WASHINGTON — Widespread testing would likely blunt the high HIV infection rate in African Americans and Latinos, but little money and effort have been put into prevention, experts said at the National Minority Quality Forum's 2008 Leadership Summit.
“African Americans and Latinos suffer disproportionately from the HIV/AIDS epidemic,” said Dr. Madeline Sutton, of the Heightened National Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis Among African Americans, a program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is the latest director of the $45 million effort to expand the use of HIV testing. But that effort, say some in the AIDScommunity, has suffered from revolving leadership, and has so far not had overwhelming impact.
“Test everyone and treat everyone,” said Dr. John Bartlett, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.
The test is relatively inexpensive at about $15, he said. It's a “dream test” that's highly accurate and detects a disease that is lethal if not treated and manageable when it is, yet it's not being used.
And its underuse translates to more transmission. The rate of infection is notably higher in those who don't know they have the disease. In those testing positive, 40% have been infected for 8–10 years, he said at a meeting sponsored by the Alliance of Minority Medical Associations, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
For African Americans, it's not clearly genetics or behavior that is leading to the rise in the infection rate, Dr. Sutton said. The CDC's effort is based on better understanding the barriers to testing. “A lot of issues have to do with stigma.”
Latino patients face similar barriers and more, given the stigma fuelled by the immigration debate, said Britt Rios-Ellis, Ph.D., director of the Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation, and Leadership Training, a partnership between the National Council of La Raza and California State University, Long Beach “They are the only minority group to see a doubling of HIV infection [from] heterosexual contact, from 5% to 12% for males and from 23% to 67% for females between 2001 and 2006. In rural Mexico, most women with AIDS are married. We're seeing the same pattern here. If we could get everyone into testing and care, [it] would make a difference.”