jimpeel
Well-Known Member
It seems that 1 in every 50 DC residents has HIV. Maybe politicians should concentrate on their own backyard before they make all of these declarations about third world countries.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/u...en=b0d1fb1313260747&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/u...en=b0d1fb1313260747&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS
Report Finds Washington Has Highest AIDS Infection Rate Among U.S. Cities
By IAN URBINA
Published: November 27, 2007
WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 — The District of Columbia has the highest rate of AIDS infection of any city in the country and the disease is being transmitted to infants, older adults, women and heterosexual men at an epidemic pace, according to a report released Monday by city health officials.
The report said more than 12,400 people in the city — about 1 in 50 — are living with AIDS or H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.
“H.I.V./AIDS in the district has become a modern epidemic with complexities and challenges that continue to threaten the lives and well-being of far too many residents,” said the report, which includes the first-ever study of statistics on H.I.V. in the city, along with updated data on AIDS cases. The H.I.V. data offers a vital snapshot of the most recent infections so health officials can study any changes in transmission patterns, the officials said.
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The report said that from 2001 to 2006, 56 children, ages 13 or younger, were found to have either H.I.V. or AIDS, and almost all of them were infected at birth.
These cases, which account for 6 percent of all mother-to-child H.I.V. infections in the nation in the last five years, were especially alarming, city officials said, because they could have been avoided with routine H.I.V. testing during pregnancy, quick-results oral swabs during labor and “fast tracking” of the anti-retroviral drugs that can prevent transmission during delivery.
Although black residents account for 57 percent of the city’s population of 500,000 or so, they account for 81 percent of new reports of H.I.V. cases and about 86 percent of people with AIDS.
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While the report found 8,368 reported cases of people living with AIDS in the district at the end of last year, a 43 percent increase from 2001, it also found that the number of new H.I.V. cases began declining in 2003. City health officials say the drop in H.I.V. numbers was most likely a result of under-reporting or delayed reporting.
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