Marcus Conant MD Speaks on AIDS at AAD Meeting in SF

Marcus Conant MD Speaks on Possibilty of AIDS Epidemic at AAD Meeting in SF

San Francisco physician Marcus A. Conant, a pioneer in AIDS research and education, said the United States is poised for an epidemic of AIDS cases in heterosexual patients if steps are not taken to alter personal and societal behaviors. Conant spoke on Saturday, March 7, 2009 at the American Academy of Dermatology’s 67th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

While AIDS is a disease of heterosexual men and women in much of the world, in the United States a majority of patients with AIDS are gay males. However, Conant said, in the next 25 years, health care practitioners and researchers will see more patients who are HIV-positive among black and Latino heterosexual men and women in the South, and among immigrants in the South, Southwest, and in urban areas throughout the country.Conant cited three reasons for this.

There will be an increasing number of heterosexual women infected with HIV. According to Conant, a woman having unprotected receptive sex with an infected male partner is ten times more likely to become infected than an uninfected man having unprotected sex with an infected partner.
There are large groups of uncircumcised males, including uncircumcised immigrants. Circumcised men are at less risk for HIV than uncircumcised men.
Increased use of the drug crystal methamphetamine. As compared with users of cocaine and heroin, users of crystal meth are more likely to participate in unsafe sexual practices.

As the cost for pharmaceuticals alone to combat HIV is more than $20,000 per year, adding a substantial number of new, economically disadvantaged patients to an already-taxed public health care system is a burden that needs to be considered in terms of treatment and budget, Conant added. Conant listed three barriers to slowing or ending the AIDS epidemic.

Many black ministries are not willing to talk about the disease and educate their communities.
The Catholic Church does not sanction the use of condoms, greatly influencing many communities, including the growing Hispanic communities in the United States;
The case of former NBA star Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson is looked on as an anomaly rather than as a warning among heterosexuals.

Conant was one of the first physicians to recognize and treat AIDS patients and has been the primary investigator in more than 20 AIDS research trials. He is Chief Medical Officer for Presidio Pharmaceuticals in San Francisco and was one of the founders of the SF AIDS Foundation.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 March 2009 10:59