Experts????? Where? -Craig

Aids experts call for more tests

By Paul Kirby
EU reporter, BBC News
Monday, 26 November 2007, 17:02 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7113535.stm


More than 300 European health experts are calling for earlier HIV testing to tackle increasing infection rates.

They are attending a conference in Brussels, described as the first time patients, policy-makers and physicians have gathered in the same room.

One proposal being considered is for wider testing for people considered to be low-risk.

There were 86,912 new infections reported in the World Health Organization's European region in 2006.

'Remember Me'

Delegates at the conference agreed that the impact of late HIV diagnosis on individuals and healthcare was an urgent problem.

In his opening speech, EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said "we need to act".

He said attention on the issue had slipped from the top of the political agenda because of a new generation that had not been aware of high-profile Aids campaigns in the 1980s.

"We allowed it to become the forgotten disease," he said. "That's why, for the European Commission, the basic motto, the basic phrase for this disease is 'Remember Me'."

Lives wasted

One of the co-chairs of the conference, Professor Jens Lundgren, said that around half of patients who contracted HIV entered treatment too late and the situation had not changed in the past decade.

Europe's HIV/Aids cases rise

"Many lives are being wasted because we, as health professionals, are unable to get people into care early enough to have saved them," he said. He is the director of the Copenhagen HIV Programme.

Prof Lundgren said that the problem of late diagnosis was becoming more and more significant across Europe. He said around 30-40% of patients had already developed Aids by the time they entered the health system and no country had been able to deal with the disease effectively.

"All Western European countries have a plan for cervical cancer or breast cancer but there's a reluctance to go out and do widespread testing of populations (for HIV)," he said.

Doctors' responsibility

Prof Lundgren said that the conference was calling for testing of at-risk groups including homosexuals and drug-users every five years. But, he said, there had to be other initiatives for categories classed as lower risk.

Where doctors found cases of illness linked to HIV, such as tuberculosis or, less obviously, skin and oral disease, they should recommend testing.

"The thinking is that much of the testing is voluntary and we believe the provider of care should be more active," he said.

One potential obstacle could be funding, although the organisers are adamant that treatment is far cheaper if patients are identified before the onset of Aids.

While governments in Western Europe are likely to welcome the proposals, the conference expects the reception in Eastern Europe to be lukewarm.

Family doctors urged on HIV tests

Friday, 7 December 2007, 02:33 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7130742.stm


GPs and other health professionals should be more proactive in offering at-risk groups HIV tests, experts say.

The University College London study of 263 HIV-positive African patients in the UK found half were diagnosed late despite above average use of services.

And in 80% of these cases, the issue of HIV testing had not been discussed with a doctor, the Aids journal said.

Campaigners said doctors were often put off such a subject because of fear of offending patients.

There are estimated to be over 63,000 adults living with HIV in the UK, two thirds of whom have been infected via heterosexual sex.

GPs have an important role in increasing levels of HIV testing in the population

Dr Ewen Stewart, of the Royal College of GPs

The majority of these are people who caught the infection abroad and of African origin.

The study said the introduction of highly-active antiretroviral therapy means that if HIV is diagnosed early - before symptoms show - then in most cases it becomes a chronic condition rather than terminal illness.

But HIV-positive individuals who are diagnosed later are approximately 14 times more likely to die within one year of diagnosis than those identified early.

Lead researcher Dr Fiona Burns believes GPs in particular should be more proactive.

"What we are seeing here is a failing to utilise opportunities for earlier diagnosis of HIV.

"People are dying because they are not being tested early enough.

"We need to be in a position where GPs are prepared to discuss HIV risks and offer tests as a matter of course to people from at-risk communities."

Be alert

The findings of the research, funded by the Wellcome Trust, come after recent advice from England's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson.

He said health professionals should "be alert to the circumstances in which it is appropriate to offer and recommend an HIV test".

Lisa Power, of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said: "I think doctors are worried about suggesting it because they feel it may offend their patient because of the stigma.

"But I think GPs should be encouraged to broach this subject and patients should be made aware that it is fine to be asked."

Dr Ewen Stewart, of the Royal College of GPs, said it was an "extremely important issue".

"GPs have an important role in increasing levels of HIV testing in the population.

"In order to do this we need to be proactive about raising the issue of HIV testing with people who may have been at risk and then carrying out the HIV testing in general practice settings."

New Jersey law includes HIV test in prenatal care

www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-27 16:19:38 Print
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/...ent_7323785.htm


BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- A New Jersey bill signed into law Wednesday includes testing pregnant women for the HIV virus as a standard procedure of their prenatal care unless they object, and requires testing for newborns if the HIV status of the mother is unknown.

The new testing procedures are some of the most aggressive HIV-prevention measures in the United States for pregnant women and newborns, making New Jersey one of just a handful of states with laws requiring some form of prenatal testing.

The Kaiser Family Foundation, which researches health issues, said a dozen states require doctors to offer HIV tests to their pregnant patients. But only three — New York, Connecticut and Illinois — have mandatory testing for newborn babies. Four others — Michigan, Arkansas, Texas and Tennessee — have laws similar to New Jersey's policy of testing pregnant women.

New Jersey’s new law goes into effect in six months.

Prenatal HIV testing laws are meant to help stem the infection of newborns. If it is known that a pregnant woman is HIV positive, doctors can take steps to prevent infection like prescribing antiretroviral drugs and delivering the child through a Caesarian section.

"Early detection is the key," Senator Loretta Weinberg, a Democrat from Bergen County who sponsored the bill, said in a statement. "This measure is a huge step forward in terms of protecting all babies while helping to educate mothers."

Under the law, women will be tested early in their pregnancies and again in their third trimesters unless they refuse. If a woman refuses, it will be noted, and an HIV test will be performed on the newborn unless the mother has religious objections.

(Agencies)

QUITTING HIV - REBECCA CULSHAW
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