Petrelis Files

April 2, 2005

David Corcoran
Science Desk
The New York Times

Dear Mr. Corcoran:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is carrying out a multiyear program to clean up duplicate HIV and AIDS cases in all US states, territories and possessions, in order to create better epidemiology and surveillance of AIDS in America.

Since late January 2005, a few states, in their annual HIV/AIDS surveillance reports, have shared information about their participation in the CDC's Interstate Duplication Evaluation Project.

Of particular interest to me are the reports from New York and Colorado. You'll see below I've excerpted key passages that detail how the project is reducing both HIV and AIDS stats in those two states, and at the national level.

I think the sharp reductions of what were previously accepted HIV and AIDS stats from many states and the CDC portends complex changes in federal funding for AIDS research, care and treatment of people with AIDS and HIV prevention programs.

This might be of interest to your readers. Please look over the excerpts below, along with the full reports from which they came, and see if any of it would make a story for the Times.

Regards,
Michael Petrelis
San Francisco, CA
^^^


New York State HIV/AIDS Surveillance Semiannual Report

Issued 02/01/05


In 2000 the Center [sic] for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) completed the Interstate Duplication Evaluation Project (IDEP) in which all states were required to participate.

The purpose of the project was to identify duplicate cases of HIV/AIDS that have been reported to he National HIV/AIDS Surveillance System by one or more states and assure that the cases are only counted once.

If a case was reported by two or more states, the earliest date of diagnosis was used to determine which state the cases assigned to.

CDC estimates that 30,000 of the AIDS cases in the national surveillance system were duplicates, representing less than 5% of the almost 1 million cases that have been reported to CDC over the history of the epidemic through 2002.

It is anticipated that this process will be conducted on an ongoing basis.

The percent of AIDS cases that were lost in NYS [New York State] due to this process was approximately 3%.

Please note that this loss of AIDS cases will most likely not effect New York's Ryan White funding or other funding based on the AIDS case count because New York's estimated 3% loss in AIDS cases compares favorably with the average loss of cases for the nation which was a little less than 5%.

The data presented in the December 2003 Semiannual Report reflects this change in the AIDS case count for NYS.

The December 2002 and 2001 reports will be updated to reflect this change by March 1, 2005.

(Source: www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/aids/semiannual/2003/surveillance_semiannual_report_2003.pdf , page 2.)

-

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Jan. 27, 2005

Dear Colleague letter:

[snip]

All states lost cases due IDEP. CDC estimated that the overall duplication rate nationwide was approximately 5 percent.

Colorado lost 5.4 percent of HIV/AIDS morbidity. Of these, 7.9% of Colorado's HIV cases and 3.1% of AIDS cases as of June 30, 2004, were reclassified.

This relatively higher rate of reassigned HIV cases is partially accounted for by Colorado's long history of HIV reporting and it's active case finding.

[snip]

(Source: http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/dc/HIV_STDSurv/MonitortheEpi.pdf , page 2.)