Sexually Transmitted Diseases: HIV and AIDS

Here are some cold, hard, facts....

ALASKA: from the State of Alaska Epidemiology Section:

The state Epidemiology Section has a record of HIV infections and deaths since 1982. In the early years, for every two people who got the disease, one person died.

*40 to 55 new HIV cases are still diagnosed annually here--but only a handful of people with HIV die.
*In 2005, no one infected with the virus died in Alaska, the report says, although the death count was back up to six last year. Still, that's many fewer than the 20 to 39 who died annually from 1985 to 1995.

*HIV, standing for human immunodeficiency virus, is the virus that leads to AIDS, which is fatal.
*HIV is pandemic across the globe--The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2006 that 25 million people have died so far.

*Alaska has a low rate of infection compared to many places in the U.S.

*48%, nearly half the Alaska cases, are among men exposed by having sex with other men.
*14% are from injection drug users.
*7% are men who fit in both categories.
*14% are through heterosexual contact.
*A few cases have been passed on to babies by mothers or are from blood transfusions or transplants.

*Since 1982, 1,145 Alaska HIV cases have been diagnosed, of which 370 people with HIV have died.

To read more, go to:
http://www.adn.com/life/health/story/8709537p-8611816c.html
http://www.epi.hss.state.ak.us/