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.

More information More information Florida Health Department www.doh.state.fl.us, click on "A to Z topics," or 800-352-2437, 800-545-7432 (Spanish).

CDC

www.cdc.gov/hiv or 800-232-4636.

Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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