The article I read was called “HIV Guidelines Issued for Care of those Newly Diagnosed” written by David March on March 12, 2012.
AIDS professionals at Johns Hopkins and other institutions have released new guidelines to help prevent and raise awareness of HIV care. These guidelines focus on how to get newly diagnosed people with HIV into treatment plans. It states that around 50,000 Americans each year are diagnosed with this infection and more than one million are known to be HIV positive.
Experts are worried that barely two thirds of Americans with the disease have used antiretroviral drug therapy, or ART to keep viral levels in the blood low. This is important because research shows that those who do not have follow up visits after they begin drug treatment die at twice the rate of those who keep their appointments. If people keep using ART they reduce their risk of developing drug resistance, they slow disease progression and it is less likely for them to transmit the virus. People must be actively involved with their treatment.
The article states that an estimated 10 million of the 34 million infected with HIV receive drug treatment for their infection. It is important for the people who don’t to do so.
While reading this article it reminded me of the short clip we watched in class about Dr. Farmer. It reminded me of the civilians in Haiti who go around to make sure people were taking their medication. This goes to show how important it is to get treatment to reduce the risk of spreading disease and saving yourself.
To see full article: http://gazette.jhu.edu/2012/03/12/hiv-guidelines-issued-for-care-of-those-newly-diagnosed/
This article seems really interesting and is a good comparison to what we have learned in class from Doctor Farmer's video. What caught my eye in this article was the fact that many people who have HIV do not take the necessary treatment in order to slow the disease progression and make it less likely that they transmit the virus to others. If I or someone I knew had HIV I would make sure they took their drug treatments because it is such a powerful disease, even with treatments. This article made me think of how important the jobs are of those people in Haiti who go around and check to see if people have taken their medicine. If it weren't for these people traveling many miles every day, it's no doubt that many of the Haitians would not be alive. This article ties into our class because it has to do with treatments for a disease and how people take a disease they have and deal with it.
ReplyDeleteI find it shocking that not even half of those infected recieve drug treatment. This also reminds me of the clip about Dr. Farmer, and especially how they said it has started in a town in MA. I think it would be a good idea for that to expand all over the country. It is important for everyone to be properly medicated and to take their medications. The fact that people who do not have follow up visits after starting drug treatment die at twice the rate of those who continue to go to their appointments is also shocking to me. It goes to show how helpful it is for the communities in Haiti to check in and make sure everyone is taking their medicines. Had the cases shown in that clip not been followed up the patients probably would not have lived. This shows how important Dr. Farmer's work truly is.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I thought of while reading this was Dr. Farmer and the community health care in Haiti in the 60 minutes clip we watched in class. This should be enforced in the U.S., the shocking numbers in the article show that. I find it sad that people who live in such a privileged country, where they have easy access to these medicines, will not even take them. If having someone around to tell an infected person to take their meds. would cut the death from AIDS, then I believe that the U.S. should start community healthcare as soon as possible. Not just for AIDs patients though, it could easily be used for any illness of health problem that requires medication. Not only that, but I'm sure it would create new jobs as well.
ReplyDeleteLike you said Katie I thought of the video clip we watched in class too. If there were more people in the United States and other countries to go door to door and make sure people were taking their medication then a lot less people would die every year from AIDS and other infections. I think the best way to make sure people are taking medication is to inform the public of the risks when they dont take care of themselves. In Haiti there is not easy ways to tell the public of their risks so it is harder to help them in an easy way such as a tv comercial or an ad on the internet.
ReplyDeleteLike Katie, I also thought of the video we watched about Dr. Farmer in class. I think it is very important that people infected with HIV take the medications given to them, especially if they give them a longer survival rate and make it less likely for the disease to spread. I think it is very bad that less than half of the people infected with HIV are receiving medication. People who have access to the medicine should be taking the medicine, and anyone who knows someone who needs to take the medication should be making sure they take it as needed. This article shows the importance of the people who walk around from house to house in Haiti to make sure that people are taking their medication. If the medicine can help reduce symptoms and the risk of spreading disease, everyone should be able to have access to it.
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