XPost: atl.general, rec.arts.movies.past-films, okinawa.misc   
   XPost: az.politics   
   From: sickos@atheism.org   
      
   Three of eight people who contracted invasive meningococcal   
   disease this year have died, according to the Los Angeles County   
   Department of Public Health, which did not initially report   
   those deaths.   
      
   All three were men who died in February and March. Two had been   
   HIV positive, said a public-health spokesman.   
      
   The health department had issued a new vaccine recom­mendation   
   Wednesday for men who have sex with men, but the agency failed   
   to disclose the deaths to the public. Agencies such as the Los   
   Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and AIDS Healthcare Foundation,   
   also were not made aware of the deaths.   
      
   “We’re the largest HIV/AIDS medical care provider in the nation,   
   and they didn’t tell us,” said Michael Weinstein, executive   
   director for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Last year, Weinstein   
   initiated a ballot measure to carve a separate public health   
   department for the city of Los Angeles from the county.   
   Weinstein has been a critic of the county department, saying   
   it’s too large and has not done enough to enforce his group’s   
   successful ballot measure requiring the use of condoms in adult   
   film production.   
      
   A Los Angeles Superior Court judge in January threw out the   
   foundation’s proposal to create a separate city health   
   department, saying it was in conflict with state law over health   
   care.   
      
   But Weinstein said the department’s decision to withhold   
   information about the meningitis deaths shows the department   
   lacks a sense of urgency.   
      
   “The biggest question is, why did the alert come out now?” he   
   said. “(The public health department) is just an insensitive,   
   disconnected empire unto itself, and that’s what’s fundamentally   
   wrong with it.”   
      
   The Department of Public Health issued a statement, but admitted   
   no wrongdoing.   
      
   “On April 2, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health   
   informed contracted HIV community partners of the new   
   meningococcal vaccination recommendations,” according to the   
   statement. “The information provided to these partners included   
   a summary of the (men who have sex with men) cases reported in   
   L.A. County since October 1, 2012, including the total number of   
   deaths that have occurred.”   
      
   Of the 32 bacterial meningitis cases reported since October   
   2012, about a third were men who have sex with men. This   
   population is most at risk right now, said Dr. Robert Bolan,   
   medical director for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.   
      
   Although the center wasn’t alerted immediately about the deaths,   
   he said the public health department has taken the right course   
   by focusing on the population that could benefit most by the   
   vaccinations.   
      
   “The public health department is paying attention and they have   
   seen a recent trend among men who have sex with men and they are   
   acting with an abundance of caution in a timely manner,” Bolan   
   said.   
      
   Last year, a 33-year-old lawyer from West Hollywood died within   
   a week of feeling ill, prompting the AIDS Healthcare Foundation   
   to offer free vaccines and to criticize the county public health   
   department for what they called a delayed response.   
      
   An outbreak among gay men in New York last year generated new   
   concerns about an AIDS-like virus. A total of 22 men were   
   infected there from 2010 to 2013, and seven of them died.   
      
   Invasive meningococcal disease is a bacterial infection that   
   develops quickly and can lead to meningitis. While it is   
   considered a serious public health emergency and is fatal in   
   about 1 in 10 patients, it is relatively uncommon and spread by   
   proximity to sneezing and coughing or contact with saliva or   
   mucus.   
      
   AHF also will offer free meningitis vaccine at its Hollywood   
   Wellness Center, at 1300 N. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles.   
      
   A listing of clinics can be found at visit   
   http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/ or by calling the Los Angeles   
   County help line at 2-1-1.   
      
   http://www.presstelegram.com/health/20140403/los-angeles-county-   
   health-agency-failed-to-report-meningococcal-deaths-of-3-men   
      
         
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)