HIV Outbreak: Alaska Health Officials Raised The Alarm

Five new cases of HIV in Bristol Bay area village were reported by the Alaska Health officials. The outbreak has raised the alarm when one individual tested positive last February 2016.

According to ADN, officials identified the village only as Community A in the epidemiology report but it was confirmed to KDLG radio that it was in the Bristol Bay area. There were two more people reported positive in October and in November aside from the one discovered HIV positive in February, and additional other two individuals as health officials begins their investigations.

Dr. Catherine Hyndman of the Kanakanak Hospital in Dillingham stated that the health officials have determined that unprotected sex, not needle sharing, allowed the transmission of the virus. This was concluded after the initial apprehensions that HIV outbreak might be connected to needle sharing related to an endemic opioid drug use.

State report said, "needle sharing was not reported as a risk factor but rather, alcohol and drug use did likely lead to unprotected sexual activity". All the five cases of HIV in the village in the Bristol Bay area involve men who have sex with men.

Dr. Hyndman also added that "when a person is intoxicated with alcohol, they make poor choices. Or, unfortunately, in some cases their choice is taken away from them by the alcohol. They may pass out and not even know that someone is having sex with them."

For the past five years, there were 28 newly diagnosed HIV cases reported in Alaska and 54 percent of these cases were mostly men having sex with men that are living in urban areas of the state. These are because of the limited access to health care and health education as well as concerns about the stigma and confidentiality of the patients can be a hindrance to tedious testing in rural areas of Alaska.

HIV or Human Immunodeficiency Virus weakens the body's immune system and causes AIDS. And when the immune system is weakened, various infections and cancers can take hold.

In an article posted in the Time Live, the World Health Organization has approved the home-test kits that use a pinprick of blood to give results within 15 minutes. These kits are at least 99 percent accurate.

In South Africa, SA Pharmacy Council abolished the restriction to pharmacies from selling HIV test kits, over the counter transactions are made easy for people to test for HIV in the privacy of their own home and increase their awareness about the infection. The government are aiming at least 90 percent of the people will be aware of the HIV status and 90 percent HIV-positive patients are on treatment by the year 2020, in line with the UN goals.