A study released by the Center for Disease Control indicates that the presence of HIV/AIDS is still growing despite being highly publicized since the 1980s.
According to the study released Monday, approximately 900,000 Americans are currently living with the HIV virus, and the center estimates about half of those cases either do not know they are infected, are not receiving treatment or both.
The data also revealed the disease affects 50,000 more Americans now than it did two years ago, and that 40,000 new people are infected each year.
However, with the advent of new drugs that ward off the effects of the disease, but do not cure it, more and more of those infected are living longer after diagnosis.
Despite the national increase, the incident rate among students is low, said Amy Miller, coordinator for Blue Bus HIV Counseling Services.
“The incidence of HIV/AIDS is pretty low among students,” Miller said. “[We saw] about five to six in the last year, students and non-students combined, generally contracted through some kind of sexual contact.”
Miller said she thought those numbers have been fairly static in recent years.
“I don’t think [the numbers] have really changed at all,” she said. “That doesn’t mean that other people aren’t testing positive in other settings, but we aren’t aware of it.”
No data has been released recently targeting student groups and AIDS, Miller said.
“There was a study that was done in the early ’90s sponsored by the CDC that looked at various campuses across the United States, and this campus was one of those,” Miller said. “At that time, they estimated that [the disease affected] about one in a hundred.”
Bob Power, executive director of the Wisconsin AIDS Network, said local community statistics tend to match national trends.
“Traditionally, Wisconsin follows national trends, albeit a year or two later,” Power said. “Four and five years ago, CDC was telling us people of color are really going to be hard hit and disproportionately affected. That’s exactly where we are right now. About 18 of the last 24 people we’ve seen through here are Spanish speakers. That’s one of the national trends we’ve certainly followed.”
Miller said counseling is readily available for students who have initial concerns about HIV/AIDS.
“When someone comes in for testing, we talk to them about safer sex and how not to transmit HIV to others.”
Blue Bus offers ongoing support for a patient from the moment they are diagnosed through the care process.
“We try to coordinate [a patient’s] on-going care and get them in with an infectious disease specialist as soon as possible,” Miller said. “We also try to get them hooked up with the regional AIDS network for our area. We do a lot of counseling to determine whether or not they have a good support system.”
