Note: The following document has been reformatted for inclusion on this web site.

Grey Bruce HEALTH UNIT Fall/Winter 1997

The Changing Face of HIV/AIDS
(Youth, Women, Injection Drug Users)

The Spread of HIV
Despite all the breakthroughs and accomplishments of the past 15 years, HIV continues to spread in Canada at an alarming rate. Canadians need to understand that the fight against HIV/AIDS is far from over and that the face of AIDS is changing.

Every year in Canada between 2500 and 3000 more people test positive for HIV.

The average age when AIDS is diagnosed has fallen from 32 to 23. This means many of these people were infected in their teen-aged years. Statistics show that 50% of 17 year olds have had sex, but only 50% of these reported using a condom the last time they had sex.

Rates have fallen among older men in the gay community, but young gay men do not seem to be protecting themselves in the same consistent way. In Vancouver, a survey showed that 40% of gay males under 30 were not using condoms all the time.

Injection drug users, women, and First Nations communities are groups in which numbers are rising. 60 to 80% of drug users, male and female, were not using condoms in according to recent study.

Globally, 40% of people infected with HIV are women. Children born to HIV positive women make up 1000 of the 8500 new cases every day around the world. In Canada 10 to 20% of cases are women. This means 10,000 Canadian women are HIV positive.

In the U.S, 17 members of one secondary school football team are reported to be HIV positive after they shared a vial of steroids which had been contaminated with the blood of a teammate, coach, or friend. They had felt they were safe because they were not sharing the needles!

Motherhood and HIV/AIDS

Testing & Pregnancy
The Public Health Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Health recommends to physicians that "HIV antibody testing be discussed with all pregnant women and women considering pregnancy. HIV antibody testing should be made available to any woman who requests it." Testing pregnant women with any risk for HIV is very important in preventing HIV from being passed from mother to baby. Infants can become infected with HIV during pregnancy or delivery or through breast-feeding.

Giving AZT, an anti-viral drug, to pregnant women infected with HIV can reduce the risk of passing the virus to the baby by two-thirds. It is therefore important for women’s health, as well as the health of their babies, that women who are pregnant, or who are planning on becoming pregnant, receive HIV counseling and are offered testing. All HIV testing must be done with pre- and post-test counseling and informed consent. Anonymous testing is also an option for pregnant women.
   

RESOURCES

Breastfeeding and HIV/AIDS
Information on the transmission of HIV through breastfeeding remains under study. The research community has gone from considering it almost no risk, partially because of the protective action of saliva, to the current range of a 7% to 30% risk. As with kissing, the picture is clouded by the risk of HIV transmission through blood or serum from cracked, oozing or bleeding nipples to sores in the mouth or open gums in the teething infant, rather than from the low level of HIV in the milk itself. The higher ranges of risk probably look at the entire picture of breast feeding rather than just breast milk. Even so, in countries with no sanitary water or refrigeration, and a lack of medical care, bottle-fed infants may be more at risk of death from diarrheal diseases and pneumonias than from AIDS, without the protection breast milk provides against these common conditions. The HIV positive mother also faces the possibility that she will be ostracized and lose all help and support in her community if anyone suspects she is not breastfeeding because something is wrong with her.

In our developed countries, the HIV+ mother and her doctor clearly have a choice to make when considering the risks and benefits of breast milk and breast feeding. Most are counselled not to take the risk; however slight or controversial it may be.

AIDS: Family Album is a new video available at the Owen Sound and North Grey Union Library. It’s an excellent video from the CBC "Man Alive" series. It’s about Don and Elma Plant, a couple living with AIDS in rural Huron County with their three young children. Don and Elma have spoken to hundreds of students and teachers in Grey-Bruce Secondary Schools.

What Everyone Needs to Know
is a video available for free loan from the Owen Sound office of the health unit. It’s 21 minutes long and geared to teens and adults. Current trends, clear information (including correct condom use) and anecdotes from people living with HIV/AIDS are included. 

The Canadian AIDS News is now available on the world wide web. This is a quarterly publication of the Canadian Public Health Association loaded with great information and resources. http://www.cpha.ca/CPHA/canews/cannews.html. (whew!)

A reminder that the Bruce County Library System has a large number of excellent HIV/AIDS - related books which were donated by a grant from the Canadian Red Cross to the former AIDS Committee of Grey-Bruce. They include books for children.
 
   Support Groups

Simcoe County AIDS Committee 1-800-372-2272

Huron County AIDS Committee
1-519-482-1141

"Telelink" - telephone support network for women living with HIV/AIDS
1-519-570-3687

The Teresa Group is a non-profit Canadian charitable organization responding to the needs of children with HIV and their families. 1-416-596-7703

Canadian Children with Positive Parents (also publish a newsletter "Our Children")
P.O. Box 1103,
Saskatoon, SK S7K 3N2
1-306-652-9677

 
$$$$ Escalating costs of testing and treatment, countered by government financial restraints mean AIDS organizations face an uphill battle for survival; dedicated government funding is needed to support vital education, treatment and research efforts.
 

Window Period Revised
The "window period" is the time it takes for people infected with HIV to produce enough HIV antibodies to be detected in the blood. Most people will have detectable HIV antibodies by 2-8 weeks after becoming infected. The preferred "window period" for anonymous HIV testing is 14 weeks; 99% of people infected with HIV will have detectable antibodies at this time. People who are immune compromised (on long term immunosuppressive therapy or kidney dialysis, and those individuals who want higher than 99% accuracy, should be tested again at 6 months from the possible exposure. Only people with an ongoing risk need to be tested repeatedly.

HIV testing is available through family doctors, anonymous test sites and the sexual health clinic of the Grey Bruce Health Clinic. Call the public health clinic for more information.