The African American community suffers from significant health disparities when compared with the population as a whole. HIV/AIDS presents one of the most significant dangers, but community health as a whole requires a broad focus in order to change the alarming health disparity statistics of the African American community.
HIV/AIDS
HIV Basics
What is HIV?
HIV is an acronym for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
It is a virus that is spread through bodily fluids such as semen, blood, vaginal fluids and breast milk, and if left untreated, can lead to AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). HIV damages a person’s immune system by destroying the cells that are crucial to helping the body fight infections and diseases thereby weakening the immune system.
AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It is usually confused with HIV. HIV is the virus that can cause AIDS while AIDS is a diagnosis usually made by a physician when a patient’s t-cells fall below 200 and s/he is diagnosed with an opportunistic infection.
Before the development of certain medications, greater numbers of people living with HIV progressed to an AIDS diagnosis in just a few years; and a high mortality rate was commonplace. Due to many medical advances in research and the development of HIV medicine, people are now living much longer—even decades—with HIV. The new treatments that were introduced in the mid 1990s, post-AZT have greatly reduced the number of AIDS diagnosis and deaths
What are the Symptoms?
Soon after infection, many people develop short-term flu-like symptoms ranging from fevers, swollen lymph nodes, weight loss, fatigue, diarrhea, anemia, thrush, or even Pneumocystis pneumonia but there are many people infected with HIV who show no symptoms. For those reasons, it is important that individuals regularly get tested for HIV.
How do you Protect Yourself/Partners?
HIV is spread primarily by not using a condom when having sex with a person who has HIV. All unprotected sex with someone who has HIV contains some risk. However.
- Unprotected anal sex is riskier than unprotected vaginal sex.
- Among men who have sex with other men, unprotected receptive anal sex (bottoming) is riskier than unprotected insertive anal sex (topping).
- Having multiple sex partners or the presence of other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can increase the risk of infection during sex.
- Sharing syringes, rinse water, or other equipment used to prepare illicit drugs for injection.
- Being born to an infected mother—HIV can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy, birth, or breast-feeding.
- Unprotected oral sex can also be a risk for HIV transmission, but it is a much lower risk than anal or vaginal sex.
Prevention
Thanks to research, we have found out HIV is a very preventable disease. We have learned that people can protect them selves by:
- reducing the number of sexual partners they have – sex with multiple partners increases your chances of contracting an STD (sexually transmitted diseases) and/or HIV,
- if you are sexually active, routinely get tested and treated for STDs; the presence of an untreated STD such as herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea, etc can increase your chances of becoming infected with HIV,
- if you inject needles, do not share as you can spread HIV (and Hepatitis) by contaminated blood,
- by not engaging in unprotected sex (“bareback sex”) with partners who have HIV or whose HIV status you do not know. The most effective sexual protection is the male latex condom. When used correctly and consistently, studies show that male condoms are 98 to 100 percent effective against infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the female condom also offers some protection against HIV and may be used when a male condom cannot be used.
- Protection is also important during oral sex, either with a male condom or dental dam, which is a latex sheet. People who use injection drugs should use a clean needle each time they inject. Anti-HIV therapy for pregnant women infected with the virus can reduce the risk of mother-to-infant transmission substantially.
Was HIV Created in a Lab?
No, that is an urban myth. HIV is a virus that has evolved over time and, though it became a pandemic problem in recent human history, its origins are much older and found in nature; Simian ImmunoDeficiency Virus in monkeys.
Treatment
Thanks in large part to powerful combination therapies that include protease inhibitors, deaths from the disease have been declining. These drugs don't work for everybody, however, and can have serious side effects.
To determine if you need to take HIV medications, your doctor will take at least two blood tests:
- a viral load test to see how much HIV is in your bloodstream, and
- a T-cell test, also known as a CD4 count, which tests the strength of your immune system.
To read more about these tests, click here.
Based on both your T-cell test and viral load test results, you and your doctor will have a clearer picture of how HIV progresses in your body and if/when you should start HIV medications.
Current U.S. guidelines recommend that you begin HIV treatment if your CD4 count is between 350 and 500 or if you've developed an opportunistic infection. But many experts believe that people living with HIV may benefit by starting treatment earlier. Talk with a doctor who is knowledgeable about HIV and treatments so that you both agree that treatment is appropriate and you are ready to commit to taking medications consistently.
Once you decide to start treatment, the question becomes: What HIV meds should you take? With more than two dozen meds to choose from, the options can seem overwhelming. But there are established guidelines and blood tests (such as drug resistance testing and abacavir hypersensitivty testing) that can help you and your doctor determine the best regimen for you.
*Other references used: Centers for Disease Control and TheBody.com
Back to topHIV Statistics
San Francisco African Americans
- Of the approximately 4,500 African American men who have sex with men (MSM) in San Francisco, an estimated 1500 (33%) are thought to be living with HIV.
- The San Francisco Department of Public Health documented in a report that the Black population in San Francisco has plummeted from 13.4% in 1970 to 6.5% in 2008, yet African Americans, as a percentage of all people diagnosed with AIDS in San Francisco, have risen from 11.4% in 1998 to 18.1% in 2008.
- The San Francisco Department of Public Health estimates that, for African American women in San Francisco over 45 years of age, over 40% have some form of diabetes.
CHARTS
- African American AIDS cases as a percent of total SF cases in 1998: 11.4%
- African American AIDS cases as a percent of total SF cases in 2008: 18.1%
National Statistics
- Almost two-thirds of all women in the United States reported with AIDS are African American.
- AIDS is now the leading cause of death for Black women ages 25-34.
- The percentage of people infected with HIV who don’t know it: 21%
- The HIV infection rate among Blacks was more than 7 times the infection rate among whites in 2006.
- The rate among Black women is 15 times higher than among white women.
- More children with AIDS are Black than all other race and ethnic groups combined.
The estimated rate of HIV/AIDS infection per 100,000 adults by race/ethnicity (2006):
Black — 85.6
Latino — 33.7
White — 9.6
- HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death among Black women between 25-34 and the second leading cause of death among Black men between 35-44.
- In all communities of color, the largest number of HIV/AIDS cases is among men who have sex with men (MSM). In 2006, MSM comprised 53% of all new HIV infections.
- Blacks represent 45% of all new HIV infections in the United States, though comprising only 12% of the population.
- In 2006, Black teens accounted for 60% of AIDS cases reported among 13-19 year olds. Latino teens represented 19%.
