MMWR – Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

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1. Estimated Numbers and Characteristics of Men Who Have Sex With Men and Use Injection Drugs — United States, 1999–2011

NCHHSTP Media Team
404.639.8895
NCHHSTPMediaTeam@cdc.gov

A new CDC analysis estimates that less than one percent (0.35 percent) of men in the United States are both men who have sex with men and injecting drug users (MSM/IDU). Because MSM/IDU are at increased risk for HIV infection, authors analyzed data from four national surveillance systems to better characterize this dual-risk population. Findings suggest that although MSM/IDU account for a small percentage of U.S. men, they represent a disproportionate number of people who have been diagnosed with, or are in care for, an HIV infection. The analysis also found that across surveillance systems, between 4 and 12 percent of MSM reported injecting drugs and between 11 and 39 percent of all male IDUs were MSM.  Researchers conclude that prevention strategies such as testing those at high-risk at least yearly and using an integrated prevention approach for IDU (e.g., substance and mental health treatment, risk reduction programs/messages and proven intervention methods like access to condoms/sterile syringes) are essential for reducing HIV infections. Pre-exposure prophylaxis is also an appropriate prevention strategy for some high-risk IDU and MSM. Moving forward, findings from this analysis can be used to more fully assess the impact of HIV among MSM/IDU and inform prevention programs.

2. Impact of a National Tobacco Education Campaign on Weekly Quitline Calls and Visitors to a Quit Smoking Website — United States, March 4–June 23, 2013

CDC Media Relations
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Emotionally evocative, hard-hitting tobacco education media campaigns can substantially increase calls to quitlines and visits to websites containing information on quitting smoking, which overtime would be expected to contribute to increases in quit attempts and successful cessation.  Media campaigns such as the Tips campaign might have an even greater impact if they were sustained at a high intensity for a longer time. The number of calls to the national quitline portal 1-800-QUIT-NOW and the number of website visitors to a CDC website increased by 75 percent and by nearly 3,700 percent, respectively, during the 2013 Tips from Former Smokers campaign compared to the four weeks before the campaign.  Calls and website visitors quickly fell almost to pre-campaign levels once the campaign ended.  This suggests that the campaign generated about 151,000 additional calls and almost 2.8 million additional website visitors above pre-campaign levels.  National television ads aired on a one-week-on, one-week-off basis.  During the weeks the ads were not airing, quitline volume was down 38 percent compared to the weeks the ads were running.

3. Assessing the Risks for Poliovirus Outbreaks in Polio-Free Countries — Africa, 2012–2013

CDC Media Relations
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For polio-free countries in Africa, a proactive approach is necessary to prevent and limit the size of outbreaks from wild poliovirus importations until the world is polio-free. Globally, only three countries have never interrupted wild poliovirus circulation. Nigeria is one of these, and the only one on the African continent. Since 2003, many  countries in a “WPV importation belt“ that stretches across the continent have experienced outbreaks due to wild poliovirus of West African origin, some of them, many times. To eradicate polio and prevent outbreaks all children must be vaccinated. Weak health systems, as well as other factors such as vulnerable populations and insecurity/civil unrest present a challenge to many countries in the region. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative targets polio vaccination campaigns and other interventions based on periodic risk assessments of country programs. As long as endemic WPV transmission continues in any country, all countries will be at risk for WPV importations and potentially large outbreaks.

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES