According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016), about 1.2 million Americans are victims of AIDs epidemic with bisexual men and gay recording the highest preference. Moreover, racial and ethnic minorities suffer the greatest from the epidemic with African Americans and Latinos recording the highest number of infection in 2015. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that one in every eight people living with AIDs are not aware of their status. The preference of HIV/AIDs in the United States changes each year since its discovery in 1981. A report on the new number of people diagnosed with AIDs each year from 2005 to 2014 revealed a 19 percent decline. AIDs epidemic is deadly causing deaths to approximately 5,000 people in the USA each year. In 2014, CDC recorded 6,721 deaths attributed directly to AIDs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016).
The history of AIDs in the USA
The first case of AIDs epidemic in the United States of America was reported on July 3, 1981, as rare cancer that affected about 41 homosexuals. The disease affected young gay men living in New York City causing the death of 8 victims 24 hours after the discovery. Victims of the disease had problems with their immune system and it was not clear whether the poor immunity was the cause of the disease. Later in August, another fatal disease affected Americans with gay men recording the highest number of victims. Experts blamed drug use, sexual lifestyles, and the environment as major factors contributing to the high preference of the disease among gay people. A report from the CDC task force mandated to investigate the condition showed that the disease was caused by poor immunity. The transmission occurred through sexual intercourse or contamination with the infected blood. The disease was later pronounced Aids (Acquired Immune Deficiencies) and by the year 1983, more Americans had known about the epidemic and its transmission mechanisms (Schneider, 2011).
Anticipated future of the disease
The USA department of public health and sanitation has put in place measures to deal with the AIDs epidemic by developing new drugs and creating more awareness to the public on how to avoid contracting the disease. President Obama signed the National HIV/AIDs strategy bill into law that details plans for preventing the spread of HIV disease by the year 2020. Some of the strategies recommended include expanding access to modern and high-tech HIV prevention tools like PEP and PrEP. Moreover, the plan calls require communities to implementing needle exchanges for opioids-addicted individuals and helping them overcome the addiction. Finally, the government aims at implementing culture-specific methods of combating stigma, especially in racial and ethnic minorities to make treatments available and supporting them overcome different challenges associated with the epidemic (Heitz, 2015).
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (December 2, 2016). HIV in the United States: At A
Glance. Fast Facts. Retrieved January 10, 2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/overview/ataglance.html
Heitz, D. (2015, 2nd August). The Future of HIV/AIDS Treatment and Prevention in America.
HIV Equal. Retrieved Jan 9, 2017, from http://www.hivequal.org/hiv-equal-online/the-future-of-hiv-aids-treatment-and-prevention-in-america
Schneider, M.-J. (2011). Prologue: Public Health in the News in, Introduction to public health.
Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
