Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Miami Herald - March 29, 2003
Connie Prater, cprater@herald.com
"We need to have physicians who are caring for older adults to be aware of" the increase, said Dr. Mervyn Silverman, conference chairman and former San Francisco health director. He said many doctors may be overlooking HIV symptoms in older patients and not asking about their sexual habits and safe sex.
"It's not on their radar screen and it needs to be. Rarely will the patient bring it up," Silverman said.
The conference -- normally held in San Francisco, ground zero on the United States HIV/AIDS battlefield -- is coming to South Florida for the first time this year, with more than 1,500 people expected to attend.
It kicks off Sunday and runs through Wednesday at the InterContinental Hotel in downtown Miami.
Miami-Dade County ranks second and Broward County fifth nationally in HIV infection rates among major metropolitan areas in the United States, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Bringing that venue to Miami to help our community be on the cutting edge of the knowledge about AIDS is wonderful," said Ana Garcia, a pediatric coordinator for the pediatric infectious disease and immunology department at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Garcia is a member of the local host committee that worked to bring the conference to South Florida. ``For a conference of this size to be in a city like Miami with such a high incidence of AIDS is important."
The conference is sponsored each year by the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), the group co-founded in 1985 by actress Elizabeth Taylor after longtime friend Rock Hudson died of AIDS.
Since its inception, amfAR, which is known more for its gala fundraising receptions and events across the globe, has raised $207 million to underwrite research, education and prevention projects.
Organizers hope the Miami venue will attract more East Coast, Latin American and Caribbean presenters and participants. The Florida HIV Conference, sponsored by the Florida/Caribbean AIDS Education and Training Center, is being held jointly with the amfAR meeting.
The four-day conference will feature roundtable discussions and seminars on such topics as new drugs in the pipeline, HIV prevention in black women, seniors with HIV, the latest treatment and research, Hepatitis C, AIDS policy and prenatal testing in mothers with HIV.
Although the event is open to the public and those living with HIV, organizers particularly want community physicians to attend because they are on the frontlines of early detection.
Dr. Allan Rodr guez will lead a session on an issue of growing concern in the HIV/AIDS community: the side effects of taking the cocktail of drugs prescribed to patients with AIDS.
Rodr guez, an associate professor of medicine at UM's Department of Infectious Diseases, has a large HIV practice at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Most people are taking a combination of any of the 20 drugs on the market. Among them: AZT, Zerit, Viread, Sustiva, Kaletra and Crixivan. But common side effects are gastrointestinal discomfort, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, skin rashes, dizziness, disorientation, high cholesterol -- all "serious side effects that the clinician has to be aware of that could lead to hospitalization or even death," Rodr guez said.
Acknowledging the rise in AIDS cases among Hispanics and blacks and projections of a 70 percent jump in the number of people ages 15 to 24 living with AIDS or HIV by the end of the decade, the conference will feature a keynote address from one of the creators of the KNOW AIDS campaign. Carl Folta heads the multimedia campaign aimed at the audiences of MTV, VH1 and BET. Folta is a senior vice president for corporate relations at Viacom, which owns MTV, VH1 and BET. KNOW AIDS kicked off last summer with the taping of former president Bill Clinton leading an MTV AIDS forum at the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain.
Other notables attending the conference: TV talk show host Cristina Saralegui, who is a longtime AIDS advocate; Sandra Thurman, president and CEO of the International AIDS Trust; and Shana Naomi Krochnel of San Francisco's Stop AIDS Project.
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