High case rates make D.C. the nation's HIV/AIDS capital

Physicians confronting the city's AIDS epidemic are urged to follow the CDC's recommendation to test widely.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Jan. 7, 2008.

Washington -- One in 20 Washington, D.C., residents is HIV-positive, and one in 50 has AIDS -- both numbers underscore the staying power of this disease and the importance of refining efforts to control its spread, according to a new report compiled by the District of Columbia's Dept. of Health. Experts say an examination of this local epidemic's scope and complexity holds lessons for the rest of the nation.

The "District of Columbia HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Annual Report," released in November 2007, revealed that the District of Columbia's case rate is the highest in the United States -- 128.4 cases per 100,000 people in D.C. The figure nationally is 14 cases per 100,000.

Moreover, these statistics could foreshadow the direction of other trend lines. Specifically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reviewing data that may show a national increase in the number of people newly infected with the virus, and the current U.S. estimate of 40,000 new infections per year may have to be revised, perhaps to 60,000 per year.

The signs are clear that AIDS continues to grip many segments of the population. And the message to communicate beyond the beltway: "If you don't pay attention ... and aggressively try to implement prevention measures, it can get as bad as Washington," said D.C. resident Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He has spent much of his career working to stanch the disease.