The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 15, 1989 - Page 5 'U' provides AIDS education programs BY STACEY GRAY Ten years ago, few people had even heard of the AIDS virus. Today, discussion about AIDS is so common that newspapers seldom bother to write out Acquired Im- mune Deficiency Syndrome. When the disease started receiving na- tional attention five years ago, both Uni- versity Health Services (UHS) and the University Hospital began programs tar- geted at furthering understanding and alleviating fears about AIDS. UHS began AIDS education programs in 1985, around the same time as the rest of the nation, said Polly Paulson, AIDS Edu- cation Coordinator at UHS. UHS publishes pamphlets about the risks and dangers of the AIDS virus. "We go through 10,000 of our AIDS pamphlets per year. People read the information - it's pretty simple, but it's pretty effective, too," Paulson said. In addition, UHS sponsors Safer Sex Peer Education Programs which provide University students with information about all sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS. UHS also runs an Anonymous AIDS (HIV) Antibody Counseling and Testing Program. Anyone who receives this test is required to undergo anonymous pre- and post-test counseling on AIDS prevention procedures. Almost 1,000 people have been through the testing program since it began almost two years ago, and about 10 have tested positive for the AIDS antibody, Paulson said. She said all those who have tested positive so far have been bisexual or gay men, but added, "that could change in the future." Students who feel they may be at risk for the AIDS virus can go to UHS for a free AIDS antibody test, said UHS Director Ceasar Briefer. Forj without a pre-paid $35. non-students or faculty health plan, the fee is Despite the recent push for more AIDS research, Briefer said it is important not to spend too much time researching AIDS. "AIDS is a tremendous problem, obvi- ously, because it is a lethal disease," he said. "But it has not turned out to be as much of a problem in the non-drug using heterosexual population than once was feared." He explained that research shows the disease is moving away from the gay male population, and is now becoming more prevalent among IV drug users. "The gay population has really dramati- cally changed their behavior and AIDS is really no longer concentrated in the gay community," Briefer said. "The most rapid growth of new cases is occurring in inner city, hardcore-type IV users." While UHS keeps statistics on the per- centage and demographics of people who test positive for the AIDS virus, the Uni- versity Hospital has no method of tabulat- ing the number of AIDS victims who have been treated at the Hospital. "We're trying to put together an AIDS database, but we're running into confiden- tiality problems," said Robert Fekety, di- rector of University Hospital's AIDS Task Force. However, Fekety pointed out that the vast majority of the Hospital's AIDS pa- tients do not come from the University community. "They are mostly male homo- sexuals, some blood transfusion patients, and a very few are drug related," he said. Fekety said AIDS has not been as wide- scale a problem in Michigan as it has been in other states. He said only 10 percent of Michigan's AIDS patients are treated at University Hospital. "Most of the cases of AIDS we see in Michigan are people who were infected years ago." Fekety said that AIDS education at Uni- versity Hospital began more than four years ago. Much of the education is geared toward hospital employees and combatting their fears about dealing with AIDS patients, he said. "There is a lot of homophobia here. Anyone who looks like they might be gay - people might be afraid to take care of them," he said. However, Fekety said the Hospital's education programs have suc- cessfully combated this potential problem; he said fear of AIDS patients "is not a problem" at the Hospital. "I think that the U of M people are very well educated. They're concerned and ratio- nal about this and high risk groups are do- ing things to prevent the spread," Fekety said. .'U' research contributes to growing AIDS knowledge BY NOELLE SHADWICK Gathering information about AIDS is like building a wall from pebbles, says Jill Joseph, assistant professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health. Every re- searcher contributes a pebble, and if no one contributes a pebble, there will be no wall. The University's contribution to the wall of AIDS research has ex- panded since the disease was first di- agnosed in September 1981. More than 100 people in the schools of Public Health, Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry are involved in AIDS-related research. The increase in AIDS research at the University has been rapid, said Richard Harrison, director of the East Central Region AIDS Education and Training Center, "especially for a disease that was only identified a few years ago." Many aspects of AIDS are stud- ied, but most of the research has nothing to do with working with the AIDS virus or for finding a cure for the disease. Instead, researchers study behav- ioral and social aspects of AIDS and other biological factors which can complicate the disease. One reason the University does less research on a cure for the disease is that the University's facilities are not suited to handle the AIDS virus. Studying viruses requires spe- cially designed bio-containment lab- oratories, said Dentistry Prof. John Drach, who is developing drugs to combat AIDS. The University will build three bio-containment laboratories in the AIDS Continued from Page 1 them." "The Health Services kept saying we have so much stuff out there, don't you see it? To be honest... I've only seen [them] pass out prophylactics on the Diag," said Mark Samuels, founder of Michigan Cares, which is trying to educate the University's undergraduate commu- nity about AIDS issues. Samuels worked in conjunction with University Health Services to form Michigan Cares. UHS sponsors peer educator groups, such as Ithe Safer Sex Peer next year with a $731,590 National Institute of Health grant. Until the labs are completed, no AIDS virus research can be conducted on cam- pus. However, many University re- searchers are concerned with the be- havioral and social aspects of AIDS. "AIDS is as much of a behavioral problem as it is a medical problem," said David Ostrow, director of the University's recently established AIDS Biobehavioral Research Cen- ter. Studies have shown that behav- ioral changes can have a definite im- pact on the spread of the AIDS epi- demic, Joseph said. The rate HIV infection is spread- ing among the gay male population has declined due to the group's in- creasing use of safe sex. However, the problem remains prevalent among IV drug users and their sexual partners who have not adopted safe sex practices, said Public Health Prof. Toby Citrin. Researchers in the School of Public Health and the Biobehavioral Research Center want to know what makes people change their behavior and how those changes can be facili- tated. Any type of behavior change is difficult, Joseph said. But behavioral changes made by people in high-risk groups to prevent AIDS are "changes that have to be made for the rest of their lives," Joseph said. In addition, several projects in the Medical School focus on physical or biological problems which can complicate AIDS. University research is directly Educator Program. The program provides students with information about the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, and discusses safer sex prac- tices, said Polly Paulson, AIDS education coordinator at UHS. Teams of undergraduate and grad- uate peer educators go to dormito- ries, off-campus student housing and academic classrooms to give their presentations. "We give the most recent infor- mation about AIDS and the statis- tics, and we really respond to stu- dents' questions," said Suzanne De- Palma, program co-coordinator and Rackham graduate student. proportional to the funding it can garner from federal sources. In the last two years a "big push" began at the federal level to supply AIDS money and to get researchers to ap- ply for grants, Harrison said. The University does not keep track of the amount of money from federal sources allocated specifically for AIDS. "There is more money being spent here now than previously," said James Randolph, project repre- sentative for the University's Divi- sion of Research Development and Administration (DRDA). The National Institute of Health reports that between 1982 - when the institute first allocated money for AIDS research - and 1988, the money allocated for AIDS research has increased by millions of dollars. "All agencies have increased funding for AIDS, but that doesn't mean they give you everything you ask for," Ostrow said. One researcher anonymously as- serted, however, that declaring that a project would be related to AIDS made it much more fundable. The University has been criticized by members of Lesbian and Gay Rights Organizing Committee for not making information about its AIDS research more accessible. Some researchers, however, have tried to make their research more public. The University Medical Center has begun to compile a de- scriptive list of its AIDS research, and the Biobehavioral Research Center has its own public policy core to supply research results to policy makers. Piayin' around Avani Khanna (on top) and Chris Becker, warm Valentine's Day outside the Rackham both seniors at Ann Arbor Community building. But there is still no University- wide effort to make University AIDS research results public. Compiling a list of AIDS related research projects is difficult, said DRDA's Dennis Cebulski, because many research projects related to AIDS do not use the word AIDS in their title, and therefore, a computer database search will not show the project on the list. For instance, a $4 million, five- year grant for the synthesis of AIDS fighting compounds was not listed on such a database search list. The list did show 10 projects re- ceiving collectively over $2 million in AIDS research grants. However, four of those grants expired in 1988. 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