Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Challenges of Increased HIV Testing and Treatment
by Bob Roehr
2006-12-06

This article shared 2814 times since Wed Dec 6, 2006
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


About a quarter of the estimated 1.1 to 1.2 million Americans infected with HIV don't know it. Recently modified testing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) , when they are aggressively implemented next year, will dramatically increase both the number of people who know their status and the demand for care. It will place an even greater burden on a system that is struggling to meet the needs of existing patients.

John Bartlett, the noted Johns Hopkins University HIV specialist, served as co-chair of a conference of the leaders in the field who grappled with those opportunities and challenges at a meeting in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 29-30.

He said that previous testing guidelines were developed in 1985 when no therapies were available. 'Now, at a time when we have very good therapy, especially when people start early, that is inappropriate,' he stated.

Mike Saag, director of the HIV clinic at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, said those who start treatment with a CD4 cell count greater than 200 have a mortality rate of 4% to 8% at the end of eight years, while those who start treatment with a CD4 count less than 200 have a 35% to 50% mortality.

Three-quarters of those in his clinic first show up with a CD4 count less than 200, because they are not getting tested. The one exception is pregnant women, who have been offered opt-out testing for about five years. Their CD4 count is about 400. That has made Saag a firm supporter of routine HIV testing.

'AIDS today is a Black disease, plain and simple,' said Phill Wilson, CEO of the Black AIDS Institute. 'Of those 40,000 new cases, over 20,000 of them are Black. We have to get Black folks and Black institutions to take ownership of this disease.'

When some suggested that he is stigmatizing Blacks, Wilson replied, 'The stigma is there. Denying the facts are not going to get us through the stigma issue. You have to call it for what it is.'

CLINIC CRISIS

Most of the people who find out they are positive will be unemployed, dependent upon public resources for medical care, 'and the number of slots in existing clinics for HIV infection may be limited to the point we can't handle them,' said Bartlett.

'Our clinic is at capacity, and the reimbursement is exceedingly low,' said Saag. 'If we were to charge and collect everything owed us, it would be $360 per patient, per year…Ryan White funding is critical [ to make up the difference ] , yet clinics like ours have been flat-funded for the last seven years, despite a 50 to 70 percent increase in patient volume.'

As HIV testing is made routine and more people learn their status and require services, 'how are we going to take care of these patients? Where are the clinics going to find the capacity to do this?' Saag said, 'We can't have a fixed pie, there has to be increased dollars to provide care.'

Money is the immediate concern, but that can be resolved relatively quickly. Other demands will require more time to implement. In developing countries, the need to create health care infrastructure and train personnel is a major limiting factor in expanding treatment. That also could become a challenge in the U.S. with increased testing for HIV.

'On the front-door side, we have increased our capacity for providing routine screening in the District of Columbia by 150% since June,' said Marsha Martin, who heads up HIV prevention and testing in D.C. In those five months, more than 16,000 people have been screened and 580 persons with HIV identified. That is a rate of 3.5%—three to four times the national average—85% of whom are Black.

'This is increasing the demand for supportive counseling services…and is changing the daily burden [ of counselors} because it is telling more people that they have a life-threatening disease.' She said that has led to increased support for counselors.

'Dr. Martin talked about the front door, let me talk about the rest of the house,' said Saag. 'Who is going to provide the care?'

'I am concerned that we could be on the verge of a larger epidemic. I don't know that the 25% [ estimate ] of undiagnosed patients is accurate. In Alabama, my sense is that it is higher than that. The majority of our patients are showing up late for care' with low CD4 counts suggesting they became infected 10-12 years ago.

'Fewer numbers of young people are interested in doing HIV care,' and the most altruistic are drawn overseas. Saag said, 'Attracting young physicians, young nurses into the field is very difficult because they go to the clinic and see people working from 6:30 in the morning to 8:00 at night, every day, filling out prior authorizations for Medicare, doing ancillary work because the support services aren't there.'

'Health care workers are burning out from the workload and they need help now, especially in light of the onslaught of new patients that is likely to come their way.'

'The whole universe of who is focusing on HIV/AIDS is getting smaller and smaller. It is not just the number of folks, but the who,' added Wilson. He is concerned that lessons learned in the 1980s—comprehensive prevention, community mobilization—will not only be lost, they will be ignored.

'HIV is the most exciting filed there is in medicine. But it is also the poorest paying field, by far,' said Bartlett.

Later in a private conversation, Saag acknowledged that there is much to be excited about for a researcher, but not so much for the regular physician. Part of the reason is because reimbursement is low, but also because a significant portion of the patient population is harder to work with—less likely to keep appointments and adhere to regimens, and more likely to develop resistance, hence requiring more complicated regimens.


This article shared 2814 times since Wed Dec 6, 2006
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

HIV criminal laws disproportionately impact Black men in Mississippi 2024-02-21
--From a press release - A new report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that at least 43 people in Mississippi were arrested for HIV-related crimes between 2004 and 2021. Half of all arrests in the state ...


Gay News

'West Side Story' gets a sex-positive spin with new burlesque show 2024-02-19
- In partial observance of National Condom Day, which was Feb. 14, Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) presented A West Side Story Burlesque at the Harris Theater for two hour-long performances on Feb. 17. The show, ...


Gay News

$200,000+ raised at AIDS Foundation Chicago's World of Chocolate Fundraiser to fight HIV/AIDS 2024-02-13
--From a press release - (Chicago, IL) More than 950 guests gathered at Chicago's famed Union Station (500 W. Jackson) for Chicago's Sweetest Fundraiser, AIDS Foundation Chicago's (AFC), World of Chocolate on Friday, February 9. ...


Gay News

Munar prepares to step away from Howard Brown leadership 2024-02-11
- After 10 years of leadership at Howard Brown Health, President and CEO David Ernesto Munar has decided to step down from his post on Feb. 29. Munar, who'd previously been president and CEO of AIDS Foundation ...


Gay News

National Black Justice Coalition commemorates National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2024-02-07
--From a press release - WASHINGTON — Today, Feb. 7, marks National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD). In commemoration, Dr. David J. Johns, CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), a leading Black LGBTQ+/same-gender ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Wis. report, gender dysphoria, HIV research, Stonewall exhibit, gay CEOs 2024-01-19
- A new annual report from Wisconsin's Office of Children's Mental Health shows that the state's minors—especially girls, children of color and LGBTQ+ youth—continue to struggle with anxiety, depression and thoughts ...


Gay News

WORLD Activist honored, marriages in Estonia, Madrid law, trans sports item 2024-01-05
Video below - The National AIDS Commission (NAC) recently honored Caleb Orozco—a leading figure in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Belize—for his instrumental contributions to the national HIV response, BNN reported. According ...


Gay News

SAVOR World of Chocolate, Jaleo and 'Superhot' 2023-12-31
- World of wonder: I am excited to announce that I will be a judge at AIDS Foundation Chicago's World of Chocolate fundraiser! Join me in sampling delicious chocolate from local chefs and help support a great ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Frankie Franklin-Foxx 2023-12-18
- Frankie Franklin-Foxx (born Waverlynn Franklin), a resident of Chicago's North Side, passed away peacefully Dec. 13 at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. She was 68. Born at Cook County Hospital, Frankie graduated from South Shore High ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Dr. Rachel Levine, World AIDS Day, trans deaths, Philly bar art 2023-12-08
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama Liles C. Burke ruled that emails and other records from U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Rachel Levine are relevant to a lawsuit challenging Alabama's ban ...


Gay News

STRUT marks World AIDS Day with 14th Annual Fashion Show 2023-12-05
- On Dec. 3, John Fleming and Madman Productions presented the 14th annual STRUT fashion show at Joe's on Weed Street, 940 W. Weed St. As in previous years, the standing room only show was a fundraiser, ...


Gay News

World AIDS Day commemorated at AIDS Garden Chicago 2023-12-03
- On the rainy morning of Dec. 1, Chicago Parks Foundation and the AIDS Garden Chicago Board of Directors hosted a World AIDS Day commemoration at AIDS Garden Chicago, just south of Belmont Harbor on the Lakefront. ...


Gay News

GLAAD marks World AIDS Day with launch of global resource hub, new HIV report 2023-12-01
--From a press release - New York, New York — Friday, Dec. 1 — GLAAD marked World AIDS Day this year by sharing the results of its fourth annual State of HIV Stigma Report, a national survey among U.S. adults measuring ...


Gay News

Wrightwood 659 to present 'Daniel Goldstein: The Marks We Leave Behind' on World AIDS Day 2023-11-29
- (CHICAGO, Nov. 29, 2023) —Alphawood Exhibitions will present Daniel Goldstein: The Marks We Leave Behind, an exhibition of works from the San Francisco-based artist & HIV/AIDS activist's iconic "Icarian Series," ...


Gay News

WTTW doc chronicles the activism of Danny Sotomayor 2023-11-03
- Practically everything the late Chicago AIDS activist Danny Sotomayor did was "a fight." So says fellow activist Victor Salvo in the new WTTW documentary The Outrage of Danny Sotomayor, which is part of the station's Chicago ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.