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HIV/ AIDS hits home
by
Jenifer Doane
Second positive HIV test in
Larimer County raises 125 total
 The
Northern
Colorado AIDS Project non-profit agency recently
reported its second positive HIV (Human Immumodeficiency
Virus) test to the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment. It comes just weeks after the year's first
positive result was discovered during a free testing event
held on Valentine's Day when a Colorado State University
student tested positive. Larimer County now ranks second in
the state with the highest amount of people living with HIV
and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). The county's
127 cases is second only to Denver County which has 450. This
trend is not uniques only to CSU or Larimer county, but
affecting colleges and counties around the country.
CSU student tests positive; HIV cases increase, funding
decreases
by jenifer doane
Throughout life there are things that we all want to be
positive on—our checking accounts, the time of our weddings,
etc. Testing positive on HIV test isn’t one of them.
Unfortunately it’s happens, and it is happening more
frequently in Larimer County, according to the Northern
Colorado AIDS project (NCAP).
NCAP reported its second positive HIV (Humane immunodeficiency
virus) test result this year to the Colorado Department of
Health and Environment. That’s one more than last year’s
total reported cases.
In Larimer County there are 127 people living with HIV and
AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). For all of
Northern Colorado the number increases to 140. Larimer County
now ranks second in the state with the highest amount of
people living with HIV and AIDS. The county is second only to
Denver county which has 450.
Twenty-five percent of NCAP’s clients are between the ages
of 20-29, reflecting the influence of having a university
within the county’s borders.One of the positive cases was a
Colorado State University student, according to Craig Chapin,
NCAP’s Prevention, Education, and Outreach coordinator.
“When someone tests positive, I feel like I am not doing my
job, but then I realize I am not responsible for my
audiences’ behavior,” Chapin said. “I can’t follow you
around, and I am sure that you don’t want me in your
bedroom.”
“But then again I am doing my job because
more people are starting to get tested.”
The result came out of an NCAP outreach effort to get people
tested. NCAP offered free and anynomous testing on
Valentines’ Day to the CSU and Fort Collins community. Out
of the 77 individuals, who participated in the event, 52 were
CSU students, which was a higher turnout than expected.
“If it’s free and you take it to where the people are they
are more likely to participate,” Chapin said. “We would
like to offer all of our testing for free if we had more
funding”
The student who tested positive came in to get tested because
it was free, Chapin said. NCAP will offer three more free
testing dates this year on June 27, National HIV Testing Day,
sometime in September, which is six months from Spring Break,
and on December 1, World AIDS Day.
What does it mean
to test confidential or anonymous?
NCAP is required by law to report positive results to the
state. Depending of if the test is confidential or anonymous
determines the amount of information given to the state. No
personal information such as a person’s name or date of
birth is collected when an anonymous tested is given. The
agency simply just reports a positive finding.
However, if the test is confidential the state receives the
person’s name and personal information. The state then
contacts the person with the positive result and take a sexual
history report. The state then tries to contact that
person’s sexual partners to encourage them to get tested.
The sexual partners are not given the HIV positive person’s
name.
“It’s always depressing to know another person has tested
positive,” Chapin said. “But now this person knows his/her
status, and can stop infecting others."
Who is NCAP?
The Northern Colorado AIDS Project is a private non-profit
organization committed to serving people impacted by HIV and
AIDS in Northern Colorado. NCAP provides services to eight
Northeastern counties in Colorado including Larimer, Logan,
Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Weld, Washington and Yuma. NCAP
was founded in 1986 when Jon Wilson desired to offer the
people of Larimer and Weld Counties, diagnosed with HIV and
AIDS, resources. Wilson has since died from AIDS.
NCAP has six full time employees and two part-time employees.
Volunteers provide reception help and make up the bulk of the
speakers bureau. Volunteers also help to plan and organize
special events and fundraisers.
NCAP provides a variety of services. NCAP’s Prevention
Education and Outreach program offers a comprehensive program
that includes direct intervention and a speaker’s bureau.
NCAP volunteers facilitate discussions on all aspects of
HIV/AIDS at venues ranging from schools to civic
organizations. NCAP also provides anonymous or confidential
HIV testing.
Testing includes a pre-counseling session with a state
certified HIV counselor, the test and the test results. NCAP
provides the testing on sliding-scale fee system. In addition
to the prevention program and testing, NCAP also provides case
management and direct client services. Client services can
include but are not limited to support groups, AIDS Drug
Assistance Program (ADAP), buddies, advocacy, housing
placement, and much more.
“Our services are client driven,” Chapin said. “We
provide what they need.”
How NCAP is
funded?
NCAP’s funding depends on money provided through the Ryan
White Care Act, grants, private donations, state money and
sponsorship by corporations.
“We of
course would like more funding,” Chapin said. “We could
always use more funding to help with providing more
services.”
Chapin said that
NCAP would like greater funding to increase its outreach
program, give out more latex products, and have testing be
free.
“We would
like to give out latex products at all the bars because
that’s when people’s risk increases because they forget to
use latex because they are drunk or high,” Chapin said.
The Bush
Administration and HIV/AIDS
The Bush Administration is under attack by different
non-profit groups alike. Non-profits that serve the HIV/AIDS
positive community are now the ones knocking on the White
House front door.
Claudia French, Executive Director for AIDS Action said in a
press release that “At a time when 40,000 new HIV infections
are reported every year and more people are living with
HIV/AIDS, how can we continue our commitment to prevention,
treatment and care with $1 billion less than in previous
years?”
According to an AIDS Action press release, HIV prevention
programs at the Center for Disease Control, AIDS treatment and
care programs under the Ryan White Care Act, and even the drug
approval process at the Food and Drug Administration face
budget cuts under the President’s proposal.
Despite possible funding cuts, there is a bipartisan attempt
to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE act. Representatives Tom
Coburn, R-Okla. and Henry Waxman, D-Calif. introduced the bill
on May 6. The CARE act was passed in 1990 after the death of
Ryan White, the young Indiana activist who fought for an end
to discrimination against people with HIV and AIDS. The
Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
received from the federal government for the FY00 $7.7
billion, of that approximately $700 million went to prevention
measures and $2 billion to research efforts.
Many have criticized Bush for his lack of support for the HIV
and AIDS communities. During his term as govenor of Texas,
Bush never said the word AIDS publicly in either a health,
social or policy statement, according to Texas AIDS
organizations. Bush was also the only governor in the country
who ignored an urgent letter in September from Children
Uniting Nations chairwoman Daphna Ziman for feedback or
resources regarding the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
In addition to the lack of funding for US efforts against
HIV/AIDS, the Bush administration has been accused of ignoring
the problems Africa is having with the disease. Globally,
about three million people died from AIDS in 2000, 80 percent
of them in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa remained by far the
hardest-hit region, accounting for 25.3 million of the 36.1
million people living with HIV worldwide—a figure that
amounts to nearly one in every 10 African adults. Jeffery
Sachs of Harvard University’s Center for International
Development said in a MSNBC article that, “a comprehensive
prevention and treatment program would cost just $5 per
American per year to help the crisis in Africa.”
“The costs of this humanitarian crisis are not limited to
the countries that are directly affected. We are all
vulunerable-in part, because infectious diseases do not
respect the boundaries of sates and geography, and in part
because the national economic distress and political
instability that inevitably accompany this scale of human loss
can cause greater damage to the world economy and to regional
stability,” Timothy Geithner testified before the House
committee on banking and financial services.
“Around the world, infectious dieases-including AIDS- are
killing millions of children and weakening and killing tens of
millions or prime-age adults. The devastating human and
economic consequences are clear.”
What is HIV/AIDS?
HIV (human
immunodeficiency virus) is the virus that causes AIDS. This
virus is passed from one person to another through
blood-to-blood and sexual contact. Infected pregnant women can
also pass HIV to their baby during pregnancy or delivery, as
well as through breast-feeding.
Blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast milk carry the virus.
AIDS stands
for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. An HIV-infected person
receives a diagnosis of AIDS after developing one of the CDC-defined
AIDS indicator illnesses. Infection with HIV can weaken the
immune system to the point that it has difficulty fighting off
certain infections. These types of infections are known as
"opportunistic" infections because they take the
opportunity a weakened immune system gives to cause illness.
Many of the infections that cause problems or may be life
threatening for people with AIDS are usually controlled by a
healthy immune system. Today there are medical
treatments that can slow down the rate at which HIV weakens
the immune system.
Getting Tested
How long after
a possible exposure should I wait to get tested for HIV?
The Center for Disease Control
currently recommends testing six months after the last
possible exposure (unprotected vaginal, anal, or oral sex or
sharing needles). It is important during the six months
between exposure and the test, to protect yourself and others
from further possible exposures to HIV. The CDC National AIDS
Hotline can provide more information and referrals to testing
sites in your area. The Hotline numbers are 1-800-342-2437
(English), 1-800-344-7432 (Spanish), or 1-800-243-7889 (TTY)
Other places
to get tested include... NCAP and the Harthorn Health Center.
How is HIV
spread?
HIV
transmission can occur when blood, semen (including
pre-seminal fluid or "pre-cum"), vaginal fluid or
breast milk from an infected person enters the body of an
uninfected person. HIV can enter the body through a vein
(e.g., injection drug use), the anus or rectum, the vagina,
the penis, the mouth, other mucous membranes (e.g., eyes or
inside of the nose) or cuts and sores.
These are the
most common ways that HIV is transmitted from one person to
another: by having sexual intercourse (anal, vaginal or oral
sex) with an HIV-infected person; by sharing needles or
injection equipment with an injection drug user who is
infected with HIV; from HIV-infected women to babies before or
during birth, or through breast-feeding after birth.
It is possible
to become infected with HIV through performing oral sex. While
no one knows exactly what the degree of risk is, evidence
suggests that the risk is less than that of unprotected anal
or vaginal sex. The risk increases if there are cuts or sores
around or in the mouth or throat; if the male partner
ejaculates in the mouth; or if some has another sexually
transmitted disease (STD). It is also possible to become
infected with HIV through receiving oral sex. If the person
performing the dead has HIV, blood from his or her mouth may
enter the urethra (the opening at the tip of the penis), the
vagina, the anus or directly into the body through small cuts
or open sores.
It is possible
for either sex partner to become infected with HIV during anal
sex. HIV can be found in the blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid
or vaginal fluid of a person infected with the virus. In
general, the person receiving the semen is at greater risk of
getting HIV because the lining of the rectum is thin and may
allow the virus to enter the body during anal sex. However, a
person who inserts his penis into an infected partner also is
at risk because HIV can enter through the urethra (the opening
at the tip of the penis) or through small cuts, abrasions or
open sores on the penis.
Statistics
United States:
The CDC estimates that at the end of June 2000, a total
of 753,907 cases of AIDS had been reported to the CDC.
Worldwide:
Based on estimates from the United Nations AIDS program (UNAIDS),
approximately 47 million people have been infected with HIV
since the start of the global epidemic.
Through
December 2000, an estimated 21.8 million children and adults
have died from complications of AIDS.
UNAIDS
estimates five million new HIV infections occurred in 2000.
This
represents almost 16,000 new cases per day.
An estimated
three million adults and children died of HIV/AIDS in 2000.
The fastest
growing group of people testing positive for HIV is
heterosexual females between the ages of 15-26.
HIV/AIDS Sites
·
UNAIDS Programme http://www.unaids.org/
·
The Center for Disease Control http://www.cdc.gov/
·
Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/cdphehom.asp
·
HIV/AIDS Statistics
·
John Hopkins AIDS Services and Center for HIV
prevention http://www.hopkins-aids.edu/
·
HIV Insite
·
HIV Resource Homepage--Nutrition and HIV
Resources http://www.hivresources.com/
·
AIDS Resource List http://www.specialweb.com/aids/
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