|
American Indians See Rapidly Climbing AIDS Infection Rates |
 |
|
The remoteness
of many American Indian reservations has largely insulated tribes from
HIV/AIDS, but that has begun to change.
More than 30 new cases were
identified on the Navajo Reservation in 2003 - including the first
documented cases of transmission on the reservation. Twenty-four new HIV
cases were diagnosed on the reservation last year, said Dr. Jonathan
Iralu, chief clinical consultant for infectious disease for the Navajo
Area of the Indian Health Service. Fifteen cases were diagnosed in 2001.
Almost all the cases were the result of sexual transmission, said Iralu.
CDC is closely tracking the numbers.
In 2001, Surgeon General
David Satcher called AIDS a ticking time bomb for American Indians. Now,
according to CDC, Native Americans are infected with AIDS at a rate of
11.7 per 100,000 - more than 1.5 times the rate for whites and twice the
rate for Asians. Blacks and Hispanic shave the highest infection rates
nationally.
Death rates from HIV/AIDS
among American Indians are also higher than those in some other groups,
said Satcher. "I think it's a combination of later diagnoses and less
access to aggressive treatment," he said.
"Native people are
vulnerable. The conditions exist that can allow the spread of the
disease, including high rates of sexually transmitted infections and
illicit drug use," said Jeanne Bertolli, an epidemiologist at CDC's
National Center for
HIV, STD and TB Prevention, adding that
American Indian populations are at risk for other health problems
including diabetes, alcoholism, homicide, suicide and accidental death.
The increasing number of
cases and the spread of
HIV/AIDS to women concerns Iralu
because it signals a widespread problem. "It's a sign of more general
local spread, and it tells us that there's a risk of congenital spread
from mother to child," Iralu explained.
Associated Press (12.29.03) |
|
| |
|
|
| We are providing the above information as a public
service only. Providing synopses of key scientific articles and lay
media reports on HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases
does not constitute endorsement. The above summaries were prepared
without conducting any additional research or investigation into the
facts and statements made in the articles being summarized, and
therefore readers are expressly cautioned against relying on the
validity or invalidity of any statements made in these summaries. This
CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News
Update also includes information from CDC and
other government agencies, such as background on MMWR articles, fact
sheets and announcements. |
| HIV1 - ELISA
Antibodies |
|
-
Most people
infected with HIV carry the virus for years before manifesting AIDS.
During that period, infected people will have few, if any, symptoms yet
they can transmit the virus.
-
The
percentage of women with AIDS has increased steadily, and the percentage
of people infected heterosexually has also increased, surpassing the percentage
infected through injecting drug use.
-
During 2001, there were 35575 newly diagnosed cases of HIV infection.
The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates
now
that 40,000 new cases of HIV transmission occur every year.
-
Of
the people infected with the virus of AIDS in the USA in the year 2001, 42%
were whites, 37% blacks, 20% Hispanics and <1% Asians and Pacific
Islanders and <1% American Indians and Alaska Natives.
-
During the 1990s, the HIV epidemic shifted steadily toward a growing
proportion of AIDS cases in blacks and Hispanics and in women.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus
(HIV) is the cause of AIDS (Acquired
Immuno
Deficiency Syndrome).
The presence of HIV in the body can be detected in several ways. The
most common is the HIV-ELISA Antibodies test.
The
HIV-ELISA
looks for the body
response to the virus
manifested by the
presence in your blood of
Antibodies
to HIV proteins. Antibodies are special proteins that our Immune System
produce in response to the presence of HIV.
The test performed on your
sample actually consists
of two tests: a Screening test and a Confirmatory test. The
screening test procedure is called an
ELISA—Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay
or an EIA (Enzyme Immunosorbent Assay). The
confirmatory test is used in the event your HIV-ELISA is positive and/or
equivocal and is the procedure used is the Western
Blot Assay (WB)
The screening and
confirmatory tests are usually done using small samples of blood. If a
sample of blood tests positive repeatedly in the screening test, it will be
confirmed through the Western Blot test. People will be informed that they are infected
with HIV only after both the screening and confirmatory tests
have shown a positive (reactive) result.
Positive HIV antibody tests results
are over 99% accurate when confirmed. Negative HIV antibody tests are over
99% accurate if it has been at least six months after a contact with a
potentially HIV-infected partner. False negatives or false positives occur
rarely.
Antibodies to HIV can be
detected in the blood, in the urine or in the saliva. People produce
antibodies with different speeds and therefore the time interval between
infection and the development of antibodies to HIV can go from four weeks
to six months from the exposure date or SDC (
Suspected
Date
of
Contact).
The appearance of antibodies in a blood or urine sample of a person which
was known to be negative to HIV is called
Seroconversion.
The HIV Elisa results are usually available in one or two business days.
THE WINDOW PERIOD
The time period between a person’s
contact with the virus (infection) and when HIV antibodies become
detectable in blood or other fluids is called the "window period".
Most people will develop antibodies detectable within 4-6 weeks after infection with HIV. Some people may take
longer; but nearly all (99%) will have antibodies by 6 months following
infection. Therefore, the test may not be accurate if a person gets tested too soon after a potential exposure.
People waiting six months from the time of the exposure before testing
will have a 99% accurate test result. Until now there have been no
studies showing antibodies present in people with longer than six
months exposure to HIV.
|
|
|
