"There is a tendency to look on AIDS and
HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases as issues largely
of the developing world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa and
Southern and South East Asia. However, some rich
industrialized countries, particularly the United States, have
an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases (about 12 million
new cases annually, of which 3 million occur in teenagers),
and no national coordinated control programme of education and
clinical services.
The Hidden Epidemic is the report of a 16 member committee
on prevention and control of sexually transmitted diseases set
up by the Institute of Medicine to assess the current impact
of such diseases and to "provide direction for future
public health programmes, policy and research in STD
prevention and control."
The report stresses the need to prevent sexually
transmitted diseases, and that this means that interventions
should focus on adolescents before sexual activity is started.
It states that all school districts in the United States
should see that schools provide appropriate services,
including health education, access to condoms, and readily
available clinical services, which could be school based.
The report finally addresses the issue of how to ensure
access to and quality of essential clinical services for
sexually transmitted diseases. Unlike in Britain, no network
of clinic based specialist service exists. The report does not
recommend this particular system and, interestingly, calls for
a mixed model of integrated and specialist services which is
more akin to that used in the developing world. The committee
members therefore recommend that comprehensive services for
sexually transmitted diseases should be incorporated into
primary care and reproductive health services. To complement
this, they call for improvement in dedicated public clinics
for sexually transmitted diseases.
Finally, the issue of who pays is crucial to any control
programme. Ideally, when dealing with a major public health
problem with associated stigma, it is best that services are
open access and free. In the United States this is largely not
so, and the report examines ways in which health plans and
managed care organizations could tackle this financial issue,
but it does not go so far as to suggest that all services
should be free and centrally funded." The Hidden
Epidemic: Confronting Sexually Transmitted Diseases
|
20 Viral Infections |
Compared with primary care physicians, such as
internists, family physicians, and pediatricians,
surgeons are seldom called on to treat viral infections.
Viral infections nonetheless deserve the attention of
surgeons because these infections can cause illness in
patients after operation, albeit infrequently, and can
spread to the hospital staff. Some viral infections
(e.g., infections with the hepatitis viruses, HIV, and
cytomegalovirus [CMV]) can result from administration of
blood or blood products or can be transmitted to
hospital personnel through needle-stick injury. |
|
|
A QUALITATIVE INQUIRY INTO DOCTOR’S EXPERIENCE AFTER A
NEEDLE STICK INJURY |
The
aim of this research was to explore the lived experience
of three medical doctors after experiencing a needle
stick injury. Needle stick injuries were defined as
injuries, self-inflicted or by colleagues, where a
needle punctures or lacerates the skin. There is an
associated risk of HIV transmission via a needle stick
injury, which prompted the exploration of the
psychological aspects of the injury. The research was
contextualised in terms of South Africa’s spiralling
rate of HIV infection, as a result of which, it is
reasonable to expect that doctors will increasingly be
treating HIV positive patients. The research explored an
area that has largely been untouched by researchers. The
literature study showed that as regards needle stick
injuries, the focus tends to be on the injury itself,
the risk of HIV transmission and the causal patterns
surrounding it, rather than on the psychological
consequences. |
Pdf
342 kb |
|
AIDS-HIV in the eyes |
As
the incidence of AIDS increases, so does the incidence
of AIDS-related blindness and eye diseases. |
|
|
AIDS Transmission Through Blood Supply is Discussed at
Internews Nigeria Roundtable |
“HIV/AIDS is not a sinners’ affliction,” declared
Evangelist Peter Ikiti to journalists attending an
educational roundtable organized by Internews’ Local
Voices Project in Abuja about the safety of Nigeria’s
blood supply. |
|
|
BIOHAZARD |
Power
Point Presentation concerning bio-hazards |
213
kb |
|
Blood Safety Transcripts |
And
this is what we have tried to do with the hepatitis C
lookback. This is the same approach we've taken to the
other challenges, I think, to blood safety and
availability that we've encountered, and we hope to
continue to do so.
But I
do want to mention the latest effort in this regard
because we have had discussions about sending a letter
from the Surgeon General to every household in America
about hepatitis C because of the magnitude of this
silent epidemic affecting four million people. And the
struggle, of course, has been that there's only one
model for doing that, I guess, in the past and that was
when Surgeon General C. Everett Koop sent a letter about
the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
There have been some major changes since that time. At
that time the Surgeon General's office had what we call
franking privileges, and there was no problem in sending
mail to all of the families in America |
|
|
Carefree Nurse Frustrates Health Delivery System
|
Botswana health officials have been testing 170 primary
school children for HIV, after a nurse on February 20,
threw the country's health delivery system into despair,
by using the same syringe to immunise the children
against childhood diseases.
|
|
|
College Students Engage in 'Risky Business,' Exposing
Themselves to the Dangers of Sexually Transmitted
Diseases |
College
students across the country are engaging in activities
that may put them at risk for contracting serious
infectious diseases, according to a national survey
released today by the Society for Adolescent Medicine |
|
|
Condom
is Mainstay of Fight
|
The condom has been the mainstay of the fight against HIV/AIDS and
widespread distribution of free condoms by local family
planning clinics has succeeded in a massive reduction in
the spread of the virus.
|
|
|
|
|
Dental Health Information HIV/AIDS |
All
dental health care workers should understand HIV/AIDS
issues related to dental health care. |
62
kb pdf |
|
Dental-Parenteral inoculation with patient material:
Risk of viral hepatitis |
Abode presentation for Dentist on the various methods of
transmission of Hepatitis |
1720 kb pdf |
|
Disease spread as blood test was delayed |
In the
1970s, about 1,500 hospital patients participated in the
Transfusion-Transmitted Viruses Study. Researchers
concluded that ALT testing could slow the spread of
hepatitis C. However, the blood testing was delayed for
years |
|
|
Disturbing
News of AIDS 'Superinfection'
|
Doctors
once assumed that after initial HIV exposure and
infection, the body's immunity response would prevent a
second reinfection should the patient be exposed to
another strain of the deadly virus. Swiss researchers
have proven this assumption false.
|
|
|
Drug-related AIDS & Hepatitis C Virus among African Americans and
Latinos
|
We have got to be about preventing disease!
We have better drugs, but we still don’t have a
vaccine or a cure for this disease.
We have watched people die from this disease; now
they must learn how to live with HIV/AIDS
|
Pdf 148 kb
|
|
Drug Use and Risk Behaviours among Injecting Drug Users
|
This study
focused primarily on patterns of drug use, injecting practices,
risk behaviours for infectious disease, and experiences with
treatment and health services among injecting drug users (IDUs)
in Northern Ireland. The data for the study were collected
through semi-structured interviews conducted between December
2003 and September 2004. Sample criteria included 1) 18 years or
older and 2) injection of one or more drugs (excluding insulin
or other medication that was prescribed for injection) within
the 30 days prior to the interview. Various strategies were used
to recruit respondents for an interview and the findings are
based on interview data collected from 90 respondents who met
the study criteria. |
Pdf
250 kb |
|
Drug Users’ Human Rights Harm reduction – the pragmatic
view on the realization of drug users’ right to health |
Many drug
users are occasional or opportunistic recreational user, thus
they do not fit the category of “drug addict” Nevertheless, this
does not save them from the related harms created by drug use
such as, blood borne diseases, HIV infection, and viral
hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) - as public health concerns.
Policies and practices based on the principles of a right-based
approach and a public health perspective toward drug use -such
as harm reduction, are considered to be the best approaches on
realizing drug users’ right to health and their human rights in
general. |
|
|
Effect of Training Program on Physicians' Attitude
Towards Knowledge and Practice Related to Assessment and
Screening of Clients with HIV/AIDS |
This is a
study which examines the effects of an educational program on
Hispanic physicians' attitudes towards and knowledge of
HIV/AIDS. The study also examines physicians' practice patterns
related to the screening and testing of Hispanic patients at
risk for the disease. A one on one educational program was taken
to the physician's office at a time convenient to the physician.
A pre- and post-test design is used with questionnaires
developed for the study that assess self-reported data related
to physicians' attitudes, knowledge and practice patterns. A
convenient sample of physicians participated. This limited the
generalizability of the results to other groups. However, it
does point out that a training program can alter physicians'
screening and testing practices as well as their attitudes
towards clients with HIV/AIDS |
|
|
Evaluation of environmental bacterial contamination and
procedures to control cross infection in a sample of Italian
dental surgeries |
Research has
shown that infective hazards are present in dental practice,
because many infections can be transmitted by blood
or saliva through direct or indirect contact, droplets,
aerosols, or contaminated instruments and equipment.
All dental personnel are at risk, including dentists,
nurses, and hygienists, who may transmit infectious
diseases to patients by the use of contaminated
dental instruments or hands. This microbial cross contamination
is particularly dangerous when considering immunodeficient
patients |
|
|
Exposure to Blood: What Healthcare Personnel Need to
Know |
Exposures occur through needlesticks or cuts from other
sharp instruments contaminated with an infected
patient’s blood or through contact of the eye, nose,
mouth, or skin with a patient’s blood. Important
factors that influence the overall risk for occupational
exposures to bloodborne pathogens include the number of
infected individuals in the patient population and the
type and number of blood contacts. |
364 kb
pdf |
|
Exposure of healthcare workers in England, Wales, and
Northern Ireland to bloodborne viruses between July 1997
and June 2000: analysis of surveillance data |
The
transmission of bloodborne viruses to healthcare workers
can have serious consequences not only for clinical
practice but also, because of the requirements of health
and safety legislation, for their employers. In spite of
guidance and education, however, many healthcare
workers continue to be exposed to bloodborne viruses
from percutaneous, mucocutaneous, or other injuries. An
enhanced system of surveillance of occupational exposure
to bloodborne viruses was introduced in mid1997,
developing the passive system that was set up after the
first reported case (in 1984) in the United Kingdom of
HIV seroconversion associated with needlestick injury. |
Pdf
360 kb |
|
Fact Sheets: HIV in Specific Populations |
Many
American adolescents are engaging in behaviors that may
put them at risk of acquiring HIV infection and other
sexually transmitted diseases. In periodic studies of
high school students, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) consistently found the following: |
|
|
Factors Associated to the Occurrence of the First
Intercourse in Adolescents |
Power Point Presentation-Today’s adolescent are affected
by a disproportionately high prevalence of unplanned
pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, including
AIDS, and other serious problems that affect their
reproductive health. |
|
|
Health care workers and AIDS: a differential study of
beliefs and affects associated with accidental exposure
to blood |
This
study aimed to analyze affective and cognitive
determinants of the professional work of individuals
caring for patients with HIV/AIDS, in view of the risk
and/or experience of accidental exposure to blood. We
drew on the theoretical-methodological references of
Fishbein & Ajzen and Maslow's theory. Fifty health care
workers were evaluated using an attitudes questionnaire
and a needs and motivations instrument. The research
verified differences between answers by health care
workers who had never suffered accidents and those who
had already experienced accidental exposure to blood.
Health care workers did their work activities motivated
by the need for self-fulfillment and valued their own
performance when they were able to meet the patients'
emotional needs. Among health professionals who had
never experienced accidental exposure to blood, the
predominant beliefs was that patients feel remorse over
having expose themselves to HIV. Accidental exposure to
blood raises difficulties in personal life. Technical
aspects are also associated with the possibility of
accidental exposure to blood. |
|
|
Health care workers are at occupational risk
|
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in
collaboration with the Hospital Infection Control
Practices Advisory Committee, has issued recommendations
for follow-up of health care workers after occupational
exposure to hepatitis C virus (Hepatitis C Virus).
|
|
|
Hepatitis
C Risk Not Limited to Injection Drug Users
|
A
study in New York City has found a higher than expected
prevalence of hepatitis C infection among non-injecting
drug users. In this study, as many as 17 percent of the
subjects who denied a history of injection drug use were
found to be infected, compared to a 2 percent infection
rate in the general population.
|
|
|
Hepatitis C Virus Infections in Dialysis Centers in The
Netherlands: a National Survey by Serological and
Molecular Methods |
The
prevalence of HCV infections among dialysis patients is
generally much higher than that among healthy blood
donors. Studies in selected dialysis centers from
different countries all over the world
revealed that prevalences range from 2 to 3%
to 60%. To a certain extent this may reflect
the different prevalences of HCV-infected individuals
among the general population in these
countries. However, the dialysis process
itself and the level of hygienic standards may influence
the risk of HCV infection. This may explain
differences found between dialysis centers in
one country |
|
|
Hepatitis
C Virus Infection in Spouses of Patients with Type C
Chronic Liver Disease
|
Hepatitis
C virus-associated antibodies were detected in 42 (27%)
spouses, of whom 25 were also positive for Hepatitis C Virus RNA. Of
112 (73%) spouses without detectable antibodies, 2 had
chronic liver disease. The development of markers of Hepatitis C Virus
infection in spouses increased with the duration of
marriage, ranging from 1 to 60 years (30 ± 11 years).
|
|
|
Hidden Epidemic Confronting Sexually Transmitted
|
There
is a tendency to look on AIDS and HIV and other sexually
transmitted diseases as issues largely of the developing
world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa and Southern and
South East Asia. However, some rich industrialised
countries, particularly the United States, have an
epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases (about 12
million new cases annually, of which 3 million occur in
teenagers), and no national coordinated control
programme of education and clinical services.
|
|
|
|
|
High Profits - At What Cost? Manufacturer markets unsafe
needles in light of epidemic |
Top
sales managers for Becton Dickinson and Company, the
world's largest needle maker, had gathered for their
quarterly meeting, and listed on the agenda was a new
device that could dramatically cut into a deadly
epidemic of needle sticks among health care workers… But
something would go dreadfully wrong. Just as Kuhlman had
feared, few of the safer needles would reach the hands
of medical workers. And the epidemic would rage on. |
|
|
HIV/AIDS in Dental Care |
A
case-based self-study module for dental health care
personnel |
533
kb pdf |
|
HIV/AIDS Infected Health Care Workers: Guidance on the
Management of Infected Health Care Workers
|
Health care workers who are infected with HIV must
promptly seek appropriate expert medical and
occupational health advice. If no consultant
occupational physician is available locally,
consideration should be given to contacting one
elsewhere. Those who perform or who may be expected to
perform exposure prone procedures must obtain further
expert advice about modification or limitation of their
work practices to avoid exposure prone procedures.
Procedures which are thought to be exposure prone must
not be performed whilst expert advice is sought. |
Pdf
121 kb |
|
HIV POST-EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS
|
This
document concerns exposure to HIV and post-exposure
prophylaxis. Any significant exposure to blood and some
other body fluids or tissues (see Annex A) has the
potential to transmit other blood-borne virus
infections, such as hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV).
In the EAGA/AGH guidance referred to above [2], the
chapter on “Management of Blood Exposure Incidents”
recommends an integrated approach to post-exposure
management with respect to HIV, HBV and HCV. |
Pdf
263 kb |
|
Hospital blunder allowed sick firefighters to keep
working |
What is
particularly devastating for the firefighters who have
unknowingly lived with hepatitis-C for the past three
years is they don't know how much damage has been done
to their liver in that period of time. Nor do they know
if they have unknowingly passed it on. |
|
|
Identifying
high-risk carriers of infectious diseases is worth the
effort
|
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) call for
discrimination. Containing the spread of an STD by
focusing on promiscuous individuals, who are most likely
to pass it on, should be cheaper and more effective than
large-scale random campaigns, according to two new
mathematical analyses
|
|
|
|
Infection control forms an important part of practice
for all health care professions and remains one of the
most cost-beneficial medical interventions available.1
In dentistry, both patients and health care workers may
be exposed to a number of bloodborne and upper
respiratory pathogens through exposure to blood and
saliva. Professional dental associations, including
provincial licensing authorities in Canada, have
advocated that universal precautions be applied to all
patients, as their potential infectivity may not be
known |
|
|
Infections Acquired during Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation |
To
estimate the risk for acquiring an infectious disease
during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or CPR
training and to identify strategies to
minimize that risk. |
|
|
Detection of Hepatitis C Virus RNA in Salivary
Glands
|
Hepatitis C Virus
infection has been associated with several extrahepatic
manifestations, among these, to diseases with oral
manifestations such as Sjogren’s syndrome or
sialadenitis. Hepatitis C Virus RNA has been detected in saliva and in
salivary glands from patientw with sialadenitis by
polymerase chain reactions.
|
723 kb pdf
|
|
Introduction
to Bacteriology
(Large report-increased
down-load time)
|
The
discipline of bacteriology evolved from the need of
physicians to test and apply the germ theory of disease
and from economic concerns relating to the spoilage of
foods and wine. The initial advances in pathogenic
bacteriology were derived from the identification and
characterization of bacteria associated with specific
diseases.
|
|
|
Knowledge, Attitude and Practices among Health care
workers on Needle-stick injuries |
Health
care workers who have occupational exposure to blood are
at increased risk for acquiring blood-borne infections.
The level of risk depends on the number of patients with
that infection in the health care facility and the
precautions the health care workers observe while
dealing these patients. There are more than 20
blood-borne disease, |
27 kb pdf |
|
Lack of evidence
for the heterosexual transmission of hepatitis C |
The
importance of sexual transmission in the epidemiology of
hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is still
controversial. To assess the risk of
heterosexual HCV transmission, we examined
eighty patients with chronic HCV-associated liver
disease and their spouses in a
cross-sectional clinical and serological
cohort study. |
|
|
Lessons for (and From) America
|
Drawing
lessons from international experience for health care
reform in the United States requires striking a
difficult balance between historical
determinism and free will, between cynical pessimism
and naïve optimism. The key to this puzzle may lie
in a paradox: the United States is the most successful
exporter of public health policy ideas and
instruments yet has failed to build an
effective health care system.
|
|
|
Lift
Restrictions on Clean Needle Programs
|
Government
interference with sterile syringe programs is thwarting
HIV prevention efforts in California, Human Rights Watch
said in a new report today. State laws and local
enforcement are preventing drug users from obtaining the
sterile syringes they need to protect themselves from
HIV.
|
|
|
Model-based estimates of risk of disease transmission
and economic costs of 7 injection devices |
When
not properly sterilized, or if contaminated, needles and
syringes can produce local abscesses and can transmit
bloodborne infections between patients.
Needlestick injuries can transmit infectious agents from
patients to health care workers, while incorrect
disposal can transmit disease to the community as a
consequence of both needlestick injuries and improper
reuse. |
360 kb pdf |
|
Most resistance to Anti-HIV drugs created by good
pill-taking patients
|
Resistance mutations to Anti-HIV medications are more
likely to occur in patients who take most of their
medications than in those who take few of them,
according to researchers at UCSF
|
|
|
Needlestick Injuries Among Healthcare Workers |
This
statement summarizes the scientific issues related to
needlestick injuries, including what we know about the
number of workers affected, what can happen to a
worker's health as a result of such an injury, how these
injuries occur, and ways to prevent them. In addition,
it describes what CDC is doing to address this serious
public health problem. |
|
|
Nurse, operating room |
This
datasheet lists, in a standard format, different hazards
to which nurse, operating rooms may be exposed in the
course of their normal work…With the knowledge of what
causes injuries and diseases, is easier to design and
implement suitable measures towards prevention |
89 kb
pdf |
|
Nurses' Working Conditions: Implications for Infectious
Disease |
Staffing patterns and nurses' working conditions are
risk factors for healthcare-associated infections as
well as occupational injuries and infections. Staffing
shortages, especially of nurses, have been identified as
one of the major factors expected to constrain
hospitals' ability to deal with future outbreaks of
emerging infections. These problems are compounded by a
global nursing shortage. Understanding and improving
nurses' working conditions can potentially decrease the
incidence of many infectious diseases. Relevant research
is reviewed, and policy options are discussed. |
|
|
Officials Target Spermicide in Condoms
|
Behind-the-scenes efforts to persuade some of the largest
condom manufacturers to stop using a spermicide that may
increase the risk of HIV and urinary tract infection
have failed,
|
|
|
Only heat can kill HIV on dental tools
|
A
chemical disinfectant used on some medical and dental
devices can fail to kill the AIDS virus, posing a
potential risk of infecting patients, a study suggests.
|
|
|
Patients
Seek Answers On Surgeon Who Spread Hepatitis
|
Former
heart surgery patients jammed telephone lines at North
Shore University Hospital in Manhasset yesterday in an
effort to find out whether they were operated on by a
doctor who apparently transmitted hepatitis C to several
patients in the course of surgery during the past
decade.
|
|
|
Risk & Management of Blood
Borne Exposure
(Large report-increased
down-load time) |
Exposure to blood-borne pathogens poses a serious risk
to health care workers (HCWs). We review the risk and
management of human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis
C virus (Hepatitis C Virus) infections in HCWs and also discuss
current methods for preventing exposures and
recommendations for postexposure prophylaxis |
|
|
Safety Precautions in Health Care Settings |
In
addition to the need to continue to fund programs aimed
at stopping sexual transmission of HIV, HIV transmission
in health care settings requires immediate and sustained
attention. Every year more than 500,000 people contract
HIV in health care settings. According to numbers
endorsed by the World Health Organization, every year at
least 260,000 people become infected through unsafe
medical injections, and at least 5% of new infections,
or 255,000 people, become infected through unsafe blood
transfusions. |
|
|
Sexually Transmitted Diseases |
Field
medical officers are likely to encounter STDs—a diverse
group of infections caused by bacterial, chlamydial, and
virl pathogens—in an active-duty population of men and
women |
264
kb pdf |
|
The Truth About HIV/AIDS and Infection Control Practices
in Dentistry |
While the risk of contracting HIV in the dental care
setting is small, infection control practices are based
not only on the risk of HIV exposure, but also on the
risk of transmission of other important pathogens such
as hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, tuberculoisi,
cytomegalovirus.
|
218
kb pdf |
|
Transmission of hepatitis C by blood splash into
conjunctiva in a nurse |
The
risk of transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV)
infection is an important problem for the health care
worker. HCV transmission by blood splashing into eyes is
very rare. In a hemodialyses department, a 23-year-old
female nurse splashed blood from a patient who was anti-HCV
positive into her eyes. She washed her eyes with water
immediately and reported to the infection control
department. She had never used intravenous drugs nor
received transfusions. At the time of exposure, there
was no abnormality in her laboratory tests. Her anti-HCV
and HCV-RNA tests produced negative results. |
Pdf
65 kb |
|
USA vs. The American National Red Cross |
Court Ruling and Actions concerning the US Courts and
the American Red Cross on how they supply blood products |
Pdf
429 kb |
|
Where
is the M in MTCT? The Broader Issues in Mother-to-Child
Transmission of HIV
|
In
addition, several million more women were suffering
serious complication, most notably vesical vaginal
fistula and rectal vaginal fistula, which result in
permanent urinary or rectal incontinence, essentially
making outcasts of the women who survive
|
49 kb pdf
|
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