Hawaii AIDS
cases show
2-year decline

Officials credit new
medicines and better
prevention programs
in controlling AIDS

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By Leila Fujimori
Star-Bulletin

On the 20th anniversary of the first reported AIDS cases, the disease appears to be declining in Hawaii, despite a recent survey that shows an increase of HIV infection elsewhere.

But those involved with the prevention of the disease here warn that continued vigilance is needed to control the spread of the disease.

The Centers for Disease Control survey of gay and bisexual men in their 20s showed an increase of infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The survey, conducted in six major cities, showed 4.4 percent of the 2,942 surveyed were infected with HIV. A similar survey in the '80s and '90s showed an infection rate of 2 percent to 3 percent.

"What it indicates is there is a whole new generation of gay men or men having sex with men who are not concerned about potentially getting infected," said Peter Whiticar, chief of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases/AIDS Prevention Branch of the state Department of Health.

The state does not keep HIV infection statistics, although it will begin doing so in a couple of months, he said.

Still, Whiticar and others involved in AIDS prevention say Hawaii is not seeing the same increase in HIV infection.

"We're not seeing that upswing among young people," said Janet Bopp, director of prevention and education at the Life Foundation.

"It's pretty stable among young men."

She said most people who have been testing positive are in their 30s.

Whiticar said while people continue to be infected with HIV, the number of cases that develop into full-blown AIDS has been declining since 1998.

Health department statistics show 164 cases of AIDS in 1998, 103 in 1999 and 109 in 2000. AIDS cases reported by transmission through male-to-male sex has remained steady from 1998 to 2001 at 71 percent, with a dip last year to 62 percent.

The Health Department reports do not show an increase in AIDS within the past two years because of the effectiveness of new medications, Whiticar said.

Whiticar also credits strong community-based planning and prevention programs for helping control the spread of the disease.

Bopp says the needle-exchange program has helped control HIV infection, particularly among women and pediatric cases.

But Bopp warned Hawaii may simply be a few years behind the trend or that the young may not getting tested.

From 1983 to March 2001, there have been 2,468 cases of AIDS in Hawaii. Caucasians tend to be overrepresented, and among Asian-Pacific Islanders, AIDS is most prevalent in Hawaiians, Whiticar said.

Male-to-male sex continues to be the highest risk factor.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, 76 percent of reported Hawaii cases have been transmitted by male-to-male sex, 7 percent through injection drug use, 7 percent male-to-male sex and injection drug use and 3 percent female heterosexual sex.

Free anonymous HIV testing is available at the Health Department, the Life Foundation on Oahu, the Maui AIDS Foundation, Malama Pono on Kauai, the AIDS Project in East Hawaii, West Hawaii AIDS Foundation.