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Gay activists dispute claim that Viagra may boost HIV risk
Friday, September 03, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO — City health officials last week petitioned federal
regulators to warn consumers that use of anti-impotence drugs like
Viagra may increase the risk
of sexually transmitted disease and HIV, Reuters reported, but some
gay activists expressed doubts about the petition. San Francisco
health leaders made the request to the Food & Drug Administration
in response to recreational use of Viagra among gay men, according
to Reuters. “The predominant problem that we see in San Francisco
is that widespread use among gay men with multiple partners,”
Jeffrey Klausner, director of sexually transmitted disease prevention
at the city’s health department, told Reuters. “It increases
their ability to have more sex partners, particularly in multiple
partner environments, and reverses the chemical impotence associated
with methamphetamine and crystal use.” But other health officials
do not think the use of Viagra among gay men directly raises their
risk for HIV, according to media reports. They say that drugs like
crystal meth inhibit reasoning and may lead to riskier sexual behavior,
but Viagra itself does not lead to higher incidences of HIV, news
reports indicate.
Anti-gay prejudice inhibits fight against HIV in Indonesia: officials
LONDON — National health officials suggested that religious leaders and government officials in Indonesia modernize their thinking and be accepting of gays to help halt the spread of HIV, Agence France-Presse reported. The country’s National Committee on AIDS Control, in an interview with the Agence France-Presse news outlet, said lack of acceptance of gays is a stumbling block in efforts to stop the spread of HIV, news reports indicate. “We will also try to address the openness absent in the government and also in religious groups in this matter,” committee member Suharto told Agence France-Presse. A largely Muslim country, Indonesia is cited by the United Nations as a center of rising HIV cases, but gays there often are discounted or believed to be a myth, news reports indicate. Indonesia saw a sharp increase in HIV-positive patients last year, largely among men who have sex with men without condoms, drug users and sex workers, according to UNAIDS, Agence France-Presse reported.
Duke study finds Medicaid HIV program gaps cause illness in N.C.
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Gaps in North Carolina’s Medicaid program are costly and cause more illness because a provision requires patients to pay for a certain amount of their medical expenses, according to a Duke University study. The study focused on patients with HIV, but researchers said the findings were applicable to Medicaid recipients with many chronic diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, mental illness and addiction. Researchers found that care for HIV patients costs an average of $5,475 more for someone who must pay a required amount of out-of-pocket costs. Duke public policy professor Kathryn Whetten, director of the university’s health inequalities program, said a four-year study of the state’s Medicaid system of funding shows that it isn’t achieving its intended purpose. She said that indicates that the system should either be amended or scrapped.
Vermont psychologists plan follow-up study of gay couples in civil unions
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Three years after the first-ever demographic study of gay and lesbian couples who entered civil unions in Vermont, two psychologists plan a follow-up survey, Newswise reported. The University of Vermont’s Sondra Solomon and Esther Rothblum plan to find out what has changed among study participants since their civil union vows, according to the news outlet. In the first study, researchers mailed anonymous questionnaires to 2,300 couples who entered into Vermont civil unions between June 1, 2000, and June 20, 2001, which is the first year the unions were legal, Newswise reported. Hundreds of couples responded, and original participants will be contacted for the second study to answer questions about their current level of satisfaction with their relationship, according to media reports. “This is the first opportunity to follow up on gay and lesbian couples in civil unions over time,” Rothblum told the media.
Maryland officials urge overhaul for accreditation of medical labs
BALTIMORE (AP) — Maryland’s top health official and a U.S. congressman called last week for an overhaul of the process used to accredit medical laboratories, two of which have had the accuracy of thousands of tests questioned. The latest problems were discovered at a Rosedale medical laboratory found to have such serious problems that health officials ordered it to close and 3,000 patients are being offered retesting to check the accuracy of results for sexually transmitted diseases. Maryland officials have asked the accrediting agency, the College of American Pathologists, which signed off on the independent lab’s operations in 2003 for an explanation of its methods. U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, who called hearings on the issue after testing problems were found at Maryland General Hospital, said he was “convinced then that there were problems at other labs and or hospitals. This appears to be a prime example of that." source :-http://www.newyorkblade.com/ | 
