1. American Dermatological Association September 16, 2011 Silverado Resort, Napa, California Pitfalls, Perils & Pearls

2. HIV/AIDS Marcus A. Conant M.D. Conant Foundation www.conantfoundation.org

3. Pearl 27% of all new HIV cases are women. These women have been infected by HIV positive men and by the use of IV drugs. These women are infecting their heterosexual male partners. 16% of all of the new cases of HIV infection are in heterosexual males.

4. Pitfall Everyone knows that HIV is a gay disease If you see a young woman with a persistent yeast infection. You may not think to order an HIV test. If you see a college athlete with shingles will you order an HIV test? You may not want to order an HIV test. If you don’t know how to tell the patient he/she is HIV-positive go to www.conantfoundation.org.

5. Peril If you do not make the correct diagnosis, you may face litigation for failure to diagnose. If this individual infects another you may face litigation from a second injured party.

6. Pearl 94% of patients treated with HAART with an undetectable viral load will not in infect their sexual partners. Treatment of everyone in the United States who is HIV-positive would stop the transmission of this disease.

7. Pitfall We have 1.1 million US citizens infected with HIV. One third of those are taking HAART. One third know they are positive but are not on HAART. One third do not know they are positive. It will cost too much to identify and treat all of these patients.

8. Peril Only 19% of individuals who are taking HAART have an undetectable viral load. 81% of individuals taking HAART are developing resistance to their drugs. Resistance is class not drug specific. Individuals infected by these HIV-positive partners will have partially or completely resistant virus. It will take years but we will eventually see the failure of all current HIV drugs. Pharmaceutical companies have abandoned the HIV market.

9. Pearl Only 13% of teenagers have been tested for HIV. Teenagers begin having sex at age 14. Teenage girls often have sex with older men. There is only one program designed to destigmatize HIV/AIDS so that teenagers are comfortable being tested.

10. Pitfall Teenagers will live with the possibility of contracting HIV for the rest of their lives. Parents are not comfortable with teaching their children about the risks of HIV. School teachers, physicians, and ministers are not teaching children about the risks of HIV

11. Perils Teenagers account for 40% of all of the new HIV infections. 77% of HIV-positive teenagers in New York did not think they had a risk factor for contracting the disease. Teenagers are unknowingly transmitting the disease to their sexual partners.

12. Pearl The Centers for Disease Control is not addressing controversial public health issues. The reason the CDC is hogtied are the political/social/ethical/religious divisions in this country. If the CDC were to address these issues. It would be at risk for losing federal funding.

13. Pitfall Issues not addressed by the Centers for Disease Control include: Reproductive health, The obesity epidemic Condom distribution, Needle distribution Anal warts in young girls, Anal Pap smears Global warming, Location of biological warfare labs, hepatitis C

14. Peril The American people are being denied essential health information for political reasons. If an alternative to the CDC is not forthcoming, the cost of these unaddressed social issues will be enormous.

15. Solutions For suggestions on how to address each of these concerns go to our website: www.conantfoundation.org www.conantfoundation.org