METAPHOR FOR A SICK SOCIETY

 

 

'World Capital of Democracy'
hits record level for AIDS

 

 

HIV/AIDS Rate in D.C. Hits 3%
Considered a 'Severe' Epidemic, Every Mode
of Transmission Is Increasing, City Study Finds
The Washington Post Sunday, 15 March 2009

By JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS & DARRYL FEARS

WASHINGTON — At least 3 percent of District residents have HIV or AIDS, a total that far surpasses the 1 percent threshold that constitutes a "generalized and severe" epidemic, according to a report scheduled to be released by health officials tomorrow.

That translates into 2,984 residents per every 100,000 over the age of 12 — or 15,120 — according to the 2008 epidemiology report by the District's HIV/AIDS office.

"Our rates are higher than West Africa," said Shannon L. Hader, director of the District's HIV/AIDS Administration, who once led the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's work in Zimbabwe. "They're on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya."

"We have every mode of transmission" — men having sex with men, heterosexual and injected drug use — "going up, all on the rise, and we have to deal with them," Hader said.

In addition to the epidemiology report, the city is also releasing a study on heterosexual behavior tomorrow. That report, funded by the CDC, was conducted by the George Washington University School of Health and Health Services.

Among its findings: Almost half of those who had connections to the parts of the city with the highest AIDS prevalence and poverty rates said they had overlapping sexual partners within the past 12 months, three in five said they were aware of their own HIV status, and three in 10 said they had used a condom the last time they had sex.

FOR THE FULL STORY GO TO:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/14/AR2009031402176.html?
hpid=topnews

RELATED ARTICLE:
City Says HIV Count Is Likely Too Low
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR2009031600891.html