“We applaud the efforts of the courageous individuals and highly respected scientists who participated in the trial, known as HPTN 052,” Fields says. “They have made an important and significant contribution to the fight against HIV-AIDS. Certainly, more scientific study is called for. The results of this trial, although extremely encouraging, is not a panacea. Ultimately, researchers, supported by sufficient funding from our federal government, must step up their efforts to find a cure for this devastating global HIV-AIDS pandemic. Three decades of living in the dark shadow of HIV-AIDS is long enough.”
On Thursday, May 12, 2011, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Myron Cohen from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced the findings of a $73 million HIV trial involving 1,763 couples in 13 cities and four continents, including Africa, Asia, South America and North America.
One member of each couple in the trial was infected with HIV. The other member was HIV-negative. In half of the couples, the HIV-positive member was placed on antiretroviral medications as soon as he or she tested positive for HIV. The remaining half of the couples was only placed on antiretroviral medications when the HIV-positive partners’ CD4 cell counts dropped below 250, a sign of significant weakness in the immune system. The study concluded that patients with HIV were 96% less likely to transmit the virus to their partners if they were taking antiretroviral medications upon immediate diagnosis of their HIV infections. Ninety percent of the couples participating in the study were heterosexual.
“This highly encouraging study supports what the NBLCA, other organizations and infectious disease specialists have been saying for years. Knowing one’s HIV status and gaining early access to treatment and care is beneficial both for the individual and the community at large. In 2010, armed with this scientific knowledge, the NBLCA played a leading role in successfully amending Article 27F of New York State’s Public Health Law to require medical practitioners to offer HIV testing to New Yorkers between the ages of 13 and 64 in all appropriate medical settings, as recommended by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The idea is simple — a patient who tests positive for HIV can be linked to treatment and care early in the course of their infection, as opposed to later when they become sicker. This early treatment benefits the patient by keeping [him or her] healthier longer and reduces the community’s viral load,” she adds.
The NBLCA, founded in 1987, is the oldest group of its kind addressing the HIV-AIDS disparity among African Americans. A not-for-profit organization, its mission is to educate, mobilize and empower black leaders to meet the challenge of fighting HIV-AIDS and other health disparities in their local communities.
“NBLCA encourages all individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual orientation, to get educated about HIV, get tested so that they know their status and can be linked to early treatment and care, and finally, get involved in community efforts to fight this dreaded disease,” Fields concludes. “HIV-AIDS stops with us.” –yvette caslin
