National News  | Gay Blood Drive Puts Pressure on FDA over Rules UNITED STATES :: HIV/AIDS
Seattle Times (07.13.2013) :: By Alexa Vaughn | | | The first national Gay Blood Drive, held on July 12, aimed to pressure the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) into lifting a ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. Ryan James Yezak organized the national blood drive. Yezak is a 26-year-old gay man from Houston who is filming a documentary about discrimination based on sexual orientation. The FDA bans blood and bone marrow donations from any man who has had sex with another man at any time since 1977. According to the FDA, men who have sex with men (MSM) made up 61 percent of new HIV infections in 2010, and although the overall HIV rate was stable from 2008 to 2010, the rate of infection increased 12 percent among MSM while the rate in other populations decreased.
Blood collection agencies screen all donations for specific disqualifying conditions, including HIV, but acknowledge there is a period when individuals could be infected without the disease being detectable in their blood. Dr. James AuBuchon of Puget Sound Blood Center said that he used to support the FDA’s ban when HIV tests were less reliable, but now he believes the FDA should change its regulations to allow MSM to donate blood if they have not had sex with a male in the last year. AuBuchon believed that the rationale for the ban had diminished due to improved testing.
Others saw the FDA’s current policy as discriminatory. A gay man, who participated in the blood drive and was turned away because of the regulations, contended that the policy kept him from helping others, including his own friends. He cited an incident two years ago when he discovered the policy as he tried to get tested as a bone marrow donor for a friend suffering from a blood disease. The man described how weird he felt having to choose between being honest or helping a friend.
An FDA statement noted that the agency was studying the regulations and would discuss its findings in future public forums.
|  Read Full Article | Share this Article     | | Back to Top  |  | | | | DHEC's Director Says Health Agency Botched Greenwood County TB Probe SOUTH CAROLINA :: TB
The State (Columbia, S.C.) (07.15.2013) :: By Sammy Fretwell | | | Catherine Templeton, director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), stated that she dismissed key agency staff members because of the department’s poor response to the TB outbreak in a Greenwood County school. More than 100 Greenwood County residents, including more than 50 school children, have tested positive for TB. Templeton fired at least four DHEC workers due to the way they handled the investigation.
Three of the dismissed workers have sued DHEC, stating that high-level staff wrongly fired them and made them “scapegoats.” The nurses claimed they tried to take swift action to test the children and inform the public, but indifferent officials in the Columbia headquarters stifled their attempts. They are seeking damages and job reinstatement.
Templeton maintained that DHEC’s missteps were made in the regional offices and by a top-level official in Columbia. She stated that the regional staff and Columbia TB program official did not view the investigation as urgent, so the probe moved slowly. She fired the state TB director as well. Templeton said that the department was preparing to file responses to the lawsuits. Templeton explained that she learned about the problems with the TB investigation when she made a surprise visit to the regional office. Within a week, she ensured that parents were informed testing was arranged for the students. She felt that DHEC should have tested some children in March at the same time as teachers who used a room that shared a vent with the infected worker’s area instead of giving a “flimsy” excuse for not testing the children.
In addition, Templeton noted that she would not have approved of two DHEC nurses running a TB consulting firm they formed May 17 while working for DHEC. She said the nurses had not filed a dual employment form with DHEC, and if they had, the department would have denied it as a conflict.
| | Read Full Article | Share this Article | | Back to Top | | | International News  | Bahamas to Introduce Cervical Cancer Vaccine into Public Healthcare System BAHAMAS :: STDs
Caribbean360 (07.09.2013) | | | The Bahamas government plans to add the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to its public healthcare system. Health officials stated that introduction of HPV vaccine into the healthcare system would be a big step in the move toward universal healthcare. At present, the vaccine, which protects women from the strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer, is only available in the private healthcare system, making it inaccessible to Bahamian females who cannot afford private healthcare.
Health Minister Dr. Perry M. Gomez explained that the opportunity for introducing the HPV vaccine resulted from his attendance at an international conference also attended by representatives from the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies and leading healthcare personnel. At the conference, Gomez learned that Merck had successfully immunized females ages 9–27 in a South African country against HPV. Meanwhile, the Bahamas was struggling with the problem of immunizing its people. At the conference, Merck offered a substantial discount to countries that wanted to immunize children, to which the Bahaman health officials responded.
Health officials also would upgrade the country’s vaccine storage facility in preparation for storing and dispensing the vaccine. Gomez stated that it was their intention to introduce HPV vaccine for the entire at-risk population, to avoid continuing the discrimination already in effect and to provide equity in health and quality healthcare, promote wellness, and address the social determinants of health as declared in the National Health Services Strategic Plan 2010–2020.
| | Read Full Article | Share this Article | | Back to Top | | | Medical News  | New Alternatives Examined for Treating Gonorrhea UNITED STATES :: STDs
USA Today (07.15.2013) :: By Lindsay Friedman | | | CDC and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have funded and conducted a clinical trial of new gonorrhea treatments. The disease, the most common STD in the United States, had only one available form of treatment—oral antibiotic cefixime and injectable antibiotic ceftriaxone— and that has become increasingly less effective as the bacteria has continued to mutate.
The trial included 401 gonorrhea-infected men and women ages 15–60. The participants received one of two different combinations of injectable and oral antibiotics—either injectable gentamicin with oral azithromycin or oral gemifloxacin with oral azithromycin. Both of these antibiotics are easily available in the United States. Results showed that the combination using the injectable drug was 100-percent effective while the combination with oral drugs had a 99.5-percent rate of success. Both combinations were 100 percent effective in curing infections in the throat and rectum.
NIAID Director Anthony Fauci commented that although the new treatments are a great addition, are just as effective as the previously used treatment, and cost about the same, they are slightly more toxic, producing mild side effects (mostly gastrointestinal) in the majority of patients. Robert Kirkcaldy, the study’s leading specialist and a medical epidemiologist at CDC’s Division of STD Prevention, noted that for the present, CDC would retain the current recommended treatment, listing the newer combinations as alternatives if needed, as they continued to seek other options.
| | Read Full Article | Share this Article | | Back to Top | | | | News Briefs | | | | | TB Affects Rural Areas Most, Hits More Men than Women UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA :: TB
IPPMedia.com (07.09.2013) :: By David Kisanga | | | A recently released national TB survey in Tanzania showed that the disease was more prevalent in rural areas than urban, and affected more men than women. The number of TB patients increased from 62 per 100,000 in 1982 to 261 per 100,000 in 2011, and 295 per 100,000 in 2012. This made Tanzania one of the 22 countries with the highest number of TB cases, as listed by the World Health Organization. In rural areas, the number of patients is 316 per 100,000; the rate for men is 410 per 100,000, compared to the rate of 207 per 100,000 for women. Dr. Blasdus Njako, National TB and Leprosy Programme acting manager, blamed lack of education and health centers, and long distances to health centers for the high rate in rural areas and noted that his agency was working to send specialists to run screening campaigns in the remote areas of the country. | | Read Full Article | Share this Article | | Back to Top | | | |
7/16/2013
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