AUSTRALIA: Fed: Reaper Keeps Bowling but Advances Show Promise for HIV/AIDS

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

AUSTRALIA: Fed: Reaper Keeps Bowling but Advances Show Promise for HIV/AIDS

Australian Associated Press (12.19.03) - Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Kylie Walker

Dr. Robert Finlayson, Australia's longest-serving HIV/AIDS physician, says treatment of the virus has evolved to the point that it is almost considered to be a chronic condition. That is a big change from the 1980s when he saw patients die "by the hundreds," and fear and paranoia over contaminated blood and unsafe sex prevailed, fueled by Australia's grim "death goes bowling" advertising campaign.

Although the country managed to fight the disease and HIV/AIDS rates began to fall, a new generation has grown up without knowledge of how many deaths the virus caused, and now cases are rising for the first time since the mid-1990s.

"In the first six months of this year new cases of HIV infection went up 18 percent, and it's risen 38 percent in the last two years," Finlayson said. "It's not just HIV - all the common sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise, so that we've got epidemics of gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis in Sydney at the moment."

The UN said last month that 12,000-18,000 Australians and New Zealanders have HIV/AIDS, with 700-1,000 new infections at the end of 2003. The infection rate represents a 0.1 percent prevalence among those ages 15-49.

Despite the rising infection rate, the UN said there were fewer than 100 HIV/AIDS deaths in Australia and New Zealand this year. Finlayson attributes that to successful use of triple therapy and new treatment strategies. Finlayson cautioned that effective treatment should not lead anyone to become complacent about HIV/AIDS. "This disease still kills people - don't take unnecessary risks," he warned.
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