AIDS Education in the Jail Setting

1991 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Baxter

This article describes some of the obstacles to and advantages of providing effective human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) education programs in jails. The description is based on a six-module, multisession program directed to injection drug users in the Maricopa County (Phoenix, AZ) jail as part of a large research and demonstration project funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Some preliminary analyses of longitudinal data from Phoenix are presented. The results suggest that an evaluation of jail-based education focusing on safer needle usage and sex practices must be very thoughtfully designed and implemented.

1995 ◽  
Vol 85 (7) ◽  
pp. 346-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
LA Levy

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were first noticed in the US in 1981 and continue to spread today. Initially a disease associated completely with homosexual males, it is increasing in incidence and prevalence among heterosexual males and females, particularly, but not limited to, injection drug users. This disease is much more prevalent among blacks and Hispanics. Podiatric physicians are at risk of acquiring the disease as a result of their frequent use of injections and surgical intervention, particularly involving bone. In addition, the foot is a potential portal of entry for HIV infection because of contamination by blood on the feet of podiatric surgeons and their assistants during surgery.


2001 ◽  
Vol 356 (1410) ◽  
pp. 877-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Burr ◽  
J. M. Hyman ◽  
Gerald Myers

The subtypes of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV–1) group M exhibit a remarkable similarity in their between–subtype distances, which we refer to as high synchrony. The shape of the phylogenetic tree of these subtypes is referred to as a sunburst to distinguish it from a simple star phylogeny. Neither a sunburst pattern nor a comparable degree of symmetry is seen in a natural process such as in feline immunodeficiency virus evolution. We therefore have undertaken forward–process simulation studies employing coalescent theory to investigate whether such highly synchronized subtypes could be readily produced by natural Darwinian evolution. The forward model includes both classical (macro) and molecular (micro) epidemiological components. HIV–1 group M subtype synchrony is quantified using the standard deviation of the between–subtype distances and the average of the within–subtype distances. Highly synchronized subtypes and a sunburst phylogeny are not observed in our simulated data, leading to the conclusion that a quasi–Lamarckian, punctuated event occurred. The natural transfer theory for the origin of human acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) cannot easily be reconciled with these findings and it is as if a recent non–Darwinian process took place coincident with the rise of AIDS in Africa.


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