Associated Press (12.29.03) - Tuesday, December 30, 2003

More than 30 new cases were identified on the Navajo Reservation in 2003 - including the first documented cases of transmission on the reservation. Twenty-four new HIV cases were diagnosed on the reservation last year, said Dr. Jonathan Iralu, chief clinical consultant for infectious disease for the Navajo Area of the Indian Health Service. Fifteen cases were diagnosed in 2001. Almost all the cases were the result of sexual transmission, said Iralu. CDC is closely tracking the numbers.

In 2001, Surgeon General David Satcher called AIDS a ticking time bomb for American Indians. Now, according to CDC, Native Americans are infected with AIDS at a rate of 11.7 per 100,000 - more than 1.5 times the rate for whites and twice the rate for Asians. Blacks and Hispanics have the highest infection rates nationally.

Death rates from HIV/AIDS among American Indians are also higher than those in some other groups, said Satcher. "I think it's a combination of later diagnoses and less access to aggressive treatment," he said.

"Native people are vulnerable. The conditions exist that can allow the spread of the disease, including high rates of sexually transmitted infections and illicit drug use," said Jeanne Bertolli, an epidemiologist at CDC's National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, adding that American Indian populations are at risk for other health problems including diabetes, alcoholism, homicide, suicide and accidental death.

The increasing number of cases and the spread of HIV/AIDS to women concerns Iralu because it signals a widespread problem. "It's a sign of more general local spread, and it tells us that there's a risk of congenital spread from mother to child," Iralu explained.
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