http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/News/NewsList.asp?strTempOrLive=LiveThe latest headlines and articles from CDCNPIN.org site.http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50833http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50833Speaking Friday at a forum held at a West Oakland community center, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said the effort to prevent HIV among African Americans, especially gay black men, needs more funding. “You have to scale the money to the scope of the problem,” Gerberding said. CDC reports that in 2005 the HIV infection rate among African-American men was seven times higher than the rate among white men, while black women are being infected at a rate 20 times higher than white women. African Americans now make up half of US HIV patients, though the community represents just 13 percent of the population. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), the forum’s host, is again asking the federal government to declare a “national public health emergency” in response to these statistics. “We need to make sure not only that resources are increased, but are targeted to where they are needed most,” she said. The Bush administration, which appointed Gerberding to head CDC, is proposing a $1 million cut in CDC’s funds for HIV prevention and surveillance, which would reduce the agency’s money for the efforts to $691 million in the coming fiscal year. Last year, Gerberding said CDC needed a total of $7.2 billion, but its budget was cut to $5.9 billion. Several speakers expressed dismay that US domestic HIV prevention funds have remained flat or declined for years, while the Bush administration’s spending on AIDS overseas had increased dramatically. Robert Williams of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies noted that HIV prevention funding in Alameda County, which declared an HIV emergency 10 years ago, has been cut from $1.6 million to $800,000. “If it is, in fact, a state of emergency, then why aren’t we acting like it’s an emergency?” he asked. [Article source: http://www.sfgate.com ]National NewsSat, 10 May 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50834http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50834Doctors and health officials are concerned with Alberta’s delay in announcing a publicly funded human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine program. Some worry the government is slow to offer the shots for fear of offending critics who contend the anti-STD vaccine could encourage teen sex. All other Canadian provinces have either rolled out an HPV vaccine program or announced one; typically, the three-shot series is offered to girls in sixth through eighth grades. “I don’t know where the holdup is,” said Dr. Michael Bow, president of the obstetrics-gynecology section of the Alberta Medical Association. “The government has spoken for years about preventative health. This is an absolute classic case of an option that would prevent disease; prevent health-care costs; prevent cancer.” One health region’s medical officer of health guessed that the government might be afraid to offer a vaccine related to sex. Gardasil protects against HPV types that cause most cervical cancer cases. Last year, former Health Minister Dave Hancock said the province would solicit the views of those who believe the shots would encourage early sex. Alberta is looking at an HPV vaccine rollout and may make an announcement “in time for the school year starting in September,” said current Health Minister Ron Liepert. Vaccine opponents likely will not derail any program, as parents “would have the option to exempt their child from it.” Liepert suggested the March provincial elections could have slowed work on a rollout; after the vote, Hancock became the education minister. Among Alberta’s nine health regions, some do not offer Gardasil at all; some offer the series for $500 (US $498); and at least one subsidizes much of the cost for low-income patients. [Article source: ]International NewsThu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50835http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50835While two-thirds of global HIV infections occur in Africa, the evidence supporting many prevention strategies targeting the continent’s generalized heterosexual epidemics is weak, according to a new study. Investments in condom promotion, HIV testing, and vaccine research have had limited success, the authors contend. In nine southern African countries, more than 12 percent of adults are HIV-infected, and condom promotion has not had a measurable effect on new infections, their review of research found. Studies have not consistently shown testing prevents new HIV infections, and proof is minimal that treating other STDs does so. But male circumcision studies have shown that the procedure reduces the risk of female-to-male infections by up to 60 percent, said lead author Dr. Daniel Halperin of Harvard University School of Public Health. In addition, programs to reduce the number of sexual partners played a role in reducing HIV rates in Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, and in urban Malawi and Ethiopia, he said. Male circumcision and reducing multiple sexual partners should become cornerstones of prevention, the authors said. “We need a fairly dramatic shift in priorities, not just a minor tweaking,” Halperin said. The full report, “Reassessing HIV Prevention,” was published in Science (2008;320(5877):749-750). [Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/]International NewsFri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50836http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50836The effects of a new clinic offering free antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in northern Malawi could be seen in reduced adult mortality rates even in an area 50 miles away, a new study reports. In the eight months after the free clinic opened in remote Karonga Town in June 2005, overall adult mortality in the study area fell by 10 percent. Deaths were slashed by 35 percent among adults living near Karonga District’s only paved road, a result that highlights possible disparities in treatment access. In Malawi, HIV/AIDS accounts for 59 percent of deaths among people ages 15-49. However, since 2004 Malawi has been able to provide free ARVs to some patients with support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. “I think people didn’t expect to see an effect that quickly,” said study co-author Judith Glynn of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “Previous clinical studies have shown improved survival but we have now shown this translates into a clearly measurable effect, even in a rural area, and surprisingly early.” The fast improvements reflect the fact that those who were sickest were the first to receive ARVs, said Mattias Egger and Andrew Boulle of the University of Cape Town. As treatment expands to healthier patients, the benefits of treatment may not be as quickly apparent, said the two, who were not involved in the study. The full report, “Population-Level Effect of HIV on Adult Mortality and Early Evidence of Reversal After Introduction of Antiretroviral Therapy in Malawi,” was published in The Lancet (2008;371:1603-1611). [Article source: http://www.reuters.com]Medical NewsThu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50837http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50837State health officials say a rise in syphilis cases this year in Tompkins County can be partly blamed on residents’ use of the Internet to meet sexual partners. As a result, not all the contacts with whom cases had sex could be notified and urged to get tested, as state law requires. The cases so far included four people from Cornell University, two whom were HIV co-infected. “That was really alarming,” said Dr. Alexandra Hall, a staff physician with the university’s Gannett Health Services. “There were 35 individuals the health departments couldn’t trace. The co-infection with HIV just ratcheted up my alarm meter.” Other counties in the region have not reported any spike in cases, but some are encouraging testing just the same. “We were very aware of the activity in Tompkins County,” said Judy Lester, supervising public health nurse for Oswego County. “You never know when it’s going to spread into your county.” About 50 state and county STD officials will attend a workshop on how to notify the partners of infected patients whose sexual network is Internet-based, said Jeffrey Hammond, a state Department of Health spokesperson. It is a difficult task when those infected do not know their partners’ names or where they reside. The Tompkins syphilis cases included people who had sex with men as well as women. People post on Craigslist and other Web sites for sexual rendezvous as they are traveling through Ithaca or in town for a conference, Hall said. Since the public was alerted on April 3, hundreds of Ithaca-area residents have sought syphilis testing. Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes, which tests for the Tompkins County Health Department, administered 127 tests last month, double the usual number. With state help, 312 people at Cornell were tested. [Article source: http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/]Local and Community NewsSun, 04 May 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50838http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50838Many Boston health providers were unsurprised by the recent CDC report finding one in four US girls ages 14-19 had at least one of four STDs for which researchers screened. Some, however, see a ray of hope in the dissemination of the news among a wider public. In Boston, a 2007 Public Health Commission report found that nearly one-third of reported chlamydia cases in the city were in patients ages 15-19, and the infection rate among African-Americans was eight times higher than among whites. In 2005, chlamydia rates 50 percent higher than Boston’s were recorded in Dorchester, which is 45 percent African American, and Mattapan, which is 83 percent African American. “Adolescent women are at an extremely high risk of STDs, and the racial differences are the most disturbing part,” said Dr. Lydia Shrier, a Children’s Hospital Boston researcher. “Race is a proxy for a number of other things, and it’s not just [socioeconomic status].” Shrier cited disparities in health-care access, poverty, and contextual factors such as neighborhood and the common practice of having older partners, which risks “infection from a sexually experienced group of men.” “The frequency of partner change and the different pools of partners in areas that are predominantly black,” Shrier said, also contribute to racial differences. Dr. Ethan Brackett, a family physician at Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, said CDC’s report should be “a lesson to all of us that we need to be even more serious about prevention programs, talking to teenagers about sex, being honest with them, and starting conversations about sexual activity early.” It is also a “wake up call for us to reach out to young men in the community,” he said. “Many patients come to me as almost a last resort,” he said, when symptoms concern them, and by then they may have already spread their infection. [Article source: http://www.bostonhaitian.com]Local and Community NewsTue, 08 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50839http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50839Following a diagnosis of active pulmonary tuberculosis, a student at H.W. Smith Elementary School in Syracuse is recovering at home for two weeks. Onondaga County Health Department and school officials said the student is expected to make a full recovery. General letters have been sent to inform the parents of children at the school. In addition, officials have identified 30 people, including classmates and teachers, whose contact with the ailing student may put them at risk of infection. Those people or their families have been notified by letter and telephone; testing begins on Monday. The initial student was diagnosed following routine screening given all recent immigrants, said Dr. Cynthia Morrow, health commissioner. "I do not think that the parents of the school in general should be concerned at all,” said Morrow. “The parents of the children who are getting the [testing] letter, I’m sure they will be a little bit concerned, but the important thing is we do not think that this is a highly contagious situation.” “As a parent, we’re always worried,” said Daniel Lowengard, Syracuse schools’ superintendent. “But I think we’ve done everything to allay anyone’s fears. This child’s going to be fine, and we’re working with the family.” [Article source: http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/]Local and Community NewsFri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50840http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50840Births to Oklahoma females ages 15 to 19 increased 6.9 percent from 2005 to 2006, the state Department of Health reports. The birth rate rose from 55.4 births per 1,000 teens in 2005 to 59.5 births per 1,000 in 2006. CDC data indicate that teen births in the state declined by 25 percent from 1991 to 2005. Like the state’s rate, the US rate also climbed from 2005 to 2006, going from 40.5 live births per 1,000 teens to 41.9 per 1,000, CDC reports. “We need to help parents be more comfortable in speaking to their children about this,” said Annette Leon, a health education specialist with the Tulsa City-County Health Department. Leon said she often hears teens complain that their parents will not discuss sex and its consequences with them. [Article source: http://www.ap.org/ ]News BriefsThu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50841http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/display/NewsDisplay.asp?NewsNbr=50841A University of New Hampshire study found that female students were more likely to have unwanted sexual experiences with acquaintances or friends, and alcohol was usually involved. Among females who had unwanted sex, about half were forced or threatened with force. Men who reported having an unwanted sexual experience also were more likely to have been with a date or romantic partner. However, men were more likely than women to have been victimized by a same-sex partner. [Article source: http://www.ap.org/ ]News BriefsWed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT