HIV and AIDS Stats

Recently I read an online article for a health class I was taking for school and after doing a lot of research, I thought this article was so important that I should share it with other people.  This article was originally published on the BBC website and is called "Anti-Retroviral Drugs 'Help Reduce' HIV Transmission".

This online article summarizes research done in a study by stating "an HIV-positive person who takes anti-retroviral drugs after diagnosis, rather than when their health declines, can cut the risk of spreading the virus to uninfected partners by 96%" (1).  This study was done by the NIH (National Institutes of Health) and sampled a total of almost 2,000 couples with only one of the partners per couple HIV infected.  This NIH study was not the first study done of this type, but a follow-up study done after the original was performed 4 years prior.  The original study was so successful that it was left alone for a long period of time until being restudied by the NIH.

The original study was performed in 2005 in 13 different places throughout Africa, Asia, and both North and South America.  HIV infected people were divided into 2 groups: one group "immediately given a course of anti-retroviral drugs" and the other group only receiving "treatment when their white blood cell count fell" (1).  When comparing the outcomes of both groups, (after couples were counseled on safe sex, given free condoms, and treated for any other sexually transmitted diseases), the first group only reported one case of transmission between partners and the second group (the group receiving treatment after health decline) had a total of 27 transmissions of HIV.  This study should "drive the precention revolution forward", but will cost more than 10 billion dollars to "provide drugs to the ten million people worldwide who are currently not receiving medication for HIV" (1).  This study and treatment is so impiortant because the World Health Organization reports that about 80% of all new HIV infections are because of sexual transmission.  The overall message of this article being: people need to receive treatment as well as practicing safe sex in order to reduce the spread of HIV!

So, this article focuses on drugs that are used in the prevention of the spread and also treatment of HIV: Anti-Retroviral drugs.  It discusses the importance and successfulness of a study proving the benefit of anti-retroviral drugs and the significance of treatment earlier rather than at the first declines of ones health.  For informational purposes, HIV is a deadly and contagious virus that causes its damages to the human body by destroying specific blood cells (CD4+ T cells).  These cells are important to the human body because they help fight against diseases and infection.  Once a person contracts HIV, it is possible that they might develop flu-like symptoms; however, some people have no symptoms at all for quite sometime, although the virus is still affecting their bodies.  The World Health Organization stated that in 2009, there were an estimated number of 33.3 million people living with HIV, and at least 14.6 million of those people were still in need of anti-retroviral therapy (1).

Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) is the use of three or more anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs in order to mazimally suppress the virus and stop the profession of HIV disease.  There are 5 groups of anti-retroviral drugs and they attack HIV in a different way:  They are, Nucleoside/Nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs), Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs), Protease Inhibitors (PIs), Fusion or Entry Inhibitors, and Integrase Inhibitors (2).  NRTIs interfere with the actions that reverse transcriptase proteins take.  The virus needs these proteins to make new copies of itself.  NNRTIs also interfere with the replications of transcriptase proteins.  PIs inhibit the actions of protease, another protein that the virus needs in order to replicate.  Fusion/Entry Inhibitors don't allow HIV to bind to or enter the human immune cells (this is very important).  And finally, Integrase Inhibitors interfere with integrase enzymes, an enzyme that is needed in order to insert its genetic material into human cells.  HIV is a virus that effects the anatomical and physiological aspects of the human body/system, as do all serious and deadly viruses or diseases.  Hopefully, with more people being treated through anti-retroviral therapy and drugs, the spread of HIV will be slowed, and people that are infected with the disease will live longer and more fruitful lives.

This was just my summary of the article that I had read from BBC Online and a little information on HIV itself.  After summarizing the article for my class, I then had to gather more information and relate it to things going on around me and/or in my own life.  Since I do not know anyone HIV-positive, but I do live near Washington D.C., I decided to relate this article to the area in which I live.  After researching statistics on Washington D.C. HIV-positive individuals, the statistics scared me and really opened my eyes to reality. 

This is what I found out:

The CDC estimates that there are over 1 million adults and adolescents that are currently living with HIV in the United States.  This number includes both adults and adolescents that have been diagnosed or not diagnosed.  The number of confirmed adults and adolescents living with HIV in the United States and 5 U.S. dependent areas is 682,668.  The HIV/AIDS infection rate in DC is ridiculous and it is now confirmed that at least 3% of DC residents have HIV or AIDS.  This percentage is considered a "generalized and severe epidemic" because it surpasses the 1% maximum rate (3).  The rate of HIV or AIDS infected residents has risen 22% since 2006.  22 PERCENT!!!!  This is unbelievably scary and high!  15,120 residents over the age of 12 are confirmed to have HIV or AIDS according to the 2008 epidemiology report by the District's HIV/AIDS office.  These rates of DC infected residents are stated to be higher than West Africa.  1 out of every 20 DC residents are living with HIV and 1 out of every 50 DC residents are living with AIDS (3).  76% of the infected are black, 70% are men, and 70% are age 40 or above. 

These are extremely real and scary statistics and I just hope that with this knowledge and the knowledge regarding treatments, people can start to improve their own live and the lives of others.  This epidemic has to be stopped or at least slowed down as soon as possible.  People need to practice safe sex and continue to get tested and treated!  HIV is a serious virus that cuts the lives of too many people already! 

STAY IN THE KNOW!

(1) Gallagher, James. "BBC News- Anti-retroviral Drugs 'help Reduce' HIV Transmission" BBC-Homepage. British Broadcasting Corporation, 12 May 2011. Web. 07 June 2011.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13381292?print=true.
(2) "WHO/Antiretroviral Therapy." HIV/AIDS Antiretroviral Therapy. World Health Organization. 2011. Web. 17 June 2011. http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/treatment/en/.
(3) "Basic Information about HIV and AIDS". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Department of Health and Human Services, 11 Aug. 2010. Web. 15 June 2011. http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/basic/index.htm.