EDMONTON, Canada.- A Girl, 17, accused of failing to warn partners of HIV status
An HIV-positive teenager is set to appear in an Edmonton court to face charges that she had unprotected sex without disclosing her condition.
The 17-year-old girl faces two counts of aggravated sexual assault, but police said additional charges are pending as the investigation continues.
Police took the rare step of issuing a public warning about the girl after two of her partners filed complaints. She was taken into custody in Edson, Alta., on Saturday.
Since then, a third partner has come forward with a complaint.
The Criminal Code lays out charges of aggravated sexual assault for those found guilty of knowingly having unprotected sex while infected with HIV.
Since the law protects the identities of those under the age of 18, it is uncommon for police to release the identity of teens suspected of criminal activity.
HIV AND SIDA FACTS
HIV/AIDS is a growing problem among American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Even though the numbers of HIV and AIDS diagnoses for American Indians and Alaska Natives represent less than 1% of the total number of HIV/AIDS cases reported to CDC’s HIV/AIDS Reporting System, when population size is taken into account, American Indians and Alaska Natives in 2005 ranked 3rd is the diagnosis, after blacks (including African Americans) and Hispanics [1]. American Indians and Alaska Natives make up 1.5% (4.1 million people) of the total US population [2].
The rate of AIDS diagnosis for this group has been higher than that for whites since 1995.
STATISTICS
HIV/AIDS in 2005
(The following bullets refer to the 33 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting. See the box, before the References section, for a list of the 33 states.)
HIV/AIDS was diagnosed for an estimated 195 • American Indians and Alaska Natives (adults, adolescents, and children), representing 0.5% of the total number of HIV/AIDS diagnoses reported for that year [1].
The diagnosis for American Indians and Alaska Natives was 10.4, compared with 71.3 for blacks, 27.8 for Hispanics, 8.8 for whites, and 7.4 for Asians and Pacific Islanders.
Women accounted for 29% of the HIV/AIDS • diagnoses among American Indians and Alaska Natives [1].
Women AIDS Facts
AIDS was initially more common in men than in women but the claim that HIV/AIDS can affect only homosexual men and intravenous drug users is far from truth. The virus causing AIDS – immunodeficiency virus commonly known by its abbreviation HIV can affect heterosexual men and women as well. The newest statistics of HIV/AIDS prevalence have shown that women represent about one half of all HIV/AIDS patients, in some parts of the world even more than 60% of all HIV/AIDS patients. The rate of HIV infected women is even expected to rise if the current trend of HIV infections will continue.
Like men, women can be infected with HIV if sharing needles during intravenous drug use, while women in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries can be also infected with the virus causing AIDS through blood transfusion and other blood products due to poor training of health care workers and/or shortage of supplies. The risk of being infected with HIV through contaminated blood is minimal in the United States, Western Europe and other industrialized countries because the blood is well screened.
"Only through effective global partnerships can we beat back endemic and epidemic diseases.And only by bringing everyone together can we mount an effective response to the newest of these, which not only has become the world's biggest public health challenge, but in some countries the biggest single obstacle to development: HIV/AIDS."
Kofi Annan
U.N. Secretary-General
Timeline *1981: In March the first recognized cases of AIDS emerge in New York City and San Francisco when eight gay men develop similar rare opportunistic infections and cancers
*In August cases are reported in the UK and in injection drug users in the US
*1982: Little is known about transmission of the virus, and public anxiety mounts. The disease is described as the “gay cancer”, or “gay-related immunodeficiency”
*Becomes clear that a wide-range of people are infected when a 20 month child dies of AIDS after a blood transfusion. Harold Jaffe from the CDC states, “When it began turning up in children and transfusion recipients, that was a turning point in terms of public perception. Up until then it was a gay epidemic, and it was easy for the average person to say ‘so what?’ Now everyone could relate…”
*People begin to realize the disease is world-wide; as it is discovered that a disease known as a “slim” in Africa is actually AIDS
*1983: More cases emerge, and it becomes clear that the disease is passed heterosexually as well
*Public fear over HIV contaminated blood supply erupts; in the United Kingdom it is referred to as “killer blood”
*Fear about HIV/AIDS continues to spread. The New York Times states, “In many parts of the world there is anxiety, bafflement, a sense that something has to be done- although no one knows what...”
*1985: US Food and Drug Administration licenses the first commercial blood test for AIDS
*An epidemic of fear and prejudice continues- Ryan White, a 13 year old boy who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion, is banned from school in the US
*First cases are found in China, and the first reported transmission of HIV from mother to child is reported
*1986: In September tests show that “azidothymidine” (AZT) slows down the attack of AIDS virus, and it becomes the first antiretroviral drug
*The epidemic continues to expand, 85 countries report AIDS cases
*1989: The first “World AIDS Day” is held in December
*The head of the WHO’s AIDS program states, “Eastern Europe is the new frontier for the AIDS epidemic” after it is reported that many children are inflected in Romania
*1991: Basketball player Magic Johnson announces he is HIV positive, and retires from the sport
* A few weeks later the lead singer from Queen, Freddy Mercury, announces he has AIDS, and dies the next day
*The Red Ribbon becomes an international symbol of AIDS awareness
*1993: Researchers find some HIV positive people have become resistant to AZT without ever taking it. As a result, there is an urgent need for new antiretroviral drugs
*1994: The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is created in July in order to better address the global crisis
*1996: The FDA approves “Nevirapine” as an effective antiretroviral drug for prohibiting the transmission of HIV from mother to child
*Combination drug therapies are found effective in combating the virus, although most developing countries can not afford these treatments
*New outbreaks erupt in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet union, India, and China
*1997: For the first time since the emergence of the virus, the number of AIDS related deaths decrease in the United States
*However, UNAIDS reports that the world-wide epidemic more serious than previously expected. It was thought that 22 million were infected, but the number is actually 30 million
*1998: In South Africa the AIDS activists Gugu Dlamini is beaten to death for revealing her HIV positive status
*Sub-Saharan Africa becomes home to 70% of all infections worldwide
*1999: AIDS is officially the fourth leading cause of death worldwide
*South Africa demands a price cut from drug companies for antiretroviral medication, claiming that millions are dying because they cannot afford the drugs
*The Kenyan president declares AIDS a national disaster
*2001: After years of denial, China admits its AIDS problem and states that it might have 6 million infected by 2005
*The Indian drug company Cipla produces antiretroviral drugs at reduced rates (for under $1 a day), and puts pressure on other drug companies to do the same
*2002: “Kami” becomes the first HIV positive character on South Africa’s “Sesame Street”
*2003: The Catholic Church continues to preach out against condoms. Vatican Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo wrongly claims, “When a condom is employed as a contraceptive, it is not totally dependable, and the cases of pregnancy are not rare In the case of the AIDS virus which is around 450 times smaller than the sperm cell, the condom’s latex material obviously gives much less security.”
*Drug companies lower the price of antiretroviral medications, however, UNAIDS warns that the world response to the AIDS epidemic is “entirely inadequate”
*The World Health Organization announces a new plan, “3 by 5”, which’s goal is to supply 3 million people in the developing world with antiretroviral medication by 2005
*Wen Jiabao becomes the first Chinese premier to shake hands with an AIDS patient, signifying a new determination to fight AIDS in China
*2005 to present: Currently, UNAIDS estimates that 39.4 million people worldwide are infected with HIV. While some developed nations have been able to control their epidemics, more needs to be done to stop the rampant spread of the virus is low resource countries. Only through education and awareness initiatives, prevention programs, and low cost treatment options, will the world have the capacity to begin eradicating this devastating virus.
HIV/AIDS 101: An Overview of HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS is a disease and an epidemic. It infects and affects men, women, and children of every nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, social class, and economic status. Every year, millions of people are infected with the HIV virus and millions of people die from AIDS. In 2004 alone, 4.9 million people became infected and 3.1 million died worldwide. There is no cure, but there is hope.
It is crucial to educate people about HIV/AIDS prevention, as the disease has no cure. However, awareness and education efforts can be achieved through an understanding of the virus itself. Only through this awareness and understanding can the world begin to confront the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic.
An epidemic is an outbreak of a disease that spreads rapidly and widely. HIV was first discovered in March1981, when eight men in New York were diagnosed with a rare form of Kaposi's sarcoma (a relatively benign cancer that usually occurs in older people) and numerous cases of a rare lung infection called pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) started popping up in New York and California among homosexual men. By 1983, it became clear that the disease could be passed heterosexually as well, as women were also being infected. That same year, accounts of a similar virus were reported across Europe and Africa, making it clear that HIV/AIDS was a worldwide phenomenon.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus. A virus is an agent that infects cells in biological organisms such as humans. Once the virus has infected a cell, it grows by invading and controlling other cells around it. Most viruses attack specific parts of the body, such as they do with ear infections, chicken pox, or the common cold. HIV is a virus that infects cells of the body’s immune system though. The immune system defends, protects, and heals the body from viruses, diseases, infections, and cancers. By attacking cells in the body’s immune system, HIV destroys the body’s ability to fight infection.
HIV and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (AIDS) is not the same thing. When the immune system is weak because of HIV, a person becomes susceptible to a number of severe illnesses, also known as opportunistic infections. When this happens, along with at least one of 26 other defining conditions, a person is considered to have progressed to AIDS. It is from these opportunistic infections, not the AIDS diagnosis that people die. It is important to note, however, that although there is no cure for HIV, many opportunistic infections are treatable and a person who has progressed to an AIDS diagnosis can return to HIV status with successful treatment of the opportunistic infection and rebuilding the immune system. It is also important to note that not all people with HIV will develop AIDS.
In the United States, HIV/AIDS has become a chronic disease. This means that although there is no cure, a person can live a full, healthy life with HIV by controlling and suppressing the virus through highly active antiretroviral (HAART) medications and by monitoring a person’s white blood cell (CD4) count and viral load (the amount of virus in the body). In other parts of the world, where these medications are not widely available and treatment options are limited, HIV/AIDS remains a life-threatening disease.
HIV is transmitted through penetrative (anal or vaginal) and oral sex, blood transfusion, the sharing of contaminated needles in health care settings and through drug injection, and between mother and infant during pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. HIV lives in blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and breast milk. The virus cannot be passed through casual contact. Despite common misperceptions, it is not passed through urine or saliva, and one cannot become infected through casual contact such as hugging, kissing, sneezing, coughing, sharing a toilet seat, or simply by living in close contact with an infected person.
Knowing the ways in which the virus can be transmitted means it is possible to protect oneself against it. It is important to understand that anyone can become infected regardless of race, sexual orientation, age, etc. Therefore, just because people look healthy, does not mean they are not infected. The only way to know of one’s status for sure is to take a blood test, which is completely confidential.
The safest way to protect against the infection is through abstinence (abstaining from sexual contact). However, if you are having sex, try to do so in a monogamous relationship and always use condoms correctly (latex condoms can prevent against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases extremely effectively). In addition, never share needles or syringes. If you have had unprotected sex, or have come into contact with someone else’s blood through methods such as sharing needles, it is important to get tested. If infected, there are steps that can be taken in order to stay healthy and make sure the virus is not transmitted to anyone else.
Now that we know what HIV is and how it is not transmitted, we can learn how to prevent HIV transmission. Practicing safe sex with condoms and dental dams, using new syringes after every injection or triple cleaning syringes with water and bleach after every use, not sharing needles/syringes with others, and seeking proper medical treatment during pregnancy can all reduce the risk of infection.
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