Has AIDS hit Yale?

AIDS is a disease on the rise across the country, with the biggest jump within the heterosexual community. But just how does this deadly epidemic affect the lives of Yalies? According to a recent government report, two people between the ages of 13 and 20 become infected with the HIV virus every hour of every day. Because of this, Yale researchers and New Haven statistics suggest that the disease is knocking at our front door.

According to Dr. Gerald Friedland, co-founder of the Yale-New Haven AIDS Clinical Trial Unit, "[The rise of HIV among heterosexual populations is] particularly true in the Northeast and in New Haven specifically." Approximately 1,400 New Haven residents are HIV-positive, more than one percent of the population. Of that total, 80 percent are minorities and 30 percent are women--twice the national average.

On the whole, most Yalies appear ignorant of the statistics. A senior in JE, who wished to remain anonymous, said, "I've never heard of a student who has AIDS here. If anyone here has it, I guess it's not really a visible thing. A big deal hasn't been made....Obviously, I'll take precautions. I think people are generally aware that AIDS is a problem and take precautions." A JE sophomore backed the student up, saying, "I don't feel at risk because I would never put myself in that situation, but in general, I think people at Yale are more informed."

At the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the late 1970s, New Haven was one of the first cities in the United States where the disease was recognized. Today, with a small local gay population, the main pathways of transmission are intervenous drug use and heterosexual intercourse. "About 80 percent of the infected population in New Haven consists of direct drug users and their babies and spouses," Dr. Alvin Novick, a Yale professor and AIDS researcher, said.

The Elm City is one of the few cities in the nation that has successfully launched a needle exchange program. The program, partially initiated by Novick, provides sterile needles for intravenous drug users. While it has received praise, it has not been put into action in other areas of the country. Novick expressed his disappointment in other states' lack of participation by pointing out the irony in giving sterile needles to "every diabetic in the nation," but withholding them from citizens who have the medical problem of drug addition.

In Connecticut, the purchase, sale, and possession of syringes is legal, so "addicts in Connecticut. can now buy their own sterile set" without penalty. Only Maine has followed this example.

With the epidemic at a plateau in the gay community but still on the rise in the heterosexual population, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco have begun to conduct more studies on the heterosexual transmission rates. Researchers concluded that the risk of transmission of the disease is 12 times higher from an HIV positive man to a woman than vice versa, for biological, social, and epidemiological reasons.

In his class "AIDS and Society," Novick recognizes oral sex as a realistic alternative to both intercourse and abstinence. Novick is also a strong advocate of the use of condoms as a way to prevent HIV infection. According to one of his students, "Novick says sex is one of the most intense feelings you'll ever know, so having that feeling deadened by a condom is a sacrifice, but a small one--it's still the greatest feeling."

by the disease." Novick agreed that AIDS is not just a medical but also a social disease. American society has made the lives of AIDS patients "abominable" Novick said. He believes that an attitude makeover--not just more grant money--is necessary to ease the physical and emotional pain caused by the HIV virus.

Novick stated that, while a collective effort on the part of the Yale research community is bringing forth results, "bigoted" attitudes prevalent in society prevent significant progress for AIDS patients and those at risk. Although the New Haven needle exchange program was a success, Novick said, "One can only go so far in lobbying about needle exchange; then it has to happen in each municipality and each state...and yet most municipalities and states have not yet permitted it to happen." This, Novick believes, is a sign that "[city governments] don't want [addicts] to use their drugs safely--they want them to use drugs dangerously. They want them to die."

The only way to truly save those on drugs, Novick said, is to prevent them from getting AIDS in the first place, and then bringing them "into treatment and back into mainstream America." Novick said it's a matter of staying alive; the legalization of syringes is "wonderful for the addicts of Connecticut; they can go on living."

While AIDS patients may still be affected by the stereotypical and biased views of society, Ickovics said that, compared to 10 years ago "health care providers have become more equipped to handle HIV. People are more willing to come out about it and educate other people so that the spread of the disease won't continue. Because HIV is becoming more prevalent, people have other people to turn to for help. Then again, it is still not easy."

Friedland said that, due to new methods of treatment, "people are definitely living longer and their quality of life has improved," as compared to a decade ago.

Yale researchers are doing their part in developing and testing new drugs as well. The trials being done at Yale include tests involving protease inhibitors, a new type of anti-HIV drug which blocks the HIV virus from entering new cells. These drugs have been shown to reduce the amount of the virus present in patients' blood and increase their T4 cell count, the cells the virus attacks. Protease inhibitors also seem to have fewer side effects than other drugs on the market, such as AZT and ddI.

The latest study under development at the Trials Unit will involve the new drug Kemron. The Trials Unit, which treats adult men and women from Connecticut, is one of the few sites in the country to have conduct trials aimed at boosting the immune system.

New developments outside of Yale include home saliva and blood tests. Since the samples are sent to a lab with only a number, these tests allow for total anonymity. They may ease the testing process, but they raise questions about the availability of counseling to those who are found to be HIV positive. The tests may be reliable, but "you don't have the same support system at home [as in an institution especially equipped to deal with the issue]," Laurie Andrews, a nurse at the Trials Unit, said.

AIDS is multi-faceted crisis, comprising elements of research and socio-economic and class issues. The over-representation of minorities and women in the AIDS population is indicative of a larger problem in America. "The enemy is us. We could stop the epidemic as a nation," Novick said.