HIV, AIDs rates rise sharply among blacks, Hispanics
The profile of HIV and AIDS patients in California has shifted significantly since the disease first made headlines 30 years ago, reflecting the success of drugs to extend patients’ lives and the failures to stem the spread of the disease in diverse communities.
A statewide analysis of health data [PDF] completed in recognition of World AIDS Day, celebrated today, reveals the changing face of patients in the state, including an increase in older patients and rising rates of infection among blacks and Hispanics.
The review by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development also shows that hospitalization rates among HIV and AIDS patients have plummeted since 1988, reflecting the power of antiretroviral drug cocktails to keep the condition in check.
Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a conference call with reporters yesterday that he was a family doctor in Redding in the 1990s when he saw young men return to their families to die.
“We’ve come a long way since then,” he said. “There have been miraculous advances in treatment, yet we’ve still got a ways to go.”
Photo: dra_schwartz/istockphoto.com
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