A Closer Look at Florida
New HIV cases in U.S. 40 Percent Above Earlier Estimate
By Bob Lamendola,
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, August 3, 2008
The number of Americans getting infected by HIV each year is 40 percent
higher than government estimates, U.S. health officials reported,
acknowledging that they have underestimated the epidemic of the virus
that causes AIDS.
The nation had roughly 56,300 new HIV infections in 2006 — a dramatic increase from the previous estimate.
South
Florida health leaders and HIV activists said the findings justify
their call for more federal money for the region, a national epicenter
for the virus. The findings were part of a new study to be unveiled
today on the first day of the International AIDS Conference in Mexico
City.
Broward and Palm Beach counties have had to cut hundreds
of thousands of dollars in spending for HIV/AIDS services, such as case
managers, food banks and transportation because federal grants have
lagged the rise in patients for five years.
"We so desperately need more help, and the new numbers show
it," said Glenn Krabec, chairman of the HIV Care Council, which
oversees federal HIV/AIDS grants in Palm Beach County.
"The poorest get hit the hardest. Our main goal in funding is medical
care. But there are a lot of ancillary services you need to make the
medical care work out."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention has long taken heat for sticking to its decade-old estimate
that 40,000 people contract HIV every year. The estimate was inexact
because officials could not tell how long newly reported HIV patients
had been infected.
The new figure results from a better blood
test and new statistical methods, and not a worsening of the epidemic,
officials said. The blood test can distinguish infections less than 6
months old from ones dating back further. As a result, Florida now
estimates its new HIV cases at about 6,500 per year.
CDC
researchers, led by Dr. Robert Janssen, said their analysis indicates
HIV has been stable since 2000; activists said only time would tell.
Officials believe the new blood test will better track HIV trends.
"This is the biggest news for public health and HIV/AIDS that we've had
in a while," said Julie Scofield, executive director of the National
Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors.
It likely
will refocus U.S. attention from the effects of AIDS overseas to what
the disease is doing to this country, public health researchers and
officials said.
Advocates immediately pressed the two
presidential candidates and Congress to sharply boost the CDC's $19
billion budget for HIV/AIDS, especially doubling $700 million in grants
for HIV prevention, such as condom giveaways, ads and education.
South Florida wants more money for the estimated40,000 people living with HIV in the region. In 2006, Miami-Dade County ranked highest, Broward County second and Palm Beach County ninth in new AIDS cases per capita.
Last
week, President Bush signed a $48 billion global AIDS bill to continue
a program that he called "the largest commitment by any nation to
combat a single disease in human history."
But some advocates
complain that CDC's annual spending on HIV prevention in the United
States has been held to roughly $700 million since 2001, while costs
have risen. (That's about 3 percent of what the federal government
spends on AIDS; much of the rest is on medicines, health care and
research.)
The new estimate is "evidence of a failure by
government and society to do what it takes to control the epidemic,"
said Julie Davids, executive director of the Community HIV/AIDS
Mobilization Project in New York.
Whether more funding comes or
not, the revised estimate clearly is a "wake-up call to scale things
up," said Dr. Kevin Fenton, who oversees CDC's prevention efforts for
HIV/AIDS.
In addition, thousands more HIV patients have moved to
South Florida than have moved away, but federal agencies continue to
send money for patients to the cities where they lived when diagnosed.
"We're
taking care of those folks, and we have for years, but those numbers
don't count in determining the money," said Kathleen Cannon,
co-chairman of a panel that oversees federal HIV/AIDS grants to Broward.
The
CDC is not solely to blame for the rising number of cases, advocates
said. They urged states, local government, charitable groups and
community leaders to do more and for individuals to be more responsible
practicing safe sex.
The CDC's revised count also found that
compared with whites, African-Americans were seven times more likely to
contract HIV and Hispanics almost three times more likely — both
smaller than earlier reported.
A resurgence of cases among gay
men led Florida health officials to plan a more aggressive
recommendation: Get tested twice a year instead of once a year.
"Part
of our problem is to challenge the gay leaders in this state, to
challenge those who are already infected to use the best methods to not
spread the virus," said Thomas Liberti, chief of HIV/AIDS at the
Florida Department of Health. "To those in the black and Latino
communities, continue to get tested."
Bob LaMendola can be reached at blamendola@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4526 or 561-243-6600, ext. 4526. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
CDC
www.cdc.gov/hiv or 800-232-4636.
Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel