TOO MANY DON’T KNOW THEY’RE POSITIVE – FEDS

CONTRASTING the good news in the fight against HIV/AIDS is a sobering fact that many Americans recently diagnosed with HIV had been living with the disease for years without knowing they were infected, reported the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Half of the Americans recently diagnosed with HIV had been living with the virus for at least three years without realizing it, according to a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the CDC. And it’s estimated that one-quarter of the 39,720 Americans newly diagnosed with HIV in 2015 had been infected for seven years or more without knowing. Unaware of their HIV-positive status, these infected persons were missing out on lifesaving, early treatment options and possibly spreading the deadly disease to others. This information comes to light just before last week’s World AIDS Day commitment from the United Nations’ UNAIDS organization to end the AIDS epidemic globally by 2030 – citing “tremendous progress against AIDS” over the past 15 years. “We’ve made great strides forward in ending the AIDS epidemic, but our job won’t be done until we reach every community impacted by this crisis,” said Doug Wirth – president and CEO of the nonprofit Amida Care health plan that provides coverage and care for New Yorkers with chronic conditions such as HIV, responding to the statistics about the large number of HIV-positive Americans who are unaware of their status.