Tremendous progress has been made in the treatment of
HIV/AIDS since the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported the first cases
of gay men becoming sick in 1981. What was considered a death sentence for the first
15 years of the epidemic began to be seen as a chronic and manageable disease
with the introduction of a new class of drugs in 1996. The pills, called
protease inhibitors, made it possible to talk about people
living with HIV/AIDS, rather than dying from it. Fortunately, for
some individuals, HIV/AIDS is a manageable disease today. That is not the case,
however, for everyone, and it’s certainly not the case for the majority of
people in the world who are infected with HIV. New reports and studies indicate
that HIV/AIDS may be less manageable closer to home as well.
The numbers alone show that HIV/AIDS on the world stage is
far from manageable. More than 25 million people are dead from the disease and
33.4 million are infected. Less than half of the people who should be on the
life-sustaining medications have access to them. Although the cost of the drugs
have decreased dramatically in recent years, the World Health Organization
estimates that the annual treatment costs in poor countries is still $800 –
more than double the average annual income in some of these nations. Although
nearly eliminated in the developed world, UNAIDS does not expect to end mother
to child transmission of HIV globally until 2015 – nearly 35 years after the
CDC first reported on this disease.
The drug cocktails that have extended life expectancies and
improved the quality of life for many living with HIV/AIDS (especially in the
developed world) does not necessarily mean the disease is manageable for
everyone fortunate enough to receive treatment. A recent article in New York Magazine details the findings
of a “large-scale multi-city study” which indicates that some people with HIV
are aging much faster than should chronologically be the case. More than half
of the HIV-positive individuals in the study showed signs of cognitive
impairment. Other symptoms, usually associated with the elderly that are
affecting people with HIV/AIDS, include arthritis, bone loss and organ failure.
The perception that HIV is a disease that is easily maintained with a daily
pill is, for many receiving treatment, a grossly inaccurate portrayal of what
“living with HIV/AIDS” is really like.
Then there are the latest statistics coming out of the
Minnesota Department of Health which suggest that the state may see the highest
increase of new diagnoses of HIV since 1992. If the numbers continue to trend
upwards for the remaining weeks of the year, Minnesota
could see a 25 percent increase in diagnoses of HIV. The trend of young people,
primarily gay and bisexual men between the ages of 15 – 24, who are testing
positive is especially disturbing as they were all born after the emergence of
HIV/AIDS – long after we knew how to safely prevent the transmission of the
disease.
Increasing rates of new infections in Minnesota,
additional complications for people on HIV/AIDS medications, and millions of
people worldwide who are still waiting for treatment are all indicators of a
pandemic that is not yet manageable. As the AIDS bracelet suggests, “Until
There’s A Cure,” the work must continue.
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