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Monday, March 18, 2013
Parental Fear Blocks HPV Shot for Teens
Despite evidence, parents' fears of HPV vaccine grow
By Genevra Pittman
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More parents of teen girls not fully vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) are intending to forgo the shots altogether - a trend driven by vaccine safety concerns, new research suggests.
That's despite multiple studies showing the vaccine isn't tied to any serious side effects but does protect against the virus that causes cervical cancer, researchers said.
'There were a lot of very sensationalized anecdotal reports of (girls) having bad reactions to the vaccine,' said pediatrician and vaccine researcher Dr. Amanda Dempsey from the University of Colorado Denver.
'Safety concerns have always risen to the top of the pile, in terms of being one of the main reasons people don't get vaccinated, which is unfortunate because this is one of the most well-studied vaccines in terms of safety and is extremely safe,' Dempsey, who wasn't involved in the new research, told Reuters Health.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all kids - both boys and girls - receive three HPV shots as preteens.
Researchers led by Dr. Paul Darden from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City got their data from a national immunization survey that involved phone calls to almost 100,000 parents.
They found that from 2008 to 2010, the percentage of teens who were up to date on their Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis), MCV4 (meningococcal) and HPV vaccines all increased slightly.
Still, about three-quarters of girls ages 13 to 17 were not up to date on their HPV series in 2010. And the proportion of parents of those girls who said they didn't plan to get their daughters the rest - or any - of their HPV shots rose from 40 percent to 44 percent, the research team wrote Monday in Pediatrics.
At the same time, the proportion who cited safety concerns as their reason for abstaining from getting the HPV vaccine increased from less than five percent to 16 percent.
For all three vaccines asked about in the survey, other reasons parents gave for skipping their teenagers' shots included not thinking they were necessary, not having had a specific vaccine recommended by a doctor and, for the HPV vaccine, believing their child was not sexually active.
'These are wonderful vaccines preventing severe diseases,' Darden told Reuters Health in an email. 'HPV is the first vaccine that will prevent cancer which is a tremendous health benefit.'
Dempsey said past research has suggested that although more girls are being vaccinated against HPV, vaccine rates haven't increased as quickly as for other shots, such as Tdap.
Darden reports having been a consultant for Pfizer, and one of his co-authors is on a safety monitoring board for vaccine studies funded by Merck, which makes Gardasil, one of the HPV vaccines.
Parents shouldn't rely on the media or Internet to learn about vaccines, according to Dempsey, since it's hard to tell what information is legitimate.
'If they have questions or concerns, they should trust their provider to give them accurate information about the vaccine,' she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/cxXOG Pediatrics, online March 18, 2013.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More parents of teen girls not fully vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) are intending to forgo the shots altogether - a trend driven by vaccine safety concerns, new research suggests.
That's despite multiple studies showing the vaccine isn't tied to any serious side effects but does protect against the virus that causes cervical cancer, researchers said.
'There were a lot of very sensationalized anecdotal reports of (girls) having bad reactions to the vaccine,' said pediatrician and vaccine researcher Dr. Amanda Dempsey from the University of Colorado Denver.
'Safety concerns have always risen to the top of the pile, in terms of being one of the main reasons people don't get vaccinated, which is unfortunate because this is one of the most well-studied vaccines in terms of safety and is extremely safe,' Dempsey, who wasn't involved in the new research, told Reuters Health.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all kids - both boys and girls - receive three HPV shots as preteens.
Researchers led by Dr. Paul Darden from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City got their data from a national immunization survey that involved phone calls to almost 100,000 parents.
They found that from 2008 to 2010, the percentage of teens who were up to date on their Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis), MCV4 (meningococcal) and HPV vaccines all increased slightly.
Still, about three-quarters of girls ages 13 to 17 were not up to date on their HPV series in 2010. And the proportion of parents of those girls who said they didn't plan to get their daughters the rest - or any - of their HPV shots rose from 40 percent to 44 percent, the research team wrote Monday in Pediatrics.
At the same time, the proportion who cited safety concerns as their reason for abstaining from getting the HPV vaccine increased from less than five percent to 16 percent.
For all three vaccines asked about in the survey, other reasons parents gave for skipping their teenagers' shots included not thinking they were necessary, not having had a specific vaccine recommended by a doctor and, for the HPV vaccine, believing their child was not sexually active.
'These are wonderful vaccines preventing severe diseases,' Darden told Reuters Health in an email. 'HPV is the first vaccine that will prevent cancer which is a tremendous health benefit.'
Dempsey said past research has suggested that although more girls are being vaccinated against HPV, vaccine rates haven't increased as quickly as for other shots, such as Tdap.
Darden reports having been a consultant for Pfizer, and one of his co-authors is on a safety monitoring board for vaccine studies funded by Merck, which makes Gardasil, one of the HPV vaccines.
Parents shouldn't rely on the media or Internet to learn about vaccines, according to Dempsey, since it's hard to tell what information is legitimate.
'If they have questions or concerns, they should trust their provider to give them accurate information about the vaccine,' she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/cxXOG Pediatrics, online March 18, 2013.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Adult HIV Patients 'Functionally Cured' Before Mississippi Baby -- What These 'Cures' Mean
On the heels of the supposed first 'functional cure' for HIV in a baby born in Mississippi, French researchers reported Friday that they'd studied 14 adult patients who'd experienced a similar remission from the virus. The patients in the French study had been off HIV medications for up to 10 years.
The French researchers followed patients who'd undergone treatment with antiretroviral drugs soon after they'd become infected with HIV. They'd stayed on the medications for several years but then stopped taking the antiretrovirals. That was 'fashionable at the time,' said Christine Rouzioux, a professor at Necker Hospital and University of Paris Descartes. They are all now in what Rouzioux calls 'HIV remission,' because the virus has not worsened and they have not shown symptoms for years.
'I know that the U.S. term is 'functional cure,'' Rouzioux told ABCNews.com. 'In France, we speak about 'remission.' . The patient controls the virus, but they still have the virus.'
RELATED: Experts Question So-Called HIV 'Cure'
The study, which was published Friday in the journal PLOS Pathogens, may show that the baby was not the first documented case of someone 'functionally cured' of HIV as researchers announced earlier this month.
Rouzioux and PLOS representatives told ABCNews.com that they did not rush their study into publication when the case of the Mississippi baby was announced.
Dr. Deborah Persaud, who works at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and studied the Mississippi baby, said there were similarities between the 14 French patients and the baby, but the baby had even lower HIV levels than the French patients.
While Rouzioux and Asier Sáez-Cirión, a senior HIV researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, reported about 100 copies of HIV DNA or RNA per 1 million cells in their patients, Persaud said she found less than five copies of HIV DNA or RNA per 1 million cells in the Mississippi baby.
'I'm not sure anybody knows what that means,' said Dr. Mark Kline, a pediatric HIV and AIDS specialist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. 'I don't know that someone with five is necessarily going to be better off in the long term than someone with 100.'
RELATED: Hydeia Broadbent, Born With HIV, Reacts to 'Cure'
Kline said he, too, has had patients who were technically HIV-positive but have had no need for antiretroviral medication. He has also heard of patients who started antiretroviral therapy and could stop without experiencing worsening symptoms.
'This phenomenon that they're describing has been appreciated and known,' Kline said. 'I think there's a good rational for saying if you can identify these people and do treatment earlier, you can decrease the viral burden and decrease the reservoirs of infected cells in the body and probably alter the long-term course.'
But it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years for a person to show HIV symptoms from the time that person was infected. As such, early treatment isn't always an option, Kline said.
Rouzioux's patients all experienced symptoms very early, which is why they were able to get swift antiretroviral treatment, she said. Rouzioux and her colleagues followed their patients for about 11 years, she said.
Although these types of patients have been written about before, Kline said this particular study was important because it identified which patients had a genetic predisposition that allowed them to naturally keep HIV at bay and which did not, and therefore went into remission because of treatment.
Rouzioux's colleague, Sáez-Cirión, said about .5 percent of all HIV-positive patients were able to control the virus without medication because of a genetic predisposition, but the 14 people in the study did not have this advantage.
The researchers concluded that HIV-positive patients who undergo early treatment for at least a year have a 15 percent chance of going into HIV remission for at least two years after stopping treatment.
'The probability was 10 to15 percent, which is amazing when compared with the probability of natural (nondrug-induced) control,' Sáez-Cirión said.
Still, it's not wise for HIV-positive patients to stop taking medications because they can develop resistance to them, Kline said.
'Those are bridges you can burn that you can never rebuild,' he said. 'If you just stop treatment or take treatment intermittently, it's very likely that you'll develop a resistance to one or more medications. Once a resistance is present in an individual, it's there to stay. There may be no going back to those particular medications.'
Also Read
The French researchers followed patients who'd undergone treatment with antiretroviral drugs soon after they'd become infected with HIV. They'd stayed on the medications for several years but then stopped taking the antiretrovirals. That was 'fashionable at the time,' said Christine Rouzioux, a professor at Necker Hospital and University of Paris Descartes. They are all now in what Rouzioux calls 'HIV remission,' because the virus has not worsened and they have not shown symptoms for years.
'I know that the U.S. term is 'functional cure,'' Rouzioux told ABCNews.com. 'In France, we speak about 'remission.' . The patient controls the virus, but they still have the virus.'
RELATED: Experts Question So-Called HIV 'Cure'
The study, which was published Friday in the journal PLOS Pathogens, may show that the baby was not the first documented case of someone 'functionally cured' of HIV as researchers announced earlier this month.
Rouzioux and PLOS representatives told ABCNews.com that they did not rush their study into publication when the case of the Mississippi baby was announced.
Dr. Deborah Persaud, who works at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and studied the Mississippi baby, said there were similarities between the 14 French patients and the baby, but the baby had even lower HIV levels than the French patients.
While Rouzioux and Asier Sáez-Cirión, a senior HIV researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, reported about 100 copies of HIV DNA or RNA per 1 million cells in their patients, Persaud said she found less than five copies of HIV DNA or RNA per 1 million cells in the Mississippi baby.
'I'm not sure anybody knows what that means,' said Dr. Mark Kline, a pediatric HIV and AIDS specialist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. 'I don't know that someone with five is necessarily going to be better off in the long term than someone with 100.'
RELATED: Hydeia Broadbent, Born With HIV, Reacts to 'Cure'
Kline said he, too, has had patients who were technically HIV-positive but have had no need for antiretroviral medication. He has also heard of patients who started antiretroviral therapy and could stop without experiencing worsening symptoms.
'This phenomenon that they're describing has been appreciated and known,' Kline said. 'I think there's a good rational for saying if you can identify these people and do treatment earlier, you can decrease the viral burden and decrease the reservoirs of infected cells in the body and probably alter the long-term course.'
But it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years for a person to show HIV symptoms from the time that person was infected. As such, early treatment isn't always an option, Kline said.
Rouzioux's patients all experienced symptoms very early, which is why they were able to get swift antiretroviral treatment, she said. Rouzioux and her colleagues followed their patients for about 11 years, she said.
Although these types of patients have been written about before, Kline said this particular study was important because it identified which patients had a genetic predisposition that allowed them to naturally keep HIV at bay and which did not, and therefore went into remission because of treatment.
Rouzioux's colleague, Sáez-Cirión, said about .5 percent of all HIV-positive patients were able to control the virus without medication because of a genetic predisposition, but the 14 people in the study did not have this advantage.
The researchers concluded that HIV-positive patients who undergo early treatment for at least a year have a 15 percent chance of going into HIV remission for at least two years after stopping treatment.
'The probability was 10 to15 percent, which is amazing when compared with the probability of natural (nondrug-induced) control,' Sáez-Cirión said.
Still, it's not wise for HIV-positive patients to stop taking medications because they can develop resistance to them, Kline said.
'Those are bridges you can burn that you can never rebuild,' he said. 'If you just stop treatment or take treatment intermittently, it's very likely that you'll develop a resistance to one or more medications. Once a resistance is present in an individual, it's there to stay. There may be no going back to those particular medications.'
Also Read
Friday, March 15, 2013
14 HIV Patients Have 'Functional Cure'
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Rapid HIV treatment points to "functional cure" for AIDS
By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - Treating people with HIV rapidly after they have become infected with the virus that causes AIDS may be enough to achieve a 'functional cure' in a small proportion of patients diagnosed early, according to new research.
Scientists in France who followed 14 patients who were treated very swiftly with HIV drugs but then stopped treatment found that even when they had been off therapy for more than seven years, they still showed no signs of the virus rebounding.
The research, published in the journal PLoS Pathogens, follows news earlier this month about a baby girl in Mississippi in the United States being effectively cured of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after receiving very early treatment.
Christine Rouzioux, a professor at Necker Hospital and University Paris Descartes and a member of the initial team who identified HIV 30 years ago, said the new results showed the number of infected cells circulating in the blood of these patients, known as 'post-treatment controllers', kept falling even without treatment for many years.
'Early treatment in these patients may have limited the establishment of viral reservoirs, the extent of viral mutations, and preserved immune responses. A combination of those may contribute to control infection in post-treatment controllers,' she said.
'The shrinking of viral reservoirs ... closely matches the definition of 'functional' cure,' she said.
A functional cure describes when the virus is reduced to such low levels that it is kept at bay even without continuing treatment. The virus, however, is still detectable in the body.
Most of the some 34 million people with HIV across the world will have to take anti-AIDS drugs known as antiretroviral therapy for the whole of their lives. These drugs generally keep the disease in check but also have side effects and a high cost impact on health systems.
Worldwide, the number of people newly infected with HIV, which can be transmitted via blood and by semen during sex, is falling. At 2.5 million, the number of new infections in 2011 was 20 percent lower than in 2001, according to the United National AIDS programme (UNAIDS). And deaths from AIDS fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.3 million in 2005.
Asier Saez-Cirion, a senior HIV researcher at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, said that although most patients will not be able to control HIV, these results suggest that at least some may be able to if they get treatment early enough.
'(This data) and the Mississippi study strongly support early treatment initiation and may hold important clues for the development of a strategy to cure HIV or at least induce a long-term control without the need of antiretroviral treatment,' he said.
(Editing by Ben Hirschler)
LONDON (Reuters) - Treating people with HIV rapidly after they have become infected with the virus that causes AIDS may be enough to achieve a 'functional cure' in a small proportion of patients diagnosed early, according to new research.
Scientists in France who followed 14 patients who were treated very swiftly with HIV drugs but then stopped treatment found that even when they had been off therapy for more than seven years, they still showed no signs of the virus rebounding.
The research, published in the journal PLoS Pathogens, follows news earlier this month about a baby girl in Mississippi in the United States being effectively cured of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after receiving very early treatment.
Christine Rouzioux, a professor at Necker Hospital and University Paris Descartes and a member of the initial team who identified HIV 30 years ago, said the new results showed the number of infected cells circulating in the blood of these patients, known as 'post-treatment controllers', kept falling even without treatment for many years.
'Early treatment in these patients may have limited the establishment of viral reservoirs, the extent of viral mutations, and preserved immune responses. A combination of those may contribute to control infection in post-treatment controllers,' she said.
'The shrinking of viral reservoirs ... closely matches the definition of 'functional' cure,' she said.
A functional cure describes when the virus is reduced to such low levels that it is kept at bay even without continuing treatment. The virus, however, is still detectable in the body.
Most of the some 34 million people with HIV across the world will have to take anti-AIDS drugs known as antiretroviral therapy for the whole of their lives. These drugs generally keep the disease in check but also have side effects and a high cost impact on health systems.
Worldwide, the number of people newly infected with HIV, which can be transmitted via blood and by semen during sex, is falling. At 2.5 million, the number of new infections in 2011 was 20 percent lower than in 2001, according to the United National AIDS programme (UNAIDS). And deaths from AIDS fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.3 million in 2005.
Asier Saez-Cirion, a senior HIV researcher at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, said that although most patients will not be able to control HIV, these results suggest that at least some may be able to if they get treatment early enough.
'(This data) and the Mississippi study strongly support early treatment initiation and may hold important clues for the development of a strategy to cure HIV or at least induce a long-term control without the need of antiretroviral treatment,' he said.
(Editing by Ben Hirschler)
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Many poor heterosexuals in U.S. cities at risk for HIV
By Julie Steenhuysen
(Reuters) - Roughly 2 percent of 8,500 poor heterosexuals living in U.S. cities with high rates of HIV infection tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, and nearly half of those who were infected said they had never been tested before the study, health officials said on Thursday.
The findings by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention underscored the links between poverty and HIV infection in the United States, where up to 44 percent of new infections are clustered in 12 major cities, including Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles.
'I think the main finding is that place matters,' Dr. Jonathan Mermin said in an interview. Mermin is director of the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.
Mermin said for many people living in urban areas where HIV is commonplace, their chance of being exposed to HIV with a new sexual partner is much higher than it would be if they were living in another part of the United States.
'Even with equivalent sexual risk behavior, their actual risk of acquiring HIV is greater,' he said.
The study, published in the CDC's Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, involved a sampling of nearly 8,500 heterosexuals in 21 cities.
Researchers analyzed 2010 data on heterosexuals in neighborhoods with high concentrations of AIDS patients. They focused on people with low socioeconomic status, which they defined as having an income below the federal poverty level or no more than a high school education. For an individual, the 2013 poverty level is $11.490.
More than 70 percent of participants were African American.
Of those tested, 197, or 2.3 percent, were infected with HIV, with highest rates of infection occurring among blacks, those who reported using crack cocaine and those who exchanged sex for money or drugs.
Education and income also made a difference, with higher infection rates reported among people who did not have a high school diploma or those with annual household incomes of less than $10,000. Infection rates were highest among study participants in the Northeast and South.
Overall, 25.8 percent of the study participants had never been tested for HIV. Of those surveyed who were diagnosed with HIV, 45 percent did not know they had it.
'That is much higher than the 18 percent that we estimate for the nation as a whole,' he said.
Mermin said the findings clearly showed the need for HIV prevention efforts directed at this population, as well as efforts that link infected individuals with care.
Prior studies have shown that certain groups of HIV patients - the poor, minorities, women and drug users - tended to have worse outcomes and to die earlier. Programs that help address barriers to care, such as transportation to clinics or providing housing for homeless individuals, can help people live longer and reduce HIV transmission.
Currently, the CDC recommends that doctors who treat patients in high risk communities do regular testing, but often patients report not being tested. In this survey, about two-thirds of the people with HIV who did not know they were infected had seen a healthcare provider in the prior year.
'Certainly, a proportion of those people had HIV at the time they visited the provider, but the provider did not conduct an HIV test,' Mermin said.
That may change in the next few months when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an influential panel of doctors and scientists advising the government, is expected to release new guidelines calling for routine HIV screening for all Americans aged 15 to 65.
The panel released draft recommendations in November that are expected to affect the reimbursement of HIV testing, removing one of the barriers to the tests.
Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to cover preventive services that are recommended by the panel.
Nearly 1.2 million people in the United States are infected with HIV, yet 20 to 25 percent of them do not know it.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Peter Cooney, Toni Reinhold)
(Reuters) - Roughly 2 percent of 8,500 poor heterosexuals living in U.S. cities with high rates of HIV infection tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, and nearly half of those who were infected said they had never been tested before the study, health officials said on Thursday.
The findings by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention underscored the links between poverty and HIV infection in the United States, where up to 44 percent of new infections are clustered in 12 major cities, including Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles.
'I think the main finding is that place matters,' Dr. Jonathan Mermin said in an interview. Mermin is director of the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.
Mermin said for many people living in urban areas where HIV is commonplace, their chance of being exposed to HIV with a new sexual partner is much higher than it would be if they were living in another part of the United States.
'Even with equivalent sexual risk behavior, their actual risk of acquiring HIV is greater,' he said.
The study, published in the CDC's Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, involved a sampling of nearly 8,500 heterosexuals in 21 cities.
Researchers analyzed 2010 data on heterosexuals in neighborhoods with high concentrations of AIDS patients. They focused on people with low socioeconomic status, which they defined as having an income below the federal poverty level or no more than a high school education. For an individual, the 2013 poverty level is $11.490.
More than 70 percent of participants were African American.
Of those tested, 197, or 2.3 percent, were infected with HIV, with highest rates of infection occurring among blacks, those who reported using crack cocaine and those who exchanged sex for money or drugs.
Education and income also made a difference, with higher infection rates reported among people who did not have a high school diploma or those with annual household incomes of less than $10,000. Infection rates were highest among study participants in the Northeast and South.
Overall, 25.8 percent of the study participants had never been tested for HIV. Of those surveyed who were diagnosed with HIV, 45 percent did not know they had it.
'That is much higher than the 18 percent that we estimate for the nation as a whole,' he said.
Mermin said the findings clearly showed the need for HIV prevention efforts directed at this population, as well as efforts that link infected individuals with care.
Prior studies have shown that certain groups of HIV patients - the poor, minorities, women and drug users - tended to have worse outcomes and to die earlier. Programs that help address barriers to care, such as transportation to clinics or providing housing for homeless individuals, can help people live longer and reduce HIV transmission.
Currently, the CDC recommends that doctors who treat patients in high risk communities do regular testing, but often patients report not being tested. In this survey, about two-thirds of the people with HIV who did not know they were infected had seen a healthcare provider in the prior year.
'Certainly, a proportion of those people had HIV at the time they visited the provider, but the provider did not conduct an HIV test,' Mermin said.
That may change in the next few months when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an influential panel of doctors and scientists advising the government, is expected to release new guidelines calling for routine HIV screening for all Americans aged 15 to 65.
The panel released draft recommendations in November that are expected to affect the reimbursement of HIV testing, removing one of the barriers to the tests.
Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to cover preventive services that are recommended by the panel.
Nearly 1.2 million people in the United States are infected with HIV, yet 20 to 25 percent of them do not know it.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Peter Cooney, Toni Reinhold)
Many poor heterosexuals in U.S. cities at risk for HIV infection
(Reuters) - Some 2.3 percent of 8,500 poor heterosexuals living in cities with high rates of HIV infection tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, and nearly half of those who were infected said they had never had an HIV test before the study, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.
The findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention underscore the links between poverty and HIV infection in the United States, where up to 44 percent of new infections are clustered in 12 major cities, including Chicago, Washington, New York and Los Angeles.
The study, published in the CDC's Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, involved a sampling of nearly 8,500 heterosexuals in 21 cities.
For the study, researchers analyzed 2010 data on heterosexuals in areas with a high AIDS burden who were considered to have low-socioeconomic status, which they defined as having an income below the federal poverty level or no more than a high school education.
More than 70 percent of participants were African American.
Of those tested, 197, or 2.3 percent, were infected with HIV, with highest rates of infection occurring among blacks, those who reported using crack cocaine or those who exchanged sex for money or drugs.
Education and income made a difference as well, with higher infection rates reported among people who did not have a high school diploma or those with annual household incomes of less than $10,000. Infection rates were highest among study participants in the Northeast and South.
Overall, 25.8 percent of the study participants had never been tested for HIV.
The CDC said the findings make clear the need for HIV prevention efforts that address this population's specific needs, as well as efforts that link infected individuals to care.
Prior studies have shown that certain groups of HIV patients - the poor, minorities, women and drug users - tended to have worse outcomes and die earlier. But programs that help address barriers to care, such as transportation to clinics or providing housing to homeless individuals, can help people live longer and reduce HIV transmission.
According to the CDC, 1.2 million Americans have HIV, and 1 in 5 U.S. adults with HIV do not know they are infected.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Vicki Allen)
The findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention underscore the links between poverty and HIV infection in the United States, where up to 44 percent of new infections are clustered in 12 major cities, including Chicago, Washington, New York and Los Angeles.
The study, published in the CDC's Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, involved a sampling of nearly 8,500 heterosexuals in 21 cities.
For the study, researchers analyzed 2010 data on heterosexuals in areas with a high AIDS burden who were considered to have low-socioeconomic status, which they defined as having an income below the federal poverty level or no more than a high school education.
More than 70 percent of participants were African American.
Of those tested, 197, or 2.3 percent, were infected with HIV, with highest rates of infection occurring among blacks, those who reported using crack cocaine or those who exchanged sex for money or drugs.
Education and income made a difference as well, with higher infection rates reported among people who did not have a high school diploma or those with annual household incomes of less than $10,000. Infection rates were highest among study participants in the Northeast and South.
Overall, 25.8 percent of the study participants had never been tested for HIV.
The CDC said the findings make clear the need for HIV prevention efforts that address this population's specific needs, as well as efforts that link infected individuals to care.
Prior studies have shown that certain groups of HIV patients - the poor, minorities, women and drug users - tended to have worse outcomes and die earlier. But programs that help address barriers to care, such as transportation to clinics or providing housing to homeless individuals, can help people live longer and reduce HIV transmission.
According to the CDC, 1.2 million Americans have HIV, and 1 in 5 U.S. adults with HIV do not know they are infected.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Vicki Allen)
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