HIV in Mississippi
This article gives a brief timeline of HIV history. It said that the widely believed HIV originated in Kinshasa, the…storify.com
“We had some HIV cases on campus. But obviously, there are people with HIV everywhere.” T Davis, health educator of Office of the Health Promotion in the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) said.
With the development of modern science and technology, lots of diseases that once could not be cured can be treated now. However, there are still some diseases challenging modern medicine, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and acquired immune deficiency syndrome which were listed as the top five hard to be cured diseases by the World Health Organization. AIDS is always an appalling disease to the public. As the poorest state in the United States, there are a lot of people in Mississippi suffer from it.
The current HIV situation “is not bad in Oxford,” Davis added. “From what I’ve heard, Jackson and some parts of the Delta have a worse situation.”
Today, HRC is bringing additional attention to the HIV epidemic in Jackson, Mississippi to advance awareness, reduce…www.hrc.org
According to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of HIV infection in Jackson, the capitol city of Mississippi, ranks the fourth place among all major metropolitan area in the United States.
Number of persons living with a diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection per 100,000 population. Maps…www.countyhealthrankings.org
Based on data published by County Health in 2013, Hinds County had 2,118 HIV cases. This county also had the highest HIV prevalence rate which was 1,062 persons per 100,000 population.
Lafayette Country had a relatively low HIV prevalence rate which was 190 persons per 100,000 populations. But, there were also 190 people diagnosed as HIV infectors.
Actually, all Mississippians can get a free HIV test at any county clinic. Ole Miss also has provided HIV tests to all students for free since 2012. However, there are not a lot of students to have the HIV test.
“We have around 100 students this year. But I feel like it should be more,” Davis said. At the beginning, “we set a regular HIV test time on every Thursday from 10 am to 2 pm, but I found out I was doing nothing during that period of time, and just waiting for students. Later, we changed it to by appointment.”
Davis explained the biggest barriers for students to have the HIV test is they are nervous to talk about HIV in front of other people, and another reason is they always think they will never get HIV.
However, there is another reason stated by Hubert Tate from a human rights campaign. He said that “the stigma of HIV as a homosexual only disease prevents a lot of people from being tested.”
For a long time, AIDS was misunderstood as a synonymous with gay people. In 1981, the New York Times article, “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals,” reported that eight of the victims died less than 24 months after a diagnosis was made, but the cause of the outbreak was unknown. The appalling and mysterious disease made the society panic, and also misled this disease only transmitted among homosexual people.
Doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men 41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form…www.nytimes.com
As the popularization of HIV knowledge among the public in recent years, most people know HIV can be transmitted through these ways: blood, body fluids such as semen, pre-seminal fluid, rectal fluids and vaginal fluids through sexual behaviors, mother-to-child transmission, and needle or syringe use. The healthcare providers also spread the information that everyone has the risk of being infected by HIV in order to gain self-protection awareness among the public.
“You can have HIV for a while and may not have symptoms,” Davis said. “So, if you are sexually active, and if you’re not use protection consistently and correctly, even if, you use protection consistently and currently, I usually advise people to have an HIV test at least once a year and to make sure everything is good.” said Davis. Besides that, the Office of Health Promotion also tries other ways to make more students know the free HIV test that they provide.
Davis added, “The good thing is it only takes about 20 minutes. You come in and we do finger prick. Later, I’ll do the test and you will get the results in 15 minutes. If the results have any issues, we’ll talk about to have another test.”
It is really important to learn how to keep fit and be cautious to any health issues. To get a free HIV test on campus, call 662–915–3459 to make an appointment.