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WSAZ Investigates | Fighting HIV

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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – Once an epidemic in the 1980s, health professionals say HIV is no longer a death sentence.

With proper treatment, people are living long and healthy lives after their diagnosis.

“This is not a death sentence,” said Larrecsa Barker, a Cabell County paramedic, and leader of the Quick Response Team.

The transmission continues to be primarily among the persons who inject drugs (PWID) population and has not currently been identified in other populations or risk groups, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR).

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Within days of someone having an overdose event, the Quick Response Team (QRT) makes contact with the patient, offering support and services to get them help along with preventive care.

The mobile team includes a paramedic, a police officer dressed in plain clothes, a faith leader, and a peer coach which is someone who has a lived experience with addiction.

QRT began offering HIV testing on-site for clients in 2023 within the comfort of their own homes. Expanding preventative care has always been a goal for the team, but QRT leader Larrecsa Cox said they recently started.

Cabell County was determined to be the epicenter of an HIV cluster in 2019, with 66 diagnosed cases, according to the West Virginia Bureau of Public Health.

West Virginia Bureau of Public Health data shows Cabell County reported 33 cases in 2021 and then saw an increase in cases during 2022, reporting 57 HIV cases.

“We do not have a rapidly expanding outbreak. We lost some ground from where we had been,” said Cabell-Huntington Health Department Director Dr. Michael Kilkenny.

That lost ground Kilkenny is talking about involves testing.

Data provided by the Cabell-Huntington Health Department on the number of HIV tests issued since 2018.(WSAZ)

“Yes, we had extra cases. We’re very confident from the investigations we had that those cases did occur during those years that we weren’t as active,” Kilkenny said.

Kilkenny said the health department’s testing alone isn’t enough. Health professionals believe new testing opportunities offered by QRT provide a better picture of the spread.

“There is no shame in knowing your status. It can feel embarrassing, but take charge of your health and know your status,” Barker said. “When we know better, we do better.”

WVU infectious disease expert Dr. Sally Hodder centered her career around fighting the HIV epidemic beginning on the front lines in the 1980s.

Hodder believes the keys to stopping transmission and preventing another cluster come down to expanding access to low-barrier testing and meeting people where they are.

“I think perhaps HIV in this state is much more prevalent, and I think there is some mobility. I think it’s not just as Cabell but as a state, we need to focus on just HIV testing but the availability of effective programs which is the treatment of substance use disorder and syringe services programs,” Hodder said.

The QRT also offers HIV testing at their medical outreach events at the Huntington City Mission.

The community outreach events will be located outside the Huntington City Mission Chapel, 624 10th St., Huntington, on the second and fourth Thursday of each month at 4 p.m. The services currently offered include testing, vaccinations, and service referrals.

 

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RCMP warn about benzodiazepine-laced fentanyl tied to overdose in Alberta – Edmonton Journal

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Grande Prairie RCMP issued a warning Friday after it was revealed fentanyl linked to a deadly overdose was mixed with a chemical that doesn’t respond to naloxone treatment.

The drugs were initially seized on Feb. 28 after a fatal overdose, and this week, Health Canada reported back to Mounties that the fentanyl had been mixed with Bromazolam, which is a benzodiazepine.

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Mounties say this is the first recorded instance of Bromazolam in Alberta. The drug has previously been linked to nine fatal overdoses in New Brunswick in 2022.

The pills seized in Alberta were oval-shaped and stamped with “20” and “SS,” though Mounties say it can come in other forms.

Naloxone treatment, given in many cases of opioid toxicity, is not effective in reversing the effects of Bromazalam, Mounties said, and therefore, any fentanyl mixed with the benzodiazepine “would see a reduced effectiveness of naloxone, requiring the use of additional doses and may still result in a fatality.”

Photo of benzodiazepine-laced fentanyl seized earlier this year by Grande Prairie RCMP after a fatal overdose. edm

From January to November of last year, there were 1,706 opioid-related deaths in Alberta, and 57 linked to benzodiazepine, up from 1,375 and 43, respectively, in 2022.

Mounties say officers responded to about 1,100 opioid-related calls for service, last year with a third of those proving fatal. RCMP officers also used naloxone 67 times while in the field, a jump of nearly a third over the previous year.

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CFIA continues surveillance for HPAI in cattle, while sticking with original name for disease – RealAgriculture

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The Canada Food Inspection Agency will continue to refer to highly pathogenic avian influenza in cattle as HPAI in cattle, and not refer to it as bovine influenza A virus (BIAV), as suggested by the American Association of Bovine Practitioners earlier this month.

Dr. Martin Appelt, senior director for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in the interview below, says at this time Canada will stick with “HPAI in cattle” when referencing the disease that’s been confirmed in dairy cattle in multiple states in the U.S.

The CFIA’s naming policy is consistent with the agency’s U.S. counterparts’, as the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has also said it will continue referring to it as HPAI or H5N1.

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Appelt explains how the CFIA is learning from the U.S. experience to-date, and how it is working with veterinarians across Canada to stay vigilant for signs of the disease in dairy and beef cattle.

As of April 19, there has not been a confirmed case of HPAI in cattle in Canada. Appelt says it’s too soon to say if an eventual positive case will significantly restrict animal movement, as is the case with positive poultry cases.

This is a major concern for the cattle industry, as beef cattle especially move north and south across the U.S. border by the thousands. Appelt says that CFIA will address an infection in each species differently in conjunction with how the disease is spread and the threat to neighbouring farms or livestock.

Currently, provincial dairy organizations have advised producers to postpone any non-essential tours of dairy barns, as a precaution, in addition to other biosecurity measures to reduce the risk of cattle contracting HPAI.

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Toronto reports 2 more measles cases. Use our tool to check the spread in Canada – Toronto Star

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Canada has seen a concerning rise in measles cases in the first months of 2024.

By the third week of March, the country had already recorded more than three times the number of cases as all of last year. Canada had just 12 cases of measles in 2023, up from three in 2022.

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