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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 2011)
D e c e m b e r 7, 2011 Tlorthinh OObserUrr Page 11 Most HIV Infections Not Treated Raising health risks and transmission to others (AP) — Nearly three quarters of the 1.2 million Americans with HIV do not have their infection under control, raising the risk of death from AIDS and transmission to others, according to a new study re leased for World AIDS Day on Wednes day, Dec. 1. One in five people with human immuno deficiency virus are unaware that they have the disease, added the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among people who know their HIV status is positive, only about half (51 percent) get ongoing medical treatment, said the CDC's Vital Signs report. Of all people in the United States who have HIV, whether they know it or not, 36 percent take antiretroviral therapy and 28 percent have a low amount of the virus in their body. Treatment with antiretroviral drugs has been shown to suppress levels of the virus in 77 percent of people who follow the regimen, and studies have shown it can ass An AIDS symbol is displayed on the North Lawn o f the White House in Washing ton, D.C. Nearly three quarters o f Americans with HIV do not have their infectior under control, raising the risk o f death from AIDS and transmission to others, according to a study released Tuesday. cut the risk of transmission to a partner by 96 percent. But while new cases of HIV have lev eled off at about 50,000 in the United States each year, dying annually of done to make sure treated, authorities with 16,000 people AIDS, more must be people get tested and said. "We are in a time of new hope for stopping HIV, and this week's World AIDS Day is a time to acknowledge that," CDC director Thomas Frieden said, urg ing a new push by all levels of govern ment. "The bottom line is we have the tools to stop HIV from spreading in the individual patient and we have the tools to greatly reduce its spread in communities," Frieden said. "First is to increase the proportion of people who know their status. Knowl edge is power," he told reporters. "Second, to make sure that people with HIV have every opportunity to remain in ongoing care after they're diagnosed." Black men who have sex with men are a particularly high-risk group, with Afri can-American gay males accounting for 27 percent of all new infections in the United States, according to CDC data. Also, more than a third of young black homosexual men are infected with HIV, more than twice the level seen in white gay men. Surveys also suggest a full 60 percent of black gay men living with HIV do not know they are HIV positive. after you quit smoking, your risk of heart disease is cut in half But right now, you’re a HEART ATTACK waiting to happen 5 MO KF FREE CALL 1.800.QUIT.NOW Oregon sm o ?q o n .c o m
