dilettante
Mar 21st 2009, 10:13 PM
Did you guys see the articles on the AIDS rate in DC that came out this last week? I was stunned by the numbers and meant to create a thread at the time but was too busy preparing for a conference (it's amazing how hard it is to find an old news story online).
Report says 3 percent in DC have HIV or AIDS
5 days ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new report by D.C. health officials says that at least 3 percent of residents in the nation's capital are living with HIV or AIDS and every mode of transmission is on the rise.
The findings in the 2008 epidemiology report by the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration point to a severe epidemic that's impacting every race and sex across the population and neighborhoods.
Scheduled to be released Monday, the report says that the number of HIV and AIDS cases jumped 22 percent from the nearly 12,500 reported in 2006. Almost 1 in 10 residents between ages 40 and 49 are living with HIV, and black men had the highest infection rate at almost 7 percent.
The report says that the virus is most often transmitted by men having sex with men, followed by heterosexual transmission and injection drug use.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h_JbAEOzNwmOiownONsfoYNqzF-AD96V3CGO0
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1885601,00.html
Apparently a >1% rate is considered epidemic. The 1 in 10 figure for people in their 40s is just crazy.
I can't find the original article I saw on this, but it included yet another disturbing statistic: most cities only report AIDS rates, not including HIV infections that haven't developed that far; just looking at AIDS rates alone, 4 other cities have rates higher than DC's.
I realize that the reported increase represents better testing as much as an actual increase in cases (though that just implies that the problem has been this bad for a while, which is also disturbing), but, by the same token, since testing is still far from adequate, it seems that the actual percentage of infection could be even higher than these latest figures reflect.
I find it truly bizarre that we have a lethal, uncurable, but entirely preventable disease reaching far beyond epidemic proportions in the capital city of the United States.
Report says 3 percent in DC have HIV or AIDS
5 days ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new report by D.C. health officials says that at least 3 percent of residents in the nation's capital are living with HIV or AIDS and every mode of transmission is on the rise.
The findings in the 2008 epidemiology report by the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration point to a severe epidemic that's impacting every race and sex across the population and neighborhoods.
Scheduled to be released Monday, the report says that the number of HIV and AIDS cases jumped 22 percent from the nearly 12,500 reported in 2006. Almost 1 in 10 residents between ages 40 and 49 are living with HIV, and black men had the highest infection rate at almost 7 percent.
The report says that the virus is most often transmitted by men having sex with men, followed by heterosexual transmission and injection drug use.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h_JbAEOzNwmOiownONsfoYNqzF-AD96V3CGO0
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1885601,00.html
Apparently a >1% rate is considered epidemic. The 1 in 10 figure for people in their 40s is just crazy.
I can't find the original article I saw on this, but it included yet another disturbing statistic: most cities only report AIDS rates, not including HIV infections that haven't developed that far; just looking at AIDS rates alone, 4 other cities have rates higher than DC's.
I realize that the reported increase represents better testing as much as an actual increase in cases (though that just implies that the problem has been this bad for a while, which is also disturbing), but, by the same token, since testing is still far from adequate, it seems that the actual percentage of infection could be even higher than these latest figures reflect.
I find it truly bizarre that we have a lethal, uncurable, but entirely preventable disease reaching far beyond epidemic proportions in the capital city of the United States.