HIV Testing Blog

A Cincinnati man, who is thought to be homeless, has been charged with assaulting Cincinnati Police Officers. His weapon of choice… spit. 48-year-old Ronald Crawford was arrested during a fight on East McMillan Street, where he spit at officers, telling them he “had AIDS”.

While the officers believe that Crawford is HIV-positive, they aren’t at any major risk, seeing as how studies have shown that HIV/AIDS is not carried in saliva. Crawford is being charged with two counts of harassment with a bodily substance — a felony.

*To view this article in it’s entirety, please visit http://hivtestingblog.com/original-articles/

A report from the Chicago Public Health Department (CDPH) has found higher rates of HIV infection in Black men who have sex with men (MSM) than in white or Latino MSM.

The report comes from a survey that was conducted across all of Chicago, in places where MSM often congregate. These places include gay bars/clubs, bathhouses, social organizations, and others. Participants were asked about their sexual preferences and practices, and then also tested for HIV antibodies. Although other surveys similar to this have been performed in the past, this was the first where the people were actually tested.

The survey found that African Americans had around three times the prevalence rate of HIV than that of white and Latino participants. However, the survey also found that Black MSM do not necessarily engage in riskier behavior, and usually engage less frequently than whites or Latinos. Half of the people who tested positive in the survey were unaware of their HIV-positive status. Once again, Black MSM had higher rates in this category. 66% of Black HIV-positive MSM did not know their status, 50% of Latino HIV-positive MSM, and 23 % of white HIV-positive MSM did not know their status.

While many efforts are being made to address this epidemic, such as condom distribution and affordable HIV testing, much more still needs to be done.

* For the complete article, please visit http://hivtestingblog.com/original-articles/

Today the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced its latest prevention and treatment numbers, noting in particular that Global Fund-financed programs have put 2.3 million people on treatment for HIV/AIDS, 5.4 million people have been treated for tuberculosis, and 88 million insecticide-treated nets have been distributed to prevent malaria infection. In addition, more than 500,000 HIV-positive pregnant women have been treated to prevent their babies from being born with HIV.

These latest results strengthen evidence that investments during the past five years have resulted in the most significant progress ever achieved in the global fight against these three diseases. Recent evidence suggests that global mortality from tuberculosis is now declining, AIDS mortality among adults in several high-burden countries in Africa is declining, and malaria elimination efforts have made tremendous progress, with reductions in the number of cases and malaria-related child mortality falling between 50% and 80% in a growing number of countries.

Together, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria kill about six million people per year. With grants worth $16 billion in 140 countries around the world, the Global Fund has become the world’s leading global public health financier.

For the full article, please refer to http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156875.php

When it comes to HIV/AIDS the mantra has always been: get tested.

But some doctors warn that sometimes a negative test can give a false sense of security to both doctors and patients, particularly for risk-taking teenagers, said Dr. Allison Agwu, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

Rapid HIV tests are designed to pick up antibodies to the virus, not the virus itself. It can take weeks or months for someone to produce antibodies. So a rapid test can come up negative the first time, but positive some weeks or months later. False negatives often happen during the earliest and most contagious stages of the infection.

Of the 53,000 new HIV infections diagnosed each year in the United States, 14 percent of those occurred in 13 to 25-year-olds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the CDC reported last week that nearly half of all HIV positive teens don’t know they have the virus.

For the full article, please refer to http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/health/2009/07/teens_hiv_testing.html

Emergency room patients who are most at risk for HIV are opting out of HIV testing at a huge rate amid a hospital atmosphere cold to such testing. Hospital personnel view it as too time-consuming, and insurers are reluctant to reimburse hospitals for their test-related expenses. In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that everyone visiting a hospital for a major disease condition be tested for the virus that causes AIDS, with the opportunity for them to opt out of the testing, if they so chose.

Since then, only about 5 percent of such patients have been tested, according to Veronica Miller, director of the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research, an independent public-private partnership operating at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.

“HIV is a life-threatening disease that is so grossly underdiagnosed and undertreated in this country,” Miller said in a briefing on the two-day Summit on HIV Testing. It’s been found that infection rates in urban emergency rooms are from 0.5 percent to 1 percent of those tested – though many refuse testing, which involves a simple saliva test followed, if necessary, by a confirmatory blood test, all of which cost $80 to $120.

In Washington, D.C., where it’s estimated that 5 percent of people are infected with HIV, the George Washington University Medical Center emergency department found that only 0.8 percent of people tested were HIV positive. But half of those in the city’s wealthiest ward chose not to be tested, as did a third of people in the poorest ward. So it’s probably the case that the HIV rate is sharply higher among those who refuse the test.

A study done at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia found that patients’ acceptance of testing was boosted to 83 percent when trained counselors spent just five minutes pitching each emergency room patient. Such an increase could greatly benefit those who are HIV positive by catching the infection at an early stage, when it’s more treatable.

Researchers have developed a game for HIV-positive youth, +CLICK, designed to reduce secondary transmission of the virus.

+CLICK was developed by Christine Markham, Ph.D., and Ross Shegog, Ph.D., assistant professors of behavioral sciences. The game’s usability and credibility were assessed by HIV-positive (HIV+) youth at a Texas Children’s Hospital clinic. Results from the study were published in the May issue of AIDS Care

“We wanted to create +CLICK so that we could help educate youth on the importance of making proper, healthy decisions to protect their relationships and themselves as well as help to reduce transmission of the HIV virus,” said Markham, lead investigator of the study.

The game was developed as an adjunct to the youths’ traditional clinic-based self-management education.

Replicating a shopping mall, study participants travel through lessons on abstinence, condoms and contraception, and also watch video clips from experts and peers who are also HIV+. +CLICK is designed to target four behaviors: choosing not to have sex; disclosing HIV status to a potential partner; using condoms correctly and consistently; and using an effective method of birth control along with condoms.

Participants were able to play several of the game’s lessons in approximately 15 minutes during their regularly scheduled clinic visits. “Participants were very receptive and enthusiastic about playing the game,” said Leonard. “They also liked that they were able to ask the clinicians questions about what they learned on the lessons.”

For the complete article, please refer to http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090623133525.htm