Washington Blade - July 5, 2002

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A scientist on the front lines of the anthrax investigation and a longtime seeker of an AIDS vaccine are the leading candidates to become the next director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Bush administration officials say. Public health experts are urging the Bush administration to appoint infectious disease specialist Dr. Julie Gerberding.

Credited with taking some of the earliest steps to protect health care workers exposed to the AIDS virus, Gerberding went on to become one of CDC's most quoted investigators during last fall's anthrax attacks. The administration also is considering Dr. Robert Redfield, a former Army physician and longtime AIDS vaccine researcher, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Redfield was on the team that HIV virus co-discoverer Robert Gallo chose to start his Institute for Human Virology at the University of Maryland in the late 1990s. Redfield stirred controversy in the early 1990s over an experimental AIDS vaccine that ultimately failed.

Cartoon penis too much for San Fran syphilis ads

SAN FRANCISCO -- A whimsical advertising campaign aimed at raising syphilis awareness among gay and bisexual men was toned down for Castro bus shelters after the owner of the shelters objected. The ads depict a cartoon penis and syphilis sores, under the headline "Syphilis sores are spreading throughout the gay community -- Get tested for syphilis." Viacom Outdoor, which owns the half dozen bus shelters in and around the Castro, objected to the use of the cartoon penis in the ads, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, the city's director of sexually transmitted disease prevention, said the ads were timed for the arrival of thousands of out-of-town visitors for the city's Gay Pride celebration. Patrick Roche, regional manager for Viacom, said the company was only looking out for the best interest of passers-by, including children. Health officials offered a censored version of the ads and saved the original ad, with the penis, for local gay publications. The ad campaign, created by San Francisco-based Better World Advertising, was slated to run simultaneously in Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported, but the health department there also decided to remove the penis from its ads. "We didn't want to select the penis as a logo for the gay community," said Dr. Peter Kerndt, head of Los Angeles health department's STD program.

First-of-its-kind study to track alcohol use of lesbians

CHICAGO -- In an effort to debunk research that suggests more than a third of lesbians are alcoholics, a Chicago researcher has launched the first study to track the effects of drinking on lesbian health, according to the National Post.

A commonly cited paper, which puts lesbian alcoholism rates at three times higher than the general population, was done in the 1970s when researchers recruited lesbians from bars and predictably found exaggerated levels of alcohol abuse, said Tonda Hughes, a University of Illinois at Chicago researcher. Hughes' $1.5-million study will be the first to track lesbian health over time.

The group will answer a survey at various times over the next four years on questions Hughes said influence drinking habits, such as parental alcohol use, parental warmth and attachment, early sexual experiences and abuse, details of sexual identity such as the age of coming out, romantic relationships, mental health and drug use.

Spanish officials criticized over visas for AIDS conference

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Organizers of the 14th International AIDS Conference have accused the Spanish government of preventing dozens of people with the HIV virus from attending this year's meeting in Barcelona. Some are threatening to boycott holding future meetings in other developed countries with restrictive immigration policies unless the issue is resolved before the gathering opens this weekend. Joan Tallada, Barcelona-based community coordinator for the U.N.-sponsored meeting, said she had received e-mails asking, "How can we have a conference in a place where they don't want us?" A Foreign Ministry official denied that anybody with AIDS was being kept out.

Most in U.S. have not been tested for HIV, study says

NEW YORK -- Although nearly 750,000 cases of AIDS have been diagnosed since the U.S. epidemic began two decades ago, most Americans have never been -- and do not want to be -- tested for HIV, a new poll revealed. Only 30 percent of adults in the U.S. have ever been tested for HIV, said study author Dr. Joseph N. Inungu of Central Michigan University. Reuters Health reported June 24 that Inungu examined data on more than 32,000 U.S. men and women collected during the 1998 National Health Interview Survey. In the current issue of AIDS Patient Care & STDs, Inungu reports that 66 percent of those polled had never been tested for AIDS, and 58 percent said they did not want to be tested. Inungu observed that 38 percent simply did not believe they were at risk for contracting HIV.

From staff and wire reports

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