HJNO May/Jun 2020

30 MAY / JUN 2020  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   Healthcare Briefs Louisiana Department of Health Recognized for Black Women and PrEP Campaign The Louisiana Department of Health is being recognized for staff efforts to make more at-risk patients aware of the HIV prevention drug known as PrEP. African-American women have ranked the sec- ond-highest for new HIV diagnoses in Louisiana, after gay black men. As the USA Today Network noted in a Feb. 7 story, LDH prevention manager Jacky Bickham helped launch an ambassador program in March of 2019 so that black women could be empowered to begin meaningful con- versations with their partners and health provid- ers about their sexual health. “She identified women in New Orleans, Lafay- ette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and Baton Rouge from different economic backgrounds who were already engaging with other black women to share information about PrEP,” wrote USA Today Network reporter Maria Clark. “Louisiana, which was among the top 10 states with the highest HIV rates in the U.S. in 2017, has seen a steady decline in recent years. In 2018, only 989 new cases were diagnosed, according to Louisiana’s Department of Health.” After women have been informed and have learned that PrEP can be an option for them as a part of their sexual health, then they can talk to their provider about getting on PrEP. In 2017, 78 percent of new HIV diagnoses among women were black. Of those, half were under 35 years of age. The Black Women and PrEP campaign is consistent with the previously announced Department Equity Plan, which seeks to reduce health disparities among vulnerable communities. In addition to the Black Women and PrEP awareness program Bickham launched, the Lou- isiana Department of Health manages a TelePrEP program for people who have difficulty finding a PrEP provider, cannot travel for regular follow-up medical visits, or who would prefer not to access PrEP in a clinical setting. The PrEP provider can be reached over the phone, on a laptop, or tab- let, and labs are required for TelePrEP to ensure patient safety. The prescriptions are mailed to patients to their address of choice. Tulane University Launches NewCoronavirus Research Program to Develop a Vaccine, Advanced Diagnostics From working to develop one of the first nonhu- man primate models for the 2019 novel corona- virus disease (COVID-19) to designing new ther- apeutic strategies and nanotechnology-based tests for rapidly diagnosing infections, research- ers at Tulane University are responding across dis- ciplines to the emerging coronavirus epidemic. Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC) is establishing a COVID-19 research pro- gram to develop a vaccine and test treatments against the virus. First, researchers will create a nonhuman primate model to study the disease’s clinical progression, how it is transmitted through the air, and how it specifically affects aging popu- lations. Investigators hope to answer many of the unknowns about the disease, including why older individuals are more susceptible to complications and death from it. Earlier this year, TNPRC mobilized to become one of the first research facilities in the country to obtain approval from the Centers for Disease Control to receive samples of the novel coro- navirus, called SARS-CoV-2. TNPRC is the only National Primate Research Center with a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL) onsite that is capable of the high level of biocontainment required to study an emerging infectious dis- ease like COVID-19. It also has the nation’s larg- est capacity for studying the transmission of infec- tious agents in nonhuman primates at this level of biocontainment, which is critical as public health responders rush to understand and thwart dis- ease spread. “It’s important for us to remain nimble in our research so that we are able to respond quickly to outbreaks like this that need immediate under- standing,” said TNPRC Director Jay Rappaport, PhD, and principal investigator for the COVID-19 research project. “Being here, with these unique resources and expertise, is exciting because we have a real opportunity and privilege to assist with the immediate public health response.” COVID-19 is caused by a virus called SARS- CoV-2. The virus is a member of the coronavi- rus family that is a close cousin to the SARS and MERS viruses that have caused outbreaks in the past. There have been more than 73,000 con- firmed cases and at least 1,800 deaths from the virus, according to recent figures from the World Health Organization (WHO). While most of the cases are in China, the outbreak has spread to 25 countries with 15 confirmed cases in the United States. The virus likely evolved from animal hosts to one that can spread from person to person. TNPRC will use a grant from the Brown Foun- dation to collect preliminary data as researchers seek federal and philanthropic funding for more expansive coronavirus research efforts. Rappaport will lead a team of collaborators from the center with unique expertise in aerobi- ology, virology, immunology, pulmonology, and veterinary medicine. All work will be conducted in the RBL under the highest, most stringent safety and quality standards, and overseen by Tulane Director of Biosafety Angela Birnbaum, a nation- ally certified biosafety expert. Birnbaum leads a national working group that will launch a collaborative research program on COVID-19 among the National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs). The group will work to develop vaccines and evaluate treatments against the dis- ease using a nonhuman primate model. It will release research findings to scientists and collab- orators in real time to accelerate progress to find successful treatments and preventions against the disease. “To respond effectively to a global outbreak that is moving as quickly as this, it is essential to have collaboration and data sharing between the NPRCs to help inform the public health response,” Birnbaum said. “And it’s imperative that this work is done with the strictest safety protocols in place as we learn more about this pathogen.” Other researchers across Tulane are working on COVID-19 efforts. Virologist Bob Garry is part of a team decoding the genome of the coronavirus to determine its origins, and how it possibly evolved from bats and pangolins. Leading disease model- ing expert James “Mac” Hyman in Tulane School of Science and Engineering is creating mathemat- ical models to track the spread of the coronavirus and the effectiveness of efforts to stop it. Epidemiologist and disease ecologist Lina Moses, PhD, at Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is in Geneva coordinating