| Health Care: Illnesses & Diseases: HIV/AIDS: Rate of New Cases of HIV |
The rate of new cases of HIV per 100,000 of the US population
Progress Halting on Sexual Health and Reproduction of Teens and Young Adults
Published Thursday, July 30th, 2009
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the period of improvement in sexual and reproductive health of U.S. teens and young adults has flattened and may be worsening. The data is reported in the “Sexual and Reproductive Health of Persons Aged 10-24 Years – United States, 2002-2007” and comes from various sources in order to get a clear picture of the trends. Some of the findings include the majority of the new diagnoses of HIV infection among adolescents and young adults occurred among those aged 20-24 years and among males. Furthermore, about 1 million adolescents and young adults aged 10-24 years were reported to have chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis in 2006.
This report also details that the progress seen in later years has halted, such as teen birth rates increasing in 2006 and 2007 following large declines from 1991-2005. Also, syphilis cases among teens and young adults aged 15-19 and 20-24 years have increased in both males and females in recent years. Rates of AIDS cases among males aged 15-24 years increased during 1997-2006 (AIDS data reflects people with HIV who have already progressed to AIDS.) Additionally, rates of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses among young adults were highest among non-Hispanic black youth across all age groups.
Posted in Healthcare, Minorities, Social Issues | No Comments »
New Diagnostics Help CDC Map HIV Infections
Published Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
One of the major problems of mapping and prevention efforts facing the Centers for Disease Control’s effort to battle the spread of HIV/Aids happens to be accurate tracking. Since the beginning of the epidemic, the CDC’s efforts to monitor trends in new HIV infections has been hampered by HIV diagnosis occurring years after infection. New technology developed by the CDC can now distinguish recent from long-standing infections. Called Serologic testing algorithm for recent HIV Seroconversion (STARHS), the technology is used to develop the nation’s first surveillance system that is based on more concise estimates of the annual number of new HIV incidence than before. The first estimates from this system, issued in August 2008, revealed that the rate of HIV infections in 2006 were roughly 40% higher than former estimates reported. Also, as of April 2008, reporting for new infections has been nationalized as all 50 states, D.C. and territories all comply with the confidential Name-Based Reporting system.
Better diagnostics and reporting systems will help health care officials focus plans and evaluate prevention care and treatment programs on persons most at risk. According to the CDC, even with the new diagnostics, the rate of cases of HIV per year has remained steady since the late 1990’s. Analysis of the data points to a male to female ratio of 4-1 for new cases, plus new cases are rising for nearly every age group. Of those new cases, those infected are more likely to be of a minority or gay or bisexual.
Posted in Healthcare, Minorities, Social Issues | No Comments »
Disparities Exist for 1 Million+ American HIV/AIDS Patients
Published Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
According to the Centers for Disease Control’s annual HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, AIDS has now struck more than 1 million Americans. From the beginning of the epidemic through 2007, there have been 1,021,242 adults and 9,590 children reported to have contracted the disease. A bit of good news, the rate of those dying from the disease has decreased by 17%. CDC also has reported ‘major advances’ in gene therapy, vaginal gels that cut women’s HIV risk, and evidence that marijuana use eases nerve pain symptoms of HIV.
The numbers also state that disparities persist in many forms such as gender, age, sexual orientation, location and race. Men accounted for 73% of adult and teen cases; 64% of infected males acquired the disease from male-to-male sexual contact. Males 40 to 44 experience the highest percentage of contact at 20%. 40% of those living with the disease reside in the South; 29% in the Northeast, 20% in the west, and 11% in the Midwest. For the first time, 51% of new cases is attributed to the black population, which has reached 18% of the total US population.
Posted in Healthcare, International | No Comments »
Center for Disease Control: HIV/AIDS - http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/
As a part of its overall public health mission, CDC provides leadership in helping control the HIV/AIDS epidemic by working with community, state, national, and international partners in surveillance, research, and prevention and evaluation activities.
CDC: HIV/AIDS Prevention Programs - http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/prev_prog/index.htm
At the end of 2003, an estimated 1,039,000 to 1,185,000 persons in the United States were living with HIV/AIDS. In 2005, 37,331 cases of HIV/AIDS in adults, adolescents, and children were diagnosed in the 33 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting. CDC has estimated that approximately 40,000 persons in the United States become infected with HIV each year.