Clarion Ledger (Jackson) (11.15.09) - Tuesday, November 24, 2009
While youths ages 15-19 comprise 7.6 percent of Mississippi's population, in 2008 they accounted for 40.1 percent
of reported chlamydia cases, 32.3 percent of gonorrhea cases, 10.5 percent of early syphilis cases, and 7.8 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases,
according to state data.
"When you get STDs, it's normally also because you're having unprotected sex," said Dr. Jasmin Chapman, CEO of
the Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center. This can lead to HIV infection, she noted.
"It's not infrequent to get [visits for] STDs weekly, and we're there three days a week," said Kanisha Meaders, a
nurse practitioner at Jim Hill High School in Jackson. With parental consent, nurses in Jackson and Hinds counties can perform wellness exams,
including blood screening.
Lack of STD awareness, not using condoms, STD stigma, multiple partners, and socioeconomic factors all contribute
to rising STDs among teens, said Nikki Kay, a CDC spokesperson. "It's just really important for people to know that youth are at risk and that
youth continue to be disproportionately affected by STDs," Kay said.
Children whose parents talk with them about sex are more likely to delay sexual activity, said Felicia Brown-
Williams, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood in Mississippi. It does not require a "big talk," she said. Instead, parents can use any
available opportunity to say a little about the topic. "Opening up that conversation is going to make their child feel more comfortable about
asking questions and to come to their parents because their parents have started that conversation with them," Brown-Williams said
MISSISSIPPI: Merits of Abstinence Education Debated
Marquita Brown
Clarion Ledger (Jackson) (11.15.09) - Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Rising STD numbers among teens are leading some Mississippi health educators to question the efficacy of
abstinence-only sex education.
"You can't teach in the school about contraception and all that, but we're seeing a huge number of STDs in these
students," said Jasmine Chapman, executive director of the Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center. The center operates five school-based
clinics in Jackson and rural Hinds County, in addition to mobile units for about 20 schools in Copiah County, she said.
"The decision to have sex really falls in their lap when they're in the situation themselves," said Kanisha
Meaders, a nurse practitioner at Jim Hill High School in Jackson. Meaders said nurses can talk with students about birth control but counsel
that only abstinence is risk-free. No birth control is prescribed at schools.
The state Department of Education receives CDC funds to boost the number of health educators in Mississippi
schools and work with school staff on training and prevention, said Shalonda Matthews, the department's HIV prevention coordinator. "Our state
standard is abstinence education," she said. Local district boards must hold a vote to offer anything beyond abstinence-only curricula.
Groups that promote comprehensive sex education have to be invited in order to present information in schools,
said Marilyn Watkins, executive director of Building Bridges, an HIV/AIDS advocacy and education program. Students must obtain parental consent
to hear lessons by invited outside groups, she said. Building Bridges can still reach youth audiences at groups such as the Boys and Girls Club
and some churches, Watkins said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
CANADA: Snowbirds Warned of HIV While Vacationing; Prevalence of Virus Among 50-Plus Highest in Southern
Florida
Mike Barber
Edmonton Journal (11.19.09) - Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Canadians vacationing in South Florida, also known as "snowbirds," are arriving in a community that has the
United States' highest rates of HIV/AIDS among those older than 50.
Canadian health officials, therefore, are trying to raise awareness of HIV among this population. Older adults,
including those dating again after divorce or death of a spouse, may not necessarily consider HIV a concern.
"HIV and sexually transmitted infections are an issue that seniors, particularly once they're out there and
meeting new people again, need to be aware of and consider," said Sandra Bullock, a professor of gerontology at the University of Waterloo.
Reporting on the results of a small-scale study, Bullock and graduate student Katie Mairs said HIV testing among
Canadian snowbirds is "relatively low." Testing, usually prompted by insurance requirements, was reported by only one respondent in five. Mairs
presented the findings in Toronto recently at a meeting on HIV research.
The researchers say HIV is, in fact, a risk for those who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s. Canadians over 50
had the highest increase in HIV prevalence from the mid-1980s to 2002, says a 2004 study by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Generally, data on HIV in Canada's older population are scarce. The country's National Health Population Survey
does not ask sexual health questions of those 50 or older.
Still, Bullock is worried that those over 50 and on vacation could be susceptible to a carefree "what-happens-in-
Vegas stays-in-Vegas" sort of mentality. "We need to get a dialogue going where people are comfortable speaking about sex and sexual risk
issues so that we don't see a growing risk of HIV infection here as they have already seen in the Southern states," she said.
GLOBAL: Study Pushes for Aggressive Spending in Fight Against HIV/AIDS
Allison Cross; Canwest News Service
Vancouver Sun (11.18.09) - Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The most effective method for eradicating - rather than curbing - AIDS would be robust, immediate funding for HIV
control efforts, Canadian researchers say in a new study. Funding allocations for global anti-AIDS efforts have dramatically increased since
2000, but current plans hold most of the money in reserve and are spending it slowly.
The study used a mathematical model for predicting either the eradication or persistence of HIV/AIDS in the
world, taking into account the funds already pledged against the epidemic.
"If you're trying to quantify a disease, the general way to do it is figure out the number of infections that
each person is likely to create," said Robert J. Smith, lead study author at the University of Ottawa. That will be determined by variables
such as sexual behaviors, with a goal of averaging less than one transmission per person, he explained. "If, on average, [someone] infects less
than one person, the disease should go away on its own," he said. "It's about finding the tipping point."
The $60 billion already committed is supposed to be spent gradually over the next 15-20 years. Smith and
colleagues show that even if regional eradication were achieved, travel and immigration would sustain the epidemic. If prevention interventions
could cut new HIV infections by two-fifths of current levels, HIV/AIDS could be eradicated within five years, a much shorter timeframe
requiring approximately $63 billion.
"The money is coming in faster than new cases are coming in, so we have the unique chance to get ahead of the
epidemic," said Smith. "This is not going to last long."
The full study, "Can We Spend Our Way Out of the AIDS Epidemic? A World Halting AIDS Model," was published in BMC
Public Health (2009;doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-S1-S15).
MEDICAL NEWS
NORTH AMERICA: Latent Tuberculosis Infection Treatment Acceptance and Completion in the United States and
Canada
C. Robert Horsburgh Jr., MD; and others
Chest doi:10.1378/chest.09-0394 (09.30.09) - Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Treating latent TB infection is essential for preventing active disease, noted C. Robert Horsburgh Jr. of Boston
University School of Public Health and colleagues. In the current study, the researchers assessed treatment uptake and completion rates in a
sample of public and private clinics in the United States and Canada.
In 2002, researchers conducted a retrospective, randomized two-stage cross-sectional survey of clinics that
performed TB skin testing and offered treatment for latent infection.
At 32 clinics, 123 of 720 patients tested for TB and offered treatment declined (17.1 percent, 95 percent
confidence interval [CI] 14.5-20.0 percent). Employees at health care facilities were likelier to decline treatment of latent infection (odds
ratio 4.74, 95 percent CI 1.75-12.9, p=0.003), while TB patient contacts were less likely to decline (OR 0.19, 95 percent CI 0.07-0.50,
p=0.001). At 68 clinics initiating treatment regardless of where skin testing was administered, 1,045 of 1,994 patients starting treatment
failed to complete the recommended course (52.7 percent, 95 percent CI 48.5-56.8 percent).
Risk factors for failing to complete treatment included starting the 9-month isoniazid regimen (OR 2.08, 95
percent CI 1.23-3.57), residence in a congregate setting (nursing home, shelter or jail; OR 2.94, 95 percent CI 1.58-5.56), injection drug use
(OR 2.13, 95 percent CI 1.04-4.35), age 15 and above (OR 1.49, 95 percent CI 1.14-1.94) and employment at a health care facility (1.37, 95
percent CI 1.00-1.85).
"Less than half of persons starting treatment for latent tuberculosis infection completed therapy," researchers
concluded. "Shorter regimens and interventions targeting residents of congregate settings, injection drug users and employees of health care
facilities are needed to increase completion."
NEWS BRIEFS
POLAND: Firing of HIV Police Officers Unconstitutional
Agence France Presse (11.23.09) - Tuesday, November 24, 2009
A 1991 interior ministry directive declaring that people with HIV were "entirely incapable of working" in the
police force was struck down Monday by Poland's Constitutional Tribunal. The court was asked to rule on the matter after a Gdansk police
officer, on the force since 1998, was fired when he tested HIV-positive in 2006. "While the presence of the AIDS virus can in effect be
considered undesirable in the case of rescue patrols, there are a number of posts in which it is not important, such as the police
administration, teaching, as well as analytical and other departments," the court said in a statement. "We all had tears in our eyes," said
Wojciech Tomczynski, the leader of an association for Polish HIV patients. He said the fired officer, who was present in the courtroom, intends
to return to work.
GEORGIA: TB Patient Suit Dismissed
Sheila M. Poole
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (11.24.09) - Tuesday, November 24, 2009
A US District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit in which an Atlanta attorney claimed CDC violated his privacy.
Judge William S. Duffey Jr. said Andrew Speaker had failed to provide specific, material facts to support the lawsuit proceeding. On May 29,
2007, CDC announced that a patient with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) had taken an international commercial flight,
triggering concerns about potential TB transmission. Speaker maintained he had been told he had a less serious form of the disease and was not
contagious, and he said CDC and Fulton County officials knew of plans for a wedding trip to Europe. Speaker said he planned to seek treatment
upon returning to the United States. Craig T. Jones, Speaker's attorney, said he plans to appeal the ruling. He acknowledged, however, that
recent Supreme Court decisions have made it more difficult for plaintiffs to make allegations in lawsuits prior to discovery. The lawsuit had
sought unspecified damages and attorney's fees.
ARKANSAS: University of Central Arkansas to Host AIDS Activist
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock) (11.20.09) - Tuesday, November 24, 2009
AIDS activist and Emmy Award-winner Rae Lewis-Thornton will present a talk entitled "Catching, Coping and
Conquering: The Fight Against HIV/AIDS" at 6 p.m. on Dec. 1 at the University of Central Arkansas' Doyne Auditorium. Lewis-Thornton rose to
prominence in 1994 after Essence magazine profiled her life with HIV. Her appearance is being sponsored by the Lambda Upsilon Chapter of Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. and the campus chapter of Keep a Child Alive, which works to provide antiretrovirals to children and families living
with HIV in India and Africa. The World AIDS Day event is free, and the public is invited.
CALIFORNIA: World AIDS Day on Dec. 1
Salinas Californian (11.20.09) - Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Central Coast HIV/AIDS Services will mark World AIDS Day with a full day of activities on Dec. 1. At 6 p.m., the
group will co-host a commemoration - including speakers, food and a candlelight vigil - at Epiphany Lutheran & Episcopal Church, 425
Carmel Ave., Marina.
NEW MEXICO: Southwest CARE Has AIDS Day Events
Albuquerque Journal (11.22.09) - Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Southwest Comprehensive AIDS Care, Research and Education (CARE) Center will host a World AIDS Day gathering at
5:30 p.m. on Dec. 1 at the Railyard. Founded in 1996, the center serves some 600 area residents. The event will include the lighting of
farolitos, or paper lanterns, decorated with the red AIDS ribbon, plus prayers, songs, and remembrances. For more information, telephone Stella
Reed at 505-989-9255.
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This information is designed to support, not replace, the
relationship that exists between you and your doctor.