ADVISORY/Experts Available to Discuss L.A. Bathhouses and Rising Rate of HIV.

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TOPIC: A Los Angeles County study found HIV infections were seven times higher among bathhouse patrons than other people who were tested, according to an article by The Los Angeles Times. As a result, Los Angeles health officials may require all bathhouses and gay sex clubs to offer condoms, information on safe sex and on-site HIV testing. Businesses who do not meet the requirements may be forced to close. Bathhouse and club owners who oppose such regulations claim it is a violation of their customers' civil rights.

EXPERTS: ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this story:

Richard Zaldivar is a community organizer addressing HIV and AIDS issues in the Latino community and Los Angeles area. He founded The Wall-Las Memorias Project with the goal of building not only a monument in memory of people who have died of AIDS, but a place where families can go to grieve and heal, and a starting point for talking about issues of health and sexuality that are often denied because of ignorance or shame. Under his leadership, The Wall-Las Memorias has reached out to Latino men who are gay, bisexual, questioning or straight, and parents and mothers who lost children to AIDS. Recently, The Wall Project launched Project FE, which is an outreach program aimed at clergy, churches, religious institutions and communities of faith. 323-257-1056, [e-mail] PR Contact: Keith Malone, 323-441-0000, [e-mail]

Prior to joining the Population Council, Dr. Ravi K. Verma had over two decades of research and teaching experience at the International Institute for Population Science in Mumbai India, an apex demographic research center in Southeast Asia. With a Ph.D. in psychology, he has specialized in health policy research and health promotion at UCLA and reproductive health research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. During the mid-eighties and early nineties, he worked extensively in the fertility/family planning and reproductive health areas and conducted research on issues related to quality of care and the involvement of men in reproductive health. In the early nineties he became interested in HIV/AIDS research and, as a natural extension of his earlier work with men, conducted research into risky sexual behavior by men vis a vis the epidemic. PR Contact: Melissa May, 212-339-0525, [e-mail]

Lee Harrison, M.D. is an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Division of Infectious Diseases and is the director of its Epidemiology Unit. He was trained in epidemiology and molecular epidemiology in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Harrison also has an active research program in Brazil on the epidemiology and vaccine prevention of HIV infection. He is the director of the Pitt NIH Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program. Dr. Harrison is also the Director of the Public Health Infectious Diseases Laboratory, a molecular sub-typing laboratory whose mission is to provide training in molecular epidemiology, to conduct research, and to provide support for the Director of Infection Control at UPMC. 412-624-3137, 412-624-3137 (University PR Phone)

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