The CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention provides the following information as a public service only. Providing synopses of key scientific articles and lay media reports on HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis does not constitute CDC endorsement. This daily update also includes information from CDC and other government agencies, such as background on Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) articles, fact sheets, press releases, and announcements. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update should be cited as the source of the information. Contact the sources of the articles abstracted below for full texts of the articles.
"West Nile Viral Encephalitis in an HIV-Positive Woman in New
York"
New England Journal of Medicine (01/06/00) Vol.
342, No. 1, P. 59; Szilak, Illya; Minamoto, Grace Y.
In a letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine,
researchers from Montefiore Medical Center in New York present
the case of a 38-year-old woman from the Bronx with HIV infection
and West Nile viral encephalitis. The woman--who had not
traveled outside of the United States--reported a week-long
history of headache and fever and three days of neck stiffness,
photophobia, and vomiting. She was given antibiotics for
possible bacterial meningitis, but they were stopped after 72
hours, when the cultures came back negative. The woman was then
diagnosed as one of 50 patients with suspected West Nile
encephalitis in the New York area. She was the first to also be
coinfected with HIV. According to the researchers, "It remains
to be shown whether HIV ... predisposes patients to overt
clinical encephalitis with arbovirus infection."
USA Today Online (01/10/00) P. 1A; Page, Susan
The Clinton administration is expected to propose today spending
$65 million in 2001 to develop a nationwide computer system that
tracks infectious diseases like the flu and hepatitis C. The
network would replace a system of phone calls and postcards that
notifies authorities about diseases. Jeffrey Koplan, director of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the program
would use cyberspace to transfer reports from a city clinic to a
state public health service to the CDC in one day. More than 35
emerging diseases have been identified since 1973, including
AIDS, Legionnaire's disease, Lyme disease, and hepatitis C. The
plan reportedly has bipartisan support in Congress.
New York Times (01/10/00) P. A6; Seelye, Katharine Q.
Vice President Al Gore, who will preside over the United Nations
Security Council Session this week, plans to announce that the
administration will ask Congress for $100 million to fight AIDS
overseas. The money--the majority of which would go to
sub-Saharan Africa--would be used for HIV prevention programs,
home care, testing, screening, and care for AIDS orphans. The
vice president is also set to announce the White House is also
seeking $50 million for vaccines against such diseases as
hepatitis B, influenza, and yellow fever. Gore's draft of his
upcoming speech to the Security Council calls for open
discussions of AIDS and an end to the stigma surrounding the
disease.
"The Many Fronts in the War on TB"
New York Times (01/10/00) P. A22; Deaton, Dana M.; El-Sadr, Wafaa M.
In a letter to the editor of the New York Times, Dana Deaton of
the Project 55 Tuberculosis Initiative states that the United
States needs to devote more money to tuberculosis (TB) screening
and treatment. Deaton also asserts that the government should
help fight TB "in immigrants' homelands, where TB remains endemic
and takes the lives of a record number of people each year." In
a second letter, Wafaa M. El-Sadr of the Charles P. Felton Model
TB Center at the Harlem Hospital Center supports the use of peer
workers to guide and help TB patients who may fear the American
medical and legal systems. El-Sadr notes that in order to
eliminate TB in the United States, there will need to be
continued funding of TB programs as well as partnerships with
community-based groups that serve foreign-born individuals,
community physicians, and traditional healers.
Boston Globe Online--New Hampshire Weekly (01/09/00) P. 1; Collins,
Rachel M.
A proposal in New Hampshire would eliminate the need for drug
addicts to obtain a prescription in order to buy hypodermic
needles. The law is supported by many state representatives,
including Patricia O'Keefe, a counselor at a residential
treatment program for emotionally disturbed and behaviorally
challenged children. O'Keefe notes that there are heroin addicts
in the state who already use needles and need access to clean
needles to help stem the spread of bloodborne diseases like HIV
and hepatitis C. New Hampshire is one of 10 states that requires
a prescription to buy syringes. According to a report from the
Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of
California, intravenous drug users account for half of all new
HIV infections in America.
CNN Interactive Online (01/08/00)
In South Africa, the AIDS epidemic is causing public hospitals to
turn away those they cannot treat. Because the country's public
health system cannot cope with the number of patients who need
treatment, family members are being trained to care for AIDS
patients at home. Health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang
stated that the government may ask the private sector to form a
fund to help fight AIDS, and it also plans to boost its AIDS
awareness efforts.
"UK Pharmacies Dole Out Free 'Morning After' Pill"
Reuters (01/07/00)
Pharmacies in Manchester, England, have begun issuing free
"morning after" contraceptive pills to help lower high teenage
pregnancy rates. The plan allows girls under age 16 to obtain
the pill for free from pharmacists after a brief interview.
While the British Royal Pharmaceutical Society has voiced its
support for the measure, Valerie Riches of the group Family and
Youth Concern argued that the new plan will result in increased
rates of sexually transmitted diseases, because people will see
it as an excuse not to use contraceptives.
Reuters Health Information Services (01/07/00)
A new project aims to provide cervical cancer education online.
Located at www.cervicalcancercampaign.org, the site hopes to
reach 5 million women this month, which has been named Cervical
Cancer Month. The Web site plans to educate women about the need
for regular Pap smear screening for early detection of cervical
cancer, as well as about the link between human papillomavirus
and cervical cancer. The new site, which was launched on January
6, was introduced during a live Webcast organized by the American
Medical Women's Association, America Online, and the National
Cervical Cancer Public Education Campaign.
Reuters Health Information Services (01/07/00)
Researchers investigated a 1993 outbreak of HIV among patients at
a renal dialysis center in Egypt. According to the team, who
report their findings in the January issue of the Journal of
Infectious Diseases (2000;181:91-97), 39 patients acquired HIV at
one of two dialysis centers. While one patient died before an
interview could be conducted, the other patients said they had
not engaged in extramarital or homosexual sex, intravenous drug
use, or travelled to countries with a high HIV rate. The
researchers found that unmarked syringes were reused at both
dialysis centers, and they note that the number of infected
individuals rose to 64 after more patients epidemiologically
linked to the outbreak were discovered after the investigation.