Agenda - Council - 06/25/1991 - Laserfiche WebLink

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152 MMWR M~rch 14, 1g~6 Poison Prevention Week - Continued 2 Division of Vital Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics. Unpublished data. 1983. 3. American Academy of P~diatrics. Unpublished data. 1950. 4 CDC. Unintentional poisoning among young children-- United States. MMWR 1983 ;32:117-8. 5. CDC, Update. childhood poisonings--United States. MMWR 1985; :34:11 7-8. 6. CDC. Poisoning among young children-- United States. MMWR 1984 ;33:129-31. Current Trends Additional Recommendations to Reduce Sexual and Drug Abuse-Related Transmission of Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Type III/ Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus BACKGROUND Human T-lymphotropic virus type III/lymphadenopathy-associated vir~s (HTLV-III/LAV), the virus that causes acquired immunodeficJency syndrome (AIDS}, is transmitted through sexual contact, parenteral exposure to infected blood or blood components, and perinatally from mother to fetus or neonate. In the United States. over 73% of adult AIDS patients are homosexual or bisexual men; 11% of these.males also had a history of intravenous (IV} drug abuse. Seventeen percent of all adult AIDS patients we xual men or women who abused IV drugs { 1,2 }. The prevalence of HTLV-III/LAV Intibod¥ is high in certain risk groups in the United States (3,4). Since a large proportion of seropositive asymptomatic persons have been shown to be viremic (5), all seropositive individuals, whether symptomatic or not, must be presumed capa- ble of transmitting this infection. A.repeatedly reactive serologic test for HTLV-III/LAV has im- portant medical, as wail as public health, implications for the individual and his/her health-care provider. The purpose of these recommendations is to suggest ways to facilitate identification of seropositive asymptomatic persons, both for medical evaluation and for counseling to pre- vent transmission. ' Previous U.S. Public Health Service recommendations pertaining to sexual, IV drug abuse, and perinatal transmission of HTLV-III/LAV have been published (6-E). Reduction of sexual and IV transmission of HTLV-ItlL/LAV should be enhanced by using available serologic tests to give asymptomatic, infected individuals in high-ris~ groups the opportunity to know their status sz) they can take appropriate steps to prevent the further transmission of this virus. Since the objective of these ~dditional recommendations is to help interrupt transmission by encouraging testing and counseling among persons in high-risk groups, careful attention must be paid to maintaining confidentiality and to protecting recorcis trom any unautl3or~zed disclosure. The ability of health departments to assure confidentiality--and the public confi- den(:e in that ability--are crucial to efforts to increase the number of persons requesting such testing and counseling. Without appropriate confidentiality protection, anonymous testing should be considered. Persons tested anonymously would still be offered medical evaluation and counseling. PERSONS AT INCREASED RISK OF HTLV-III/L,aI~/INFECTION P~ons at increased risk of HTLV-I~I/LAV infect~n include: (1) homosexual and bisexual rr~en; (2) present or past IV cJrug abusers; (3) persorts with clinical or laboratory evidence of in- fection, such as those wilh signs or symptoms compatible with AIDS or AIDS-related com- plex (ARC); (4) persons born in countries where heterosexual lran~rnls~;ic~n i~ thntJrlht tn t31Rv