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And they claim it's not a gay disease.
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May 22, 2013, 9:33:01 AM5/22/13
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By DAN FROSCH
GALLUP, N.M. � A surge in H.I.V. infections on the Navajo
reservation here has doctors and public health workers
increasingly alarmed that the virus that causes AIDS has
resurfaced with renewed intensity in this impoverished region.
A report released last month by the federal Indian Health
Service found that there were 47 new diagnoses of human
immunodeficiency virus on the reservation in 2012, up 20 percent
from 2011. Since 1999, new H.I.V. cases among Navajo are up
nearly fivefold, the report found. The tally of new cases from
last year represents the highest annual number recorded among
the tribe by the health agency.
�I�m scared to death,� said Dr. Jonathan Iralu, an infectious
disease specialist who runs an H.I.V. clinic in this dusty town
where old trading posts and ramshackle motels line the main drag
on the edge of Navajo land, not far from the Arizona border.
�The numbers show there is a dangerous rise, and the time to act
is now, before it�s too late.�
Dr. Iralu, who compiled the report, remembers hearing the
stories from former colleagues about the late 1980s when AIDS
first struck the reservation. Navajo men would walk into the
Indian Medical Center in Gallup sick with a fever or a cough,
and a few days later they would be dead.
In the period after that, Dr. Iralu, a Harvard-educated doctor
who moved here from Boston, treated a small number of Navajo men
with H.I.V. each year and lost nearly a third of them.
As with other groups in the United States, infection rates on
the reservation leveled off and deaths dropped, with help from
new treatments and outreach seeking to cut through the stigma
about AIDS among tribal members.
But over the past few years, the H.I.V. numbers on Navajo land
have crept up. That increase, Dr. Iralu said, can be partly
attributed to the infection being detected earlier, thanks to
years of H.I.V. education programs and more routine screening.
But Dr. Iralu and other health workers also said the virus was
now being transmitted from one tribal member to another, a
disquieting trend. In past years, Navajo were thought to have
contracted the disease mostly in cities and returned with it.
And though the numbers are still comparatively low � there are
about 200 Navajo patients tracked by area clinics � the
challenges of prevention are amplified in a place where sex is
still rarely discussed publicly and infection is often hidden
from loved ones.
Melvin Harrison, the executive director of the Navajo AIDS
Network, which provides services for tribal members with H.I.V.,
said that of the 65 people his group treats, a majority have not
told family or friends.
�That�s how big the stigma is here,� he said. �They are afraid
of rejection.�
Mr. Harrison said that when he first started working on H.I.V.
education in the 1980s, Navajo elders cautioned him not to talk
openly about H.I.V. for fear that he would �wish� it upon the
tribe.
Even now, he said, old cultural mores prevail, and gay Navajo
men, who make up around 75 percent of the network�s clients,
keep relationships private.
According to the recent report, men who have sex with men
accounted for nearly half of the new cases.
One Navajo man, who contracted H.I.V. from his partner in 2001,
recalled how his mother refused to hug him and served him food
on plastic plates when she found out he was infected.
The man, 48, who did not want to be identified because he had
not told his entire family, said his mother eventually came to
embrace him after he explained the ways H.I.V. could and could
not be transmitted.
But the man has not told his three brothers that he has H.I.V.
because he fears they will shun him. �I don�t think I�ll ever
tell them,� he said. �I don�t want to be pushed out of their
lives.�
The intimacy of reservation life, where a hospital receptionist
might be a relative or a nurse a close friend, can be a barrier
to swift treatment and prevention. Mindful of those challenges,
the Indian Health Service allocated $5 million over the past
three years for communities to create H.I.V. prevention,
treatment and education programs.
�H.I.V. in Indian country is very different than the rest of the
world,� said Dr. Susan V. Karol, the agency�s chief medical
officer. �Our communities are very small, and that can lead to
people avoiding stigma, rather than getting the care they need.�
The tribe�s health department, the Navajo AIDS Network and Dr.
Iralu�s clinic have all started outreach efforts, running public
service messages in Navajo, promoting awareness through social
media and distributing condoms.
Philene S. Herrera, who runs the tribe�s H.I.V. prevention
program, said the recent report showed that more people were
being screened. But, she said, it also conveyed the need to work
to bring the infection rate down.
Data from the Indian Health Service and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention show why early detection is critical.
>From 1998 to 2005, new infection rates among American Indians
were not much higher than those of whites and were lower than
blacks and Hispanics. But the chances of survival after an AIDS
diagnosis were lower among Indians than in any other racial
group.
It is unclear why this dynamic exists, Dr. Iralu said. But lower
rates of routine H.I.V. screening and higher rates of co-
morbidity, like diabetes and drug and alcohol abuse, are likely
factors.
On a wall in the clinic�s hallway, a banner implores people to
get tested. A fresh-faced Navajo man in a cowboy hat stares
solemnly ahead, an empty road behind him disappears into the
horizon.
�I�m afraid that if we wait too long,� Dr. Iralu said, �it could
turn into a true epidemic.�
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/us/navajo-confront-increase-in-
new-hiv-infections.html
WTF you mean turn into an epidemic??? It's already an epidemic.
The good thing about it is that it kills faggots and faggot
lovers. We don't give a flying fuck about the collateral damage
for a few stray stupid people who get it.
GALLUP, N.M. � A surge in H.I.V. infections on the Navajo
reservation here has doctors and public health workers
increasingly alarmed that the virus that causes AIDS has
resurfaced with renewed intensity in this impoverished region.
A report released last month by the federal Indian Health
Service found that there were 47 new diagnoses of human
immunodeficiency virus on the reservation in 2012, up 20 percent
from 2011. Since 1999, new H.I.V. cases among Navajo are up
nearly fivefold, the report found. The tally of new cases from
last year represents the highest annual number recorded among
the tribe by the health agency.
�I�m scared to death,� said Dr. Jonathan Iralu, an infectious
disease specialist who runs an H.I.V. clinic in this dusty town
where old trading posts and ramshackle motels line the main drag
on the edge of Navajo land, not far from the Arizona border.
�The numbers show there is a dangerous rise, and the time to act
is now, before it�s too late.�
Dr. Iralu, who compiled the report, remembers hearing the
stories from former colleagues about the late 1980s when AIDS
first struck the reservation. Navajo men would walk into the
Indian Medical Center in Gallup sick with a fever or a cough,
and a few days later they would be dead.
In the period after that, Dr. Iralu, a Harvard-educated doctor
who moved here from Boston, treated a small number of Navajo men
with H.I.V. each year and lost nearly a third of them.
As with other groups in the United States, infection rates on
the reservation leveled off and deaths dropped, with help from
new treatments and outreach seeking to cut through the stigma
about AIDS among tribal members.
But over the past few years, the H.I.V. numbers on Navajo land
have crept up. That increase, Dr. Iralu said, can be partly
attributed to the infection being detected earlier, thanks to
years of H.I.V. education programs and more routine screening.
But Dr. Iralu and other health workers also said the virus was
now being transmitted from one tribal member to another, a
disquieting trend. In past years, Navajo were thought to have
contracted the disease mostly in cities and returned with it.
And though the numbers are still comparatively low � there are
about 200 Navajo patients tracked by area clinics � the
challenges of prevention are amplified in a place where sex is
still rarely discussed publicly and infection is often hidden
from loved ones.
Melvin Harrison, the executive director of the Navajo AIDS
Network, which provides services for tribal members with H.I.V.,
said that of the 65 people his group treats, a majority have not
told family or friends.
�That�s how big the stigma is here,� he said. �They are afraid
of rejection.�
Mr. Harrison said that when he first started working on H.I.V.
education in the 1980s, Navajo elders cautioned him not to talk
openly about H.I.V. for fear that he would �wish� it upon the
tribe.
Even now, he said, old cultural mores prevail, and gay Navajo
men, who make up around 75 percent of the network�s clients,
keep relationships private.
According to the recent report, men who have sex with men
accounted for nearly half of the new cases.
One Navajo man, who contracted H.I.V. from his partner in 2001,
recalled how his mother refused to hug him and served him food
on plastic plates when she found out he was infected.
The man, 48, who did not want to be identified because he had
not told his entire family, said his mother eventually came to
embrace him after he explained the ways H.I.V. could and could
not be transmitted.
But the man has not told his three brothers that he has H.I.V.
because he fears they will shun him. �I don�t think I�ll ever
tell them,� he said. �I don�t want to be pushed out of their
lives.�
The intimacy of reservation life, where a hospital receptionist
might be a relative or a nurse a close friend, can be a barrier
to swift treatment and prevention. Mindful of those challenges,
the Indian Health Service allocated $5 million over the past
three years for communities to create H.I.V. prevention,
treatment and education programs.
�H.I.V. in Indian country is very different than the rest of the
world,� said Dr. Susan V. Karol, the agency�s chief medical
officer. �Our communities are very small, and that can lead to
people avoiding stigma, rather than getting the care they need.�
The tribe�s health department, the Navajo AIDS Network and Dr.
Iralu�s clinic have all started outreach efforts, running public
service messages in Navajo, promoting awareness through social
media and distributing condoms.
Philene S. Herrera, who runs the tribe�s H.I.V. prevention
program, said the recent report showed that more people were
being screened. But, she said, it also conveyed the need to work
to bring the infection rate down.
Data from the Indian Health Service and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention show why early detection is critical.
>From 1998 to 2005, new infection rates among American Indians
were not much higher than those of whites and were lower than
blacks and Hispanics. But the chances of survival after an AIDS
diagnosis were lower among Indians than in any other racial
group.
It is unclear why this dynamic exists, Dr. Iralu said. But lower
rates of routine H.I.V. screening and higher rates of co-
morbidity, like diabetes and drug and alcohol abuse, are likely
factors.
On a wall in the clinic�s hallway, a banner implores people to
get tested. A fresh-faced Navajo man in a cowboy hat stares
solemnly ahead, an empty road behind him disappears into the
horizon.
�I�m afraid that if we wait too long,� Dr. Iralu said, �it could
turn into a true epidemic.�
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/us/navajo-confront-increase-in-
new-hiv-infections.html
WTF you mean turn into an epidemic??? It's already an epidemic.
The good thing about it is that it kills faggots and faggot
lovers. We don't give a flying fuck about the collateral damage
for a few stray stupid people who get it.
His Holiness The Alcoholic Pope Archie Leach II
Jun 14, 2013, 11:54:00 PM6/14/13
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Jun 15, 2013, 12:00:45 AM6/15/13
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Spamßuster
Jun 16, 2013, 9:48:16 PM6/16/13
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KEEP IT THE HELL OUT OF CANADIAN NEWSGROUPS, THANKS
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On 6/14/2013 9:00 PM, % wrote:
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