Inter Press Service - August 12, 2008
Sam Cassanos

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released new data reporting that 56,300 people in the U.S. became infected with HIV in 2006. In contrast, previous annual incidence reports put the number of new infections at approximately 40,000 per year.

According to the CDC study, African-Americans faced higher rates of infection in 2006 than any other racial group -- accounting for 45 percent of new infections. The study also indicated that 53 percent of all new infections occurred in gay and bisexual men, that 31 percent of the newly infected were heterosexual, and that 12 percent were classified as drug users.

For the first time -- to analyse the 2006 data -- the CDC conducted its incidence report using a new HIV surveillance system known as STARHS, or Serological Testing Algorithm for Recent HIV Seroconversion. The technology allows researchers to determine when HIV was contracted, in contrast to when the disease was diagnosed which was the prior method.

Because this is the only HIV/AIDS surveillance project in which this testing method has been used, direct comparisons between the study's findings and past years' data are not possible. Researchers will not be able to report new trends in the infection rate until studies for 2007 and 2008 are complete.

While the data in the report does not necessarily represent an increase in the number of new infections between 2006 and any previous year, the study does say that the number of new infections is not as low as 40,000 per year.

According to Monica Ruiz, the deputy director of the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research, the knowledge that the annual rate of HIV/AIDS infections in the U.S. is greater than previously believed should lead to an improvement in national efforts to combat the disease. "Our response to the epidemic is only as good as the data that informs us," she said in a conference call with journalists organised by the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilisation Project. "We need greater support for CDC. This is something our legislatures don't seem to understand. We have seen a decrease in funding for CDC."

Funding for the CDC has fallen by 19 percent when adjusted for inflation during the presidency of President George W. Bush.

Julie Davids, the executive director of the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilisation Project told IPS that in response to the new data activists should emphasise the need for Washington to "take a hard look at the root causes of the epidemic in this country and the need for a comprehensive and accountable National AIDS Strategy to address them."

The U.S. does not currently have a national strategy to fight AIDS and Davids is critical of the current system of policies in place to combat HIV and AIDS domestically.

"The Ryan White CARE Act has never fully addressed the AIDS crisis, and is based on a labyrinth of formulas and requirements that place cities and states around the country in competition for scant funding, Davids said. "Medicaid and Medicare are the largest providers of HIV/AIDS care but do not cover those who have not yet gotten sick enough to qualify. Prevention has been marginalised at CDC."

One impediment in the efforts to make progress against the domestic epidemic is that the U.S. government has reduced subsidies for personnel from the CDC and the National Institute of Health to attend the International AIDS Conference. Since 2004 Washington has paid for just 20 members from each agency to attend the event. 116 Federal employees attended this year's International AIDS conference -- which convened in Mexico City last week -- compared to the 232 who attended it in 2002.

Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is agitating to end public funding for conference attendance all together.

"Not allowing researchers to go to these meetings hampers their ability to work effectively and get the latest information. Live feeds are not a substitute for being able to talk to other scientists. We need to have top scientists at these discussions shaping agenda," Monica Ruiz said.

The upcoming presidential election could significantly change Washington's HIV and AIDS policies. Both Barack Obama and John McCain responded to the CDC's figures by calling for an increased governmental effort to combat the disease. However, the two candidates differ significantly in how they would approach the issue.

Obama, the Democratic nominee, has released a four-page outline of how his administration would handle the epidemic. His platform does include the creation of a national HIV/AIDS strategy to combat the disease. Some of the tactics he has endorsed include comprehensive sexuality education, increasing funding for research, making testing more widely available, and lifting the current federal funding ban on syringe exchanges. Additionally, his response to the CDC report listed challenging homophobia and other stigmas commonly attached to HIV and AIDS.

Republican John McCain has not made a detailed policy proposal regarding HIV/AIDS, but has made many of his remedies for the epidemic known. Among the policy objectives he favours are lowering the costs of treatment, and increasing testing and prevention programmes -- especially in communities with high rates of infection. In a statement prepared as a response to the CDC report, the McCain campaign said it would seek a reduction in costs of drugs through, "greater market competition."

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+ AIDS Meet - Fine Words, Few Concrete Actions (http://www.aegis.org/news/ips/2008/IP080814.html)

+ Keeping Hope Against AIDS Alive in the Labs (http://www.aegis.org/news/ips/2008/IP080810.html)

+ HIV/AIDS - More IPS News (http://ipsnews.net/hivaids.asp)

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