The CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update

UNITED STATES: "Gay Blood Donations Revisited"

SOUTH AFRICA: "Zuma, Ministers Face HIV Tests in State's New Prevention Drive"

ITALY: "Vatican Criticizes Condom Machines in Rome School"

UNITED STATES: "Is Use of the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Among Female College Students Related to Human Papillomavirus Knowledge and Risk Perception?"

FLORIDA: "AIDS Service Network Drops HIV Doctor"

CHINA: "China Mulling Lifting Ban on Visitors with HIV"

ZIMBABWE: "More than 2 Million Face Food Shortages in Zimbabwe: Red Cross"

GEORGIA: "Ebenezer Pastor Takes HIV Test"

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UNITED STATES:
"Gay Blood Donations Revisited"   back to top
Los Angeles Times , (03.13.2010)   Andrew Zajac

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration announced a re-evaluation of its policy banning blood donations by any man who has had sex with another man since 1977. FDA’s total ban on donations by these individuals dates back to 1983, when it was enacted to prevent HIV transmission through the nation’s blood supply.

The Health and Human Services Department’s blood safety committee will evaluate the issue at a meeting in June, FDA said in a statement. FDA said it “has been actively engaged in re-examining the issue of blood donor deferral for men who have had sex with other men, taking into account the current body of scientific information, and we are considering the possibility of pursuing alternative strategies that maintain blood safety.”

In recent years, the American Red Cross, American Association of Blood Banks, and America’s Blood Centers have recommended loosening the restrictions to allow blood donations by men who have sex with men (MSM) who have been sexually abstinent for one year. The American Medical Association has proposed a five-year waiting period.

Eighteen senators, led by John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), recently sent a letter calling on FDA to revise the donor ban, deeming it “outdated, medically and scientifically unsound.” Improved testing technologies can support a looser restriction on donations by MSM without threatening the blood supply, they argued.

Changes to the deferral policy have been opposed by hemophilia patient groups. Before the ban, about 10,000 hemophiliacs became HIV-infected through blood products, and thousands of those patients subsequently died.

SOUTH AFRICA:
"Zuma, Ministers Face HIV Tests in State's New Prevention Drive"   back to top
Business Day (South Africa) , (03.12.2010)   Tamar Kahn

President Jacob Zuma and some of his Cabinet members will undergo public HIV testing as part of a new campaign aiming to screen roughly one-third of South Africans, 15 million people, for the virus.

The initiative launches April 15 in Gauteng. The testing drive is a key component of a plan to boost HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in South Africa, which has the world’s largest caseload with some 5.3 million infections. By 2011, the goal is to halve the number of new infections and increase antiretroviral treatment to 80 percent of those in need.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the hope is that testing 15 million people will curb new infections, since most people who know they have the virus take steps to prevent transmission to partners. Infected people will also be encouraged to seek treatment before they become critically ill.

Life expectancy in the country has declined from 60 years in 1994 to under 50 today, said Motsoaledi. “Our main driver of low life expectancy and unhealthy life in South Africa is, among others, the HIV and AIDS epidemic,” he noted.

The minister is calling on all of South Africa’s health care professionals to help with the campaign. He has written to retired providers, asking them to volunteer their services, as well as to nursing colleges and medical schools, requesting that final-year students help with the effort. The military health services will also be involved.

“This is a big battle for everybody in the country,” said Motsoaledi. “We are going to let nobody off the hook. If you look at the number of 15 million which you must reach by June next year, you need every available resource in the country.”

ITALY:
"Vatican Criticizes Condom Machines in Rome School"   back to top
Associated Press , (03.12.2010)   Alessandro Rizzo

Roman Catholic Church officials are condemning a Rome high school’s decision to install condom vending machines as part of educating students about sexuality and HIV prevention. The Keplero school’s decision to offer the condoms - at €2 (US $2.70) for three condoms, lower than the market rate - is reportedly a first for a school in the Italian capital, though some other European nations have installed the machines in schools to prevent teen pregnancy and STDs. Catholic teachings view sex as a means of procreation within marriage and oppose contraception, including condoms.

Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Rome’s vicar, said the decision trivializes sex. It “cannot be approved by Rome’s ecclesiastical community or by Christian families who are seriously concerned with the education of their children,” Vallini said.

Educators are more worried about “the health and hygiene consequences of sex” than its morality, the Italian Bishops’ Conference newspaper, L’Avvenire, editorialized.

Keplero headmaster Antonio Panaccione said condom distribution is only part of its sex education curriculum. About 860 students ages 15-19 attend Keplero at two locations, one in a lower-middle class neighborhood and one in a blue-collar area. The school’s move to break the taboo against condom use reportedly was made to address rising HIV cases among young people.

Italian girls sexually debut at age 16 on average, according to SIGO, an Italian group of gynecologists and obstetricians. Nearly four in 10 have unprotected sex their first time.

“This is not about stimulating the use of condoms or intercourse,” Panaccione said. “On the contrary, it’s about prevention and education.” Panaccione also criticized the “duplicity and reluctance of many families, which to this day still look the other way. To them this is a dogma: One must not talk about it, only do it secretly!”

UNITED STATES:
"Is Use of the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Among Female College Students Related to Human Papillomavirus Knowledge and Risk Perception?"   back to top
Sexually Transmitted Infections Vol. 86: P. 74-78, (02..2010)   Andrea S. Licht; Jill M. Murphy; Andrew J. Hyland; Brian V. Fix; Larry W. Hawk; Martin C. Mahoney

Since the 2006 licensing of the vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV), few studies have examined factors associated with its use. In the current study, the researchers set out to assess whether HPV knowledge and risk perceptions were associated with reported use of the vaccine among female college students.

In the cross-sectional study, 406 women (ages 18-26) were recruited at two public universities. The respondents completed a self-administered survey. A total of 177 (43.6 percent) reported having received at least one dose of HPV vaccine and were classified as vaccinated. The responses were stratified by the receipt of HPV vaccine and compared using descriptive statistics and multivariate models.

In multivariate logistic regression modeling, 18-year-old women were approximately four times more likely to report receiving the HPV vaccine compared to respondents ages 19-26. Women who correctly answered that HPV causes genital warts were 1.85 times more likely to have received at least one dose of HPV vaccine (adjusted odds ratio 1.85, 95 percent confidence interval 1.20 to 2.93). Compared with white women, African-American and Asian women were less likely to be vaccinated. While most respondents failed to recognize their high risk of acquiring and transmitting HPV, risk perception was not significantly associated with vaccine uptake.

“These findings suggest knowledge deficits and misperceptions about HPV risk as potential themes for educational campaigns encouraging the greater use of the preventive HPV vaccine among this subgroup,” the authors concluded.

FLORIDA:
"AIDS Service Network Drops HIV Doctor"   back to top
Daytona Beach News-Journal , (03.12.2010)   Anne Geggis

The Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida (HPCNF) has notified patients of the Daytona Beach area’s only certified HIV doctor that they will have to get another physician by April 1 in order for their care to continue being supported by Ryan White funds.

Dr. Daniel Warner, a local practitioner for 15 years, put the decision down to his comprehensive treatment of patients.

“Basically, they were trying to limit what I’m allowed to do and what they are going to reimburse me for,” said Warner. Warner said that last year he began having more trouble getting reimbursed for services. Across Florida, only 129 physicians are certified by the American Academy of HIV Medicine.

“This is not about money,” said Dawn Emerick, HPCNF’s executive director. “No client of Dr. Warner’s will go without medical care.” Qualifying expenses are all outlined in a manual and uniformly applied, she said. The decision to drop Warner is part of a larger plan to create a “seamless, unified access system,” Emerick said.

Randy Margrave, a pharmacist at Holly Hill Pharmacy, warned that the Ryan White program will end up paying more if patients cannot access Warner’s services.

“HIV medicines cost $2,000 a month and if [the HIV strain is] resistant to the drugs, you are wasting $2,000 a month,” said Margrave, who called Warner one of the country’s best. “It’s going to cost the patient quality of life and Ryan White [programs] more money.”

CHINA:
"China Mulling Lifting Ban on Visitors with HIV"   back to top
Xinhua News Agency , (03.12.2010)   

The deputy director-general of the Chinese Ministry of Health’s Bureau of Disease Control said Friday that officials are in discussions to scrap the ban on visits by HIV-positive non-Chinese “as soon as possible.” “Such a ban was put into effect in a time when we knew little about AIDS,” Hao Yang said. “Now that we have realized it is unnecessary, it is time for us to lift it.” “Attitude toward AIDS is a good indicator of a society’s openness and confidence,” said Huang Mengfu, president of the Red Ribbon Foundation, at whose meeting Hao was speaking. “China is making progress in this field as awareness of the disease is growing rapidly among the people.” Hao commented on the ban in response to a question about Robert Dessaix, an HIV-positive Australian writer who was denied a visa to attend the International Literary Festival in Shanghai, a move that sparked a protest petition signed by nearly 100 prominent Australian authors. The United States dropped its longstanding ban on entry by HIV-positive non-nationals on Jan. 4.

ZIMBABWE:
"More than 2 Million Face Food Shortages in Zimbabwe: Red Cross"   back to top
Agence France Presse , (03.11.2010)   

The secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Red Cross said Thursday that in some sections of the country, “the food situation is as bad as many of our volunteers and staff have ever seen it.” At least 2.17 million residents need food aid, a figure destined to swell further due to a poor harvest, Emma Kundishora said. Aid agencies reported last month that at least 11 percent of the maize crop for the 2009-10 growing season was “a complete write-off” because of poor rains. For those living with HIV, “hunger is an especially brutal experience,” Kundishora said. “In recent years, for example, we have seen many people default on their antiretroviral treatment because the drugs are too toxic without food.” The ZRC and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have extended their emergency food operation from December 2009 until October 2010; they are appealing to donors to provide $33.2 million in aid. The groups aim to feed 222,000 people and help mitigate damage to the country’s agricultural infrastructure.

GEORGIA:
"Ebenezer Pastor Takes HIV Test"   back to top
11alive.com (Atlanta) , (03.15.2010)   Jennifer Leslie

Declaring war on “the unholy trinity of silence, shame, and stigma,” the senior pastor of Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church took an HIV test during Sunday’s morning worship service. “I’m very convinced that if Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, he would be focused on the issue of HIV/AIDS,” the Rev. Raphael Warnock told the congregation once led by the civil rights icon. Twenty minutes after taking the rapid oral test, Warnock returned to the pulpit to announce his result was negative and to challenge other faith leaders to take the test in public. Free, confidential HIV tests were offered to members after the service, which was part of the 21st annual observance of National Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS.