This has to be good news, “The Food and Drug Administration approved a test late last week that can detect whether someone is infected with the AIDS virus in as little as 20 minutes.
“The advance might prompt thousands more Americans to be tested, experts said, and could in turn lead to a slower spread of the disease.
“The while-you-wait test, marketed by OraSure Technologies of Bethlehem, Pa., will not be the first rapid AIDS test on the market. But, with a 99.6 percent accuracy rate, it is the first one that is highly reliable.
“Standard HIV tests take two days to two weeks to provide results, a time lag that experts say discourages some people from returning to get their results.”
Check with your local health department and AIDS clinics for reactions.
“About one-quarter of the 900,000 Americans infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are unaware they are infected. About half of all people seeking AIDS testing at public health clinics don’t come back to get their results. While for most of them the results show they aren’t infected, in about 10,000 cases each year a test is positive, but the tested person never gets the news.
“‘It is definitely a great step forward in terms of prevention,’ said Ronald O. Valdiserri, deputy director of the HIV-prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ‘The whole idea of making testing more convenient as a general approach to HIV prevention is a good one.’
“The executive director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, Washington’s largest nonprofit AIDS clinic, said the arrival of the rapid test ‘certainly is going to force us to change how we operate in some ways.’
“The clinic will have to decide how to handle walk-in clients and what, if anything, to offer people while they wait for what, in practice, will probably be about an hour, A. Cornelius Baker said. Most important, ‘We are going to have to decide how we’re going to triage people into appropriate care services and prevention services more quickly,’ he said.”
Think about it, with this new test, it could be possible to, within a half-hour, go from thinking you are healthy to confirmign you are HIV positive. The clinics will have to rethink how they are going to go from discovery of infection to talking the patient through first steps of managing the disease.
“At the moment, the new test can be performed only at sites with a laboratory that has been inspected and whose technicians have been trained in accordance with the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA). There are about 40,000 such places, according to officials of OraSure Technologies.
Are Airlines Getting Better?
One month is not a trend, but in September, airlines were running on time and lost less baggage than they have in a long time.
“Overall, airlines’ 88 percent on-time arrivals was the best since 1995, when the government started including mechanical failure in its record keeping. The record for lost bags of 3.04 per 100,000 passengers was the best since the government started its monthly report in 1987.
“Airlines credit their improved performance to fewer planes, fewer passengers, greater effort from employees and the retirement of older, less reliable planes.”
Teen Marriage Surge Surprising
The number of married teenagers surged nearly 50 percent during the 1990s, reversing a decades-long decline.
“Marriage remains fairly uncommon in this age group — only 4.5 percent of 15- to 19-year-olds were hitched in 2000. But researchers were nonetheless surprised by the increase reported by the Census Bureau. Regardless, the trend runs counter to what’s happening among all Americans, who generally are waiting longer to get married. For men, the median age of first marriage was 26.8 in 2000, up from 26.1 in 1990 and 22.8 in 1950. Among women, the median age was 25.1 in 2000, up from 23.9 in 1990 and 20.3 in 1950.
“David Popenoe of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, which studies marriage trends and ways to strengthen marriage, offered several possible reasons. ‘There’s been a slight trend toward conservatism among teens, less premarital sex, more fear of disease,’ he said. ‘It could conceivably have something to do with welfare reform. But it’s a surprise.’
“Some researchers attribute the surge during the 1990s to an influx of immigrants. Many came from areas where marriage is more common among teens — Latin America, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.”
Sick Days — Who Uses Them and How Much
The New York Daily News did a simple and effective story about teachers and sick days that you could consider doing.
“City teachers are taking full advantage of sick and personal time — collectively missing 3 million school days over the last four school years, new numbers show. That’s an average of 40 missed days of work each since the 1998-99 school year, city Education Department tallies show.
“Leading the pack were Staten Island teachers, who missed an average of 44 days. Queens teachers were close behind, taking 41 sick and personal days. Brooklyn teachers were absent 40 days while teachers in the Bronx and Manhattan missed 39 days.
“‘It sort of takes your breath away,’ said Staten Island parent Isabel Rodriguez. ‘How can you complain about the kids skipping school when teachers do the same thing?’
“The teachers’ contract allows them to take as many as 10 sick and personal days annually, no questions asked.
“‘Having 10 sick and personal days is a fringe benefit on the job,’ said Prof. Michael Podgursky, an economist at the University of Missouri at Columbia who has studied the length of the school day in New York City.
“The paper says, ‘New York’s teachers actually stack up well against national teacher absentee rates, which are estimated at 8% to 10%.'”
Trailer Parks — Mobile Homes
ABCnews.com produced a nice story about the changing attitudes and realities of mobile home living. In 2000, 22 million Americans lived full-time in “manufactured homes,” according to the Manufactured Housing Institute. Residents — typically retirees or young, lower-income couples — have an average age of 52.6 and a median income is $26,900.
ABC says, “They are cheaper than traditional homes — averaging $48,800 each, plus the cost of renting land, compared to $207,000 for a typical new standard home — but they have other costs associated with them. Lenders typically charge significantly higher interest rates for mobile home mortgages, and mobile homes lose value over time, unlike the typical traditional house.”
MHI says, “According to the Census Bureau, 2001 figures show that 67 percent of new manufactured homes were located on private property, and 33 percent of new manufactured homes were located in communities.
· “The average sales price of a manufactured home was $48,800 in 2001. Single-section homes average $30,700, while multi-section homes average $55,100.
· “In 2001, the estimated economic impact from manufactured housing was $20.1 billion. The economic impact reflects the economic activity generated by the production and sale of a home — this includes salaries, goods purchased and auxiliary services.”
