NEW MEXICO: "New Mexico Health Officials Issue= TB Alert"
MICHIGAN: "Macomb County Student Subject of TB Investigation"
SWEDEN: "Sweden to Offer All Girls = Free Cervical Cancer Vaccines"

A= LABAMA:   "HIV Prevention Measures Lacking for State's La= tinos"
Birmingham News     (12.03.08):: Erin St= ock

Latino HIV cases are on the rise in Alabama, but few bil= ingual health care workers or prevention initiatives are targeting the popul= ation, according to a recent report. The nonprofit Latino Commission on AIDS= spent two years assessing the epidemic and services in Alabama, Georgia, Lo= uisiana, the Carolinas, and Tennessee.

In 2007, 31 HIV cases were dia= gnosed among Latinos in Alabama, up from 22 in 2005. One Birmingham clinic s= aw Latino clients double in the last year. There were 900 HIV diagnoses repo= rted in the state in 2007, according to the report, "Shaping the New Respons= e: HIV/AIDS & Latinos in the Deep South."

Language is one of the bi= ggest barriers facing Latinos, said Tykesha Boone, director of AIDS Alabama = in Birmingham, which she said does not have a bilingual staff member. "Becau= se of the lack of funding, we aren't able to reach out into the communities = as much as we should," she acknowledged.

Another issue is health insu= rance. Montgomery AIDS Outreach serves 1,800 clients at two sites, and of th= e 3 percent who are Latino, 98 percent are uninsured, the agency said.
In addition, "the whole stigma issue is worse in the South than in any oth= er part of the country," said Kathie Hiers, CEO of AIDS Alabama. "It's worse= in minority communities. As hard as we try to fight the stigma, that's some= thing that's very real that we have to deal with."

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GLOBAL:=    "Global Fund Chief Seeks to Calm Fears of AIDS Funding= Cuts"
Agence France Presse     (12.06.08)
Saturday at the 15th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually T= ransmitted Infections in Africa, held in Dakar, Senegal, Michel Kazatchkine = said he was "cautiously optimistic" there would be no large cuts in anti-AID= S resources despite the global economic crisis.

"In my discussions w= ith leaders up to now I have not heard of any donor that is not ready to hon= or their commitments" to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, said= Kazatchkine, the fund's chief.

Earlier in the day, activists from n= on-governmental organizations warned of grave consequences if the Global Fun= d proceeded with a proposed 25 percent funding cut over two years' time. Thi= s would be in addition to a 10 percent reduction the Global Fund said it wou= ld aim for in its latest round of grants - a savings Kazatchkine said would = be achieved through "efficiency gains."

"A further 25 percent cut wi= ll be disastrous," said Peter Bujari of the Tanzanian Health and Development= Trust.

"Our cry is: If money can be found to solve the credit crunch= , if money can be found to save companies manufacturing toys for rich people= [and] manufacturing cars, surely money can be found to fund HIV/AIDS in ful= l," said Sam Kapembwa of the Zambian National AIDS Network.

Kazatchk= ine, however, said the 25 percent reduction is not a "final irreversible dec= ision." "If the replenishment [of the Global Fund] allows it, we will cut on= the cut. The 25 percent could become 10 percent, or 5 percent or even zero,= " he said.

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SWEDEN:   = ;"Nobel Medicine Laureate Sees Progress on AIDS Vaccine"
Agence= France Presse     (12.06.08)
With the neces= sary funding, scientists could create a therapeutic AIDS vaccine in the shor= t term, said Luc Montagnier, co-winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize for medicine.= "It is difficult to say, but it is perhaps a case of four to five years," h= e said Saturday in Stockholm ahead of official ceremonies bestowing the awar= d.

There are various ways to reduce HIV short of a cure or preventive= vaccine, said Montagnier. The short-term prospects of therapeutic vaccine r= esearch appeared better than those for a preventive vaccine, he said.
Nonetheless, work must continue on a preventive vaccine, said Francoise Bar= re-Sinoussi, who shared the prize with Montagnier for discovering HIV. The f= inal 2008 Nobel Prize for medicine co-recipient, Harald zur Hausen, discover= ed that human papillomavirus causes cervical cancer.

The Nobel Prizes= will officially be awarded on Wednesday.

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<= strong>CANADA:   "Addicts Taught to Save Lives with Anti-= Overdose Kits"
Edmonton Journal     (11.21.08):= : Jodie Sinnema

Three years ago, a one-week spate of overdos= es in Edmonton prompted the city's needle exchange office, Streetworks, to l= aunch a prevention program with a $150,600 (US $120,000) demonstration grant= from the Canadian Drug Strategy.

In its first year, Streetworks tra= ined 50 clients to inject anyone overdosing on heroin or other opiates with = naloxone, an opioid antagonist that revives people who have overdosed. The i= ntervention stops the high, restores proper breathing, and it opens a 30-min= ute window for emergency medical help to be sought. The program helped rever= se 18 percent of city drug overdoses in its first year.

"It saves= lives," said Andrea Allen, the program's manager and nurse educator. "It em= powers people who are trained by giving them a whole wealth of knowledge the= y never thought they could have. People in this community are often pushed d= own so low that they don't think they deserve to know anything."

"Th= ey are more aware, they're more careful," Marliss Taylor, Streetworks' progr= am manager, said of the intervention's client recruits. "If someone feels th= at they have to keep an eye on everybody, they're much healthier in a whole = lot of ways."

About one person on average dies each day in Alberta of= an overdose, most accidentally or through carelessness as users hurriedly i= nject to avoid being seen or caught, said Taylor. In addition, friends and f= amily often avoid calling first-responders, fearing police troubles.

= Since the grant expired, Streetworks pays about $400 (US $317) annually for = naloxone from the United States, where each 10-dose vial costs $2.50, Taylor= said.

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UNITED STATES:   "Working in Health Care C= an Be Risky, Study Hints"
Reuters     (11.19.0= 8):: Anne Harding

Health care workers are more likely to die= of blood-borne infections and related illnesses than people in other occupa= tions, according to a new CDC study. However, the researchers warned that pr= evious studies suggest most were non-occupational exposures.

Needle s= ticks and other accidents on the job can expose health workers to infections= such as HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C. And male health care workers hav= e been found to be at increased risk of HIV and viral hepatitis, according t= o previous research by Drs. Sara E. Luckhaupt and Geoffrey M. Calvert of CDC= 's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). In the cur= rent case-control study, they assessed mortality risk from blood-borne infec= tions and their sequelae among health care workers, based on 1984-2004 data = from the National Occupational Mortality Surveillance system.

Male he= alth care workers were more than twice as likely to die from HIV and had nea= rly double the mortality from hepatitis B, researchers found. Deaths from he= patitis C and cirrhosis were also somewhat more likely among male health car= e workers. For female health workers, only death from hepatitis C was more f= requent.

Based on occupation, male nurses had the highest risk of HIV= and hepatitis B mortality. However, female nurses were 31 percent less like= ly to die of HIV than women not in health care.

"There is evidence th= at over the past 20 to 25 years, health care workers have been more likely t= o die of these kinds of infections than other workers are," said Luckhaupt. = "What we can't say is how much of this is occupational exposure and how much= is non-occupational exposure, so it's important to think about both."
"The greatest limitation to our study was that information was not availab= le on possible confounding factors such as sexual risk behaviors, history of= blood transfusions, intravenous drug use, and alcohol use," wrote the autho= rs. "Targeted interventions to decrease the risk of blood-borne pathogens am= ong health care workers may need to be gender-specific," they concluded.
=
The full report, "Deaths Due to Blood-Borne Infections and Their Sequela= e Among Health Care Workers," was published in the American Journal of Indus= trial Medicine (2008;51(11):812-824).

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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA= :   "MetroAccess Driver Has TB, 762 Riders Told"
= Washington Post     (12.06.08):: Sandhya Somashekhar
Officials of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authorit= y (Metro) reported on Friday that a driver who transported elderly and disab= led patients has tuberculosis, and as many as 762 passengers may have been e= xposed to the disease. The sequence of events in the case was as follows:*Oct. 14: Metro officials, suspecting the MetroAccess driver might be infec= ted, took him off the road.
*Oct. 29: The D.C. Department of Health notif= ied Metro that the driver's condition was confirmed as TB.
*Nov. 19: Met= ro sent letters informing 762 potentially exposed riders of the situation. <= BR>
Of the 762 passengers, about 100 are believed to have had sufficient = exposure to the driver to be at risk. Yet even for those 100 people, even gi= ven they may be ailing or elderly, the risk is low, said Shannon Hader, who = runs the TB program for the D.C. Department of Health.

Metro spokesp= erson Angela Gates said the authority was able to identify the 762 riders be= cause MetroAccess customers are typically picked up at home, so their addres= ses are on file. MetroAccess provides door-to-door van and car service for a= bout 20,000 mobility-challenged passengers.

Some people questioned w= hy three weeks passed after the driver's diagnosis before Metro began notify= ing riders. Gates said Metro was waiting for guidance from the D.C. official= s leading the investigation. Hader, however, disputed that; she said it prob= ably took Metro that long to find all the passengers' names and addresses. S= he said health departments in the District, Maryland, and Virginia are "aggr= essively" following up with potentially exposed passengers. Hader added that= the man's TB infection is not drug-resistant.

The driver is employe= d by MV Transportation, a California-based contractor that provides about 80= 0 MetroAccess drivers; a spokesperson said the man is being treated and is e= xpected to return to work.

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CALIFORNI= A:   "'Get Screened Oakland' HIV/AIDS Program Is Unique i= n Nation"
Contra Costa Times     (12.02.08):: A= ngela Woodall

A decade after Oakland declared a state of eme= rgency over HIV/AIDS in the African-American community, many residents still= do not get diagnosed with HIV until they already have AIDS. That might have= been understandable when treatments were new, said Marsha Martin, director = of Get Screened Oakland (GSO), "but not today."

Of the 7,400 AIDS cas= es diagnosed in Alameda County between 1980 and 2007, 4,300 were in Oakland.= And all but 200 of the city's cases were African Americans and Latinos, sai= d Martin. Past outreach efforts were fragmented and aimed at populations too= narrowly defined by San Francisco's epidemic, she said. "Now we have to get= everyone tested," Martin said.

Oakland provides GSO with an annual = $200,000. The program also receives funding through private and public grant= s. The goal is to make HIV screening a routine part of health care and enlis= t community organizations, businesses, and faith groups to combat disease-re= lated stigma. Martin is focusing on recruiting hospitals and clinics to expa= nd their testing services.

Kaiser Permanente, Highland Hospital, and = Alta Bates Summit Medical Center already offer HIV screening for patients in= their emergency departments. Children's Hospital Oakland is considering a s= imilar program.

Homophobia, IV drug use, homelessness, and poverty ar= e all driving the epidemic, said Kabir Hypolite, acting director of the Offi= ce of AIDS Administration for the Alameda County Public Health Department. O= nly about half the estimated 12,000 people who have HIV in the county have b= een diagnosed, he said.

"It's the shame issue," said Belinda Dronke= rs-Lauretz, executive director of API Family Pride, an outreach organization= that targets Asian and Pacific Islander gays and lesbians. "We need to brea= k that barrier."

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NEW MEXICO:   "New Mexico Health O= fficials Issue TB Alert"
Associated Press     (= 12.03.08)
Passengers on a commercial bus that traveled through N= ew Mexico from Texas to Colorado in August should be screened for TB, health= officials are urging. The bus, chartered by El Paso-Los Angeles Limousine E= xpress, Inc., left El Paso the morning of Aug. 3. Later that day, a person w= ho was recently diagnosed with active TB boarded the bus in Albuquerque and = continued on to Greeley, Colo. The person returned to Albuquerque on the sam= e bus line Aug. 9, officials said. New Mexico Department of Health spokesper= son Chris Minnick said passengers who were on either of the two buses should= contact their local health departments for further instructions. Minnick co= uld not say how many passengers may have come in contact with the person dur= ing the two bus rides. So far this year, New Mexico has recorded 54 TB cases= .

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MICHIGAN:   "Ma= comb County Student Subject of TB Investigation"
Associated Press &= nbsp;   (12.06.08)
Macomb County health officials= say they are trying to confirm or rule out whether a student at Utica High = School may be infected with TB. According to Utica schools spokesperson Hild= y Corbett, the student also attends Eisenhower High School in neighboring Sh= elby Township, about 20 miles north of Detroit. Corbett said the student has= not attended school for several days. On Friday, the school district sent l= etters home to parents notifying them of the suspected case. As many as 20 T= B cases are reported in Macomb County each year.

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SWEDEN:   "Sweden to Offer All Girls Free Cer= vical Cancer Vaccines"
Agence France Presse     = ;(11.24.08)
Sweden's National Board of Health and Welfare recent= ly announced a plan to offer the human papillomavirus vaccine to primary sch= ool girls as part of the country's free vaccination program. "Starting on Ja= n. 1, 2010, the school health care system must offer HPV vaccines to girls i= n the fifth and sixth grade [around 10-11 years old]," the board wrote in a = statement. The program will cost around 400 million kronor (US $48.3 million= ). Certain strains of HPV, a common STD, are linked to approximately 70 perc= ent of all cervical cancer cases. The board said vaccinating girls against H= PV will prevent some 100 cervical cancer cases in the country annually.
=

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