MMWR Recommendations and Reports, December 10, 1999 / 48(RR13);29-31
CDC recommends that all states and territories conduct case surveillance for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection as an extension of current acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) surveillance activities.
MMWR Recommendations and Reports, December 10, 1999 / 48(RR13);1-28
This revised definition of HIV infection, which applies to any HIV (e.g., HIV-1 or HIV-2), is intended for public health surveillance only. It incorporates the reporting criteria for HIV infection and AIDS into a single case definition. The revised criteria for HIV infection update the definition of HIV infection implemented in 1993 (18); the revised HIV criteria apply to AIDS-defining conditions for adults (18) and children (17,19), which require laboratory evidence of HIV.
Rates of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis have been declining in the United States since the last national epidemic in 1990 (Figure 1) (1). Syphilis causes substantial morbidity and mortality in the form of cardiac and neurologic disease, stillbirth and developmental disability from congenital syphilis, and by facilitating transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (2,3).
MMWR Recommendations and Reports, October 01, 1999 / 48(RR12);1-37
Routine vaccination of children is the most effective way to reduce hepatitis A incidence nationwide over time. Since licensure of hepatitis A vaccine in 1995, this strategy has been implemented incrementally, starting with the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in 1996 to vaccinate children living in communities with the highest rates of infection and disease.
MMWR Surveillance Summaries, October 29, 1999 / 48(SS07);1-44
Approximately 2.0% (280,000) of all high school students are enrolled in the nation's 1,390 alternative high schools, which serve students who are at risk for failing or dropping out of regular high school and students who have been removed from their regular high school because of drug use, violence, or other illegal activity or behavioral problems (1). Although these students can be at risk for serious health problems, few national data are available to describe their health risks.
The prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is high among women entering corrections facilities (1). Screening for STDs in these facilities, however, is difficult because of the large number of persons admitted each day and the frequent shortage of medical staff and examination space (1). New, sensitive urine tests for gonorrhea and chlamydia have made screening practical outside of medical settings.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, King County, Washington (1998 population: 1.6 million), experienced a substantial epidemic of infectious syphilis (i.e., primary, secondary, and early latent). Subsequently, reported cases of infectious syphilis declined to six cases in 1995 and one in 1996; five of the 1995 cases and the case in 1996 were believed to have been acquired outside King County.
MMWR Recommendations and Reports, September 17, 1999 / 48(RR11);1-40
Health improvement is what public health professionals strive to achieve. To reach this goal, we must devote our skill -- and our will -- to evaluating the effects of public health actions. As the targets of public health actions have expanded beyond infectious diseases to include chronic diseases, violence, emerging pathogens, threats of bioterrorism, and the social contexts that influence health disparities, the task of evaluation has become more complex.
MMWR Recommendations and Reports, August 20, 1999 / 48(RR10);1-59
In 1995, the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) developed guidelines for preventing opportunistic infections (OIs) in persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
MMWR Recommendations and Reports, August 20, 1999 / 48(RR10);61-66
Patients should use a latex condom during every act of sexual intercourse to reduce the risk for acquiring cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus, and human papillomavirus, as well as other sexually transmitted pathogens (AII).
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) counseling and voluntary testing (CT) programs have been an important part of national HIV prevention efforts since the first HIV antibody tests became available in 1985 (1).
Effective June 7, 1999, the National Nonoccupational HIV Postexposure Prophylaxis (PEP) Registry opened for enrollment. The registry was established as a prospective surveillance project to monitor isolated episodes of potential HIV exposures through sexual activity, injecting-drug use, and other nonoccupational events.
June 27 is National HIV Testing Day. The purpose of National HIV Testing Day is to educate the public about HIV counseling and testing and encourage voluntary counseling and testing for those at risk for HIV infection as a critical step in personal control and responsibility for one's health.
Despite recent decreases in sexual risk behaviors among high school students nationwide (1), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection was the seventh leading cause of death among persons aged 15-24 years in the United States during 1997 (2).
Two HIV-related treatment guidelines have been updated. "Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-Infected Adults and Adolescents," prepared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation Panel on Clinical Practices for Treatment of HIV Infection, has been updated several times since publication in MMWR (1).
MMWR Recommendations and Reports, June 18, 1999 / 48(RR-8);1-15
The delivery and acceptance of recommended vaccinations is an ongoing challenge for health-care providers and health-care and public health systems, but specific interventions can increase levels of vaccination coverage. The Task Force on Community Preventive Services has conducted systematic reviews of 17 interventions designed to raise vaccination coverage levels in children, adolescents, and adults and made recommendations regarding the use of those interventions.
As of July 1997, six human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in young women who reported sexual contact with the same HIV-infected man (putative index case-patient) were detected at health-service clinics in a rural county in upstate New York.
In February 1999, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) expanded recommendations for varicella (chickenpox) vaccine to promote wider use of the vaccine for susceptible children and adults.
In July 1995, the Public Health Service recommended that health-care providers counsel all pregnant women about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and encourage testing for HIV infection (1) and, if indicated, initiate zidovudine therapy (2).
The 1999 USPHS/IDSA Guidelines for the Prevention of Opportunistic Infections in Persons Infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus, prepared by representatives of the Public Health Service, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and other federal agencies, universities, professional societies, and community organizations, is now available for public comment.
MMWR Recommendations and Reports, April 30, 1999 / 48(RR-04);1-28
This report updates 1998 recommendations by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on the use of influenza vaccine and antiviral agents (MMWR 1998;47{No. RR-6}:1-26).
Problem/Condition: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-defining opportunistic illnesses (OIs) are the major cause of morbidity and mortality among persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). As a result of new treatments that reduce mortality for persons with AIDS, the number of persons living with AIDS is increasing, and the incidence of AIDS is decreasing.
Effective December 31, 1998, enrollment of new health-care workers (HCWs) in the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Postexposure Prophylaxis (HIV PEP) Registry ceased; the goals and objectives of the registry had been met.
Immune globulin intravenous (IGIV) is a lifesaving treatment for patients with primary immunodeficiency. Since November 1997, a shortage of IGIV has existed in the United States. In 1998, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required pharmaceutical companies to increase the frequency of reporting on IGIV distribution from biannually to monthly . . . .
During 1995-1996, staff from the California departments of corrections and health services and local health departments investigated two outbreaks of drug-susceptible tuberculosis (TB). The outbreaks occurred in two state correctional institutions with dedicated HIV housing units. In each outbreak, all cases were linked by IS6110-based DNA fingerprinting of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. HIV testing, in conjunction with counseling and other preventive services, can reduce the risk for HIV infection and appropriately link infected persons to treatment.
Reductions in AIDS cases among men who have sex with men (MSM) have been attributed in part to widespread declines in unprotected anal sex since the mid-1980s and use of increasingly effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) since the mid-1990s.
The New York State Department of Correctional Services (NYSDOCS) administers one of the largest prison systems in the United States, with a population of approximately 70,000 inmates; in 1995, blinded seroprevalence studies indicated that an estimated 9500 inmates were infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (1).
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