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Mar 3, 2009 05:08 PM | 8
The amount of HIV infection among people over 50 is “surprisingly high,” World Health Organization (WHO) officials say, and despite much speculation about why, there’s little definitive information that might shed light on the trend.
“HIV prevalence and incidence in the over–50-year-olds seem surprisingly high and the risk factors are totally unexplored,” according to an editorial in the March Bulletin of the World Health Organization. “Understanding the epidemiology of HIV infection in older individuals can lead to interventions to make these years safer and more enjoyable.”
In 2005 people 50 and older accounted for 15 percent of the new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in the U.S. and 24 percent of people living with the virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These figures are up 17 percent since 2001.
That proportion of cases in the 50-something demo is "surprisingly high," says editorial co-author George Schmid, an epidemiologist in WHO's HIV/AIDS branch, because 50-somethings aren’t believed to be at much risk, especially from sex. Whereas a few 50-somethings are contracting HIV in middle age, in the U.S. prevalence has grown in the over-50 demographic partly because people who were infected earlier in life are surviving into middle age, CDC data shows. Schmid didn’t say whether that would also explain the increase in developing countries, where antiretroviral drugs credited with extending the lives of HIV patients are harder to come by.
"To achieve these 'surprisingly high' prevalences, there must be a fair bit of sexual activity, more than we think," Schmid tells ScientificAmerican.com. "But interest in sex and sexual activity decline for both sexes as we age. Thus, to achieve these 'surprisingly high' prevalences and assuming they are from sex, there must be a relatively high transmission efficiency, for example, thinning of vaginal mucosa. And, studies have shown that older individuals are less likely to use safer sex practices."
All of that said, the editorial doesn’t distinguish between people who are catching HIV in their 50s and those who were infected when they were younger and are surviving into middle age, making it tough to understand why the proportion of cases in that age group is more than experts originally imagined. "We do not know when these people became infected," Schmid concedes.
Image © iStockphoto/Daniel Bendjy
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AIDS,
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8 Comments
Add CommentEveryone I know over 50 has occasional escorts or prostitutes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are a different #comments:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Newest to Oldest" vs "Oldest to Newest"
I realize that people can freak out at the notion that someone who is no longer 18 might be engaging in sex, but it does happen. Au contraire, these new infections are rather unlikely to be holdovers from the person's raunchy 20's (or 30's, or 40's.....). They would probably have proceeded to rather noticeable symptoms before now. Nope, hate to tell you this, but yep, it's sex, hon. Hide your eyes!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs well, there is a difference between a "decline" in sexual activity and an "absence" of sexual activity. Just because people are not making out like hedgehogs in the bushes on every occasion does not mean that they are not still doing stuff more than say, once a year.
Furthermore, as other researchers have noticed, these are not your father's 50 year olds. (Though truth be told, there's probably a lot of stuff you don't know about your old man's 50's, so to speak.) The new "older generation" is still getting it on. In case some of you haven't noticed, today's 50-something was born in.... oh.... the 1950's. That's the uh, let me see, Woodstock generation. You know, the people who brought you free love, the sexual revolution and all that other stuff? Now, do you think boomers are going to give up sex? nah. (and I suspect the readers of this b log won't, either.)
Now let's get away from the Victorian notion that people are done with sex once the reproduction shuts up shop. Seriously, Sciam, I realize you put the "Surprising" in quotes, but you should have caught this one.
So, is there a significantly greater number of over-50 males who have HIV than females? I would expect that to be the case, as aging males just trot off to the doctor and get a prescription for viagra, then "date" prostitutes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHey, look at that dude and that chick in the photograph above. She's young enough to be his daughter...either she's a trophy wife or she's a "professional."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat's a strange group you're running with. Most of the over 50s I know are into freebies.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisImproperUsername --- you surely cant tell a woman by how they look can you?? especially the one in the picture surely you can tell by the way the skin has aged and by many others factors... OPEN your eyes and take a closer look... I know you getting older and your eyes do not function like they once use to... Good luck next time!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen one uses the model; HIV causes AIDS, to view the data generated in many studies around the HIV virus, then one will get strange and convoluted analysis. The CDC was closer to the truth back in the early 80s when AIDS was correlated with drug use. A much simpler explanation of AIDS, a condition made to look more complicated because of how it is arbitrarily defined, is when the immune system is challenged by toxins and pathogens to the extent that it can not perform its bioactive protective function. HIV or rather the antibodies to HIV which are what tests detect in extremely ever decreasing levels, happen to be present when tested.
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