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 HIV and AIDS We are committed to serving the Transgender community  These are the Facts
From Lifelong Aids Alliance and King County Public Heath
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the virus that causes AIDS. It attacks the human immune system. Over time (and without effective treatment), HIV gradually destroys the body's defenses against disease, leaving it vulnerable to many infections and cancers that would not normally develop in healthy people.
Even without treatment, some people with HIV infection have no symptoms at all, some have mild health problems, while others have severe health problems associated with AIDS.
What is AIDS? 
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a late stage of HIV infection. By the time a diagnosis of AIDS is made, HIV will already have seriously damaged the body's immune system. Often, a person with an AIDS diagnosis will already have had a life-threatening infection or cancer.
Before the use of effective treatment, it commonly took 10 years or more from the time of initial HIV infection to a diagnosis of AIDS. On average, it would take another two to four years before death. However, new treatments are radically slowing the destruction of the immune system caused by HIV and lengthening life expectancy. Some people with HIV infection may never develop AIDS.
How is HIV transmitted?
HIV is transmitted when infected blood, semen, vaginal fluids, or breast milk enter another person's body. This most often occurs during unprotected sex or during injection drug use (when needles or other drug paraphernalia are shared).
HIV is spread in the following ways:
Unprotected sexual intercourse
HIV can enter the body during sex through the mucous membranes of the anus, vagina, penis (urethra), or mouth; AND through cuts, sores, and abrasions on the skin. Unprotected anal and vaginal sex are the riskiest sexual activities. There are a small, but growing, number of reported cases of HIV transmission through oral sex; however, the risk of oral sex transmission is clearly lower than for anal or vaginal sex.
Injection drug use
Using shared, unsterile needles and syringes carries a high risk of HIV transmission. Sharing cookers, cottons, and water for mixing/bleaching can also transmit HIV.
From an infected mother to her infant
HIV can be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy, during birth, or through breast-feeding. When treatment is taken, though, the HIV transmission rate from a mother to her baby is greatly reduced. Consequently, all pregnant women should see their doctor, be tested for HIV and obtain recommended treatment.
HIV is rarely transmitted in the following ways:
Blood transfusions and organ transplants
The risk of acquiring HIV from a blood transfusion or organ transplantation today is estimated to be about 1 in every 600,000 transfusions. Blood and organ banks screen out most potential donors at risk for HIV infection in advance. They then do extensive testing on specimens of blood, blood products, and organs for HIV and other blood-borne germs.
The health care setting
There is a very small, but real, risk of health care workers getting HIV from patients as a result of needle stick accidents and other substantial blood exposures. The risk of patients getting infected from health care workers is also very small.
HIV is not transmitted by:
Casual contact
HIV is not spread by casual contact. It dies quickly outside the body and is easily killed by soap and by common disinfectants such as bleach. There is no risk of HIV infection from:
• donating blood
• mosquito bites
• toilet seats
• shaking hands
• hugging
• sharing eating utensils
• food or objects handled by people with HIV or AIDS
• spending time in the same house, business, or public place with a person with
HIV/AIDS
How can I prevent HIV?
Sexual Contact
• Abstaining from sex with others is the surest method to preventing HIV infection through sexual transmission.
• Having sex with one HIV-negative partner who only has sex with you is the next surest method to preventing infection
• When used consistently and correctly, condoms are extremely effective at reducing the risk of HIV transmission. 
• Touching, dry kissing, body rubbing and mutual masturbation are some examples of sexual activities that are extremely safe.
• When acquiring a new sex partner, abstain or use condoms for three months and then get tested for HIV. If both partners are HIV-negative and not engaging in other risk behaviors (e.g., sharing needles or having other sex partners), you do not have to worry about HIV infection.
Injection Drug Use
• Abstaining from injection drug use is the most effective way to prevent HIV transmission through drug use.
• If you are injecting drugs, use a brand new syringe every time you inject.
• If new syringes are unavailable, properly bleaching a used syringe may effectively reduce HIV transmission.
• Do not share drug injection equipment (including cookers, cottons and water used for mixing/bleaching) with others
Where can I get tested? 
Getting tested is vital for anyone who is at even a small risk of acquiring HIV. Early detection and treatment greatly improves a person’s chances of staying healthy longer. Knowing your status is also a key component of preventing the spread of HIV.
Where to get tested in King County?
HIV/STD Hotline
• The Public Health HIV/STD Hotline makes confidential or anonymous HIV testing appointments at various Public Health Centers throughout King County. Call (206) 205-7837.
• Available in English and Spanish
• Sliding fee scale
STD Clinic at Harborview Medical Center
• Located at Harborview Medical Center
Ground Floor, East Clinic Wing
325 9th Ave
Seattle, WA 98104
• Confidential HIV/STD testing (proof of identification not required)
• For an appointment, call (206) 731-2271
• Walk-in clinic. Call for availability at (206) 731-3590.
• Sliding fee scale
Gay City Health Project Wellness Center
• Located at 511 E Pike St, Seattle, WA 98122
• Anonymous or confidential HIV/STD screening for gay and bisexual men
• Standard and rapid testing available
• Testing hours: Tuesday to Friday 3:30 – 8:00 p.m. and Saturday 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
• Call (206) 860-6969 for an appointment or walk-in times
• Website: www.gaycity.org
Planned Parenthood
• Confidential or anonymous HIV/STD testing
• $38 - $60, based on monthly income
• Call 1-800-230-7526 or visit www.plannedparenthood.org
Surveillance of reported1 HIV/AIDS cases, deaths, and people living with HIV/AIDS—reported as of 12/31/2006—King County, other Washington counties, all Washington State, and U.S.
1. An estimated 11,000 to 13,000 people live in Washington with HIV infection including AIDS. These include the 9,489 prevalent cases reported above. In King County, there are an estimated 7,200 to 8,400 people living with HIV infection including AIDS. These include the 6,031 prevalent cases reported above. The difference between the estimated cases and the reported prevalent cases include three groups:
a. People diagnosed with AIDS but not yet reported (probably fewer than 5% of total AIDS reports).
b. People diagnosed with HIV infection but not yet reported.
c. People infected with HIV but not yet diagnosed or reported (perhaps 25% of total HIV estimate).
2. New AIDS counts include cases previously reported as HIV without AIDS.
3. Pediatric cases are under age 13 at the time of diagnosis with HIV or AIDS.
4. U.S. data for people with HIV infection not AIDS are based upon reports from states and areas with confidential, named-based HIV infection reporting. Washington is not included in those counts at this time.
All the above information comes directly from Lifelong Aids Alliance and King County Public Health Department New treatment for AIDS patients
Providing a new alternative to AIDS patients who have developed resistance to multiple drugs, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the first-ever pill that works by defending human immune cells instead of attacking the deadly virus.
The drug, which will be sold under the trade name Selzentry, prevents the AIDS virus from entering immune cells by clogging up a cell receptor known as CCR5. All previous drugs have targeted parts of the virus.
Drug-maker Pfizer plans to make Selzentry commercially available in September at a wholesale cost of $29 per day. The agency delayed approval of the drug for about two months because of concerns about liver toxicity, said Dr. Debra Birnkrant, who directs the agency's division of antiviral products. The agency approved the drug on condition that the label include a strong warning. AIDS treatment growing, but so is rate of HIV
Head of U.N. program in town to speak at conference
By Tom Paulson
P-I Reporter
Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, is in Seattle this week to honor a local mentor and speak at a research conference.
Piot, a Belgian physician who came to Seattle in the late 1970s to work with the University of Washington's Dr. King Holmes, had already gained international recognition in 1976 as co-discoverer of the Ebola virus after an outbreak in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). Piot on Sunday gave the opening lecture for a Seattle meeting of the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Diseases Research. He credits Holmes, now chairman of the UW's new Global Health Department, with helping to launch his career. The Seattle P-I caught up with Piot over the weekend to talk with him about the AIDS pandemic, global health and his Seattle connections.
Mostly because of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle today is clearly regarded as a leading player in global health. But that wasn't really the case in the 1970s. What brought you here?
"While working on Ebola, I became interested in sexually transmitted diseases and the social aspects of health. I first went to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta but soon found that the only good, solid published work on STDs was coming out of Seattle. People like King Holmes and Russ Alexander (a renowned epidemiologist who died in 2006) were doing cutting-edge STD research. This was before AIDS, of course. I think I was the first real foreigner to join the program. My wife complained about living here because, at the time, there was no good coffee or bread."
Well, we now have good coffee and bread, among other things. But how did this deprivation in Seattle make a difference in your career?
"King was already a world leader in STD research, even if that wasn't so well recognized here. It was a neglected area in public health. King's talent is in his intellectual curiosity, ability to bring people together and a fearless pursuit of evidence even when controversial. In the mid-1980s, when most people still thought AIDS was just a disease of gay men, we worked together on a project involving Nairobi sex workers. Our first papers were rejected because people didn't believe HIV could be transmitted heterosexually."
Describe briefly your experience in discovering Ebola.
"There was an outbreak in 1976 at a hospital in Zaire. People were dying, but they thought it was yellow fever. We got blood and liver tissue from a dead Flemish nun, looked at it under an electron microscope and said, 'Oh my God, it's the Marburg virus (a highly lethal virus).' Further study showed it was something else, something new. One person in our team died. I didn't really get scared until afterwards. It was very exciting to discover a new disease. I don't think I would be so bold today. Those were my cowboy years."
Since then, another new disease, AIDS, has become one of the world's top killers. In 1996, you took charge of a new U.N. organization created to mobilize and coordinate the global war against AIDS. How are we doing?
"There is both good news and bad news, of course. In terms of good news, we are seeing returns on our investments. Most East African countries are now seeing declines in new infections. We're also seeing this in Cambodia and parts of the Caribbean. And we now have something like 2.5 million people in developing countries on (anti-HIV) treatment. But for every person we put on treatment, six more are newly infected. We got 700,000 new people on treatment last year but also saw 4.2 million new HIV infections."
In some places, isn't it true that we have even lost ground on prevention?
"Yes, prevention like treatment must be a life-long thing. Uganda had been a success story at both prevention and treatment. In the last three years, however, they've seen a doubling of the new infections. One explanation is complacency. They've done a good job getting people on treatment. Giving people drugs is easy. Prevention, because it involves discussions about sex and illegal drugs, is highly political. The moral approach now favored by Mrs. Museveni (wife of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni), which is anti-condom and emphasizes abstinence, may be part of what's causing the problem. We don't really know. We're studying the situation."
What can Americans do to assist in the global effort against AIDS?
"Americans, as individuals, are very charitable people. From a European perspective, this appears to be quite a paradox given some aspects of your approaches to foreign policy. But I would say the first thing Americans should do is to do a good job against AIDS in America. Every year, 40,000 more Americans become infected with HIV. There is no excuse for that. Secondly, you should assure that AIDS is a big foreign policy issue -- as President Bush has done with Pepfar (the 5-year, $15 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). I am critical of some things the Bush administration has done, but with Pepfar, they have a place in history." Church educates kids on HIV/AIDS
August 7th 2007
The hot dogs were plentiful and the games were fun, but the topic of discussion at this recent outing for kids and teens was very serious - HIV/AIDS.
It was also rare in that it was organized by a church, when many religious groups shy away from the sensitive task of educating kids about the deadly disease.
"HIV and AIDS are killing our people all over the country," the Rev. Mark V.C. Taylor, pastor of the Church of the Open Door, told about 70 youngsters from Farragut Houses, right next to the church in downtown Brooklyn.
"Listen carefully to what you'll hear," Taylor said.
In simple terms, Joyce McDonald, head of the church's AIDS ministry, told how the virus is contracted, how to respond to people living with HIV/AIDS and how to protect against the virus.
A 2003 Health Department survey of city high school students found that 48% reported having had sex. One in 10 became sexually active before 13. Black and Hispanic students were more likely than whites and Asians to report having had four or more partners, according to the survey.
"This is a crisis for communities of color," Taylor said.
McDonald, a 56-year-old grandmother, considers herself a front-line warrior. She found out in 1995 she had HIV.
"Rev. Taylor offered to go with me to be tested because I was so ashamed," she said. Two years later, she learned she had AIDS. "When I told the church, I was embraced with love."
Since then, McDonald has dedicated herself to helping others. She founded a ministry (www.jm-ministries.com) and gives speeches frequently.
At the picnic, McDonald and other members of the AIDS ministry went from table to table, answering kids' questions privately.
Afterward, the kids competed to answer questions based on the presentation, ate hot dogs and got prizes and an HIV/AIDS fact sheet to take home.
"This was a good program," said Marnisa Horlbeck, 12, who lives in the Farragut Houses. "It will help me make right choices."
Her mother, Mildred Horlbeck added, "The younger the children are when they hear this, the easier it is for them to learn."
The church does community outreach frequently. It operates an AIDS hotline and offers free HIV testing monthly. There are ministries for teens, substance abusers and families in crisis.
In working with kids, teens and singles, the church emphasizes abstinence, in line with biblical teachings, Taylor said.
Though studies have shown that teens who take part in abstinence-only programs are just as likely to have sex as those who do not, Taylor's views on his church's role are unchanged.
"We are challenging young people to examine who they are and where they are going," the pastor said. "We want to help them see they can control themselves."
Deborah Gilfillan (l.) and Joyce McDonald, head of the AIDS ministry at the Church of the Open Door educate neighborhood youths about the dangers of HIV/AIDS. |
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