HIV and AIDS continue to spread in the black community in the United States, which is why Thursday was set aside as Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
The day was not actively observed in the U.S. Virgin islands this year, but according to Jason Henry, program coordinator at Frederiksted Health Care Inc., it is important to keep in mind.
Although blacks make up 14 percent of the U.S. population, they account for half of the more than 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, according to national statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the U.S. Virgin islands, the infection rate breaks down more directly by population, according to Henry. The most recent statistics, through the year 2011, show that blacks make up 57.9 percent of the cases of HIV in the territory, 32.1 percent of the cases are among Hispanic, 7.3 percent white and 2.6 percent "other."
The same breakdown, more or less, holds for cases of AIDS, Henry said. Blacks make up 65.4 percent of all the territory’s AIDS cases, with Hispanics representing 26.3 percent, whites 8 percent and "other" .3 percent.
There are 11 HIV and AIDS awareness observances scattered across the calendar, including World AIDS Day, which will be marked Dec. 1 this year, and Caribbean American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on June 8. But for people living with HIV, it’s a daily problem that won’t go away.
"It’s like one person said to me," Henry said. "’Every day is World AIDS Day for us.’ Because they live with the virus every day, every single day for the rest of their lives."
How the HIV virus spreads is no mystery – blood-to-blood contact can pass the virus from person to person. But though the path of transmission is understood, some people continue to engage in behaviors that put them at risk. Left undetected or untreated, HIV will develop into AIDS, a disease which suppresses the immune system, leaving the body unable to fight off a whole host of possible infections.
"It’s here and it’s going to be here for a long while," Henry said.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands, by 2011 – the most recent year for which statistics are available – there have been a total of 953 adults who are either HIV positive or have AIDS, according to Henry, along with an additional 32 cases of children younger than 12. Of those patients, 400 have died, he said.
"When you look at the numbers, you think that’s a small scale, 900 cases; that doesn’t sound so bad," Henry said. But with a total population of only 106,405, the Virgin Islands has the second highest rate per capita of all U.S. jurisdictions, he pointed out.
And the numbers probably don’t tell the whole story. There are almost certainly people in the territory right now who have HIV and don’t know it, and they may well pass it on unsuspectingly.
The territory averages 17 new cases a year, Henry added. Nationally there are about 50,000 new cases of HIV infection every year – or approximately the population of the territory every two years.
Henry said there are plenty of services available for people who have the HIV virus in the islands, and the most important is the free testing available through the Department of Health and the clinic. Until one’s status is known, he or she can’t make responsible decisions about treatment or behavior.
He added that the Frederiksted Clinic uses a one-minute test rather than the older test which takes 20 minutes to get results, so the wait and anxiety is shorter.
People who wait to get tested until they are actually sick reduce their chance of successful treatment, Henry said. Untreated, HIV will develop into AIDS within 10 years. If the virus is found and treated with pharmaceuticals, a person can live an average of 39 years with HIV.
"It all starts with knowing your status," Henry said. From there, everything else falls into place."
