Minorities Keeping Aids Alive

[Tank]

New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal progress since the peak of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s. But the sharp increases in infection rates among young black men who have sex with men show there is much more work to do, they said.

"We're very concerned about these increases among young gay men," Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, said in a telephone interview.

"We can't allow the health to a new generation to be lost to what is essentially a completely preventable disease."

According to the estimates, published in the journal PLoS ONE, there were 48,600 new HIV infections in the United States in 2006, 56,000 in 2007, 47,800 in 2008 and 48,100 in 2009. Over the four-year period, that amounts to an average of 50,000 cases per year.

But communities of color, and especially blacks, were disproportionately affected.

While blacks represent 14 percent of the U.S. population, they accounted for 44 percent of new HIV infections in 2009. HIV infection rates among blacks were nearly eight times higher than rates in whites, according to the study.

Hispanics, who represent about 16 percent of the population, accounted for 20 percent of new HIV infections in 2009 - a rate that was nearly three times as high as that of whites.

HIV infections in U.S. stable but disparities exist | Reuters

 

[bill5]

New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal progress since the peak of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s. But the sharp increases in infection rates among young black men who have sex with men show there is much more work to do, they said.

"We're very concerned about these increases among young gay men," Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, said in a telephone interview.

"We can't allow the health to a new generation to be lost to what is essentially a completely preventable disease."

According to the estimates, published in the journal PLoS ONE, there were 48,600 new HIV infections in the United States in 2006, 56,000 in 2007, 47,800 in 2008 and 48,100 in 2009. Over the four-year period, that amounts to an average of 50,000 cases per year.

But communities of color, and especially blacks, were disproportionately affected.

While blacks represent 14 percent of the U.S. population, they accounted for 44 percent of new HIV infections in 2009. HIV infection rates among blacks were nearly eight times higher than rates in whites, according to the study.

Hispanics, who represent about 16 percent of the population, accounted for 20 percent of new HIV infections in 2009 - a rate that was nearly three times as high as that of whites.

HIV infections in U.S. stable but disparities exist | Reuters

[rev wright] It's all a racist gov't plot!! THE MAN oppressin! blah etc! [/rev wright]

 

[waltky]

Caught the infection at birth...

South African child 'virtually cured' of HIV
Mon, 24 Jul 2017 - The nine-year-old has no active HIV in the body after catching the infection at birth.

A nine-year-old infected with HIV at birth has spent most of their life without needing any treatment, say doctors in South Africa.[ The child, whose identity is being protected, was given a burst of treatment shortly after birth. They have since been off drugs for eight-and-a-half years without symptoms or signs of active virus. The family is said to be "really delighted". Most people need treatment every day to prevent HIV destroying the immune system and causing Aids.

Understanding how the child is protected could lead to new drugs or a vaccine for stopping HIV. The child caught the infection from their mother around the time of birth in 2007. They had very high levels of HIV in the blood. Early antiretroviral therapy was not standard practice at the time, but was given to the child from nine weeks old as part of a clinical trial. Levels of the virus became undetectable, treatment was stopped after 40 weeks and unlike anybody else on the study - the virus has not returned. Early therapy which attacks the virus before it has a chance to fully establish itself has been implicated in child "cure" cases twice before.

The child caught the infection from its mother around the time of birth​

The "Mississippi Baby" was put on treatment within 30 hours of birth and went 27 months without treatment before HIV re-emerged in her blood. There was also a case in France with a patient who has now gone more than 11 years without drugs. Dr Avy Violari, the head of paediatric research at the Perinal HIV Research Unit in Johannesburg, said: "We don't believe that antiretroviral therapy alone can lead to remission. "We don't really know what's the reason why this child has achieved remission - we believe it's either genetic or immune system-related."

'Virtual cure'

Some people are naturally better at dealing with an HIV infection - so-called "elite controllers". However, whatever the child has is different to anything that has been seen before. Replicating it as a new form of therapy - a drug, antibody or vaccine - would have the potential to help other patients. It is worth noting that while there is no active HIV in the child's body, the virus has been detected in the child's immune cells. HIV can hide inside them - called latent HIV - for long periods of time, so there is still a danger the child could need drug treatment in the future. The team in Johannesburg performed the study alongside the UK's MRC Clinical Trials Unit.

'One child'

 

[Tank]

This story was 7 years ago


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African Americans | Race/Ethnicity | HIV by Group | HIV/AIDS | CDC