D.C. Clinic's HIV Case Numbers Surge

The number of HIV-positive test results at Whitman-Walker Clinic increased by 232 percent this year, though the clinic did not test more patients, officials there said recently. In the first half of this year, Whitman-Walker tested about 6,500 patients and 266 were found to be HIV-positive. The clinic tested roughly the same number in the first half of 2007, when only 80 tested HIV-positive.

"These are troubling statistics that warrant more aggressive education, prevention, and testing initiatives," said Dr. Raymond Martins, Whitman-Walker's chief medical officer. Clinic officials are reviewing demographic and other patient information to help explain the increase. Most of the cases were gay men and African Americans, and one-third had already progressed to AIDS, Martins added.

Whitman-Walker's testing data suggest an actual increase in new HIV infections among its client base, said Martins.

"At each of our testing sites, we are seeing an increasing number of young gay men, particularly African-American men, coming to us newly infected," said Justin Goforth, director of the clinic's medical adherence unit. "These are young men who don't remember the first wave of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and came of age when effective treatments were available. As a result, they have never seen HIV as a major problem."

Whitman-Walker recently conducted focus groups among African-American heterosexuals and young gay men, including men of color, to see why infections are rising among certain groups, the clinic said.

"One surprising theme emerged - even though everyone recognized HIV was a serious issue, every group identified HIV as really being a problem for another demographic group," according to a clinic statement. "This is of great concern because the highest risk groups do not identify themselves as being high-risk and thus increase their susceptibility to HIV through unsafe behavior and a lack of knowledge."

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