HIV and MSFWs

[Guest guest]

-----Original Message-----

From: Connolly, - CO 4th

Sent: Monday, January 07, 2002 3:15 PM

' '

Subject: RE: [ ] HIV and MSFWs

Dear and others interested,

Recently, I have been doing a fair amount of research in the area of

HIV in MSFW in preparation for a needs assessment in my state. One

" semi-recent " study that I have found which included seroprevalence

was done among migrant and seasonal farmworkers in northern

California in 1994. 0/173 cases were found, and this was not a

random sample. I would be interested in seeing the study that Ed

Hendrikson just referred to, or any others which are out there.

I would echo Ed's note of caution about the prevalence data. I

clicked on the link with the NJ data that you included. I noticed

that the testing was done among people who had attended a one-hour

HIV prevention program. It is possible that some of those

people attended the course precisely because they considered

themselves to be at high risk. This would make the sample very

" unrandom, " if you'll pardon my poor English.

Also, when considering the comparability of a study in the

literature to your local area, I would keep in mind that the

West/Mountain region has mainly Mexican migrants, whereas the East

coast has a more diversified migrant labor pool. I believe that

some of the studies, which I can't remember the specifics of right

now (one in NC?), showed higher rates among East coast migrants,

perhaps due to more representation from Caribbean and American-born

persons in those studies.

I would appreciate any further information which you find out about

this topic. My e-mail is below.

Sincerely,

M. Connolly, M.A., M.P.H.

CDC Prevention Specialist

Idaho Department of Health and Welfare

STD/AIDS Program

450 W. State St., 4th Fl.

Boise, ID 83720

tel: 208 334-5624

connolla@... <mailto:connolla@...>

fax: 208 332-7346

-----Original Message-----

From: stlennon@... [mailto:stlennon@...]

Sent: Monday, January 07, 2002 11:41 AM

Subject: [ ] HIV and MSFWs

Hello,

I am conducting research into HIV/AIDS prevalence among migrant

and seasonal farm workers.

I've learned from the http://www.ncfh.org/aids.htm site that in

90--91, a study of New Jersey workers found that 3.2 percent of

554 workers tested were HIV-positive, a rate eight times the

national seroprevalence of 0.4 percent, and also eight times the

rate found in a 1988 study by the Centers for Disease Control --

but I can't seem to locate any later data.

I am wondering if any one can point me in the direction of more

current information. I have read some of the messages in the

archives and thought that the Attachment " HIV and migrant farm

workers.doc " appended to Message #550 might be just what I was

looking for -- but I've downloaded it twice and it has come up

blank each time.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can offer, and for

raising my consciouness about the issues involved in even asking

the question.

Sincerely,

T. Lennon, MSW, LCSW