News

EPH and Medical School Faculty Present at International AIDS Conference

A group of faculty from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and the School of Medicine made presentations highlighting their work on various aspects of HIV and associated medical problems at the eleventh annual International Conference on AIDS, Cancer and Related Diseases, which was held in St. Petersburg, Russia from October 6 – 10.

The conference was organized primarily by Andrei Kozlov, Ph.D., director of the Biomedical Center, a non-profit HIV research institution in St. Petersburg and a member of the Faculty of Biology at St. Petersburg State University. The presentations by Yale faculty were an extension of the AIDS International Training and Research Program funded by the Fogarty Center, which brings St. Petersburg scientists to Yale to train in HIV prevention, epidemiology and related areas. The Yale trainees attended the conference.

The Yale speakers addressed issues of great public health importance in Russia, where the vast majority of the HIV positive population became infected through intravenous drug use and there is concern about the possibility of a more generalized epidemic spread through sexual contact. In a session focusing on HIV and co-existing medical problems, Linda Niccolai, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, spoke about sexually transmitted infection as a facilitator of HIV disease, David Fiellin, M.D., Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, spoke about substance abuse and HIV, and Krystn Wagner, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, spoke about HIV prevention.

Three members of the Yale faculty group addressed ethical issues surrounding HIV. Kaveh Khoshnood, Ph.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, spoke about the difficulties of HIV prevention among illegal drug users. Robert Heimer, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, spoke about ethical issues arising when drug detoxification programs are utilized in situations where relapse is likely and could trigger additional health problems, including increased risk of HIV infection. Wagner spoke about the ethics of providing treatment for HIV and Hepatitis C to patients actively using illegal drugs and engaging those patients in care.

As of September 30, 2003, the Russian government reported that 252,607 people were registered as being HIV positive. However, because many Russians prefer HIV testing performed in private organizations to that performed in public organizations, many HIV cases are not included in the government’s records. Experts estimate that nearly 1,000,000 Russians are HIV positive, making knowledge about HIV prevention and care critical. Nadia Abdala, Ph.D., D.V.M., Associate Research Scientist in Epidemiology and Public Health, spoke about laboratory issues involved in undertaking HIV prevention trials.

In addition, Khoshnood co-chaired a session on HIV and tuberculosis in which he presented pilot results from his project on the access of released prisoners to tuberculosis care in St. Petersburg.

-Story by Christy Gordon, based on interview with Robert Heimer, October 24, 2003.