Fear keeping infected from getting HIV tested
by Cyndy Cole, Arizona Sun Times, 26 June 205
Arizona, USA- For every person in Coconino County who knows they're HIV-positive, there's one that doesn't but might suspect as much, health officials say.
A portion of teenage girls and young women fear upsetting their lovers by demanding men use condoms, so they get on the birth control pill and skip the latex.
Some Native American patients diagnosed as HIV-positive avoid hospitals for treatment as a result of cultural stigma, until serious illness or AIDS sets in.
People who have unsafe sex with multiple partners have started thinking the AIDS pandemic, and their potential health problems, can be solved with a pill.
Misinformation and lack of education about the virus is common across northern Arizona, Flagstaff Medical Center registered nurse Adrienne Hyman says.
On Monday, the county will offer free, confidential HIV testing and counseling at its main office as part of a national campaign to get people tested. It takes 20 minutes and the prick of a finger for results.
HIV or the AIDS virus it causes affects more than 10,000 people statewide. It's aquired through blood, contaminated syringes or needles, sex with someone infected or transmitted from a pregnant woman to her fetus.
Coconino County had 118 people diagnosed as HIV-positive or living with AIDS as of two years ago, according to state statistics.
That's one in 1,030 residents affected, half as many as the statewide average but an increase from the 41 cases diagnosed in the five years before.
Oddly enough, those most likely to be HIV-postive are least likely to show up for test results, health workers said.
"There're a lot of people who don't want to know their status, who think they are (HIV-positive), but don't want to know," Hyman said.
Half who get tested are at high risk for the virus, due to risks like unprotected sex or intraveneous drug use with dirty needles, according to confidential surveys.
The other half are just verifying their health, Coconino County's HIV testing and program coordinator Ryan O'Donnell said.
FMC physician Mark Lacy, who specializes in infectious diseases, opened a clinic in the hospital this spring just for treating HIV-positive patients from across northern Arizona. Lacy and Hyman help HIV-positive patients find medicine, financial aid and other help, along with medical treatment.
Before that, the closest such specialist was in Phoenix or Gallup, N.M.
He and Hyman see about 75 patients from all over northern Arizona as part of what they call the Shandiin Project and teach educators how to talk about health and sex.
Nearly half of their patients are women, a turnabout from countywide statistics that show three out of four HIV-positive or AIDS-infected people are men.
The county health department has gotten more creative about safe-sex and health education in the past year, following Tucson in recruiting about a dozen educators to take stories about resolving risky behavior to gay and lesbian friends.
Flagstaff doesn't have a gay hangout like some metropolitan areas, so this is the next best way to get the message out, Community Promise Program Coordinator Cheryl Has No Horse said.
About half of those diagnosed as infected in the most recent county statistics were gay or bisexual men, though that trend is changing nationwide.
Source: Arizona Daily Sun at http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=110867
Arizona, USA- For every person in Coconino County who knows they're HIV-positive, there's one that doesn't but might suspect as much, health officials say.
A portion of teenage girls and young women fear upsetting their lovers by demanding men use condoms, so they get on the birth control pill and skip the latex.
Some Native American patients diagnosed as HIV-positive avoid hospitals for treatment as a result of cultural stigma, until serious illness or AIDS sets in.
People who have unsafe sex with multiple partners have started thinking the AIDS pandemic, and their potential health problems, can be solved with a pill.
Misinformation and lack of education about the virus is common across northern Arizona, Flagstaff Medical Center registered nurse Adrienne Hyman says.
On Monday, the county will offer free, confidential HIV testing and counseling at its main office as part of a national campaign to get people tested. It takes 20 minutes and the prick of a finger for results.
HIV or the AIDS virus it causes affects more than 10,000 people statewide. It's aquired through blood, contaminated syringes or needles, sex with someone infected or transmitted from a pregnant woman to her fetus.
Coconino County had 118 people diagnosed as HIV-positive or living with AIDS as of two years ago, according to state statistics.
That's one in 1,030 residents affected, half as many as the statewide average but an increase from the 41 cases diagnosed in the five years before.
Oddly enough, those most likely to be HIV-postive are least likely to show up for test results, health workers said.
"There're a lot of people who don't want to know their status, who think they are (HIV-positive), but don't want to know," Hyman said.
Half who get tested are at high risk for the virus, due to risks like unprotected sex or intraveneous drug use with dirty needles, according to confidential surveys.
The other half are just verifying their health, Coconino County's HIV testing and program coordinator Ryan O'Donnell said.
FMC physician Mark Lacy, who specializes in infectious diseases, opened a clinic in the hospital this spring just for treating HIV-positive patients from across northern Arizona. Lacy and Hyman help HIV-positive patients find medicine, financial aid and other help, along with medical treatment.
Before that, the closest such specialist was in Phoenix or Gallup, N.M.
He and Hyman see about 75 patients from all over northern Arizona as part of what they call the Shandiin Project and teach educators how to talk about health and sex.
Nearly half of their patients are women, a turnabout from countywide statistics that show three out of four HIV-positive or AIDS-infected people are men.
The county health department has gotten more creative about safe-sex and health education in the past year, following Tucson in recruiting about a dozen educators to take stories about resolving risky behavior to gay and lesbian friends.
Flagstaff doesn't have a gay hangout like some metropolitan areas, so this is the next best way to get the message out, Community Promise Program Coordinator Cheryl Has No Horse said.
About half of those diagnosed as infected in the most recent county statistics were gay or bisexual men, though that trend is changing nationwide.
Source: Arizona Daily Sun at http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=110867
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 6:40 am
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