Happy World AIDS Day!

[Yuri-G]

you can tell it's an official holiday because google changed their homepage.

and just for fun:


Global trends

http://www.avert.org/media/content/g...lobalGraph.jpg
The number of people living with HIV has risen from around 8 million in 1990 to 33 million today, and is still growing. Around 67% of people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa.

AIDS statistics

People living with AIDS

At the end of 2007, the CDC estimates that 468,578 people were living with AIDS in America, around 20,000 more than 2006. This number includes all people who have ever been diagnosed with an AIDS-defining condition and are believed to be alive, including many people who have recovered their health by taking antiretroviral therapy. The chart below shows the ethnicities of these people, revealing that black Americans have been disproportionately affected.
http://www.avert.org/media/content/g...-sum-graph.jpg
The charts below show how adults and adolescents (aged 13 and over) living with AIDS most likely became infected with HIV. Just over 75% of adults and adolescents living with AIDS are men.
http://www.avert.org/media/content/g...sa-summary.jpg
An estimated 3,792 children aged under 13 were living with AIDS at the end of 2007. The vast majority of these children acquired HIV from their mothers during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding.
People with AIDS are surviving longer and are contributing to a steady increase in the number of people living with AIDS. This trend will continue as long as the number of new diagnoses exceeds the number of people dying each year.

AIDS diagnoses and deaths

In June 1981, the first cases of what is now known as AIDS were reported in the USA. During the 1980s, there were rapid increases in the number of AIDS cases and deaths of people with AIDS. Cases peaked with the 1993 expansion of the case definition1, and then declined. The most dramatic drops in both cases and deaths began in 1996, with the widespread use of combination antiretroviral therapy.
http://www.avert.org/media/content/g...es-deaths2.jpg
Since 2000 the annual numbers of AIDS diagnoses have been relatively constant, with an estimated 37,041 in 2006. In total, an estimated 1,051,875 people have been diagnosed with AIDS in America.
The death rate among people with AIDS has also remained relatively stable in recent years; there were an estimated 14,561 deaths in 2007. Since the beginning of the epidemic, an estimated 583,298 people with AIDS have died in the USA.

[Yuri-G]

oh, and the obligatory:

[Olo401]

A while back on NPR they had a story about long term side effects from the first generation medicines used to control AIDS (i.e. AZT). Unfortunately until very recently these side effects weren't known, because patients weren't living long enough to see such side effects. Now though we have a clearer picture.. Reported long-term side effects include:

- hormonal imbalance
- severe, sometime life-threatening rashes
- lipodystrophy (a combination of metabolic problems related to blood sugar, chloresterol, and body fat)
- increased risk of heart disease or stroke
- GERD
- liver problems
- lactic acidosis
- anemia and related fatigue
- menstrual irregularity in women
- increased risk of osteoporosis and osteopenia

Unfortunately, little attention is being paid to dealing with some of these side effects and researching new drugs that would cut down on some of these side effects. I suppose the attitude is 'well they're gonna die from it anyways'.. I should think the fact that some of these folks survive, such as Magic Johnson who has been publicly living with HIV for almost 20 years now, is proof to the contrary.

[Yuri-G]

Pharmaceutical companies have definitely made strides when it comes to medication. It's not likely that any new patients will be on AZT unless their strain of the virus is resistant to/can't afford better medications, or they're in a third world country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atripla

One of the best medications out there right now. Very few side effects, the only major one is markedly vivid and intense dreams, which is actually kinda cool.

I guess that doesn't help if you were diagnosed in 1992, though. Anyone who took AZT or is still taking it is unfortunate, because the side effects can definitely be devastating.

[Dezzimal]

http://www.conservapedia.com/Homosexuality_and_AIDS

Happy aids day indeed.

[Olo401]

http://www.conservapedia.com/Homosexuality_and_AIDS

Happy aids day indeed.

Reagan's true legacy lives on.

[Kaisha]

[archibaldcrane]

http://www.conservapedia.com/Homosexuality_and_AIDS

As of 1998, fifty-four percent of all AIDS cases in the United States were homosexual men, and the CDC stated that nearly ninety percent of these men acquired HIV through sexual activity with other men.

Gotta love how they cite 11 year old statistics.

[Bregor]

U.S. Launches AIDS-Awareness Campaign In Botswana | The Onion

http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/UJump.jpg

[Yuri-G]

that one took me a second, but when I noticed it, the laugh was worth it.

[Faris]

Whats happy about AIDS? <_>

[SephYuyX]

Stop having gay sex.

[Yuri-G]

Stop having gay sex.

as soon as you stop having straight sex.

oh, wait...

[SephYuyX]

See? Im doing my part.
I also stopped doing horses.

[Faris]

thats sweet jony

and thanks for bumping a retarded thread.

[Vixy]

What the shit?

[510Meeze]

Only 600k people have died since the epidemic started...

We need to get a grip on our media, shit is silly.

[_chuchu]