|
|
Transmission
The materials in this section include references on the basic facts of HIV transmission—how it does and does not occur, and the different risks of transmission through various identified routes. However, the primary focus of the materials posted here is the ways in which disputes or misunderstandings about the modes and likelihood of HIV transmission affect policy and legal decisions, from restrictions on the practice of HIV-positive health care workers to compendiums of statutes that criminalize behaviors that may expose others to HIV transmission.
HIGHLIGHTED RESOURCE
Sample Expert Statement on HIV Transmission Risk
To avoid a court battle, or to win a case once in court, people with HIV may need to introduce evidence or affidavits demonstrating that they pose no significant risk of transmitting HIV to others through casual contact. In these cases, it can be extremely important to have the assistance of a medical or scientific expert, usually an infectious disease physician, to provide testimony or an affidavit about the relative risks of HIV transmission. This sample expert statement, which describes the various ways in which HIV is and isn’t transmitted, may be adapted to meet the needs of specific situations.
Click here to download.
HIGHLIGHTED RESOURCE
HIV and Its Transmission,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
.jpg) This fact sheet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outlines the ways in which HIV can and cannot be transmitted from one individual to another. HIV is primarily transmitted through sexual contact, by sharing needles and/or syringes, or from mother to child before or during birth or during breastfeeding. The report dispels myths about transmission through the environment, households, businesses, kissing, biting, saliva, sweat, tears, and insects. It addresses the veary small number of known cases of transmission from patients to health care providers through needle sticks (or, more rarely, through blood getting into a health care worker's exposed mucous membrane), and that there is only one known instance in which a health care provider transmitted HIV to patients. The document emphasizes that no other routes of transmission have been identified despite extensive research, and states that condoms are highly effective in preventing the spread of HIV through sexual contact. Click here to download.
THE FINE PRINT
Battle of Normandy: Will Stigma Prevail?
by Margo Kaplan
CHLP Supervising Human Rights Attorney
Those whose lives are affected by HIV are used to the stigma that can follow even a rumor of an HIV diagnosis. But, as Normandy, Missouri is finding out, the power of this stigma can touch an entire community. More
External Links
Avert: HIV Transmission FAQs
Answers to frequently asked questions about how HIV is and is not transmitted.
Advocates for Youth:
HIV Transmission
Facts about HIV transmission and the risks associated with different activities.
AIDSMeds.com & Poz:
How is HIV Transmitted?
An interactive guide providing clear, specific information and explanations about HIV transmission, guidance on understanding the risks associated with specific activities, and information on prevention.
HIGHLIGHTED RESOURCE
Investigation of Patients Treated by an HIV-Infected Cardiothoracic Surgeon—Israel, 2007, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
.jpg) Acknowledging that the threat posed by HIV-positive health care providers, including surgeons, to their patients is negligible, the CDC discusses an investigation tracking the patients of an HIV-positive cardiothoracic surgeon in Israel. Cardiothoracic surgery is among the most invasive medical interventions, which is why Israeli officials were concerned when this surgeon, who had been practicing for more than 10 years and had treated more than 1600 patients, tested positive for HIV. In response, officials conducted an investigation of patients treated by the surgeon in the 10 years prior to his diagnosis and determined that none had tested positive for HIV. They were able to confirm this with near certainty by comparing the list of patients with the national HIV registry, on which all diagnosed individuals with HIV must be listed. After determining that the surgeon did not pose a threat to his patients, the surgeon was cleared to continue with his practice, with no need to notify patients of his HIV status, as long as he continued to abide by established infection control protocols.
In the editorial following the report, the CDC stated that “the data in this and other studies published since the CDC guidelines of 1991, considered together, argue for a very low risk for provider-to-patient HIV transmission in the present era and could form the basis for national and international public health bodies to consider issuing revised guidelines for medical institutions faced with HIV infection in a health-care worker performing exposure-prone procedures.” This is a significant acknowledgment in light of the fact that the CDC has yet to revisit the overly restrictive guidelines they issued in 1991 regarding the practice of HIV-positive health care workers. To view Professor Larry Gostin's commentary on the guidelines, click here.
Click here to download document.
|
|
