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Perspectives
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Nicole Kreuger
Where is media attention for HIV test?
The Viagra-obsessed press
have almost ignored a
10-minute test for HIV
news coverage and obscene amounts
of advertising space in nearly every
medium available. Most of the atten
tion is justified; the pill has pleased
thousands of American men, and
probably their partners, by creating a
iagra has really made it
big.
The anti-impotence pill
has received extensive
Jonas
Allen
new-tound sexual
revolution.
But isn’t sex
supposed to be
taboo in the '90s?
Based on how
much we hear
about sexually
transmitted dis
eases, I sure
thought so. We all
know about uonor
rhea and syphilis. There are televi
sion commercials about herpes,
thanks to the folks at MTV. And the
big two, HIV and AIDS, have be
come household words.
So it struck me as odd that while
people were taking long, hard looks
at Viagra, one of the year’s biggest
sex-related stories got lost.
Last week the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention asked med
ical clinics across the country to
abandon current HIV tests and adopt
a new, 10-minute test developed by
Murex Corporation in Norcross, Ga.
According to an article in the San
Antonio Express-News, the SUDS
HIV-1 test is the only rapid test ap
proved by the Food and Drug Ad
ministration, although several oth
ers are waiting for approval.
The motivation behind the 10
minute test was to avoid having peo
ple not show up once their results
were in. Patients must wait two
weeks or more for results using cur
rent tests for HTV, the virus that
causes AIDS.
So why are only a few clinics us
ing the rapid test? Because most of
the media whacked the story for
more hard news on the anti-impo
tence pill.
Representatives at White Bird Cri
sis Intervention Services didn’t even
know about the new test. White Bird
is a Eugene organization that admin
isters free HIV tests for local resi
dents.
“I would be concerned that the 10
minute test might give people a false
sense of security," said Gina Tor
mohlen, the administrator for White
Bird’s HIV testing program.
She’s right. Current HIV proce
dures test patients for infections that
have occurred at least three to six
months prior to the test. Any infec
tion that may have occurred more
recently than that cannot be detect
ed.
In other words, if people used the
10-minute test after a wild weekend,
their results would not tell the
whole story. The new test is faster,
but it can only test for infections that
occurred prior to the same three- to
six-month time period.
Still, if people acted responsibly
after their test (and we all know they
would, right?), why isn’t the test be
ing used in every publicly funded
clinic in America?
Well, there’s always tbj&argument
that the new test yields false posi
tives, but so does the current proce
dure.
“The test we use picks up certain
proteins that resemble HIV strains,
but they aren’t actually HIV ... so
we’re used to false positives,” Tor
mohlen said. “That’s just something
that comes along with the test being
very sensitive.
"But false positives can be retest
ed; false negatives can be deadly,”
she said.
Which is why this news should
have gotten more coverage. HTV and
AIDS are nothing to mess around
with. People should be able to find
out early whether they have HIV.
Apparently the media don’t care.
Look what happened when the new
HIV test came out: It got pushed un
der the covers while Viagra rose to
the top of the media’s most wanted
list.
The SUDS HIV-1 test can let peo
ple know almost immediately if they
have been infected with the vims
that causes AIDS. According to the
Express-News article, 25 percent of
those who test positive for HIV nev
er find out because they don’t come
back for their results.
That means more than 8,000 HIV
positive people per year could final
ly learn their true health condition,
according to CDC estimates.
Tormohlen said the percentage of
no-shows is much lower at White
Bird. She estimated 5 to 10 percent
of their test results go unclaimed,
but that number may be skewed by
people who lose their assigned num
ber and have to be re-tested.
“People also may not come back
for the same reason they don’t want
to come in — they are scared to find
out,” she said.
I don’t blame them; I would be,
too. But if the media don’t give the
10-minute test any publicity, the
spread of this epidemic could be
even scarier.
Jonas Allen is a columnist for the Emer
ald. His work appears on alternate
Wednesdays. His views do not neces
sarily represent those of the newspaper.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Williams is wrong
The Oregon Citizens Alliance’s Barry
Williams has once again graced the pages of the
Emerald with his brand of the truth. He wants us
to believe that he speaks for the majority of
Americans. Certainly, if we believed this, it
would make it easier for him to advance his
views.
Williams says the majority of Americans iden
tify themselves as Christian. This is probably
true, but I personally know Christians who prac
tice the compassion, love and inclusion taught
by Jesus Christ rather than buying into divisive
theological arguments based on a selective inter
pretation of biblical passages. And, even if the
majority of Americans did agree with him,
which I don’t believe for a moment is the case,
that wouldn’t make his positions right. In the not
too distant past, majorities believed in slavery
and the subjugation of women, and biblical pas
sages were used to justify these views as well.
As a part of the queer "community” (which is
at least as diverse as the Christian “communi
ty”), Williams’ views offend me. I think every
one has a right to believe what they will. Indeed,
we could not stop people from thinking, nor
would that be desirable. At the same time, I
think it is important to challenge bigoted and
hateful views like those of the OCA when they
appear. It’s important to say, “Williams, you
don’t speak for all Americans or Christians and I
believe your views are wrong.”
Sean Brient
Architecture
Quality counts
The quality of what I am taught is more im
portant than the color of the person teaching it.
I’m sure a lot of people would agree. Sure, it
would be nice if there were more minority in
structors here, but I think the obvious lack of mi
nority students is a little more pressing.
Tana Charette
EMS/Psychology
Reality for teens
I enjoyed reading about the fantasy world that
Barry Williams (ODE, May 20) has constructed
for himself upon consultation of surveys pub
lished in such erudite journals as Parade maga
zine. On Williams’ planet, “nine out of 10 teens
don’t drink or smoke, six out of 10 don’t approve
of premarital sex ..." etc., and all, I imagine, are
above average.
On planet Earth, other studies paint a slightly
different picture of teenage life. For example, in
a 1997 survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 36 percent of
teenagers smoke cigarettes, 22 percent smoke
cigars and 9 percent use smokeless tobacco. In
an analysis published in the May 8 issue of Sci
ence, a representative nationwide sample of
1,729 young men between the ages of 15 and 19
were questioned on a variety of topics. Sixty
four percent of them acknowledged that they
had vaginal, anal or oral intercourse with a fe
male, 69 percent drank alcohol last year (19 per
cent did so weekly), 35 percent had sexual inter
course while drunk or high, and 12 percent had
carried a gun in the last 30 days. So much for
Williams’ Lake Wobegon, but he is entitled to
his fantasy.
Williams suffers from the fact that he is a fun
damentalist Christian, a religion that is not
known to encourage critical thinking or a ratio
nal world view. When I learned that the little
Darwin fish with feet symbols really do irritate
these people, I rushed right out and bought two.
Now, all I have to do is wait for that “giant Chris
tian fish" to devour me, Toyota van and all.
Yikes!
Jim Remington
Physics
Thumbs
/I
L
TO THE
CONSTITUTION
COURT:
Considering the
number of com
plaints they had to
sift through, the
court justices made
a solid decision re
garding theASUO
elections. The court
acknowledged
problems with the
process but de
clined to inflict the
high cost and in
convenience of an
other election on
students; instead, it
made the reason
able request that
elections rules be
reviewed, some
thing we have long
advocated. While it
certainly wasn’t
flawless, the court’s
decision was an ef
fective way of deal
ing with a difficult
mess.
TO TWO-HEADED
GOVERNMENT
PROGRAMS DEAL
ING WITH BLACK
FOOTED FERRETS:
Long thought ex
tinct, the extremely
rare ferret was re
discovered and
made the subject of
extensive federal
programs designed
to save endangered
species. While this
is admirable and re
cent studies show
ing ferret popula
tions on the rise are
welcome news, the
government contin
ues to destroy ferret
populations even as
it struggles to save
them. As long as
the government
condones and
helps in efforts to
poison prairie dogs,
the primary food
source of ferrets,
taxpayer money will
be used to reintro
duce ferrets even as
it is used to destroy
the ecosystem into
which the creatures
are being released.