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> In 2018, for instance, there were approximately 36,400 newly infected patients living with HIV in the U.S. It's 2021, why are we only seeing 3 year old HIV i

> In 2018, for instance, there were approximately 36,400 newly infected patients living with HIV in the U.S. It's 2021, why are we only seeing 3 year old HIV infection numbers? How come I can see coronavirus infection numbers updated pretty much hourly but reporting on HIV infection rates in this country is lagging 3 years?

ceejayoz 6y ago
COVID takes a few days to show symptoms and get diagnosed. HIV takes a lot longer. https://www.onlineathens.com/news/2017-11-28/cdc-lag-time-between-hiv-infection-and-diagnosis-getting-shorter https://www.onlineathens.com/news/2017-11-28/cdc-lag-time-be... > In their monthly Vital Signs report out Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the median time between infection and diagnosis with HIV was three years in 2014, about seven months shorter than in 2011. If you got HIV in 2020, chances are you don't know about it yet.
- jliptzin 6y ago
  I understand that, but I don't see what is so complicated about reporting # of HIV tests conducted in a certain timeframe (daily, monthly, whatever) and what portion of those tests came back positive, just like we currently do with coronavirus. It doesn't matter what the lag time is in between being exposed and receiving a positive test. What we are interested in is # of positive tests, why is there a 3 year lag here?
- FalconSensei 6y ago
  Couldn't find on the linked article, but what's the lag for people who actually get tested? I mean, seems that this 3 years lag is because people only get tested if they have any apparent health issue and the doctor thinks it might be HIV. With Covid, it might take a few days for a test show positive, after exposure - say, Christmas dinner. If someone thinks they might have been exposed to HIV, how long until a test can safely tell it's a true negative/positive?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
ihsw 6y ago
Neither should be reported as they're lifestyle ailments, ailments that occur as a result of poor lifestyle choices.
slg 6y ago
The death toll in the US for COVID over the last year is up to 60% of the total for AIDS deaths over the last 50+ years. That leads to an urgency for COVID data that doesn't quite exist for HIV/AIDS which presumably hasn't been changing as rapidly.
- jliptzin 6y ago
  1. I would be curious how these stats compare when measured in lost person-years. COVID primarily kills the elderly, AIDS (when untreated) kills everyone. 2. We have a 40 year head start on HIV vs. COVID. Surely it can't be that hard, in the digital age, to set up a central database with the following columns, updated in real time: [Datetime of Test, Zip code, Result (pos/neg)]
  - slg 6y ago
    It isn't that it is hard to set this up. The question is what value is there to setting this up? Especially the way that HIV/AIDS was originally and to a certain extent still is stigmatized. Many people have had friends or family die of AIDS and still refuse to acknowledge that was the reason for their death. The end result is that not only is this type of project more valuable for a new and rapidly spreading disease like COVID, the bar that the value needs to clear to justify this system is also higher because an HIV/AIDS status is considered more private from a societal standpoint (not necessarily a legal one).
    - jliptzin 6y ago
      It would be anonymized data, obviously, and it would be helpful to know whether or not we are getting a handle on this pandemic. Apparently we have no idea whether infections are increasing or decreasing over the last couple of years. If I were a public health official, I would really want to know that information.
switch007 6y ago
I think you know why. For all our societal progression, we've still got a way to go.

ceejayoz 6y ago

COVID takes a few days to show symptoms and get diagnosed. HIV takes a lot longer. https://www.onlineathens.com/news/2017-11-28/cdc-lag-time-between-hiv-infection-and-diagnosis-getting-shorter https://www.onlineathens.com/news/2017-11-28/cdc-lag-time-be... > In their monthly Vital Signs report out Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the median time between infection and diagnosis with HIV was three years in 2014, about seven months shorter than in 2011. If you got HIV in 2020, chances are you don't know about it yet.

jliptzin 6y ago
I understand that, but I don't see what is so complicated about reporting # of HIV tests conducted in a certain timeframe (daily, monthly, whatever) and what portion of those tests came back positive, just like we currently do with coronavirus. It doesn't matter what the lag time is in between being exposed and receiving a positive test. What we are interested in is # of positive tests, why is there a 3 year lag here?
FalconSensei 6y ago
Couldn't find on the linked article, but what's the lag for people who actually get tested? I mean, seems that this 3 years lag is because people only get tested if they have any apparent health issue and the doctor thinks it might be HIV. With Covid, it might take a few days for a test show positive, after exposure - say, Christmas dinner. If someone thinks they might have been exposed to HIV, how long until a test can safely tell it's a true negative/positive?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

ihsw 6y ago

Neither should be reported as they're lifestyle ailments, ailments that occur as a result of poor lifestyle choices.

slg 6y ago

The death toll in the US for COVID over the last year is up to 60% of the total for AIDS deaths over the last 50+ years. That leads to an urgency for COVID data that doesn't quite exist for HIV/AIDS which presumably hasn't been changing as rapidly.

jliptzin 6y ago
1. I would be curious how these stats compare when measured in lost person-years. COVID primarily kills the elderly, AIDS (when untreated) kills everyone. 2. We have a 40 year head start on HIV vs. COVID. Surely it can't be that hard, in the digital age, to set up a central database with the following columns, updated in real time: [Datetime of Test, Zip code, Result (pos/neg)]
- slg 6y ago
  It isn't that it is hard to set this up. The question is what value is there to setting this up? Especially the way that HIV/AIDS was originally and to a certain extent still is stigmatized. Many people have had friends or family die of AIDS and still refuse to acknowledge that was the reason for their death. The end result is that not only is this type of project more valuable for a new and rapidly spreading disease like COVID, the bar that the value needs to clear to justify this system is also higher because an HIV/AIDS status is considered more private from a societal standpoint (not necessarily a legal one).
  - jliptzin 6y ago
    It would be anonymized data, obviously, and it would be helpful to know whether or not we are getting a handle on this pandemic. Apparently we have no idea whether infections are increasing or decreasing over the last couple of years. If I were a public health official, I would really want to know that information.

switch007 6y ago

I think you know why. For all our societal progression, we've still got a way to go.