Australian scientists have announced that they expect to produce a trial vaccine within months. This vaccine will protect chickens from the deadly bird flu (avian flu).

A small portion of the flu genetic material would be delivered to poultry. This would stimulate the bird’s immune response.

The scientists work at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

The vaccine will be created using a delivery system which cuts the time normally taken to develop a new vaccine. The system is called Adenoviral Vector Delivery System (AVDS) and was devised by the animal health group Imugene.

Warwick Lamb, Managing Director of Imugene, said that the CSIRO research team had been working with the AVDS and its use with poultry for over ten years. He said that they have the relevant experience with chicken viruses.

He said vaccines based on the AVDS only used a portion of the viral structure of the flu virus, making them safer than a live attenuated vaccine approach.

An official from CSIRO said that this vaccine will provide a good base from which to develop other vaccines to treat future outbreaks (if this vaccine arrives too late to help the present outbreak). Continue reading →

The predominant barrier of routine HIV testing by African-American frontline care physicians is social stigma, according to a investigation assigned by Janssen Therapeutics, Division of Janssen Products, LP, in conjunction with the National Medical Association (NMA). Even though most physicians surveyed (93%) believed HIV was either very serious or a crisis in the African-American community, findings indicated that as little as one-third of all patients in these physician practices were tested in the past year.

The number of individuals living with HIV infection is at its highest in the United States. Almost half of all new HIV infections are accounted for by African-Americans, who also represent a higher proportion of new cases in comparison with other races and ethnicities. Since September 2006, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised diagnostic HIV testing and voluntary HIV screening to be included in routine clinical care in all healthcare settings.

Wilbert C. Jordan, MD, MPH, Medical Director of the OASIS Clinic of King/Drew Medical Center and member of the NMA said:

“These findings tell us that despite HIV education efforts, the stigma surrounding the disease is still very strong and is a significant barrier to routine testing among African-American doctors.

With African Americans more likely to contract HIV than any other ethnic group, this is particularly concerning as the study uncovered that most patients decide to get tested based on their physicians recommendation. Its crucial that we educate doctors and patients by providing the resources they need to make HIV testing a routine practice.”
Testing Recommendations Tend to be Prompted by Risky Behaviors
Physicians surveyed estimated that 70% of patients got tested within the past year due to physicians’ recommendations, however, the physicians surveyed often use a risk-based testing method, recommending HIV testing for people based on perceived high-risk behaviors, which include multiple sex partners (89%), injection drug use (85%), suspected prostitution (77%), homosexuality (77%), and previous incarceration (70%). 86% of physicians found it is easiest to raise HIV testing with patients who are believed to be at risk.
Variance in Testing Based on Physician Demographics
36% of all physicians investigated were classified as high testers, routinely testing over 25% of their patients for the disease. The physicians tended to test routinely for all sexually active patients, those under 40, females and were more likely to be specialized in obstetrics and gynecology.
Recommendations by Physicians to Increase Routine HIV Testing
Physicians investigated suggested solutions to help boost routine testing in the primary care setting. Their suggestions included patient-focused communication emphasizing the importance of getting tested, for instance in-office posters and brochures (52%) and increased media attention (51%), further training on testing (44%) and the accessibility of accurate in-office prepackaged HIV tests (42%). Several physicians said that having a government order requiring routine HIV testing would enable them to test more patients (43%), despite the 2006 CDC recommendations for HIV testing.

Cedric Bright, MD, President of the NMA said:

“Early detection of HIV is critical, and thats why its important to raise awareness of the need for annual HIV testing as part of routine blood work.

The NMA supports and encourages its physicians in the primary care arena to adopt annual HIV testing of their patients. Together we can help make a difference in the fight against HIV.”
Survey Methodology
At the NMA Conference or via email, a total of 502 surveys were completed by African-American physicians online, 65% were NMA members. The survey consisted of 38 survey questions and 11 screening questions. The online panel surveys were gathered in two stages, late July through to early August 2010, and the second from mid-October through early November 2010. The intercept surveys from the NMA Conference were gathered in early August 2010, while in mid-September to mid-October the post conference email survey data was collected.

Grace Rattue

Continue reading →

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed former French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy as special adviser on innovative financing for the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, U.N. deputy spokesperson Marie Okabe announced Tuesday, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports (AP/International Herald Tribune, 2/20). Because “official development assistance is still insufficient to achieve” the MDGs — which include curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases — Ban “sees the urgency for innovative sources of funding to be developed and promoted worldwide to fill this critical gap,” Okabe said in a statement.

Douste-Blazy currently serves as chair of the executive board of UNITAID, the international drug purchasing facility that uses airline tax revenues for programs in developing countries. Douste-Blazy will be tasked with promoting UNITAID and finding other sources of alternative funding to achieve the MDGs.

Douste-Blazy said that he plans to bring more countries on board to finance the MDGs through a mandatory airfare tax or through voluntary contributions by airline passengers. He also cited online gambling among other alternative types of financing. “Many people are working on innovative financing,” Douste-Blazy said, adding, “We now need to provide coordination” (AFP/Tocqueville Connection, 2/19).

Douste-Blazy also said that he plans to organize a global conference in 2009 that will focus on development financing from individuals, local officials, foundations, nongovernmental organizations, faith-based groups and businesses. “We want to organize little by little a worldwide citizen movement, with citizens, with private companies, besides states, to set up innovative financing,” Douste-Blazy said. He noted that one of his priorities will be the “traceability” of money so that donors can track how their donations are spent (Worsnip, Reuters, 2/19).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved. Continue reading →

South African President Jacob Zuma on Sunday launched a national HIV/AIDS treatment, testing and prevention campaign, which United Nations officials are calling the largest and quickest expansion of HIV/AIDS services a nation has ever attempted, the New York Times reports. South Africa has the highest number of HIV-positive residents in the world at an estimated 5.7 million.

The government in the past month enabled 519 health facilities to dispense antiretroviral drugs, more than all years combined since the government began providing the medications in 2004. It also trained hundreds of nurses to prescribe antiretrovirals and plans to train thousands more at each of the nation’s 4,333 public clinics.

According to the South African Finance Ministry, the expanded access to the drugs will add one million individuals to the nation’s treatment programs within the next few years. The government has budgeted an extra $1 billion toward the heavier caseload, but its “understaffed public health system and the ballooning cost of treating millions of people for life will pose daunting challenges,” the New York Times reports (Dugger, New York Times, 4/25).

In addition to increased treatment access, the campaign aims to test 15 million of the nation’s 47 million residents by June 2011, the Los Angeles Times reports (Dixon, Los Angeles Times, 4/26). As part of the effort, government clinics will offer every patient an HIV test, and the government will provide pharmacies with testing kits for one year at no cost (New York Times, 4/25).

The government also plans to distribute 1.5 billion condoms this year, compared with 450 million last year (Los Angeles Times, 4/26). Zuma said the nation also will launch a nationwide drive to circumcise millions of men. Three years ago, the World Health Organization recommended circumcision as a way to decrease a man’s risk of contracting HIV by more than half (New York Times, 4/25).

Sunday’s announcement underscores the different approaches of Zuma and his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, to the nation’s HIV/AIDS epidemic (Los Angeles Times, 4/26). Mbeki questioned whether HIV causes AIDS and suggested that antiretrovirals are harmful.

Although Zuma has “broken sharply” with Mbeki by confronting HIV/AIDS, his political career has not been without controversy on the issue, the New York Times reports (New York Times, 4/25). During his 2006 rape trial, Zuma drew criticism from HIV/AIDS activists after he said he’d had unprotected extramarital sex (Los Angeles Times, 4/26). Earlier this year, he again admitted having unprotected sex with a much younger woman (New York Times, 4/25).

Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2010 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Continue reading →

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s “recent series on HIV/AIDS accuses [black clergy] of being unaware, inert and unconcerned about the AIDS pandemic” and did not note a “very important truth: The church is changing in response to this challenge, and people of faith are making a difference,” Valda Jean Combs, a local pastor who heads the FullProof HIV Ministry, writes in a Star-Telegram opinion piece.

According to Combs, “Once educated on the depth and breadth of the challenge,” the black religious community has “become aware of the truth about HIV and the truth about transmission, risk factors and the devastating toll the disease is taking on” the black community and has reached out to those “people who are hurting, meeting them where they are, every single day.” She notes that the World AIDS Day Service in 2006, the “Seven Days … Seven Churches” initiative in 2007, and the Black Church Week of Prayer in 2008 are “proof that the Black Church is committed to this struggle.”

The series also “made no attempt to gauge support for HIV/AIDS initiatives among local black elected officials,” who as “community leaders, … have a responsibility to shine a light on community challenges,” Combs writes. She adds that “there is often a deafening silence among [local] black elected officials about the pandemic.”

She continues, “The Star-Telegram could have written about the dearth of [blacks] employed in decision-making positions by AIDS organizations in Fort Worth” or addressed the reasons why outreach efforts have been ineffective, instead of “repeat[ing] the same trite accusations that have been lodged against the Black Church since the beginning of this epidemic.” According to Combs, some HIV/AIDS organizations have a history of difficulty hiring and retaining black workers, which “translates to an inability to plan culturally sensitive effective programs targeting” the black community.

Combs says she hopes the paper will “dig deeper, ask the hard questions and hold our collective feet to the fire.” She concludes, “And while you’re at it, visit some of the ‘silent’ churches in Fort Worth. I think you might be compelled to write a different story next time” (Combs, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9/8).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved. Continue reading →

One mystery resolved on cholera by examination of four major river basins – including the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna, Congo, Amazon and Orinoco in South America – finds when water flow rose, nutrients in the water were associated with increase in cholera cases

Published on August 3rd in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene – A new study revealed, an investigation of the biggest river basins in the world discovered, nutrient-rich and powerful discharges led to spikes in the blooms of plankton linked with cholera outbreaks. These raised discharges frequently take place at times when coastal water temperature is increased, implying that it will be more complicated than first believed in predicting global warming’s potential temperature effect on cholera.

These findings will help give public health authorities another essential clue in predicting outbreaks in the future of cholera, based on climatic and environmental models, in the aspiration of stopping the expansion of the lethal and highly infectious disease that presently curses Haiti and several other countries.

The researchers started in the Bay of Bengal, where their goal was to solve a puzzle : When sea temperatures rise, phytoplankton – microscopic plants in the ocean that provide a food source for zooplankton, which cholera bacteria are linked with – decreases. So why did previous investigations find sea temperatures rising and numbers of phytoplankton also increasing? They analyzed twelve years of data, together with images from NASA satellites, and highlighted the large flows from the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers, transporting nutrients from soil as the reason for bloom in phytoplankton, followed by zooplankton which contributes to outbreaks of cholera.

Shafiqul Islam, PhD, the lead researcher of the study, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Medford/Somerville, Massachusetts, says,

“We weren’t satisfied with just this result, so we then went to test this finding in other places – the Orinoco (in South America), the Congo, and the Amazon river basins, and we found the same thing: The positive relationship between phytoplankton blooms and ocean temperature is related to large river discharges.

The main significance is that finding an association between sea surface temperatures and cholera outbreaks should not lead us to conclude that with global warming, cholera will definitely go up.”

Islam said however, that global warming might play a role in alternative ways in outbreaks of cholera,
together with contributing to droughts and high salinity intrusion in the dry season and floods in the wet season. Published recently in the journal Water Resources, both of those conditions have been discovered to also contribute to cholera epidemics.

“If river flows are more turbulent, if droughts are more severe, if flood is more severe, cholera is more severe, but cholera may not have direct linkage with rising sea surface temperatures.”

Bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which produces a toxin that causes severe diarrhea, is the cause of Cholera. Most common in areas with poor sanitation, crowding, and social instability, Cholera creates extreme fear due to the sudden onset of diarrhea with the potential for a high number of deaths.

Nine months ago in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a furious cholera outbreak has killed hundreds and sickened over 100,000 people, the World Health Organization reported in July. Since the rainy season started this spring, Haiti is seeing a new upsurge in cholera cases. Beginning in October 2010 the epidemic has caused illness in over 300,000 people, killing nearly 5,000.

Rita R. Colwell, PhD, co-author of the investigation and a professor at both the University of Maryland and the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health explained,

“We don’t know for sure if Haiti’s cholera outbreak is related to its river system, but its rivers were severely impacted by the earthquake, It’s a system we should study in Haiti. I’m intrigued to see this relationship between cholera and river flow. It gives us much more detail about what can trigger cholera outbreak.”

Peter J Hotez, MD, PhD, President, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene said the investigation underscored the “complex ecology associated with cholera,” adding that researchers work is understanding cholera outbreaks is critically important now.

Hotez said.

“Cholera seems to be gaining a foothold in more places than it used to be. We used to see shorter outbreaks, but in Africa, and now in Haiti, we’re seeing nationwide epidemics lasting months or more than a year. We obviously need to be taking a different approach.”

Grace Rattue

Continue reading →

In a significant change of policy, the Malaysian government now has authority for providing medical treatment for heroin
dependence and related health conditions. Evidence shows that treating addiction and drug abuse with such
medications as naltrexone, buprenorphine, and methadone could help decrease the unusually high prevalence of HIV in
Malaysia.

Background: Despite consistent economic development and a respected primary health care system, Malaysia has the
second highest HIV prevalence among adults in the Western Pacific region and the highest proportion of HIV cases
resulting from injection drug abuse. By the end of 2004, as many as 234,000 heroin abusers had been registered in the
official Malaysian government registry, but there may be as many as 500,000 heroin abusers there. Drug abuse and related
disorders, such as HIV, exert a heavy burden on the country’s health care and legal systems. Historically, Malaysian drug
offenders were rehabilitated involuntarily in correctional, rather than health care, facilities. This approach had limited
effectiveness, which led to the recent introduction of medical treatments for addiction.

Study Design: The scientists reviewed the literature to determine the scope of heroin and other drug abuse in Malaysia;
treatment for heroin addiction and abuse of amphetamine-type stimulants; and the scope of HIV.

What They Found: In Malaysia, more than 30,000 opiate-dependent patients are currently treated with such medications
as naltrexone, buprenorphine, and methadone. Despite the high prevalence of HIV and other infectious diseases among
addicted people, few HIV prevention efforts have targeted Malaysian drug abusers, who represent only a minority of
patients receiving antiretroviral therapy.

Comments From The Authors: Malaysia has until recently lagged behind in the treatment of drug addiction and related
disorders, despite experiencing severe drug problems. Now, however, the Ministry of Health has authority for providing
medical treatment for heroin dependence. This shift signals a remarkable change in Malaysian policies and approaches to
addiction and an important opportunity to develop, implement, and disseminate effective treatments. Drug treatment may
provide a unique opportunity to educate drug abusers about the risks of HIV infection and transmission. The emergence of
HIV and AIDS may also lead to a resurgence of tuberculosis, especially in prison populations.

What’s Next: The country’s health practitioners and policymakers continue to improve treatment for heroin dependence.
But efforts need to be increased to deal with escalating problems associated with amphetamine-type stimulants.

Publication: Dr. Mahmud Mazlan of the Substance Abuse Center in Muar, Malaysia, and his colleagues published their
findings in the September 2006 issue of Drug and Alcohol Review.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to ensure the rapid dissemination of research information and its implementation in policy and practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and other topics are available in English and Spanish.

These fact sheets and further information on NIDA research and other activities can be found on the NIDA home page at www.drugabuse.

View drug information on Naltrexone Hydrochloride Tablets. Continue reading →

Ninety percent of voting Iowans believe the government should be given additional authority to ensure the food they eat does not make them sick, according to a new poll commissioned by The Pew Charitable Trusts and conducted by Hart Research and Public Opinion Strategies.

Support for stronger food protections is high regardless of voters’ gender, income level or political affiliation. The statewide survey of 511 registered voters, conducted between August 10-12, 2009, has a margin of error of +/- 4.3 percent. Full survey results are available at MakeOurFoodSafe.

The overall support for new safety measures follows high-profile outbreaks in recent years in which pathogens in peanut butter, pistachios, peppers, spinach and other food resulted in illnesses in people across the country – including deaths of a number of children and elderly citizens. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 76 million food-related illnesses occur annually in the United States, with 325,000 people hospitalized and 5,000 dying as a result.

The survey shows that about half (49 percent) of Iowa voters say what they have seen and heard in the last year has made them less confident in the safety of food sold in the United States. In addition, more than half (55 percent) of all seniors have a decrease in confidence.

“Most foodborne illnesses that result in hospitalizations and death are preventable. Despite that, one American every two hours, every day of the year perishes as a result of pathogens in the food they eat,” says Shelley A. Hearne, managing director of the Pew Health Group. “The Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for the safety of over 80 percent of the foods we eat, does not have the tools or resources it needs to sufficiently protect the public from dangers in the food supply.”

A total of 81 percent of Iowa voters interviewed believe the federal government should be responsible for ensuring that food is safe to eat, and more than half (53 percent) believe the federal government is doing too little to ensure that imported food is safe from contamination. The FDA inspects about one percent of the imported products it regulates, according to agency officials.

Release of the survey comes as the Senate is expected to consider food safety legislation that gives the Food and Drug Administration new oversight and enforcement powers. The House passed its version of the bill in July, which includes stronger inspection authorities for federal officials when investigating domestic facilities and imports.

“Iowans are very clear: the government needs to do more to ensure that our family members won’t get sick from the food on their dinner plates,” says Hearne. “The take-away message from this it is that the public gets it: our antiquated food safety laws greatly need updating so that Americans can have more confidence in the food supply.”

Based on research and critical analysis, the Pew Health Group seeks to improve the health and well-being of all Americans. It advocates policies that reduce potentially dangerous health risks in consumer, medical and food products and services.

Source:
Colin Finan

Pew Health Group Continue reading →

Immune deficiency rather than other risk factors for cancer such as lifestyle are probably
responsible for the increased risk of cancer in immune suppressed populations concludes an
Article in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

Andrew Grulich (University of New South Wales,
Australia) and colleagues did a meta-analysis of cancer incidence in published population-
based studies of people with HIV/AIDS and organ transplant recipients. The authors found
that an extensive range of cancers occurs at increased incidence both in people with HIV/AIDS
and in transplant recipients.

The authors conclude: “The increased rates of cancers we have
found at a very large range of sites suggests a broader than previously appreciated role for
the immune system in the prevention of cancers related to infection.”

thelancet Continue reading →

An HIV outbreak among 72 children and 16 mothers at two hospitals in Kyrgyzstan has led to charges of negligence against 14 medical workers, who are believed to have accidentally infected the children through tainted blood and used needles, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports (Saralayeva, AP/Houston Chronicle, 4/9).

Four Kyrgyz physicians were fired in July 2007 for accidentally infecting 10 children and one adult with HIV. Ministry of Health officials said the children and the adult contracted HIV while receiving injections and blood transfusions but gave no other details (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 8/1/07). Hundreds of children have been tested since the outbreak was first discovered in July. Health Minister Marat Mambetov on Tuesday said the infections have been contained.

According to the AP/Chronicle, some of the mothers contracted the virus through breastfeeding their children. HIV/AIDS experts said that although HIV transmission from infants to mothers during breastfeeding is rare, it is possible when the infant has mouth sores and the woman has lesions on her breasts.

The HIV-positive children are receiving antiretroviral drugs at no cost through the government, but their mothers are not eligible for no-cost antiretrovirals if they are in the early stages of the disease, Erkin Bakiyev, director of the country’s national AIDS center, said. The children also are receiving monthly payments of $23 from the government.

The nongovernmental organization Rainbow has begun to provide no-cost legal assistance to some of the HIV-positive women to help them obtain medication and other support services. Fatima Khabibullina, a lawyer at Rainbow, said that some of the women’s husbands have left them since learning of their HIV-positive status. Rainbow Director Fatima Koshokova said, “These women are having huge financial difficulties,” adding, “They should be getting nutritious food, but they are not able to get jobs or to provide decent food for themselves or their children” (AP/Houston Chronicle, 4/9).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved. Continue reading →