CDC Report Suggests Good News, Bad News About HIV Infection
by Mary Rettig
June 27, 2005
(AgapePress) - A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the number of Americans infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has grown to more than one million. Meanwhile, the number of new cases of HIV infection per year has leveled off -- news that one expert says can be misleading.
Dr. John Greene, a member of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, is the Chief of Infectious Diseases at the H. Lee Moffit Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, Florida. He feels the news from the CDC report is both good and bad -- and possibly misleading.
The positive aspect of the report is that the drug therapy given to HIV positive patients is keeping people alive longer, Greene says. But the downside, he notes, is that some HIV positive people are lulled into a false sense of security by their low virus count. As a result, the doctor notes, "They are getting into more risky behavior -- Internet sex, multiple partners, unprotected sex -- all of these things because of laying down their barriers from a purely public health standpoint."
Also, while the report shows the overall number of new HIV cases is decreasing, within some minority populations the reverse is true. Greene says among whites the incidence of AIDS is decreasing, but among certain ethnic groups, including the African-American and Hispanic communities, the rate "is steadily increasing."
Also, the infectious disease specialist notes, "If you look at the [incidences of disease among people in] the homosexual lifestyle or bisexual lifestyle, those are continuing to increase." One thing that worries the researcher is that people in these high-risk categories who are infected with HIV will use their drug therapy as a reason to continue to indulge in their risky behavior and infect more people.
Hence, Green points out, as the number of HIV patients increases, more people using drug therapy will live longer. And over time, he predicts, there will most likely be a significant increase in the number of people infected with HIV.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
