Posted: 12/1/2022
Eliminating stigma associated with HIV/AIDS through education
Since the first case of AIDS in the early 1980s, a great amount of progress has been made to prevent and treat AIDS and HIV, but it continues to be a serious health risk across the United States, including Dallas, and around the world.
Parkland is partnering this World AIDS Day with Prism North Texas and Oak Lawn Library to provide HIV/STI testing, education and the flu vaccine at no cost to the individual. The event takes place today from 1:00 to 6:30 p.m. at the Oak Lawn Branch Library, 4100 Cedar Springs Rd., Dallas, 75219.
Globally, there are about 38 million people who have HIV. In Dallas County there are more than 18,000 residents living with HIV and over 800 people are newly diagnosed with HIV per year in the county, according to data from the Dallas County Health and Human Services. Out of the more than 30,000 new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. and dependent areas in 2020, 51% were among adults and adolescents in the South, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although more than 40 years have passed since the first reported case, there is still a lot of education that can be shared to help stop the stigma associated with the virus.
The human immunodeficiency virus, also known as HIV, is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system and reduces the body’s defenses, making it harder for it to fight off harmful infections. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Every person has CD4 cells in their body, which are a type of white blood cell that plays an important role in the immune system.
“A normal CD4 count is somewhere between 500 to 1,600. In patients with HIV, that cell count can go down under 200, which at that point is defined as AIDS,” said Ellen Kitchell, MD, Medical Director of HIV Services at Parkland Health. “Patients with AIDS can develop unusual infections, leading to hospitalization and early death.”
“There is currently no cure for HIV, but there are effective medications: antiretroviral therapy, or ART, that fight back against the virus by targeting different parts of HIV that try to replicate themselves,” said Dr. Kitchell. “If you have HIV/AIDS and you get treatment, you can live a long and healthy life.”
Dallas County came in second in the list of 25 counties with the highest cases in 2019 of HIV diagnosis, people living with HIV and AID cases, based on data from the Texas Department of State Health Services Texas HIV Surveillance Report.
HIV is a silent virus. Dr. Kitchell says that on average, people with HIV can go eight to ten years before they show any symptoms, and by then HIV could have heavily impacted their immune systems.
Although warning signs are not common, some people may show flu-like symptoms within two to four weeks after infection; other possible symptoms include night sweats, mouth ulcers, muscle aches or swollen lymph nodes. That is why Dr. Kitchell emphasizes the importance of getting tested for HIV at least once in a person’s lifetime because it is the only certain way of knowing.
The most common modes of transmission of HIV are through sex, sharing needles or other drug injection equipment, according to the CDC. However, “by taking effective medications reliably and maintaining an undetectable viral load, where the virus level is so low that we can’t find HIV in the body by standard blood tests, patients diagnosed with HIV can’t pass it to other people,” said Dr. Kitchell.
The Parkland HIV Services Department’s mission is to end the HIV epidemic by providing excellent treatment and prevention services, through improved linkage of those who are newly diagnosed with HIV to medical care, helping patients remain in continuous medical care and maintain undetectable viral loads; as well as strengthening other prevention resources.
A very effective prevention strategy for those who do not have HIV but are at risk for contracting the virus is PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, which is a medication that keeps the virus from establishing an infection. Parkland providers can prescribe oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (Truvada or Descovy) or refer to the Sexual Health Clinic embedded within Parkland’s Infectious Disease clinic. A clinical trial of long-acting injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis is planned, which will improve adherence to this important intervention.
Parkland offers RAPID HIV testing in the ACCESS Clinic in the Moody Outpatient Center at no cost to the individual seeking to get tested. Individuals do not need to have a Parkland medical record number to receive the test. The Moody Outpatient Center is located at 5151 Maple Avenue, Dallas, TX, 75235.
For information on HIV testing, please call Parkland’s Prevention and Testing Office at 214-590-5748.
For more information on Parkland services, please visit, www.parklandhealth.org.