All I can say is pray. I don't know what else one can do if people are still refusing to make needed life style changes. People need to stop thinking it can't happen to them and know it can happen to them. I can say I've lost enough friends and co-workers in my life time to this very thing.

Official: HIV/AIDS Rate in D.C. "Higher Than West Africa"

Nearly 3,000 of every 100,000 people living in the nation's capital have HIV or AIDS, according to a report that will be released by D.C. health officials Monday.

That's a little more than 15,000 people with the disease -- a total that well exceeds the 1 percent threshold for what makes up a "generalized and severe epidemic," according to the 2008 epidemiology report.

"Our rates are higher than West Africa," Shannon L. Hader, director of the District's HIV/AIDS Administration, told The Washington Post. "They're on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya."

Hader -- who led the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's work in Zimbabwe -- said every mode of transmission for the virus and the disease is rising, from men having sex with men, and heterosexual and injected drug use -- or, as noted by the study, "the true number of residents currently infected and living with HIV is certainly higher."

More than 4 percent of blacks in the city are known to have HIV, along with almost 2 percent of Latinos and 1.4 percent of whites, according to the Post.

More than three-quarters -- 76 percent -- of the HIV infected are black, 70 percent are men and 70 percent are age 40 and older.

Despite the dire statistics, there was some good news in the District's report, the Post said. More people are getting HIV diagnoses early, while they are still healthy, a result of a policy of routine testing put in place by the city a couple of years ago.

You can lead a horse to water etc.

Hell I'm afraid to sit down at Dupont Circle!

Hook up in DC and catch a gift that keeps on giving! Baltimore is a close second to DC, I think.

KatSkrizzle said:

I'd be surprised if they aren't viewing it as the Baltimore-D.C. or Greater D.C. Metropolitan area, given the commutes and social circles there.

Really hate to hear that.

I'll never forget the day I was in the car with my brother and a doctor was talking about the DC HIV/AIDS rates and announced that 1 in every 4 black men in DC was HIV positive...

That was just completely shocking to us, and a big reality check

thekidsgirl said:

Factor into that the incredibly high rate with which sisters have become infected in recent years, and the epidemic's scope becomes astounding.

ThreadBare said:

it's just overwhelming!! I think black women have the fastest growing rate of diagnosis now

thekidsgirl said:

Yeah, it's been up there for a few years now. Again, the same pattern as is seen in some parts of Africa: Infected men having unprotected sex with each other in secret and infecting their female partners, too...

ThreadBare said:

It's just one more painful sympton of homophobia. Men are too afraid to admit that they're gay or bi and so get married to women, but continue to get it on with men on the side. And for some dipshit reason, neglect protection when they do so.

You know how much of this problem wouldn't even exist if more men were comfortable with their sexuality?

Ignorance has a lot to answer for.

Are these numbers acurate?

Smoochesdarling said:

Do you have a link for the article? I remember reading something similar, but it was a couple of years ago. There is alot of ignorance in this area regarding sexual health and just general health. It's astounding

people forget it still exists and is getting worse, because media coverage has dropped off.

i was talking about it in group therapy friday.

i actually had someone tell me they thought it had been cured.

cborgman said:

Jeez mate, how can some people be that ill informed?

I've been really startled to see how in just the last 10 years, steadfast condom use has declined sharply. I can't tell you how many educated, well-rounded adults I know from every country you can think of have zero interest in condom use. The whole AIDS issue to them has simply become an afterthought,or at least thought of as no more than a health inconvience. In American society we are so caught up in the quick fix of the pill cocktail for everything spawning from acne to erectile dysfunction, collectively I think we're popping them like vitamins, and not giving serious diseases the respect and attention they deserve.

Does you have trouble sleeping at night?

Take this pill!

Do you have difficulty setting into a social situation with more than 2 people involved?

Take this pill!

Does your big left toe hurt?

Take this pill

Allof this (industry promoted) dependence on pills seems to be taking us away from understanding the severity of true illness and dysfunction and giving us the false security that all is curable if you can get the right cocktail.

cborgman said:

another reason why the rise in straight people has been pretty steep
is imo because the media has from the very start made it out to be a
gay thing. so many straight guys and girls think they are not at all
at risk if they have unprotected sex.

IstenSzek said:

IstenSzek said:

True. I read a travel guide for San Francisco from the early 80s and back then it was called GRID, not AIDS. The GR stood for gay related or something like that. The travel guide briefly mentioned " a mysterious new disease among people in the gay community".
Another reason could be that there are indeed good news and examples of people getting healed , like Magic Johnson or that other dude from England who is supposed to be immune against HIV. That, and the advances in modern medicine make people a tad too optimistic when it comes to AIDS.
And maybe people like Dr.Peter Duesberg from Berkley and their likeminded conspiracy theorists also play a part in neglecting the dangers of AIDS and spreading lies about AIDS, like on www.virusmyth.com

if people throught with theres brains and not anything else
if people had a little more respect for there own health and the person there are with
drug users didnt share needles did do drugs

use condoms


then there would be a change

meow85 said:

Homosexuality is the elephant in the living room in a lot of communities...

Shawnt26 said:

Yes I do and here it is http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29706957/

thekidsgirl said:

tkg, I could never say you are wrong, but please recheck that stat.

I've found this stat in the Post article at http://www.washingtonpost...d=topnews: "Black men, with an infection rate of nearly 7 percent (actually 6.5), carry the weight of the disease."

That'd be about 1 in 15 black men (versus about 1 in 33 white or Hispanic men, who have infection rates of 2.6 percent and 3 percent, respectively).

1 in 4 black men would mean a whopping 25-percent infection rate among black men in the D.C. area!

...I think I may have heard that on a national scale 1 out of every 4 newly diagnosed HIV cases is that of a black male. (I'll try to find that stat.) That's often misstated as you recall the doctor saying, but it's a VASTLY different statement.
[Edited 3/16/09 21:03pm]

mdiver said:

You'd be surprised. Drug cocktails have been so successful in squashing viral loads to undetectable levels that many people do assume it's a cure or something like it.

Also, because it is less common in all but a few specific communities to hear about folk (at least in the States) dying in high numbers or having repeated personal encounters with loved ones dying or seeing the anecdotal gay man walking down the street with thrush, sarcomas and a sunken face, people don't "see" AIDS anymore like they used to... and out of sight, out of mind.
[Edited 3/16/09 22:23pm]

Well according to the local news so many people are living with HIV/AIDS that people have forgot that its still out there and the ones who have it say they still have unprotected sex.

If that is true like I said people need to change there mind set from the it can't happen to me to it can. In the last 20 years I've lost 4 co-workers I know 5 more co-workers who are infected, I've lost 5 very close friends (all from the same family) and know another 3 (one who is from the same family mention) who are infected one who just turn 19 and found out he was infected when I asked him why was he not using protection he said when one is caught up in the moment your just not thinking protection your thinking physically need.

Well people need not only to start thinking but keep protection next to the bed like you would a glass of water and keeping at least one on your person at all times.

I know parents who still are afraid to talk to there own children about sex and don't want the schools to teach them now a days lack of education can equal illnesses or death.

As for black women in the DC area who are getting infected faster then other city's women need to stop thinking because Im married I'm ok, women need to stop thinking my man would never cheat I've got a good man he goes to church and everything. Like I tell all my friends I don't care even if I get married the man I marry will wear protection each and every time because marriage does not equal you will be true to me nor does it equal if you are not that you will think and not get caught up in the moment.

The very sad part about DC is we have so many men on the DL and the reason why is DC is very church based so a lot of people don't want there families to find out nor do they want all the church members to find out.

I still give my male friends gifts of condoms. It did not work to well with my female friends which is another sad thing women should welcome such gifts but they blush and try to make you feel bad. The funny thing is all my married female friends are always sending me the single woman emails about men on the DL and to always use protection then I send them the numbers where it shows more married women getting infected then single and they ask me were I get that info from and its not true.

So I'm not sure what to say or what to do other then what I normally do those who welcome gifts of condoms I give condoms.

Lammastide said:

precisely.

thankfully, the cocktails do make it managable, but it's still quite a physical burden. while my viral load is undetectable, my t-cell count ain't goin anywhere fast. in over a year i have managed to get it up to what is about 1/7th of a normal person.

it's keeping me decent, but there still is no cure. there isn't even a vaccination

Smoochesdarling said:

I can't imagine sex now without a condom.

KatSkrizzle said:

Truth.

Smoochesdarling said:

Co-sign much of what you said.

You're a good person for trying so hard to keep your friends safe.

It's really sad how detached some people can be sometimes from reality. Then I wonder sometimes how does a married (or rather relationship committed) woman really go about making her man wear a condom (or even get tested) especially when he's one of those man men? So many men (and women) hate to take responsibility for their own health in so many different areas (diabetes, blood pressure, heart disease), it's hard to get them to face something that is still considered to be taboo. Don't nobody wanna hear no bad news, till it knocking the crap out of them personally.