Hearing
Committee Holds Hearing on Domestic HIV Epidemic
September 16, 2008
Statement of Rep. Tom Davis Ranking Republican Member Committee on Oversight and Government Reform September 16, 2008 Thank you Chairman Waxman for holding this hearing to examine new data on the incidence of HIV infection in the
Using a more sensitive surveillance tool, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found 56,300 new HIV infections in 2006. That’s a forty percent higher incidence than previous estimates. The upward adjustment does not reflect an acceleration of the epidemic, but a more precise capability to distinguish between recent and longer term infections. So it still appears the epidemic has in fact plateaued in terms of new infections per year over the last decade, but at a markedly higher rate than we thought.
With this new knowledge about the path and scope of the epidemic, public heath officials can better target efforts to prevent the spread of the virus that causes AIDS. In fact, we do know how to prevent HIV transmission. Abstinence, safer sex practices, not sharing needles, and proper medical treatment of pregnant women who are HIV-positive can effectively block the most common infection pathways. How to bring those prevention tools to at-risk groups has always been a challenge at every level. This more accurate data should inject a renewed sense of urgency into the federal, state, local and private sector partnerships working to stop the spread of HIV.
But behind the figures lurks one deadly fact: No prevention strategy works on a person who doesn’t know he or she is infected. At any given time, it’s estimated fully twenty-five percent of Americans carrying HIV have not been diagnosed. They are far more likely to engage in the high-risk behaviors that expose still others to silent infection. Breaking that silence, research has proven the power of information as a barrier against the virus. Once diagnosed and properly counseled, HIV-infected individuals are significantly less likely to engage in behaviors that put others at risk. That leaves public health officials to confront the hard questions: Who should be offered testing? How often? And who pays for any broader HIV screening that might detect latent or unknown infections?
HIV/AIDS is not curable, but it is treatable. With the tools at our disposal, we need not consign thousands of our fellow citizens each year to the devastation of preventable HIV infection. Since its outbreak, the
