New HIV Estimates for the United States, Part
One:
Interview with Dr. Kevin Fenton This podcast is presented by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC
– Safer. Healthier. People.
What does the higher estimate based on the new
surveillance system signify?
Dr. Fenton: “Well, first of all we must bear in mind
that these are new breakthrough technologies
which are providing us with the clearest picture
of the HIV epidemic in the United States to
date. Previous estimates of HIV incidence in the
United States suggested that there are
approximately 40,000 new cases occurring. The
most recent estimates in 2006 suggest that the
epidemic is - and has been - higher than
previously known, at approximately 56,000 new
HIV infections. These new technologies which we
are applying to measure HIV incidence provides
us with the clearest…most clear picture of how
the epidemic is spreading in the United States
to date.”
How should the new estimate impact people’s
awareness of HIV/AIDS?
Dr. Fenton: “Well these estimates are really a
wake-up call. They are a wake-up call to all of
us in the United States to have authentic
conversations about what we all need to be doing
to ending this epidemic within our lifetimes.”
What does this tell us about the effectiveness
of HIV prevention in the U.S., and what needs to
be done?
Dr. Fenton: “The reality is that there are still too
many people who are HIV-infected and who are
unaware of their HIV status. We are seeing
nearly 30 percent of new HIV diagnoses occurring
in young people. So it’s clear that we need to
focus our efforts in tackling these areas to
enhance our prevention response. But all of us
have a role to play in preventing HIV. The
response should take place at the individual, at
the community and at the national level. At the
individual level, we all need to be taking
control of the epidemic. We need to be knowing
our HIV status and testing on a regular basis.
Communities need to mobilize against HIV.
Communities need to tackle issues of stigma and
discrimination or other social factors which
might be driving the epidemic. And as a nation,
we need to recognize this epidemic for the
crisis that it is.”
For the most accurate health information, visit
www.cdc.gov or
call 1-800-CDC-INFO, 24/7.
New HIV Estimates for
the United States, Part Two:
Interview with Dr.
Richard Wolitski
This podcast is presented by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC
– Safer. Healthier. People.
Why is the new estimate so different from the
past one?
Dr.
Wolitski: “The past estimates were based on the
best available information that we had at that
time. The current estimate is based on new
technology that only became widely available in
2005. With this new technology, we are now able
for the first time to be able to directly
measure which infections have newly occurred in
the United States. It’s this new information
that’s going to allow us to better target our
HIV prevention efforts and to better monitor the
impact of those efforts over time.”
What does the new estimate tell us about
populations impacted by HIV?
Dr.
Wolitski: “These new data confirm what we’ve
known for sometime about the disproportionate
impact of HIV in the United States. They show
that gay and bisexual men of all races and
ethnicities and black men and women are most
severely affected. In 2006, 53 percent of new
infections were among men who have sex with men
and there were higher rates of HIV infection
among African Americans. These rates were 7
times higher compared to whites and 3 times
higher compared to Hispanics, who are also
disproportionately affected by the epidemic.
These data confirm the need for us to
reinvigorate and to focus our HIV prevention
efforts on these critical populations.”
What can we learn from the new estimate that
helps direct future strategies?
Dr.
Wolitski: “This new estimate is a wake-up call.
It’s a reminder of the severity of the epidemic
in the United States and that the epidemic
continues to be a significant threat to public
health in this country. These new data show that
the HIV epidemic is and has been, for some time,
worse than previously known. As a result, we
need to reevaluate our HIV prevention efforts
and make sure that they match the magnitude of
this crisis. We need to make sure that all
persons who are at risk for contracting HIV
receive HIV testing and prevention services.”
For the most accurate health information, visit
www.cdc.gov or
call 1-800-CDC-INFO, 24/7.
New HIV Estimates for the
United States, Part Three:
Interview with Dr.
Irene Hall
This podcast is presented by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC
– Safer. Healthier. People.
Can you explain the new method of estimating HIV
incidence and why it represents a breakthrough?
Dr.
Hall: “We are very fortunate in the United
States that we have a good reporting system for
HIV diagnoses. Unfortunately, from the HIV
diagnoses, we don’t know how long people have
actually been infected. So this breakthrough
technology developed at CDC now allows us to
distinguish long-standing from recent infections
and using that data with advanced statistical
methods, we were able to estimate the new
infections in the United States for 2006. This
breakthrough technology enabled us to get a much
more precise estimate and this information we
can now use to target interventions.”
How representative is the new estimate?
Dr.
Hall: “We can think of the data that we have as
a sample and then we use this data in our
advanced statistical methodology to come up with
a national estimate of the number of new HIV
infections. The 22 states that we included in
our analyses represent 73 percent of the AIDS
diagnoses in the United States. Also, we had
this estimate undergo a rigorous scientific
review, so we actually are able to give now the
clearest picture to date of the number of new
HIV infections in the United States.”
For the most accurate health information, visit
www.cdc.gov or
call 1-800-CDC-INFO, 24/7.
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