Norovirus is probably best known for causing outbreaks of illness in hotels and on cruise ships.  Although the norovirus is usually passed from one person to another via surfaces, such as counters and door handles, it can also be transmitted through the consumption of raw oysters. But Christine Moe, PhD, is collaborating with other researchers and the shellfish industry to change that. Moe is head of Emory’s Center for Global Safe Water.

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Testing Together, now under way in Chicago and Atlanta, takes an unusual approach: It encourages gay male couples to get tested together and hear their results together. After delivering the results, a counselor talks with the couple about what to do next, including agreements they may want to make with each other about sex and health. The idea is to bring honesty to sexual relationships, said one of the researchers behind the program, Rob Stephenson, PhD of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta.

Relationships offer only "mythical protection" from HIV, Stephenson said. Some couples may have avoided talking about each other's HIV status, thinking, "If he were HIV positive he would have told me," or "If he wanted to know, he would have asked."

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Ruth Berkelman, director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness and Research at Emory University, recently authored an opinion peice for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the importance of preparedness programs, training and research. In the article, Berkleman states: "As we face severe budget cuts in the years ahead, we need to prune carefully and assure the necessary balance among the various public health priorities. Being prepared for a contagious or other unexpected threat is central to the public health mission and the resources should not be as equally unpredictable as the crises themselves."

Read the entire op-ed >