By John LaMattina Let?s start with AIDS, which began spreading in the early 1980s. When first uncovered, there were no treatments for it. But in little more than a decade, AIDS was no longer a death sentence but a controlled disease thanks to the combined efforts of drug companies and the FDA. Perhaps AIDS drugs are the 10% of the new FDA approvals that Light feels are worthwhile. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Health
By Skoll World Forum, Contributor
Editor’s Note: Barbara Pierce Bush is CEO and Co-founder of Global Health Corps and a board member of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Valerie Jarrett
Editor's note: This post was originally posted on The Huffington Post. You find it here.
Three years ago, President Obama announced an historic comprehensive plan to help turn the tide on HIV/AIDS in the United States: the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. The Strategy has given a new sense of direction, and purpose in our fight against HIV and AIDS.
Since the Strategy’s release, scientific developments have advanced our understanding of how to best fight HIV. We now understand that to prevent long-term complications of HIV, treatment is recommended for all adults and adolescents living with HIV in the United States.
This is a significant shift; previous recommendations were to hold treatment until people showed signs of immune decline. Recent research also shows that an important benefit of earlier treatment is that it dramatically reduces the risk of HIV transmission to partners. Furthermore, HIV testing technology is faster, and more accurate than ever before, and HIV drug treatment is less toxic, and easier to administer.
All of this has powerful implications for how we focus our efforts.
And there is a clear need to do so: data released since the Strategy shows that along the HIV continuum of care– which is the progression from diagnosis to receiving optimal treatment — nearly 200,000 persons living with HIV in the United States are undiagnosed, and only 1 in 4 has the virus under control.
Today we are thrilled to announce two new developments specifically focused on addressing many of the factors that lead people to fall out of the continuum of care.
First, President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the HIV Care Continuum Initiative.
The Initiative directs Federal agencies to prioritize addressing the continuum of HIV care, by accelerating efforts and directing existing federal resources to increase HIV testing, services, and treatment, and improve patient access to all three.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House
Ramping up their fight to overturn a ban dating back to 1985 and the emergence of the AIDS crisis, gay-rights organizers are preparing an unprecedented “national gay blood drive” Friday to urge the federal government to change its donation policy and allow some openly gay and bisexual men to give blood.
None of the thousands of men expected to show up to blood donation centers is likely to be allowed to donate, but gay-rights activists are eager to show that the ban prevents countless units of healthy blood from being accepted into the blood banks.
This is “a demonstration of peace,” said Ryan James Yezak, organizer of Friday’s national gay blood drive.
Banning gay and bisexual men as blood donors promotes a blood shortage, creates a negative stereotype about the men and “is discrimination based on sexual orientation,” said Mr. Yezak, a gay filmmaker.
The blood drive — just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriage and a May decision by Boy Scouts of America leaders to admit openly gay youths to their program — is the latest front in an expanding national push for gay equality.
Read more at The Washington Times. By Cheryl Wetzstein.
Photo credit: BWJones
On Monday, I attended the launch of EMPOWERED, Alicia Keys’ new campaign with Greater than AIDS to reach and inform women about HIV/AIDS, at an event hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. This is the second event that Alicia Keys and I have attended at Kaiser within the last year, both focused on ending AIDS.
The women were thrilled to meet Alicia Keys, and Alicia, who was deeply moved by their stories, committed to add her powerful international voice to helping to end the epidemic here in the U.S. Alicia and I intended to lift up the women. But really, it was their strength, courage, resilience, good spirit, and humor that lifted us up.
The HIV crisis touches every corner of the globe. And it’s personally touched so many of us, including here at home. We all have tragic stories about how HIV/AIDS has affected our family and friends, and these stories propel us all to continue to fight to end this disease.
Monday's event addressed one of the tragic realities of HIV in our country. The HIV epidemic continues in the United States, with about 50,000 new HIV infections each year. And while about one-quarter of new HIV infections are among women, three-quarters of new infections among women occur among black and Latina women.
From: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/04/16/courage-strength-resilience-women-fight-aids
By Dan Newman, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Since 1981, 25 million people have died from HIV/AIDS. An estimated 1.7 million died in 2011 due to AIDS-related causes, with another 2.5 million newly infected with HIV. Beyond the human cost, the U.S. government spent $28 billion fighting HIV in 2012, and some African countries lose 1% in GDP growth each year due to the disease. It’s difficult to grasp these numbers, but it’s a problem crying out for several solutions.
One such solution is offered by Female Health Company : FC2, the only female condom approved by the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization.
Social opportunity
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently called for proposals for its Grand Challenges in Global Health grant program. One of the topics addressed this year is “reinventing the condom.” As the blog post describes the issue:
It may seem obvious, but the success and impact of any public health tool hinges on that tool being used consistently and correctly by those who need it. Vaccines sitting on shelves don’t prevent disease. New tuberculosis drug regimens won’t help if patients stop taking them halfway through the necessary days. Likewise, the potential value of condoms is limited by inconsistent use.
The FC2 condom is a superb public health tool that allows women to initiate protection against sexually transmitted diseases. As to making sure it is used consistently and correctly, Female Health has a variety of initiatives. In South Africa, Female Health has distributed 20 million condoms and trained 10,000 health providers. The company also runs a website with product information and training, it will be investing $14 million over the next six years in HIV/AIDS and reproductive education with global agencies, and it has set a goal of reaching 120 million more women in the poorest countries by 2020.
Profitable opportunity
Some may guess that doing business with developing countries wouldn’t allow for a very profitable business. However, when South African companies like Sasol — which estimated 18% of its workforce carried HIV in 2007 — must dedicate departmental budgets to HIV/AIDS, there are plenty of opportunities for Female Health to cover costs and earn a return. A healthier workforce for Sasol would simply cost less for the company, and Female Health can help companies like Sasol achieve a healthier workforce.
Closer to home, at least 3% of Washington, D.C., residents carry HIV/AIDS. Working with Johns Hopkins, a study found:
…a public-private partnership to provide and promote FC2 female condoms, prevented enough HIV infections in the first year alone to save over $8 million in avoided future medical care costs (over and above the cost of approximately $445,000 for the program). This means that for every dollar spent on the program, there was a cost savings of nearly $20.
FHCO Revenue TTM data by YCharts.
Risky opportunity
Female Health‘s major customers are from the public sector — like the United Nations Population Fund and USAID — which the company warns can make for lumpy revenue due to
From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/18/an-investment-opportunity-for-a-healthy-world/
By The Huffington Post News Editors
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles public health officials Wednesday began offering free bacterial meningitis vaccinations to low-income and uninsured residents after the deaths of two LA county residents within the past six months.
Public Health Director Dr. Jonathan Fielding said in a press conference that there was no continuing outbreak of bacterial meningitis. Nevertheless, vaccines would be available to those who felt concerned about contracting the disease, he said. He stopped short of recommending that gay men get the vaccine, which is what activists like Michael Weinstein of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation have been pushing since the death of 33-year-old West Hollywood resident Brett Shaad on April 13.
When news broke Tuesday about the December death of another gay man, Rjay Spoon, due to bacterial meningitis, Weinstein criticized the Public Health Department and compared the deaths in the gay community to the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.
From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/17/bacterial-meningitis-los-angeles-deaths_n_3096113.html
Celebrating Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s passing:
With the news Pastor Rick Warren’s son committed suicide:
Let’s be fair. Not all Leftists celebrate death, at least not directly. Perhaps 50% do it vicariously. So let’s be fair.
Let’s also take a sober look at people who get drunk on blood, either swilling it themselves or gleefully watching others guzzle.
Let’s also be clear. Rick Warren has never bashed anyone. He is obviously not responsible for the choices others make. He shares the truth as he understands it, in love, and has contributed more assistance to AIDS suffers and the poor than most anyone in history.
Let’s be honest. Margaret Thatcher, one of the greatest of Britain’s leaders, the first woman prime minister, a commoner, and a tireless champion of freedom and fair play is widely praised as one of the most useful and productive world leaders ever to take the stage.
But never expect the death cult to take healthy notice of fact-driven reality or the champions of purposeful lives. The blood orgy takes precedence. Demoniacs are insatiable.
For example, dismembering, poisoning, or stabbing babies to death in the womb is bad enough. Murdering little ones who miraculously survive abortion only adds evil to evil. Obama supports, endorses, and promotes all of it, in the name of ‘women’s health,’ privacy, and ‘reproductive rights.’
Any thinking person knows that people kill babies because they view babies inconvenient, because they look upon unplanned pregnancies as “punishment,”as Obama stated flat out. Murder is murder. You cannot justify the bloodbath by hiding behind lofty words and false testimony. It’s not about the health of women. They are routinely damaged severely or killed by abortion. Rather, it’s about control, the centerpiece of the death cult.
Ever wonder why you never hear Leftists decry Jihadist atrocities? It is strange, isn’t it? The crowd that claims to care about life and justice more than anyone routinely ignores the slaughter of innocents worldwide, the sodomizing of boys, the mutilation of little girls, and the horrific abuse and murder of women.
More than 100 million innocent people were obliterated by various communist and socialist dictators in the last century; and not a word from American Leftists, stewards of the death cult.
Millions more were tortured and disfigured and psychologically disabled by those dictators; and not a word from the global king of the Left and his operatives in this day. You don’t finger friends, an oath taken to join the death cult.
Hundreds of thousands were starved, tortured, and murdered over the course of decades in North Korea; and
From: http://www.westernjournalism.com/the-left-a-death-cult/
Police in a Phoenix suburb say a man fatally stabbed his wife because he feared he might have given her the AIDS virus and then also killed his adult son.
Goodyear police say 63-year-old Eugene Maraventano called 911 on Saturday to report the killings he committed several days earlier. Police say he also tried several times to kill himself but failed.
According to court documents, Maraventano killed his wife, Janet, in their bed because he feared he may have contracted HIV from prostitutes years earlier and given it to her.
He said he killed his 27-year-old son, Bryan, over concerns he was mentally disabled because he didn’t have a girlfriend, couldn’t get a job and played video games all day.
Court documents do not say if Maraventano is HIV positive.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
By The Huffington Post News Editors
OSLO, April 9 (Reuters) – Air pollution is an underestimated scourge that kills far more people than AIDS and malaria and a shift to cleaner energy could easily halve the toll by 2030, U.N. officials said on Tuesday.
Investments in solar, wind or hydropower would benefit both human health and a drive by almost 200 nations to slow climate change, blamed mainly on a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from use of fossil fuels, they said.
“Air pollution is causing more deaths than HIV or malaria combined,” Kandeh Yumkella, director general of the U.N. Industrial Development Organization, told a conference in Oslo trying to work out new U.N. development goals for 2030.
Most victims from indoor pollution, caused by wood fires and primitive stoves in developing nations, were women and children.
He suggested that new U.N. energy goals for 2030 should include halving the number of premature deaths caused by indoor and outdoor pollution.
A 2012 World Health Organization (WHO) study found that 3.5 million people die early annually from indoor air pollution and 3.3 million from outdoor air pollution. Toxic particles shorten lives by causing diseases such as pneumonia or cancer.
“The problem has been underestimated in the past,” Maria Neira, the WHO‘s director of public health and environment, told Reuters. Smog is an acute problem from Beijing to Mexico City.
The data, published as part of a global review of causes of death in December 2012, were an upwards revision of previous figures of 1.9 million premature deaths caused by household pollution a year and 1.3 million outdoors, she said.
The revision reflects better measurements and changes in methods, such as including heart problems linked to pollutants, she said. The numbers cannot be added together because they include perhaps 500,000 from overlapping causes.
SIX MILLION
“Still, it means more than 6 million deaths every year …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
The president of the Commission for Human Rights and Minorities of the lower house of Brazil’s Congress says he will not step down despite mounting pressure from critics who say he is homophobic and racist.
Marco Feliciano, an evangelical pastor, Tuesday told reporters: “I will remain. I was elected democratically. Let me do my job.”
He reversed his decision made last week banning the presence of outsiders from the commission’s sessions to keep out protesters demanding his resignation. However, he warned he would order closed door sessions should protesters appear.
On his Twitter page, Feliciano recently said that AIDS was a “gay cancer” and that Africa has been “cursed since the times of Noah,” which explains the poverty, violence and disease afflicting that continent.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
(Phys.org) —Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined the molecular structure of a protein whose mutations have been linked to several early aging diseases, and to side effects of common HIV and AIDS medications. This breakthrough could eventually help researchers develop new treatments for these early aging diseases and redesign AIDS medications to avoid side effects, such as diabetes. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
“I hear all the time the expression ‘the good old days.’ Well, the good old days, we forget they have been good for some, but they weren’t good for everybody. It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling people back … for blacks to be back in the back of the bus, for women to be back in the kitchen, for gays to be in the closet, and for immigrants to be on their side of the border.”
So says Rev. Luis León, Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, situated not far from the White House. León’s remarks were part of his Easter message March 31, with the First Family in attendance. His church and his ministry endorse homosexuality, homosexual marriage, and practicing homosexuals in ‘ministry.’ Obviously, the ‘good’ pastor denies Scripture is inerrant, Christ’s clear assurance. Thus León, completely contradicts the Lord he claims to serve, which is, quite frankly, insane.
“It drives me crazy . . . “
Yes, one would have to be crazy to point the finger of accusation at fellow pastors and other Christian believers, accusing them of ridiculous things, on Easter Sunday no less. León did not name the “captains of the religious right” who drive him crazy. In the present day, such captains might include Tony Perkins, Mat Staver, Gary Bauer, Sarah Palin, Cal Thomas, Jay Sekulow, Billy Graham, or James Dobson, all good people holding to traditional values for legitimate reasons, none of which have anything to do with discrimination or persecution.
Not one of these good people has ever suggested blacks return to the back of the bus. Blacks have not been forced to the back of the bus for more than 50 years. Just as a reminder, it was the Christian Right in the 19th century that freed the slaves, helped slaves escape the South, died for justice in the Civil War, and ministered to the suffering of all colors during and after the war. Without the religious right, the civil rights movement would not have gained altitude. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Christian Republican, just for the record. Without Republican votes, the Civil Rights Act would never have passed.
No one has called women back to the kitchen. Women, like Sarah Palin and millions of others, can freely choose home life, or a professional life, or both; and this has been true in growing measure since Christ liberated women, most especially in America.
Not one of these respectable Americans has insisted homosexuals stay in the closet. Christians of all political affiliations have been the most loving toward homosexuals, demonstrating that love by providing far and away the most support when the AIDS epidemic struck. Homosexuals enjoy the greatest freedom and prosperity here in America thanks to the traditions of tolerance and acceptance cultivated by centuries of Judeo-Christian tradition.
And no one from the religious right has ever denied anyone the right to immigrate. Indeed, Christians have been the most supportive of new citizens. Christians from the right and …read more
Metallothioneins, proteins able to capture metal ions, play a major role in the virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans, a fungal pathogen which causes severe infections in immunodeficient and immunocompetent individuals (AIDS patients, transplant receivers, etc.) This is one of the main conclusions of the research published on the journal Cell, Host & Microbe, and developed by the researchers Sílvia Atrian and Anna Espart, from the Department of Genetics and the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), affiliated with the campus of international excellence BKC. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
The Commission for Human Rights and Minorities of the lower house of Brazil‘s Congress has banned the presence of outsiders from its sessions to keep out protesters demanding the resignation of its president, evangelical pastor Marco Feliciano.
The decision to hold closed sessions was taken Wednesday night.
Critics say that statements made by Congressman Feliciano of the Christian Social Party show that he is homophobic and racist. Feliciano was elected to head the commission last month.
On his Twitter page, Feliciano recently said that AIDS was a “gay cancer” and that Africa has been “cursed since the times of Noah,” which explains the poverty, violence and disease afflicting that continent.
Feliciano denies being homophobic or a racist and has said he would not resign.
“I am not homophobic,” Feliciano said in a recent sermon. “I am against their promiscuity. I don’t want my daughters to go out on the streets and see men with shaved legs kissing each other. The Brazilian family must be respected.”
Avaaz, the U.S.-based group that campaigns on various issues, from promoting democracy to fighting poverty, corruption and climate change, said Feliciano should step down.
“Feliciano has proved repeatedly that he is inappropriate for this post. His last move to kick people out of the House is unprecedented. Democracy has been suspended at the Human Rights Commission and the Christian Social Party must give him marching orders now,” the group said Thursday in an email .
Celebrities have also come out against Feliciano.
On Wednesday, actor Bruno Gagliasso posted on Instagram a photo of him kissing fellow actor Matheus Nachtergaele, and on his Twitter page he wrote: “The less you know the more you judge.”
Also on Wednesday, Daniel Mercury, one of Brazil‘s most popular singers told the G1 news website that she was in a lesbian relationship with journalist Malu Vercosa and added “I am in love with Malu, with Brazil, with individual freedoms. We cannot ignore the conquests we have achieved. We cannot walk backward like the Felicianos of the world.’
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Offending the moral sensibilities of millions of Americans, Time Magazine is featuring cover stories showing two white homosexual couples kissing. The Right Scoop blog ran a “censored version of the offensive covers.”
John Aravosis, the homosexual activist who runs Americablog.com, said this is part of a propaganda campaign to normalize homosexuality. He said, “The kiss has been quite a powerful political weapon in the gay arsenal for a while now. And checking our archives, it’s rather amazing how important the ‘gay kiss’ has been to our political struggle over the years.”
The purpose is to desensitize people to homosexuality and increase acceptance of the lifestyle.
Media bias is also evident in the influence of the media-funded National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA).
The NLGJA says coverage of the homosexual marriage debate before the Supreme Court was “balanced—supportive even” and that program hosts “felt compelled to disagree with them [opponents of homosexual marriage] on air.”
We noted the media’s failure to cover the March for Marriage in Washington, D.C.
On the Time cover photos, the NLGJA said, “The black-and-white photos are an interesting, provocative selection. The magazine didn’t opt for family photos of smiling, nonthreatening gay and lesbian families and their kids: It went for the part of same-sex marriage that may be most off-putting to mainstream cultures. The kissing, the sexuality. It’s a bold choice for a mainstream publication to make.”
Regarding the story itself, the NLGJA said it “was largely positive, save for a colorful sentence about AIDS and bathhouses.”
The offensive phrase was that the deadly disease AIDS was “burning outward from the bathhouses…” These are places where anonymous gay sex is common. Homosexuals are determined to keep coverage of the health hazards of homosexuality out of mainstream media.
On his Reliable Sources program, supposedly devoted to media criticism, host Howard Kurtz featured two homosexual rights supporters, John Aravosis and Jennifer Rubin, who writes “The Right Turn” blog for The Washington Post.
Nevertheless, he noted the bias in the coverage, explaining that “Liberal commentators are thrilled that the marriage debate is swinging their way, at least in the court of public opinion, while many conservative pundits were muted or surprisingly supportive.” He cited Bill O’Reilly of Fox News declaring that “The compelling argument is on the side of homosexuals,” and dismissing opponents as Bible-thumpers.
The latter was apparently a reference to the Christian teaching that marriage involves a man and a woman and that homosexuality is prohibited in the Bible because it is unnatural and sinful.
Rush Limbaugh countered: “So how many of you who watch Fox are Bible thumpers? Do you think there are any Bible thumpers, quote/unquote, that watch Fox? Because last night you were sort of marginalized on [O’Reilly’s show] The Factor as not having a compelling argument and just being a bunch of Bible thumpers.”
Limbaugh also noted the influence of the “Gay Mafia,” which he described as “the activist homosexual lobby” contributing “big bucks” to the Democratic Party and leading the campaign for homosexual marriage.
Interestingly, it was Time Magazine that ran a …read more
The head of Oklahoma’s dental board said Monday her office wants prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against a Tulsa oral surgeon at the center of a public health scare involving at least 7,000 of his patients.
Susan Rogers, the executive director of the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, told The Associated Press that she met with Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris on Monday to discuss whether Dr. W. Scott Harrington is criminally liable.
The 17-count complaint filed last week by Rogers’ office called Harrington a “menace to the public health.” The complaint also said officials found rusty instruments, potentially contaminated drug vials and improper use of a machine designed to sterilize tools.
Harrington and his staff could face at least two felony charges, Rogers said, including practicing dentistry without a license and aiding or abetting another person who is violating the state’s dental act. Rogers said each of those crimes carries a prison term of up to four years and a $10,000 fine.
“I did speak to the DA this morning and I’ve talked to other officials, and I can’t comment on those conversations, but there’s more to come,” Rogers told AP.
A message left Monday morning with Harrington’s attorney in Tulsa was not immediately returned.
Harrington had been a dentist for 36 years before giving up his license March 20. He faces an April 19 hearing at which he could have his certification revoked.
Inspectors said they found unsafe practices at Harrington’s Tulsa-area clinics and letters were sent to 7,000 patients, urging them to be screened for hepatitis B and C and the virus that causes AIDS.
According to the Oklahoma Dentistry Board‘s complaint, Harrington’s practice had varying cleaning procedures for its equipment, needles were re-inserted in drug vials after their initial use, drug vials were used on multiple patients and the office had no written infection-protection procedure.
Also, dental assistants performed some tasks reserved to a licensed dentist, such as administering IV sedation. A device used to sterilize equipment hadn’t undergone required monthly tests in at least six years.
More than 400 people lined up outside a Tulsa health clinic on Saturday to get tested, and dozens more did so Monday morning, a health department spokeswoman said.
Hundreds of patients who showed up at a Tulsa health clinic Saturday to get tested for hepatitis and HIV, after seeing an oral surgeon accused of unsanitary practices, will now have to wait two to three weeks for results.
Letters began going out Friday to 7,000 patients who had seen Dr. W. Scott Harrington during the past six years, warning them that poor hygiene at his clinics created a public health hazard. The one-page letter provided information on how and where to seek treatment but couldn’t explain why Harrington’s allegedly unsafe practices went on for so long.
Testing for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and the virus that causes AIDS began at 10 a.m. Saturday, but many arrived early and stood through torrential downpours. The Tulsa Health Department said 420 people were tested Saturday at its North Regional Health and Wellness Center. Screenings will continue from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday through Friday.
Results of negative tests will be mailed to people, but anyone who tests positive will be interviewed by an Oklahoma health department employee and informed of resources in their area if they lack insurance or a personal doctor, a health department spokeswoman told Tulsa World.
A hotline set up by the health department to assist the patients received more than a thousand calls Friday and more than 400 on Thursday, she added.
Harrington, 64, is a 1974 graduate of the University of Washington School of Dentistry.
Inspectors found a number of problems at the doctor’s clinics in Tulsa and suburban Owasso, according to the state Dentistry Board, which filed a 17-count complaint against Harrington pending an April 19 license revocation hearing. According to the complaint, needles were reinserted into drug vials after being used on patients, expired drugs were found in a medicine cabinet and dental assistants administered sedatives to patients, rather than the doctor.
The IV sedation is a felony charge if authorities pursue it, Tulsa World reports, and the dental assistants could face additional charges. Susan Roger, the executive director of the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, said assistants aren’t allowed to use needles or syringes on patients for any reason.
Kari Childress, 38, showed up at 8:30 a.m Saturday to be tested, mainly because she was nervous.
“I just hope I don’t have anything,” said Childress, who had a tooth extracted at one of Harrington’s two clinics five months ago. “You trust and believe in doctors to follow the rules, and that’s the scariest part.”
One patient, Orville Marshall, said he didn’t meet Harrington until after he had two wisdom teeth pulled about five years ago at the Owasso clinic. A nurse inserted the IV for his anesthesia; Harrington was there when Marshall came to.
“It’s just really scary. It makes you doubt the whole system, especially with how good his place looked,” said Marshall, 37.
An instrument set reserved for use on patients with infectious diseases was rusty, preventing its effective sterilization, and the office autoclave — a pressurized cleaner — was used improperly and hadn’t been certified as effective in at least six …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
About 150 to 200 patients of a Tulsa oral surgeon who’s accused of unsanitary practices are lining up outside a health clinic to be screened for hepatitis and the virus that causes AIDS.
The line Saturday wrapped around the front of the large building north of downtown that houses Tulsa Health Department North Regional Health and Wellness Center.
Oklahoma officials say 7,000 patients of Dr. W. Scott Harrington in the past six years will receive letters that warn that poor hygiene at Harrington’s two clinics created a public health hazard.
The patients are being urged to be screened for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.
Harrington’s practice was inspected after officials determined a patient may have contracted hepatitis C while having dental surgery.
By The Huffington Post News Editors
TULSA, Okla. — Health officials are urging 7,000 patients of an Oklahoma dentist to seek medical tests to ensure they haven’t been exposed to hepatitis or the virus that causes AIDS.
The Oklahoma and Tulsa health departments say the patients may have been exposed to viruses at clinics operated by W. Scott Harrington. The agencies said they found “major violations” of the Oklahoma Dental Act.
