Wyoming AIDS Numbers Don't Tell Entire Story

One new person has been diagnosed with AIDS this year in Wyoming. That's one person in 500,000 residents, tying this state with North Dakota for the lowest AIDS rate in the nation. Comparably, Colorado has 140 new AIDS cases in about 4.3 million people; California has had roughly 2,300 new cases this year in its 34.4 million people. But in Wyoming, numbers don't seem to tell the whole story -- a story of AIDS patients traveling hundreds of miles for treatment because they don't want their hometown doctor to know of their condition; a story of teenagers and young prostitutes who worry only about pregnancy; a story of dogged health workers trying to use federal money appropriately without rocking the state's social ethos.

"It's constantly a balancing act," said Sharon Renter, HIV/AIDS program manager at the Wyoming Department of Health. "We have to find ways to do prevention activities that isn't offensive to the community or the governor." Wyoming is not a magnet for those considered at high risk, health officials said. And while health care providers at the helm of Wyoming's AIDS prevention projects are careful about being unnecessarily alarmist, they worry that ignoring the issue all together is irresponsible. AIDS is "the last thing" on the mind of some doctors, said Tonya Cain, executive director of the Wyoming AIDS Project. "I've seen people in the hospital, and they are very sick and the general practitioner doctors didn't have a clue what they were dealing with."

The geography and meager pockets of population prove to be the biggest hurdle to treating the 60 Wyomingites now living with HIV. State officials work with $300,000 in federal money for treatment and prevention. The state helps patients pay for protease inhibitors, which cost about $1,200 a month. Support groups are expensive, too: Although the state funds travel for those with HIV to meet with other HIV/AIDS patients, often the nearest person could be 300 miles away.

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