May 15, 2009 7:01 pm US/Eastern
AIDS Walk Helps Spread Awareness Of Deadly Disease
NYC Event To Help Educate Community About Virus To Improve Prevention
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
-
-
CBS 2 HD announced Feb. 27, 2009, that it had become the exclusive broadcast media partner for AIDS Walk New York, to be held May 17, 2009. It is the largest AIDS walk in the United States.
AIDS Walk New York
More than a million Americans are living with HIV, and New York City has one of the highest rates of AIDS cases in the nation.
Awareness and prevention education is the most important thing we can do to stop the illness from spreading and save lives.
Resources for people suffering from HIV and AIDS have never been more effective or available.
Nonetheless, keeping attention focused on the illness is crucial for further advancements to be made – and the New York City AIDS Walk is a great way to do that.
"I was diagnosed in March of 2002, I'll never forget that date, and it's been a difficult journey," Kenny Butler says.
Butler has been living with HIV for seven years.
"I mean, to be honest, I thought that I could never get this," he says.
Butler is not alone. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that over one million Americans are living with HIV or AIDS, and a quarter of those who carry the infection don't even know they have it.
"Know your status, because there might be somebody who looks like they don't have HIV, [or] they don't know that they have it," Butler says. "So it's always safe to get tested."
AIDS is caused by a virus called HIV. HIV can be transmitted from an infected person to another through blood, semen, vaginal secretions, or breast milk.
Unfortunately, HIV is still spreading, with an estimated 40,000 new infections in the US each year.
About 75 percent of new cases are found in men.
About half of the new infections occur in African Americans, even though they make up just 12 percent of the US population.
For Butler, the illness has a silver lining.
"It has gotten me to this point, where I volunteer here at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, helping other people who are newly diagnosed," he says.
"This was an untreatable, fatal disease until the mid 1990s," Dr. Jay Dobkin, director of AIDS programs for Columbia University Medical Center. "Now, it's extremely treatable."
Treatment involves medications called "antiretroviral therapy" and, in some places, it reduces the death rate by 80 percent.
"The treatment has gotten much easier and much better tolerated," Dr. Dobkin says. "We have one pill a day treatment now."
Without treatment, the average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be between nine and 11 years. With treatment, survival is increased to 20 years and beyond.
There is currently no vaccine or cure for HIV or AIDS.
Prevention through safe sex is the best way to protect yourself from HIV and AIDS. If you may have been exposed, get tested – early detection can increase your life span.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
2009 Celebrity Deaths
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments