HIV reporting and risks

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 45, No. 5, June 2003, Page 212 Letters
By: James E Parker, MB

Dr Perry Kendall’s decision to make HIV reportable is a major step in the right direction and deserving of our approbation in restoring the conventional role of public health in epidemic containment. His effective handling of SARS with appropriate quarantine measures locally also deserves our admiration. The urgency of the latter situation contrasts vividly with the insidious nature of HIV. It is of interest that only one country has effectively contained HIV/AIDS and that country (Cuba) has employed some temporary quarantine measures. In this country Reid and Archibald from Health Canada (CMAJ 2003;168[8]:958-960) tell us that despite the assertions of a news report by Sullivan (CMAJ 2003;168[3]:327), HIV/AIDS is not in “free fall,” the national incidence of new cases of HIV remaining essentially the same (4200 in 1996, 4190 in 1999). Editor Dr James Wilson (BCMJ 2003;45[3]:112) draws our attention to the plight of first responders inadvertently exposed to needle sticks and blood contamination faced with an antiretroviral drug cocktail. An attempt by my local MP (Chuck Strahl) to introduce a bill (C-244 later changed [to Bill 217]) to cope with this situation would appear to have foundered in government committee. I share a sense of outrage with Dr Wilson on this matter. These same first responders are also the people on the frontlines in exposure to SARS.

—James E Parker, MB
Abbotsford

James E Parker, MB. HIV reporting and risks. BCMJ, Vol. 45, No. 5, June, 2003, Page(s) 212 - Letters.


Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

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