth study participants and with local communities emphasizingthat you cannot become HIV-infected from the vaccine itself andthat these trials seek HIV-negative individuals toparticipate," Dr. Jonathan Fuchs told Reuters Health.
Fuchs, from the San Francisco Department of Public Health,and his associates evaluated the negative social impactsreported by 5417 mostly male volunteers in an HIV vaccineefficacy trial.
Just under 1000 volunteers reported negative social eventsduring 36 months of follow-up.
Most such events were negative reactions from friends,family, and partners, the authors report in the Journal ofAcquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. These reactions wereprimarily attributed to a misunderstanding of the volunteer'sHIV status or risk of infection.
Less than 1 percent of the group reported problems withdisability or life insurance, employment, medical or dentalcare, health insurance, government agencies, or housing.
Among the 368 participants who became infected with HIVafter enrollment in the trial, only 12 reported a negativesocial incident, the investigators say. Most involved personalrelationships, such as friends or family members asserting thatthe vaccine caused the individual to become HIV-infected ormore susceptible to infection.
Although the vaccine could affect HIV test results, none ofthe HIV antibody-related negative social events reported by 29volunteers were attributed to vaccine-induced antibody results,the researchers note.
"A substantial proportion of vaccinees may test'false-positive' on a standard HIV antibody screening test,"Fuchs explained. "Providers should remember to first askwhether their patients have participated in an HIV vaccinetrial before they perform HIV testing, to avoid potentialmisinterpretation of antibody results and possible socialharm."
SOURCE: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes,November 1, 2007.
U.S. aims to take HIV tests to high-risk people
U.S. aims to take HIV tests to high-risk people
An HIV test is performed in an image courtesy of the CDC. A program backed by U.S. health authorities brought HIV tests to about 24,000 people at high risk for infection who otherwise might have been missed by AIDS prevention efforts, officials said on Thursday. (Handout/Reuters)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A program backed by U.S. healthauthorities brought HIV tests to about 24,000 people at highrisk for infection who otherwise might have been missed by AIDSprevention efforts, officials said on Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describedthe results of a program it funded from 2004 to 2006 in whicheight private community-based AIDS outreach organizationsoffered rapid HIV tests in seven big cities.
The program was intended to bring testing to injection drugusers, homosexual and bisexual men and other people at highrisk for infection by the human immunodeficiency virus thatcauses AIDS rather than wait for them to come in for testing.
"We actually went to a variety of venues -- and thoseincluded places like parks, shelters, night clubs, healthfairs, syringe exchange sites (giving clean needles toinjection drug users). The idea here was to find places wherepeople at high risk might congregate or might seek services,"said Dr. Patrick Sullivan, a CDC AIDS prevention official.
"The demonstration project has ended and we hope to be ableto integrate the best parts of this into ongoing preventionprograms," Sullivan said.
The project was run in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, LosAngeles, San Francisco, Washington and Kansas City, Missouri.
About 23,900 people were given a rapid HIV test for whichresults are ready in 20 to 40 minutes rather than the couple ofweeks typically needed for the conventional blood test. In all,267 of them, about 1 percent, turned out to be HIV infected.
The accuracy of the quick test is comparable toconventional tests but it costs more. Representatives of theeight organizations, not CDC staffers, performed the testing.
About 39 percent of those getting the tests were black, 31percent Hispanic and 21 percent white, the CDC said.
Half reported having no health insurance and 9 percent werehomeless, the CDC said. Of those tested, about 17 percent weremen who have sex with men, a comparatively low proportioncompared to the overall population of HIV-infected Americans.
Sullivan said more than 1 million Americans are currentlyinfected with HIV and about a quarter of those are unaware theyare infected.
The CDC estimates that up to 70 percent of the new sexuallytransmitted infections in the United States are caused by these25 percent of infected people unaware of their HIV status.
"The problem of undiagnosed HIV infection is one of thethings that we see as important in confronting the HIV epidemicin the U.S.," Sullivan said in a telephone interview.
"We felt like based on this experience, this kind of HIVtesting in outreach settings really can help reach people athigh risk of infection, including racial and ethnic minorities,and is a good complement to the kind of testing in health caresettings that's already being implemented," Sullivan said.
More than 33 million people globally are infected with HIV.There is no cure although a cocktail of drugs can keep theinfection suppressed and patients healthy.
(Editing by Maggie Fox and Todd Eastham)
An HIV test is performed in an image courtesy of the CDC. A program backed by U.S. health authorities brought HIV tests to about 24,000 people at high risk for infection who otherwise might have been missed by AIDS prevention efforts, officials said on Thursday. (Handout/Reuters)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A program backed by U.S. healthauthorities brought HIV tests to about 24,000 people at highrisk for infection who otherwise might have been missed by AIDSprevention efforts, officials said on Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describedthe results of a program it funded from 2004 to 2006 in whicheight private community-based AIDS outreach organizationsoffered rapid HIV tests in seven big cities.
The program was intended to bring testing to injection drugusers, homosexual and bisexual men and other people at highrisk for infection by the human immunodeficiency virus thatcauses AIDS rather than wait for them to come in for testing.
"We actually went to a variety of venues -- and thoseincluded places like parks, shelters, night clubs, healthfairs, syringe exchange sites (giving clean needles toinjection drug users). The idea here was to find places wherepeople at high risk might congregate or might seek services,"said Dr. Patrick Sullivan, a CDC AIDS prevention official.
"The demonstration project has ended and we hope to be ableto integrate the best parts of this into ongoing preventionprograms," Sullivan said.
The project was run in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, LosAngeles, San Francisco, Washington and Kansas City, Missouri.
About 23,900 people were given a rapid HIV test for whichresults are ready in 20 to 40 minutes rather than the couple ofweeks typically needed for the conventional blood test. In all,267 of them, about 1 percent, turned out to be HIV infected.
The accuracy of the quick test is comparable toconventional tests but it costs more. Representatives of theeight organizations, not CDC staffers, performed the testing.
About 39 percent of those getting the tests were black, 31percent Hispanic and 21 percent white, the CDC said.
Half reported having no health insurance and 9 percent werehomeless, the CDC said. Of those tested, about 17 percent weremen who have sex with men, a comparatively low proportioncompared to the overall population of HIV-infected Americans.
Sullivan said more than 1 million Americans are currentlyinfected with HIV and about a quarter of those are unaware theyare infected.
The CDC estimates that up to 70 percent of the new sexuallytransmitted infections in the United States are caused by these25 percent of infected people unaware of their HIV status.
"The problem of undiagnosed HIV infection is one of thethings that we see as important in confronting the HIV epidemicin the U.S.," Sullivan said in a telephone interview.
"We felt like based on this experience, this kind of HIVtesting in outreach settings really can help reach people athigh risk of infection, including racial and ethnic minorities,and is a good complement to the kind of testing in health caresettings that's already being implemented," Sullivan said.
More than 33 million people globally are infected with HIV.There is no cure although a cocktail of drugs can keep theinfection suppressed and patients healthy.
(Editing by Maggie Fox and Todd Eastham)
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