Hiv Testing

A Maryland congressman called yesterday for a public hearing on the release of questionable HIV test results to patients at Maryland General Hospital, terming the matter "shocking to the conscience." The hospital submitted a detailed plan to the state yesterday to correct the laboratory problems that became public this week. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings said he was pleased the hospital has taken steps to inform more than 400 patients that they might have received inaccurate HIV and hepatitis test results.

A former laboratory worker at Maryland General Hospital warned her ex-boss last year of serious safety and accuracy problems in equipment used to perform HIV and other tests - problems the hospital had said it didn't learn of until January. Kristin S. Turner wrote her former boss Dec. 7 reminding him he had known for many months of equipment defects that could cause patients to receive inaccurate test results and that led her to become infected with HIV and hepatitis C. State officials investigated in January and concluded that hundreds of patients tested for HIV and hepatitis C might have been misinformed about the findings, The Sun disclosed yesterday.

Hundreds of patients at Maryland General Hospital might have received incorrect HIV and hepatitis test results during a 14-month period ending in August of last year, and the hospital failed to notify the patients of the problem, state officials say. "I think this is unconscionable behavior: people not being told about the status of their tests," said Nelson J. Sabatini, secretary of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Sabatini said that some patients might have been told they were HIV-negative when, in fact, they were positive.

One of Benita Paschall's first reactions when Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley declared a "state of emergency" in the city's fight against AIDS this week was: "Well, it's about time." "It's been an emergency. It's been an emergency for over 10 to 15 years," she said yesterday. "The wreckage has already reached mammoth proportions." The head of the Baltimore Prevention Coalition, a private nonprofit group with its headquarters in Mount Vernon, has been working as an AIDS- and HIV-prevention activist since the 1980s.

The AIDS crisis in Maryland also deserves attention The front-page article on South African President Thabo Mbeki's failure to adequately address the AIDS crisis facing his citizens ("S. Africa won't budge on AIDS policy," Nov. 30) made me wonder why a story about the AIDS epidemic in Baltimore was buried on Page 5B of the Maryland section ("Initiative aims to increase HIV testing, counseling," Nov. 30). The South Africa article clearly demonstrates the importance of responsible political leadership in addressing this epidemic.

Hoping to stem the skyrocketing number of new HIV cases in Northwest Baltimore, politicians, health officials and community leaders are launching a wide-ranging initiative today so that more residents are tested for the deadly virus and counseled. The plan includes new testing sites and drug treatment slots, as well as tapping such resources as churches, anti-crime programs and social service agencies. The Maryland Partners PUSH Campaign (Partners United to Stop HIV) is spending what some consider a modest sum on the problem - about $90,000 - and the ideas are not new. But observers say the effort, which Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Baltimore Democrat, are announcing in conjunction with World AIDS Day, which is tomorrow, is a significant step to turn around dismal statistics.

The tree man of Southwest Baltimore is getting money to plant his seeds. In Hampden and Poppleton, young people will be documenting their communities with photographs. And in Park Heights, a researcher will be trying to persuade people older than age 50 to be tested for HIV infection. The projects are going forward with the help of the Open Society Institute-Baltimore, a private foundation that will award nearly $500,000 in community fellowships today. This is the fourth year the institute, a private foundation created by billionaire George Soros, has provided similar grants in Baltimore, where the OSI has a branch office.

College schedules one-day seminars on Lyme disease Noting that Maryland has the seventh-highest rate of occurrence for Lyme disease in the country, Anne Arundel Community College has scheduled one-day courses on the tick-borne illness this summer - one for health care professionals and another for members of the general public. "Lyme Disease Update for Health Care Professionals" will be presented 8:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. June 30 and 5:45 p.m. to 10 p.m. Aug. 15 in Room 411 at the college's Glen Burnie Town Center site.

In Baltimore County Teen-ager killed, 2 others injured in wreck of SUV TOWSON - One Loyola Blakefield student died Monday and two others were in critical condition after single-vehicle accident late Saturday night, Baltimore County police said yesterday. Police charged Peter Gill Rodgers, 17, of the 1500 block of Long Quarter Court, with driving while intoxicated. Police said Rodgers was traveling westbound on Carroll Manor Road when his 1994 Ford Explorer veered to the right of the road, rolling several times.

In Baltimore County Information meetings are scheduled for college trust program TOWSON -- The Maryland Prepaid College Trust Program has scheduled two information meetings this week for Baltimore County parents considering a college education for their children. The meetings will be held Wednesday at Sudbrook Magnet Middle School, 4300 Bedrock Road, and Thursday at Ridgely Middle School, 121 Ridgely Road. Both meetings start at 7 p.m. The state program was created to make college more affordable through tax incentives and tuition plans and payment options.