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According to estimates by the AIDS Alliance for
Children, Youth and Families (AACYF), about 8,000 people with HIV/AIDS
who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina are now trying to find care.
These people face the difficult challenge of trying to manage their
disease without their doctors, clinics, and support systems. Providers
say they are struggling to ensure that displaced patients receive
treatment and do not slip through the cracks. When
HIV patients stop
taking their medication, the virus can multiply and become
drug-resistant.
"There are many immediate, midterm, and long-term
issues that will literally be life and death for people living with
HIV/AIDS," said Terje Anderson, executive director of the National
Association of People with AIDS, in a letter requesting urgent
assistance from Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt.
Federal officials say they are doing their best to streamline care for
HIV patients. Several drug companies are offering free medicines. AACYF
is working to get money and supplies to providers.
New Orleans'
NO/AIDS Task Force, the oldest HIV/AIDS service organization in the Gulf
South, has temporarily relocated to the Montrose Clinic in Houston.
Montrose's executive director, Katy Caldwell, said evacuees have been
arriving by the dozens. Providers in Florida, Tennessee, Alabama,
Mississippi, Georgia and elsewhere report that displaced patients are
turning up at their clinics and asking for new prescriptions, quickly.
Social stigma may limit access to care for some patients.
"People are not going to walk up to the American Red Cross and say, 'Hi,
I have HIV.' More likely they're going to try to find an HIV provider,"
said AACYF's Diana Bruce.
Those who do seek providers at
emergency centers could end up with doctors who are unfamiliar with HIV
care. Dr. Nicholas Bellos, president of Southwestern Infectious Disease
Associates in Dallas, helped develop on online triage program for
patients and providers. The Web site advises doctors working in
emergency shelters how to care for and medicate HIV patients. It also
includes information and maps directing patients to specialized care.
Like many providers, Caldwell said lack of funds will not affect
any patient's access to care. "We treat them first, worry about the
money later," she said.
Associated
Press (09.12.05):: Martha
Mendoza
For more information, visit
www.hrsa.gov/katrina/ or www.noaidstaskforce.com/.
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| We are providing the above information as a public
service only. Providing synopses of key scientific articles and lay
media reports on HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases
does not constitute endorsement. The above summaries were prepared
without conducting any additional research or investigation into the
facts and statements made in the articles being summarized, and
therefore readers are expressly cautioned against relying on the
validity or invalidity of any statements made in these summaries. This
CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News
Update also includes information from CDC and
other government agencies, such as background on MMWR articles, fact
sheets and announcements. |
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HIV1 - ELISA
Antibodies |
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Most people
infected with HIV carry the virus for years before manifesting AIDS.
During that period, infected people will have few, if any, symptoms yet
they can transmit the virus.
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The
percentage of women with AIDS has increased steadily, and the percentage
of people infected heterosexually has also increased, surpassing the percentage
infected through injecting drug use.
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During 2001, there were 35575 newly diagnosed cases of HIV infection.
The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates
now
that 40,000 new cases of HIV transmission occur every year.
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Of
the people infected with the virus of AIDS in the USA in the year 2001, 42%
were whites, 37% blacks, 20% Hispanics and <1% Asians and Pacific
Islanders and <1% American Indians and Alaska Natives.
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During the 1990s, the HIV epidemic shifted steadily toward a growing
proportion of AIDS cases in blacks and Hispanics and in women.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus
(HIV) is the cause of AIDS (Acquired
Immuno
Deficiency Syndrome).
The presence of HIV in the body can be detected in several ways. The
most common is the HIV-ELISA Antibodies test.
The
HIV-ELISA
looks for the body
response to the virus
manifested by the
presence in your blood of
Antibodies
to HIV proteins. Antibodies are special proteins that our Immune System
produce in response to the presence of HIV.
The test performed on your
sample actually consists
of two tests: a Screening test and a Confirmatory test. The
screening test procedure is called an
ELISA—Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay
or an EIA (Enzyme Immunosorbent Assay). The
confirmatory test is used in the event your HIV-ELISA is positive and/or
equivocal and is the procedure used is the Western
Blot Assay (WB)
The screening and
confirmatory tests are usually done using small samples of blood. If a
sample of blood tests positive repeatedly in the screening test, it will be
confirmed through the Western Blot test. People will be informed that they are infected
with HIV only after both the screening and confirmatory tests
have shown a positive (reactive) result.
Positive HIV antibody tests results
are over 99% accurate when confirmed. Negative HIV antibody tests are over
99% accurate if it has been at least six months after a contact with a
potentially HIV-infected partner. False negatives or false positives occur
rarely.
Antibodies to HIV can be
detected in the blood, in the urine or in the saliva. People produce
antibodies with different speeds and therefore the time interval between
infection and the development of antibodies to HIV can go from four weeks
to six months from the exposure date or SDC (
Suspected
Date
of
Contact).
The appearance of antibodies in a blood or urine sample of a person which
was known to be negative to HIV is called
Seroconversion.
The HIV Elisa results are usually available in one or two business days.
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