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More than 20,000 HIV researchers
from around the world will meet in Washington this month amid renewed optimism
about significantly curbing HIV’s spread.
“We want to make sure we don’t
overpromise,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases. However, he added, “I think we are at a
turning point.”
The growing focus is getting people
with HIV into treatment early, before the immune system is weak, which improves
their health and makes them less likely to infect others. Recent studies that
have evaluated treatment-as-prevention have yielded “striking, sometimes
breathtaking results,” Fauci said. Combined with other protections, some studies
of treatment-as-prevention show the risk of infection cut by 96 percent.
But getting such interventions into
everyday life is “a daunting challenge,” Fauci said, especially given the costs
of treatment and need for lifelong adherence to the medications despite any
competing poverty, social, and health issues.
Part of the 19th International AIDS
Conference, July 22-27, will spotlight aggressive steps to fight the disease in
the host city. Washington has a massive, ongoing effort to find the undiagnosed
and rapidly get those infected into care. Testing is offered routinely in some
hospitals; testing vans go into neighborhoods; and free tests are offered from
a Department of Motor Vehicles office.
The United States is targeting
hard-hit communities as part of its plan to cut HIV infections by 25 percent by
2015, said Howard Koh, assistant secretary for health.
Most new US infections are among men
who have sex with men, followed by heterosexual black women. While African
Americans represent just 14 percent of the US population, they accounted for 44
percent of new infections in 2009, government data show. Twelve cities account
for more than 40 percent of US AIDS cases, and many cases are concentrated in
specific parts of these cities.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
