HIV/AIDS

About 40,000 patients of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas are being urged to get tested for bloodborne diseases like hepatitis and HIV. It is reported that anesthesiologists exposed patients to infection by using multiple-dose vials of medications and re-using syringes between individuals.

Patients were exposed to these unsafe injections between March 2004 and January 2008. So far, doctors have found six acute cases of hepatitis C in patients from the center.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that one-quarter of people in the United States living with HIV do not know that they are infected with the virus. This fact -- coupled with stigma and discrimination, misconceptions about the disease, inadequate healthcare and language barriers -- underscores the need to encourage Latinos to become educated about HIV/AIDS and to get tested regularly.

HIV: The exact origin of the virus in humans is unclear. Scientists surmise that it jumped from an animal population, probably African monkeys or chimpanzees, to humans via a bite or meat. The first case documented in humans dates from 1959. The virus was isolated by Luc Montagnier of France's Pasteur Institute in 1983. It went through several name changes before the official name, human immunodeficiency virus, was agreed upon.

Hundreds of thousands of babies around the world are born each year with HIV -- more than half a million in 2006 alone. Caring for these children is complicated by the fact that their immune systems are not fully developed in the first year of life, which makes them especially susceptible to rapid HIV disease progression and death. The current standard of HIV care in many parts of the world is to treat infants with antiretroviral therapy -- but only after they show signs of illness or a weakened immune system.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Institut Pasteur (IP), a private non-profit foundation, announced today an agreement to extend their long-standing collaboration in health research and the management of inventions arising from this research. These two institutions have been leaders and collaborators in the field of HIV/AIDS research for more than 20 years. The extended agreement will initially facilitate the patenting and licensing of a large portfolio of intellectual property held by NIH and IP in the field of HIV-1 diagnostics. Additional long term public health benefits are expected as the agreement provides a new framework for further support and encouragement of collaborative research in a variety of areas by leading scientists at both the NIH and IP.

Of the estimated 1 million persons living with HIV infection in the United States, approximately 25% do not know their HIV status. In 2003, the CDC initiative Advancing HIV Prevention: New Strategies for a Changing Epidemic called for implementation of new models for diagnosing HIV infections.

As part of an initiative to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in HIV infection, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, through a cooperative agreement with CDC, provided funding to CBOs and health departments to conduct behavioral assessments at gay pride events attended primarily by men who have sex with other men from racial/ethnic minority groups. CDC provided on-site technical assistance to the CBO and health department staff, including developing assessment questionnaires, training interviewers, and coordinating HIV testing and questionnaire administration. During 2004--2006, CBOs and health departments were funded to conduct assessments and HIV testing at 1) black gay pride events in Detroit, Michigan (2004 and 2005), Baltimore, Maryland (2004), Jackson, Mississippi (2005), Charlotte, North Carolina (2006), St. Louis, Missouri (2006), and the District of Columbia (2005); 2) Hispanic gay pride events in Oakland (2004) and San Francisco, California (2005); and 3) gay pride events in Oakland, California (2004), and Chicago, Illinois (2006). Their report indicated that rapid HIV testing was successful.