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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Dallas County retains state's worst HIV rate
8:50 AM | 
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 NEW YORK: Dallas County had the highest HIV infection rate in the state in 2008 and has held that distinction for a number of years, county health officials acknowledged Monday.The county's infection rate of 36 new HIV cases per 100,000 residents declined from 37.5 cases in the previous year, but still was higher than Harris County's infection rate of 32.5 cases in 2008. "This is not new. This is not sudden," said Dr. Wendy Chung, the chief epidemiologist who tracks reportable diseases in Dallas County. "What's important is that this trend has been recognized. And it's improving, which is something that's hard to achieve." Dallas County added 859 HIV cases in 2008 for a total caseload of 13,500 residents with HIV or AIDS. By comparison, Harris County, which includes Houston, added 1,288 cases for a total of 18,751 HIV/AIDS cases that year, according to the Houston Department of Health and Human Services. One AIDS service group, AIDS Arms Inc., cited the county's ranking in a fundraising campaign to add a new medical clinic in Oak Cliff. "The HIV epidemic in Dallas County is reaching crisis levels in terms of our city's health status, economics and quality of life," said Raeline Nobles, the group's executive director. AIDS Arms, which operates a medical clinic in South Dallas along with other services, is trying to raise $8 million for a new clinic to accommodate more HIV-infected patients. "The clinic demands of individuals living with HIV have evolved to the point where we need to expand the availability of medical services beyond our current facility," said Dr. Keith Rawlings, medical director of the group's Peabody Clinic. Zachary Thompson, executive director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, said the county and other AIDS service groups in Dallas have worked to lower the HIV rate for years. "It's why we wanted to begin distributing condoms in Dallas County," he said. "We said right upfront that we were seeing increasing numbers of HIV/AIDS." In 2008, Dallas County commissioners rescinded a 13-year ban on condom distribution, acknowledging the need to prevent not only the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus but other sexually transmitted diseases as well. The county acknowledged its HIV rate on the same day the Texas Department of State Health Services released its 2008 annual report on HIV/AIDS. It showed a steady increase in the number of Texans now living with the disease. Since 2002, the number of HIV/AIDS survivors in Texas has gone up about 6 percent annually. A total of 63,019 Texans were known to be living with the disease by the end of 2008, an increase of 42 percent in seven years, according to the new report. While the state's increasing HIV/AIDS caseload would appear to be a grim prognosis, it actually is good news, Chung said. "They're living longer, getting effective treatment and getting treatment sooner," she said. The virus is spread by having unprotected sex with an HIV-infected person, sharing drug needles and from an infected mother to a child at birth. The state report also noted that once people are infected with HIV, they typically have five to 10 years without symptoms before they progress to AIDS. "Early HIV/AIDS diagnosis allows HIV-infected people to benefit from lifesaving medication and treatment," the state report noted. Local AIDS officials said HIV appears to be spreading fastest among young black men, a group they are trying to reach with better prevention efforts. |
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