Washington Blade - August 1, 2003

ATLANTA (AP) - The government is unveiling a new surveillance system to better track HIV infections, scrapping an existing method that doesn't indicate how recently patients were infected. The new system no longer relies on AIDS cases data submitted by state health departments - half of which don't report those cases because of privacy laws - but on anonymous data from 35 sites around the country to create a nationally representative snapshot of new infections by the virus, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention said. Federal health officials also will now use two antibody tests that indicate whether a patient had been infected in the last six months. With some HIV-infected people living for more than a decade without developing AIDS, the old method did not reflect recent HIV infection trends.

Hispanics comprise growing number of U.S. AIDS cases

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Hispanics comprise 13 percent of the U.S. population, but account for 20 percent of those living with AIDS, according to a study based on data from local and state health departments. "What we have addressed here is that Latinos do not test," said Alberto Santana, a spokesperson for the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors. "You have people who walk into an emergency room with symptoms and that is how they learn they have HIV." The study was released last week in Washington, D.C. It is designed as a blueprint for health care providers across the country to better deliver AIDS prevention messages and care to Hispanics, who are sometimes viewed as a monolithic community because many share Spanish as a common language. Transmission rates are highest among men, who comprise 80 percent of Hispanic AIDS cases. Those who have sex with other men and those who inject drugs are at highest risk, mirroring the population at large, the study notes. AIDS cases among Hispanic women are also on the rise.

Gates Foundation issues $30 million HIV research grant

SEATTLE (AP) - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $30 million grant last week to help fund a study on whether successful treatment of genital herpes can help reduce the transmission of HIV. The grant to the University of Washington School of Medicine will help finance research at 10 sites in Africa, India and Latin America. Those parts of the world were chosen because of the prevalence of HIV, said Paul Farley, an assistant to Dr. Connie Celum, the study's principal investigator. Specifically, the study will try to determine whether treatment of genital herpes with acyclovir, a widely used generic medication, can reduce HIV transmission rates. At least half of HIV-infected people worldwide are also infected with herpes simplex virus type 2, or genital herpes. People with genital herpes also are about twice as likely as others to become HIV infected if exposed. Researchers believe treatment of genital herpes could reduce HIV transmission by 50 percent.

U.N.: India is world's second-largest AIDS hub, but some states 'still in denial'

NEW DELHI, India (AP) - With more than 4.5 million people carrying the virus that causes AIDS, India has become the world's second largest hub of the disease - but some of its states are "still in denial," a U.N. official said last week. According to India Health Ministry estimates, about 4.58 million people - or about 0.8 percent of the country's adult population - have HIV, compared with 3.97 million cases last year. That means that India has the second-largest population of HIV sufferers after South Africa, the Health Ministry said. Despite the large number of infections, the percentage of the population affected in India, which has more than 1 billion people, is significantly lower than in many African countries. Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, said there had been delays in several countries in recognizing the gravity of the AIDS spread.

Deported immigrant visits HIV-infected son in Orange County

ORANGE, Calif. (AP) - When Hermenegildo Ortega was caught in an immigration raid in San Juan Capistrano last month and deported, he left behind an adopted son infected with HIV. On Monday, Ortega, 37, was reunited with the 11-year-old boy and his 8-year-old daughter during a brief visit to Orange County, where he asked a judge to let him stay in the country and continue caring for the children. "I'm so happy to see them, but it's a bittersweet moment," said Ortega, visiting the country on a one-day visa. "In a few hours, I'll be gone." Ortega became the children's legal guardian after his common-law wife and the boy's mother, Carolina Barajas, died of AIDS-related causes nearly seven years ago. During that time, Ortega said he prayed that he could stay in the United States and help care for the boy. Returning with him to Mexico was not a viable option, he said, because HIV medicines and treatment are limited there.

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