In another HIV related story, this report points out a startling increase in HIV infections in the United States and an equally startling corresponding cost of treatment.
From PinkNews:
A US Centre for Disease Ccontrol HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, that was quietly released recently, shows a "catastrophic" 48% increase in US HIV infections between the years 2005 and 2006.
The number of infections jumped to 52,878 new reported cases in 2006 up from 35,537 reported in 2005.
With the lifetime costs of one HIV-infected individual's treatment and care estimated to be $600,000 (£302,000) , the new CDC surveillance numbers suggest a $36 billion aggregate cost for caring for these nearly 53,000 individuals.
"Catastrophe," said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
"There is no other word to describe these CDC numbers which underscore the wholesale failure of US HIV prevention efforts."
Unfortunately, catastrophe seems to be the only way to describe these numbers. With all the effort the Bush administration has put into combating HIV in Africa (kudos for that), perhaps they need to keep a better focus on the home front.
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One important thing to know about that numeric jump is that it reflects the addition of 10 states' worth of date as those states, including California, changed to a name-based system of reporting rather than a code based system. These aren't necessarily showing us new infections - just finally recording infections that have been going on all along.
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