News (Updated April 25, 2010)

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China could lift HIV visitor ban

China-watchers are buzzing about the possibility of China lifting the ban on visas to HIV-positive people before the 2010 Expo

It’s a long-standing policy that any foreigner visiting China must sign documents stating they are HIV-free, and any foreigner applying for a residency visa is required to take a blood test to determine his/her HIV status as part of a visa health check. But this might change, at least for the Shanghai 2010 World Expo.

A report in China Daily, picked up by AFP, cites "insiders" saying that the State Council (read: Cabinet) decided this week to change the laws barring foreign HIV carriers entry into China . China is one of 60 countries that denies entry to people due to their HIV status.

Vice-Minister of Health, Huang Jiefu, supports the proposals, saying: "I hope China will remove the ban thoroughly and forever by the time of the Shanghai Expo."

Under current Chinese regulations, those suffering from HIV as well as other infectious diseases or mental disorders are not allowed into the Middle Kingdom.

Since no official announcement has been released, no timetable was disclosed, although the China Daily reports that Hao Yang, deputy director of the Ministry of Health's disease prevention and control bureau says “changes are likely to be announced before the official opening of Shanghai Expo on May 1.”

"The ban imposed in the 1980s due to a lack of knowledge is obsolete and discriminatory," said He Xiong, deputy director of the Beijing center for disease prevention and control to China Daily.

"As HIV/AIDS cases have been seen in all provinces in China , a travel ban on foreigners will not help local public health," he noted.

A waiver for HIV-positive individuals to enter China for major international events is not unprecedented. HIV-positive foreigners were granted visas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This was not the case however for Australian writer Robert Dessaix who was denied entry in March causing him to cancel his appearance at the Shanghai International Literary Festival.

HIV in Shanghai

According to Shanghai Daily, “ Shanghai reported 886 new HIV carriers and 392 AIDS patients, with 25 fatalities, from January to November 20 [2009].” This is a 26.5 percent increase in positive HIV tests than for the same period last year. And unprotected sex was the cause of 63.7 percent of the new cases.

The city’s health bureau reported that “ Shanghai ’s incidence of HIV/AIDS is two in every 10,000 residents, much lower than the national level of five in every 10,000.”

"There is still a low prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Shanghai , but chances to become infected are widely available here," said Xu Jianguang, director of the Shanghai Health Bureau.

Condom-vending machines or free condoms are available in all public venues before the 2010 Shanghai World Expo as part of a city-wide HIV/AIDS prevention plan.

Experts warn of dangers of delayed HIV diagnosis in the UK

Sarah Boseley, health editor

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 22 April 2010 19.47 BST

Routine testing could prevent unnecessary deaths and wider transmission of disease, say sexual healthcare professionals

Anti-retroviral drugs used to treat HIV/Aids. Photograph: Krista Kennell/ZUMA/Corbis

Far too many people in the UK with HIV are being diagnosed late, when they may have had the virus for as long as 10 years and are likely to have passed the infection to other people, sexual health experts warned today.

They called for urgent action to be taken to make routine testing the norm in areas where HIV prevalence is high. HIV rates in the UK are steadily rising, and delays in diagnosing infection increase deaths and onward transmission. "It is in the interest of everyone for local health authorities and healthcare professionals to take a real stance on this issue," said Dr Keith Radcliffe, president of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV.

He was speaking in Manchester at the annual conference of BASHH and the British HIV Association, which heard that more than a third of HIV infections were still being diagnosed late. If infection is missed at an early stage there may be no symptoms for 10 years, until the patient falls seriously ill with a potentially fatal Aids-related condition.

There is a window of opportunity to diagnose HIV early, during what is known as seroconversion, when the body produces antibodies to the virus. It is also the time when people with HIV are most infectious. The patient will suffer a flu-like illness and may have a rash and a sore throat.

But Dr Mark Pakianathan, a London-based HIV consultant, said GPs and A&E staff may not realise it could be HIV – or may not want to suggest a test.

Sometimes doctors are reluctant to raise the possibility because of their own assumptions about the patient's lifestyle. "They think it can't be HIV – it must be something else," said Pakianathan. The doctor may assume it is glandular fever or even swine flu. "An opportunity could be lost for 10 years," he added.

There can be an intermediate phase, when patients may be diagnosed with illnesses such as fungal nail infection, related to the erosion of their immune system by the virus. But often patients are not diagnosed until they develop an Aids-related illness such as a lymphoma or bacterial meningitis, which can be life threatening.

More than 7,000 new HIV diagnoses are made every year in England , Wales and Northern Ireland . At the end of 2008 there were an estimated 83,000 people infected, according to the Health Protection Agency.

Studies presented at the conference showed what Radcliffe called the "lottery" in HIV testing. An investigation of HIV testing patterns in a large inner city hospital with high local prevalence found that 41% of HIV-positive patients had been in contact with a health professional, for an HIV-related reason, in the last two years but had failed to be offered a test.

A second study, lasting six months, of acute general medical admissions found that only one third of undiagnosed HIV-positive patients were correctly targeted by clinicians for testing. The two-thirds who were missed would have been picked up by routine testing.

Pakianathan said some clinicians seemed not to have caught up with the massive change in the prospects for people with HIV which has come about in the last decade with the availability of drugs that can keep people not only alive but well and active for the foreseeable future. He had visited GP surgeries in London to talk to them about destigmatising HIV testing.

"I still get people saying: 'When I offered a test, the patient got up and left the room'. It is about how you offer the test as well," he said.

Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: "Someone in their early 20s promptly diagnosed with HIV can today, with the current treatments available, look forward to a relatively normal life, whereas delayed diagnosis and treatment increase the rate of illness, premature death and the unknowing spread of the disease. Changing patterns of HIV transmission further underscore the need to raise awareness among physicians and make the test a standard first-line investigation in many secondary care settings."

British shadow minister: gay age of consent 'poses HIV risk'

Julian Lewis, a Conservative shadow minister, has said the age of consent for homosexuals should not have been lowered to 16 because it put teenagers at "seriously increased physical risk" of catching HIV.

By Alastair Jamieson
Published: 22 Apr 2010

Julian Lewis Photo: PA

The shadow minister for Defence and Tory candidate for the Hampshire seat of New Forest East, compared the issue to the decision to prevent military personnel under 18 from fighting on front lines.

His views follow the controversial comments two weeks ago by Chris Grayling, the shadow Home Secretary, who suggested owners of bed-and-breakfast hotels should have the right to turn away homosexual couples. Mr Grayling has since apologised.  

According to a report in The Independent, Mr Lewis wrote to a constituent last week saying he had been "very strongly against" lowering the age of consent for gays from 18 to 16 because “there is a seriously increased risk of HIV infection arising from male homosexual activity”.

The age of consent for gay men was lowered from 18 to 16 in 2000.

Mr Lewis, 58, wrote: “When it comes to legalising practices that involve serious risk, I believe the higher limit should apply. This is the reason we no longer allow 16- and 17-year-olds into front line situations in the armed forces, for example."

Mr Lewis previously opposed adoptions by gay couples and also campaigned against the repeal of laws preventing schools from promoting homosexuality.

However, Mr Lewis said he was in favour of civil partnerships because “one of the criticisms commonly made of gay relationships is that very often they do not last”.

He wrote: "It therefore seems obvious to me that, when a gay couple wish to commit to each other, by forming a permanent relationship, they should be encouraged and assisted in every way."

Challenger by the newspaper about his views on the dangers of homosexual sex, he said: "I do not hold myself up as any kind of expert in this and I am willing to be shown I'm wrong if I am wrong, but I honestly don't think I am wrong."

Alan Johnson, the home secretary, urged David Cameron to sack Mr Lewis from his shadow cabinet, calling on the Tory leader to “show some leadership”,

The Conservative party described Mr Lewis’ views as “long held and personal” but insisted they were “not the view of the Conservative Party”.

A statement added Mr Lewis had been “wrong” about “the terms in which he expressed” his views.

“Under this Labour government we have seen a massive increase in HIV infections and STDs across all the population – straight and gay," it said.

Mr Lewis has a doctorate from Oxford University and refers to himself on his website as Dr Lewis.

The former Royal Navy Reserve seaman is so keen to ensure his own personal security that he has admitted being on the electoral roll under a nom de plume.

Mr Lewis also led a successful campaign to prevent MPs having to publish their home addresses, claiming that the move would threaten the personal security of members and their families.

He voted for a 2007 bill that would have exempted Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act, thus preventing the disclosure of MPs’ expenses details.

He also asked House of Commons officials if he could claim £6,000 in expenses for a wooden floor at his second home but Commons officials ruled that the spending “could be seen as extravagant”.

He asked about the floor as part of an £11,914 redecoration project at the London flat he designated as his second home.

He successfully claimed £4,870 for upgrading the property but was told that the remaining £5,995 plus VAT for a wooden floor with acoustic underlay would not be allowed.

The 57-year-old also successfully claimed £352.50 in legal fees for settling a dispute over unpaid service charges at the London flat, as well as £119 for a wall-mounted trouser press, £5 for a “sweater tidy” and £4 for wax polish.

The MP regularly claimed up to £1,200 a month for interest on the mortgage on the £400,000 flat, as allowed under Commons rules. He owns two other properties – a flat in Southampton that he rents out and a detached house in his constituency that is no longer mortgaged.

He criticised the Sunday Telegraph for its four-year battle to publish MPs expenses, including addresses.

Speaking before the Daily Telegraph exposed the widespread abuse of expenses by MPs, he told the Commons: “I wish that there could be a vote so that even the idiot scribblers on The Sunday Telegraph could understand that our action has nothing to do with expenses and everything to do with security.”

Other successful expenses claims made by Mr Lewis included £45 for a shower curtain, £2,369.75 for kitchen appliances including a £789 Bosch washer dryer, and £646 for the installation of new bathroom taps.

Berkeley scholar in dock over HIV-Aids article

24 April 2010

By Zoë Corbyn

Anonymous complainants accuse Peter Duesberg of ‘ethical breach’ and making ‘false claims’. Zoë Corbyn reports

A scholar who has questioned the link between HIV and Aids is being investigated by his university following allegations of “unacceptable conduct”.

It has emerged that the University of California, Berkeley launched an investigation last November into whether Peter Duesberg, a professor of molecular and cell biology who is well known for denying the link between HIV and Aids, had violated its policies when submitting an article on the theme to the journal Medical Hypotheses.

The article, “HIV-Aids hypothesis out of touch with South African Aids – A new perspective”, argues that there is “as yet no proof that HIV causes Aids” and says the claim that the virus has killed millions is “unconfirmed”.

Its publication last July led to a furore, and prompted the publisher of the unorthodox journal, Elsevier, to issue an ultimatum to its editor, Bruce Charlton. It demanded that a peer-review system be introduced to replace the journal’s current model, under which Professor Charlton decides which papers to publish on the strength of how interesting or radical they are.

Professor Charlton has refused to implement the changes and faces the sack as a result.

Elsevier withdrew the Duesberg paper to submit it to a peer-review test, which resulted in its being “permanently withdrawn” last month.

In a letter to Professor Duesberg, dated 18 November 2009 and seen by Times Higher Education, Berkeley says it had received allegations that submitting the paper amounted to “unacceptable conduct”.

“The specific allegations are that an article you submitted to Medical Hypotheses was investigated and then withdrawn by the publisher based on issues of credibility and false claims [and] that you failed to declare a relevant conflict of interest with regard to the commercial interests of your authors,” it says.

Two anonymous letters of complaint accompany Berkeley ’s letter.

One alleges that a co-author of the paper, David Rasnick – who also denies the HIV-Aids link – had “until recently” worked as a researcher for the Dr Rath Health Foundation Africa. It alleges that the foundation “promoted and distributed micronutrient products as alternatives to the use of antiretroviral drugs”.

It continues: “[The affiliation] is a material and relevant fact that should have been disclosed in the paper by Duesberg et al. As the responsibility for making such a disclosure is the corresponding author’s, it appears…that Professor Duesberg has likely committed an ethical breach that should be investigated.”

The second letter accuses Professor Duesberg of damaging the credibility of Berkeley and science by making “false claims”.

“If the University of California is to maintain its reputation as one of the most outstanding academic institutions in the world, it cannot support the use of the university or an academic position as platforms to disseminate dangerous opinions and deny principles which are the very foundations of science,” it says.

Professor Duesberg acknowledged that Dr Rasnick had worked for the South African organisation from 2005 to 2006, but stressed it was non-profit and that Dr Rasnick’s employment had ended three years prior to the submission of the Medical Hypotheses manuscript.

He noted that the faculty investigative officer appointed to examine the allegations – Art Reingold, division head of public health biology and epidemiology at Berkeley ’s School of Public Health – had received grant money to study HIV-Aids. He also criticised the university for “hiding” the identities of the complainants.

“The HIV-Aids establishment has censored our paper because it undermines the primary prediction of the HIV-Aids hypothesis,” he said.

“I am under investigation for scientific misconduct at a university that is the cradle of free speech because I have published a paper that proposes an alternative.”

On the allegation that he had brought Berkeley and science into disrepute, the academic said it was “odd” that the university was only now responding to such charges, “23 years after I first advanced arguments that HIV is not compatible with the epidemiology and biology of viral disease”.

If Professor Duesberg is found guilty of misconduct, the university could impose a sanction ranging from a warning letter to demotion or even dismissal. Professor Duesberg said he expected the outcome of the investigation to be known in the next few weeks.

Berkeley did not respond to THE’s request for comment.

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