Lancet Editorial, Remarks by Dr. Anthony Fauci Raise New Questions on HIV Numbers;
Actions Highlight Failure of US HIV Prevention Efforts as CDC
Continues to Stonewall Release of Crucial Data Expected to Show Far
Higher Incidence of HIV Nationwide
WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is calling upon the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) to immediately release its latest incidence of
HIV infections in the United States after an editorial in the
respected British medical journal, The Lancet, and recent public
remarks by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), raised serious new questions
about the actual incidence of HIV in the US.
The CDC has withheld its data from 2005 (the latest year
available) from the public--data which are widely expected to show a
dramatically higher HIV rate--asserting that it is "...currently
undergoing a rigorous peer review process and neither the data nor a
publication date has been finalized..." according to a 'Dear
Colleague' letter issued by CDC officials on November 26, 2007. The
CDC letter followed widespread speculation in the community regarding
the release of the numbers, which some AIDS advocates expect will show
a 50% or more increase in new cases annually nationwide. Currently the
CDC estimates that there are approximately 40,000 new HIV cases
reported annually in the US, an estimate that advocates from AHF and
other AIDS organizations believe is far too low, and likely has been
for a number of years.
"What is the Incidence of HIV in the US?" asked the headline of an
editorial published in The Lancet on June 21. The editorial noted that
during a press conference at the UN High-level Meeting on AIDS in New
York a few weeks ago, Dr. Fauci, "...said that the number of new HIV
infections per year in the USA was closer to 50,000 than 40,000...."
"Now we have a leading scientist saying that prevention is broken
and that the CDC's pending numbers represent a big increase, but the
public-at-large and health officials are still being denied access to
this crucial information," said Whitney Engeran, III, Director of AIDS
Healthcare Foundation's Public Health Division, which conducts over
14,000 free HIV and STD tests annually throughout California and
Florida. "Playing the clock is simply not the answer, and we are
losing valuable time in the conversations and changes necessary to
effectively address HIV infection in this country. We understand that
the CDC has made an agreement with a peer-reviewed medical journal to
review and release this information; however, the CDC could have
released it themselves in its own respected journal--the Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)--and had complete control over the
issue."
"No talking points are going to assuage the justifiable anger from
all corners of the AIDS community over the fact that the CDC has taken
so long to release this critical public health information," said
Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "While the
article in a major journal is due at the end of the summer, it is long
overdue, no matter the excuse. We have to have a wholesale
conversation about the next phase in HIV prevention in this country
focusing on HIV testing and finding the 25% of Americans who are HIV
infected, yet don't know it, and getting them into care. Treatment and
knowledge are our most effective prevention techniques. The CDC has a
responsibility to lead this conversation, a responsibility they
continue to abdicate while suppressing this data."
About AHF
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the US' largest HIV/AIDS
organization. AHF currently provides treatment, care and support
services to more than 70,000 individuals in 22 countries worldwide in
the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia. Additional
information is available at www.aidshealth.org
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Ged Kenslea
Telephone: (323) 860-5225
Mobile: (323) 791-5526
E-Mail: gedk@aidshealth.org
or
Whitney Engeran, III
Telephone: (213) 405-5833
Mobile: (562) 682-1075
E-Mail: whitney.engeran@aidshealth.org
Copyright Business Wire 2008
