HIV/AIDS on rise in Louisville as disease loses emphasis

Three decades after the AIDS epidemic first frightened the nation, the deadly immune disease is seeing a resurgence in Louisville, with rates of new cases up 30 percent in recent years.

“People think it's a disease of the past. Unfortunately, it's very much alive,” said Janet Mann, director of program development for AIDS Interfaith Ministries of Kentuckiana, which held a breakfast meeting Thursday to talk with community leaders about the disease's impact in Louisville.
The rate of newly diagnosed AIDS cases in Jefferson County rose from 11.4 per 100,000 people — 80 cases — in 2005 to 14.9 per 100,000 — 107cases — in 2008, the latest year for which reliable state health statistics are available.
And new cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, rose from 19.3 per 100,000 — 136 cases— to 21.5 per 100,000 — 154 cases — during that same period in Jefferson County. The HIV numbers don't count the one in five infected people that experts estimate have never been tested.
One big reason for the increase in Louisville is that many people no longer view AIDS as a dangerous disease now that medications can keep people alive –— so they're more likely to have unprotected sex that puts them at risk, health experts and activists say.
“People think: All I have to do is take a few pills every day. But it still kills people … and it affects quality of life,” said Bobby Edelen, a 54-year-old Louisville man who has lived with the virus that causes AIDS for 21 years and suffers medication side-effects such as nausea, occasional diarrhea and fatigue. “Every day is not a picnic. I would have bad days almost daily if I would give in.”
Besides complacency, health officials and activists said drug use and too little education on the disease also are driving up AIDS and HIV numbers. So is the fact that so many people are infected with the virus but don't know it, they said, making them more likely to spread it to others.
But as the epidemic grows, health officials and activists point out that there are fewer resources to fight it.
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