Who Is Actually Dying Of AIDS These Days?
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28 February 2008 | 12 Comments
For a while now I’ve wondered who it is that’s actually dying of AIDS these days. I mean while HIV is going up and up among the young, AIDS deaths are at an all time low… So I’ve been wondering whether there are factors people have control over that influence the outcome? I wondered if it was guys who were mixing their cocktails with recreational drugs or what…
Well, part of that was answered this week when a report came out saying 40% of people in the Canadian province of British Columbia who died of AIDS-related illness between 1997 and 2005 were not on antiretroviral treatment. That says a lot about the Canadian system where your doctors are free but you pay for your meds…
Next time you say you want the Canadian health system for the U.S., think again. It’s not as good as you think. It’s sort of a toss up as to which one is better – the US system or the Canadian system. In the US if you have comprehensive health insurance chances are you’re better off than you’d be in Canada. But the poor are generally better off in Canada – except now we see there’s big problems there too…
But I’m not just trying to slam Canadian health care – since the people who are dying are often poor and…
problems of mental illness, homelessness, drug addiction and food security have to be tackled first because those infected may not be pursuing treatment of a long-term illness while they’re faced with more immediate concerns.
In other words it’s questionable whether the outcome would have been different if the health care had been better.
So, who’s actually dying of AIDS these days? Looks like the poor are group #1…
This has a big bearing on news out of China this week that the number of reported cases of HIV/AIDS went up a whopping 45% last year. That’s a country that doesn’t have big money for drugs so that’s really not good news. However, “reported” is the important word in that announcement since the finding may be due to increased testing. Still, if they’re not getting tested, they’re not getting treated, and we’re back to the Canadian scenario…
I’m curious… When was the last time you knew someone with good health insurance and a generally healthy lifestyle die of AIDS? The fact that I’m even asking that question explains a lot of why so many young guys just don’t care what their HIV status is… Can you blame them?
In 93, thank god, was the last time I was present at the death bed of a dear friend of mine. Since then only a few more friends have died who had the virus, but they were all guys wo had been on medication for very long, one had been on AZT from the 1st day it became available. At that time, and with the dose given, that was more of a killer drug then the virus itself. Others who died had stopped medication long term, because of depression or because of nasty side effects. One just died of heart failure, that could not be related to the HIV infection. One other died of lung cancer and one died in a motorcycle accident (smoking and motorbiking are certainly more of a death risk then fucking bare).
But it certainly were more then enough deaths.
I could go on with the list of guys who lived happily ever after.
They also complain, like about fat redistribution; they’re queens you know . . .
As if you don’t age when you’re negative.
Anyway, judging from your remarks about health insurance, I think i’ll stay here in NL. I’m very happy with the team that monitors my status, since the virus got detected last spring.
Ummm…medications of all kinds cost far less in Canada than the United States (hence the numerous online Canadian pharmacies catering to Americans). Moreover, HIV drugs are free in Canada. All anti-retrovirals are paid for by the government and are only available via government pharmacies. So you should do your research again.
Those who do not take take the medications are generally those who either do not believe in the medications, or are drug addicts on the street (a huge problem in a part of Vancouver) who have trouble with complying with the regimen.
bubba – Thanks for the clarification on HIV drugs in Canada. But, in general, drugs are cheaper here, if you have health insurance. I pay $25/mo per brand-name prescription and $10/mo per generic perscription. Canadians pay way more than that for their drugs.
I know of one older Canadian woman who had a lump in her breast and the doctors there refused to biopsy it because they felt they knew everything they needed to know from x-rays. That would never happen in the US – if the patient was insistent they’d get the biopsy.
Then there’s scheduling tests… It can take weeks to get an MRI in Canada, whereas it takes hours in the US.
NYCTop – The point of the article is that people with HIV/AIDS are living to old age and that some of the problems they’re having are due to what happened before there were protease inhibitors and the imperfections in the first generation drugs.
Guys who convert now will be taking better drugs than people who converted 10+ years ago… Hence they’ll presumably have better outcomes…
The point of the article is, no one knows exactly what is causing the increase in osteoporosis, high blood pressure, liver disease, etc. The article focuses on retroviral drugs and makes no mention of AZT because, sadly, most people who took AZT are gone.
”All we can do right now is make inferences from thing to thing to thing,” said Dr. Tom Barrett, medical director of Howard Brown. ”They might have gotten some of these diseases anyway. But the rates and the timing, and the association with certain drugs, makes everyone feel this is a different problem.”
Larry Kramer, founder of several AIDS advocacy groups. Mr. Kramer, 73 and a long-term survivor, said he had always suspected ”it was only a matter of time before stuff like this happened” given the potency of the antiretroviral drugs. ”How long will the human body be able to tolerate that constant bombardment?” he asked. ”Well, we are now seeing that many bodies can’t. Once again, just as we thought we were out of the woods, sort of, we have good reason again to be really scared.”
Marty Weinstein, 55 and infected since 1982, has had a pacemaker installed, has been found to have osteoporosis, and has been treated for anal cancer and medicated for severe depression — all in the last year. He also has cognitive deficits.
A former professor of psychology in Chicago, he presses his doctors about cause and effect. Sometimes they offer a hypothesis, he said, but never a certain explanation.
Your comments about waiting times in Canada are just not true. And in Canada everyone is covered by health insurance, not just those who can afford it.
If someone needs a procedure, they get it right away, whether it be a biopsy or a MRI. I would know because I’ve had several of the latter done over the last couple of years for diagnostic purposes, and I’m not even ‘sick’.
Worse comes to worse, there is always the option of paying for diagnostic procedures as well at a private clinic, but the vast majority of people never need to do that. Our doctors and facilities are world class.
Your comments about waiting times in Canada are just not true. And in Canada everyone is covered by health insurance, not just those who can afford it.
If someone needs a procedure, they get it right away, whether it be a biopsy or a MRI. I would know because I’ve had several of the latter done over the last couple of years for diagnostic purposes, and I’m not even ‘sick’.
Worse comes to worse, there is always the option of paying for diagnostic procedures as well at a private clinic, but the vast majority of people never need to do that. Our doctors and facilities are world class.
bubba – That’s not the case in Toronto. What I said is based on a fair amount of discussion with my bf’s friends and family. No one has disagreed with us when we’ve brought the issue up.
Well, who’s dying of AIDS in the U.S.? Are they all on HIV meds? Do they live any longer than those in Canada? The evidence you offer to counter that the U.S. is better in this regard compared to Canada is not exactly adequate. And the anecdotal “I know someone who…” argument, whether it be pro Canadian or anti-Canadian health care, is always flawed since we’re never assured this is representative of most people’s experience.
The Canadian health care system is routinely ranked above the U.S. by people who know health care (i.e., NOT conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity who trash universal or socialized medicine every chance they get – despite the fact they know nothing about health care systems). Granted, Canada is not the best in the world, but they are better than the U.S. Healthwise, people in general will fare better in Canada rather than in the U.S.
Bubba – please note, that here in America, this “waiting time” myth has been spread by so many conservative commentators, that now even liberals are believing it. The misinformation that’s spread here is unbelievable. And you want waiting times? Wow. Come to America. Try being poor and un- or underinsured in this country. Forget it. In emergency rooms alone in some places you can wait 3, 4, or more hours. This is because our system is broken and forces people to use ERs unnecessarily. I bet, bubba, that this is generally not a problem in Canada?
Andrew – Case and point – my mother-in-law had a lump in her breast, wanted it biopsied and her Canadian doctor refused. In the US she would have gotten the biopsy.
I routinely hear Canadian friends talk about having to wait to get Cat scans and MRIs. I get regular MRIs and can get one the same day if the doctor is especially concerned for some reason.
I pay less for my medications than my Canadian friends pay for their medications.
I’m able to take a highly specific medication for my high blood pressure (with zero side effects) because my insurance paid for a whole battery of exhaustive tests (including a bone marrow biopsy and an MRA) to figure out what was causing it. If I hadn’t had the tests (likely in the Canadian system) I’d be on a general high blood pressure medication with horrible side effects.
Neither system is perfect and the Canadian system probably does a better job taking care of the poor, but when the US system works, it can be really incredible.