Q: Is the spread of AIDS under control in the U.S.?
A: While medical breakthroughs have lengthened survival rates, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), the virus that causes AIDS, has not been eradicated. Currently there is no cure. However, HIV infection has become a chronic illness that can be treated, and more people are living with HIV/AIDS than ever before.
More than two decades into the HIV/AIDS epidemic, rates of infection have stabilized, but there are still approximately 40,000 new infections every year in the U.S. Designing an effective vaccine to protect people from infection with HIV is a high priority. A protective vaccine continues to elude researchers.
As with any chronic illness, medications are required to help maintain the health of the patient. These medications, while effective in controlling the virus, frequently cause serious side effects such as nausea, fatigue and diarrhea. Strict adherence to the regimen is needed to avoid allowing the virus to develop resistance to the medications.
Q: Isn’t AIDS still a “gay man’s disease”?
A: Early in the epidemic, the majority of infections were in gay males. Women now make up about half of new infections worldwide and a quarter of new cases in the U.S. African Americans and Hispanics comprise 68 percent of new infections in the U.S., even though they only represent 27 percent of the population. Among women, more than 80 percent of the new cases are African American or Hispanic.
In Santa Clara County, more than 3,500 people have been diagnosed with the disease. Increasingly, HIV infections are occurring in younger people (15 to 25 years of age), people of color and women.
The risk to women is amplified by the sad reality of the high prevalence of non-consensual sex, sex without condom use, and the unknown and high-risk behaviors of their partners. Despite years of public health recommendations to practice “safer sex” with the use of condoms, many people disregard this advice, apparently thinking they are not at risk. It is never safe to assume someone is not infected with HIV or another STD (sexually transmitted disease) just because they appear to be healthy.
Q: How does drug use contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS?
A: A third of HIV patients in the U.S. were infected through injection drug use. Risk of infection is amplified in people who share needles.
The use of methamphetamine, a toxic and addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system, plays a major role in the spread of HIV. Abuse of methamphetamine is an extremely serious and growing problem in California and across the country. Increased transmission of HIV, as well as hepatitis (see below), is a likely consequence of methamphetamine abuse, particularly in people injecting the drug and sharing injection equipment. People also risk infections when participating in unsafe sexual encounters while under the influence of the drug.
Q: Is AIDS the only life-threatening STD?
A: No, there are other potentially life-threatening STDs. Both Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) can be sexually transmitted. There are more than four million people in the U.S. infected with HCV, which is the leading cause of liver transplants and is an enormous public health threat. An effective vaccine against HBV is available. Currently there is no vaccine to protect against HCV.
Common STDs include chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, genital warts and herpes. Some of these diseases can be treated with antibiotics and other medications and can be eradicated; others are life-long infections. Note that open sores or lesions (such as outbreaks caused by herpes) increase the risk of transmitting or contracting HIV, HBV or HCV.
A message to teens and young adults: It is safe to talk to your family doctor about STDs. Don’t let timidity discourage you from seeking counsel, testing and treatment for STDs. Medical professionals deal with STD cases daily and they’ll know how to help you.
E-mail questions to Camino Medical Group representative Cynthia Greaves at greavec@caminomedical.org.
