Health News
Friday is World AIDS Day, an opportunity to learn the facts about the virus and show support for people living with it.
- Hiv And Aids Cases Are On The Rise In Kentucky; Officials Blame Lack Of Education And Increase Of Heroin Use
Despite readily available information and awareness about practicing safe sex, and avoiding sharing needles, HIV and AIDS cases are on the rise in Kentucky. And the reason, say officials, is ignorance and an increase in heroin use, Mary Meehan reports...
- Free Hiv Testing Available From Health Departments And Community-based Health Groups In June; Key To Aids Prevention
In honor of National HIV Testing Day on June 27, community-based organizations and local health departments are hosting free HIV testing throughout the month of June. HIV is an infection that can lead to AIDS, and early screening and detection of HIV...
- More Americans Dying From Hepatitis C Than From Aids
More people are dying in the U.S. from hepatitis C than from AIDS, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. More than 3.2 million Americans have the hepatitis virus, which can cause chronic infection of the liver and eventually...
- Get Tested, Get Treatment, Bluegrass Hiv Coalition Encourages
Today is World AIDS Day and health advocates are asking Kentuckians to get tested and get treatment. Hundreds of Kentuckians are diagnosed with AIDS each year, reports Mary Meehan of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Minority populations are hit particularly...
- On 30th Anniversary Of Aids Detection, It Is No Longer A Death Sentence, But Kentuckians Die Because They Delay Testing
Though life expectancy for people living with AIDS has improved, the disease "remains a serious health threat, with Kentucky's minorities and poor being affected in disproportionate numbers," reports the Lexington Herald-Leader's Mary Meehan....
Health News
Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day; 1.2 million Americans are thought to be infected, but only 1 in 5 know it
Friday is World AIDS Day, an opportunity to learn the facts about the virus and show support for people living with it. In the United States, there are 1.2 million people living with the HIV infection, which leads to AIDS. Of those who are infected with the virus in the U.S., only one in five know they have it, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. Each year, about 50,000 Americans become infected. About 1,700 Kentuckians were diagnosed with HIV between Jan. 1, 2005 and Dec. 31, 2009; Kentucky ranks 19th in the country for the number of people who have the HIV infection.
Since the epidemic began, nearly 594,500 people have died with AIDS in the U.S. Between 1981 and 2007, more than 25 million people have died from the virus around the world.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke of the epidemic in a Nov. 8 address at the National Institutes of Health. "The fight against AIDS began three decades ago in June 1981. American scientists reported the first evidence of a mysterious new disease," she said. "Thirty years later, we ... know a great deal about the virus itself. We understand how it is spread, how it constantly mutates in the body, how it hides from the immune system. And we have turned this knowledge to our advantage."
Most at risk are gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men. The CDC estimates that though this population accounts for just 2 percent of the U.S. population, it accounted for 61 percent of all new HIV infections in 2009. But heterosexuals and people who inject drugs can also contract the disease. Heterosexuals account for 27 percent of new cases. Another 9 percent of people who contracted the virus did so by using injected drugs.
Blacks accounted for 44 percent of new HIV infections in 2009, though they only represent 14 percent of the U.S. population. In 2009, the rate of new infection was 6.5 times greater for black men than it was for white men.
People can now be tested for the infection using a saliva sample and have the results in just 15 to 20 minutes. To find an HIV/AIDS prevention and service provider by county, click here.
- Hiv And Aids Cases Are On The Rise In Kentucky; Officials Blame Lack Of Education And Increase Of Heroin Use
Despite readily available information and awareness about practicing safe sex, and avoiding sharing needles, HIV and AIDS cases are on the rise in Kentucky. And the reason, say officials, is ignorance and an increase in heroin use, Mary Meehan reports...
- Free Hiv Testing Available From Health Departments And Community-based Health Groups In June; Key To Aids Prevention
In honor of National HIV Testing Day on June 27, community-based organizations and local health departments are hosting free HIV testing throughout the month of June. HIV is an infection that can lead to AIDS, and early screening and detection of HIV...
- More Americans Dying From Hepatitis C Than From Aids
More people are dying in the U.S. from hepatitis C than from AIDS, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. More than 3.2 million Americans have the hepatitis virus, which can cause chronic infection of the liver and eventually...
- Get Tested, Get Treatment, Bluegrass Hiv Coalition Encourages
Today is World AIDS Day and health advocates are asking Kentuckians to get tested and get treatment. Hundreds of Kentuckians are diagnosed with AIDS each year, reports Mary Meehan of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Minority populations are hit particularly...
- On 30th Anniversary Of Aids Detection, It Is No Longer A Death Sentence, But Kentuckians Die Because They Delay Testing
Though life expectancy for people living with AIDS has improved, the disease "remains a serious health threat, with Kentucky's minorities and poor being affected in disproportionate numbers," reports the Lexington Herald-Leader's Mary Meehan....