When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) citing that an HIV-positive man may have infected his female sexual partner through open-mouthed kissing, CDC communicators were well aware of the potential media frenzy the report could generate.
But maintaining a reactive but forthright and consistent stance on how the virus was spread through blood-to-blood transmission in the man's saliva, kept media misinformation in check and fact-based coverage achievable. "We weren't really worried about the ramifications of the report because we are always forthcoming with our findings," said Tammy Nunally, spokesperson for CDC's center for HIV, STD prevention, who said the report generated about 15 to 20 calls a day for two to three days after it was released.
Since the case was reported by CDC earlier this month, most of the media calls were directed to its media relations team, headed up by Dr. Helene Gayle. Although no formal media analysis was done on the coverage this particular case received, Nunally felt that the media was very responsible in reporting the key facts about this case, resisting the high potential for sensationalism surrounding kissing and HIV transmission. Picked up by the major networks and top dailies like the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, all deferred to the CDC's claim that regular kissing is not a risky behavior for transmitting HIV. The media coverage provided vivid descriptions of not only the fact that this case involved "French" or open-mouthed kissing but that the man and his partner had gum disease and other oral problems that made it easier for the virus to get into the woman's bloodstream.
NIH Directs Media To CDC
"The media seemed really committed to following the CDC's lead on reporting the facts," said Pat Randall, director of the office of communications for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the agency that probably received the most spillover of media calls.
Although her department didn't keep tabs on the number of media calls that were fielded, she referred most of them to the CDC while reminding reporters of the general epidemiology of HIV and AIDS.
Shortly after the kissing case, Dr. Gayle's office released findings that AIDS deaths fell 19 percent over a nine-month period last year compared with the same period in 1995. This latest news, which overshadowed the earlier report, was also responsibly covered, highlighting the key AIDS trends: greatest decline rates were with gay and bisexual men while fastest increases were among heterosexual men and women. (CDC, 404/639-8895; NIH, 301/496-5717)