Positive? Or Negative? Do You Know Your Status?

www.hudsonvalleycs.org-400

I wanted to revisit HIV/AIDS, an incurable sexually/blood transmitted disease, because it is a highly misunderstood disease that people do not like to talk about it. The silence makes it too easy for this disease to continue to spread throughout our communities. Ignoring it will not make it go away. HIV is very prevalent in our communities. So, just like the drugs, violence, and chronic ailments that destroy our neighborhoods, HIV is here to stay unless we become aware and more educated to make this disease a thing of the past. National HIV Testing Day is on June 27th; to see where you can get tested in your community, click here. This testing day will be a great way to get involved, educated, and aware of your status, rather it is negative or positive. According to AIDS.gov, 1 out of 6 people living with the virus do not know they are infected. This statistic really brings home how people are not getting tested and is not aware.



HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) - a virus that weakens human’s immune systems by attacking essential fighter cells, very similar to the flu virus. The major difference from HIV and any other virus is that the human immune system is deficient (can’t protect) against the virus while the body can usually fight off viruses. When HIV has successfully overtime attacked and invaded most of the body’s fighter cells, the virus becomes AIDS.

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)- is the final stage of HIV. In this stage, people have very weakened immune systems making them become susceptible to infections that healthy immune systems are able to fight called opportunistic infections.

Most people with HIV don’t look or feel sick. According to AIDS.gov, some people within 2-4 weeks of being infected with HIV feel flu like symptoms. Most people do not present any ailments until they are progressing towards AIDS. Unfortunately, HIV/AIDS does not have a cure but there are treatments for the virus called antiretroviral therapy (ART) that keeps HIV from growing and multiplying. People live a lot longer with HIV now than ever before with advanced ARTs, some call the infection a chronic disease.

History of HIV/AIDS

The history of HIV/AIDS began in 1981 when a small group of relatively healthy gay men in New York and California became sick and passed away from Pneumocystis Pneumonia (PCP), a rare form of pneumonia, or Kaposi’s Sarcoma, a cancer that only those with really compromised (little to no) immunities develop. By the close of 1981, 5 to 6 cases of these rare forms of diseases (opportunistic infections) were reported a week. These conditions were highly stigmatized from the beginning, being called the “gay cancer” and “GRID- gay-related immune deficiency.” By June 1982, 20 U.S. states reported these conditions were not just isolated to gay men but was also found in heterosexual men and women with a history of IV drug use. Three cases of heterosexual hemophiliacs who received Factor VII blood transfusions from a pool of hundreds of donors also died from the opportunistic infections. At this point people were becoming scared because it was now known not to be specific to gay men. In July 1982, the condition was now known as AIDS (Acquired Immunity Deficient Syndrome). By the closing of 1983, the number of reported U.S. AIDS diagnoses increased to 3064 which 1292 had died (Avert.org).

In March 1985, Abbott Laboratories developed a test to identify antibodies (your body’s fighter cells to specific diseases) to HIV. Testing started in blood transfusion centers, where they found 73 cases of hemophilia- associated AIDS, but by 1986, more than half of hemophiliacs were infected with HIV in the US (Avert.org).

In the mid to late 1980s, the revolutionary discovery and use of AZT (zidovudine) transitioned AIDS to a fatal disease to a treatable one. This drug was a failed cancer drug but slowed the assault of HIV. This was the only approved antiretroviral therapy (ART) at the time and caused major controversy because of the price of the drug being $7000 for a year supply. This cost was cut by 20% after protest but people still did not have insurance or money to cover the cost(Avert.org).

In 1990, The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency (CARE) Act was put into effect for those infected with AIDS with low income, uninsured and underinsured. Ryan White was a young man who was infected with AIDS through blood transfusions. He was in the public eye due to him being banned from school, ultimately winning the battle and was able to return. Although he was still isolated and ridiculed by peers and parents, he spent his last years speaking publicly on how people should not be fearful of HIV (Avert.org).

Reggie Williams espn.go.com[/caption]

Reggie Williams, a NBA player, was a member of Black and White Men Together (BWMT) (a gay San Franciscan community group), which raised awareness and gave birth to other AIDS organizations. Williams was one of the first black gay men activists for AIDS and helped in receiving the first grant from the CDC for HIV prevention in African American gay men in 1988.

The first time I heard about HIV/AIDS was when Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, another NBA player, revealed that he had HIV. I remember people saying “he was cured because he didn’t die,” “he’s probably the only one that can actually afford the medicine to keep him alive,” or “he must be gay or using drugs.” In 1991, Magic Johnson made it clear that HIV can happen to anyone because he was none of those statistics. Magic’s announcement helped New York’s testing rate for HIV increased up to 60% more than before(Avert.org). Check out his announcement video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbdOQUARrEU

 HIV in the U.S. Today

Moving forward to the present, HIV care has changed and became available across the country due to the Affordable Care Act. The use of ARTs in HIV positive patients have been extended and more extensive for more people to benefit from the treatment which is proven to gain greater control of the virus when ARTs are started earlier. With this concept in mind, in August 2013, the FDA approved the first rapid HIV test to detect both HIV 1 and 2 in order to diagnose and start treatment earlier if the test is positive (Avert.org).

I urge you all to get tested at least once to know your status. It is recommended that you get tested for every year you’re sexually active. HIV care is not the same as it was in the past. No, we do not have a cure. But, we do have medication that is so advanced that it suppresses the virus in your body to the point that HIV is not detected (if medication is taken regularly). The stigmas toward the virus are so deeply rooted in world because of how HIV first manifested in highly stigmatized groups but it can happen to anybody. HIV does not have a look, smell, or preference, it can infect anybody. It’s transmitted through semen, vaginal secretions, breast milk, and/or blood. Some people have unprotected sex some or all of the time thinking that if they get an STI, they only need a shot and some pills. Or some people worst fear is to get pregnant, well at least your baby will love you back, HIV doesn’t. HIV is a lifetime. Although people are living with the virus, they still struggle with having it. I tell people all the time that they know someone that is HIV positive, rather the person knows it or not. The only way to know your status is to get tested. Tell your mom, tell your mate, tell your kids, tell your family and friends to get tested. The rapid test takes about 10 minutes of your time to give you a piece of mind. Philadelphia’s Mazzoni Center and Health Centers #1 (Broad and Lombard Sts.) and #5 (20th and Berks Sts.) offer free STI/HIV testing on weekdays and check out AIDS.gov for additional sites. Please remember to protect yourself and wear condoms!