Purdue researchers shift
focus; rural AIDS cases
need attention
By Megan Finnerty
Features
Editor
For one group of Purdue researchers, World AIDS
Day, typically observed Dec. 1, is every day, and that's good news for
students from small towns.
Purdue is part of a unique partnership between
Indiana University and Texas A&M University, forming the Rural Center
for AIDS/STD Prevention.
The center, now funded by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, is the only one in the U.S. focusing on the
prevention of AIDS in rural areas and was created almost 10 years ago
using a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Jim Anderson, a professor of medical sociology
at Purdue is one of the co-directors of the center, which is headquartered
at IU.
"At Purdue, we're collecting information on prevention
programs from across the country as a step in creating a catalogue of
successful prevention strategies," he said.
"We've done a lot of work in computer simulation
predicting the spread of the epidemic and researching methods of vertical
transmission between mothers and their children, looking at the cost-effectiveness
of different methods of prevention."
Statistics from the center illustrate that the
spread of HIV and AIDS is increasing in rural areas, particularly in
the South.
Studies also show that in some rural areas, the
incidence of infection can be several times greater than the national
average or estimates from the center.
Tippecanoe County is one of the top 10 counties
in Indiana in terms of HIV and AIDS infection with 89 cases of AIDS
being reported since 1982 and 42 cases of HIV being reported since 1985.
Monroe County, where IU is located, is also in
the top 10 with 145 cases of AIDS since 1982 and 77 cases of HIV since
1985.
Anderson said there are many problems addressing
and treating the disease specific to rural areas.
In small towns, there are not usually testing centers
or support groups to help the people being tested or diagnosed, he said.
"Another problem is that there is the stigmatization
and social problems in small-town communities where you're well known
and there are a lot of conservative values," Anderson said.
These conservative values, he said, can make it
hard for educators to discuss explicitly how the disease is spread.
"I think it's difficult to reach rural communities,"
Anderson said. "People in the schools and the churches are typically
very conservative and there are a lot of schools that don't want you
to talk about it."
Monique Clesi, the HIV counselor for the Tippecanoe
County Planned Parenthood and the disease intervention specialist for
the Indiana Department of Health, said that people in small towns have
a false sense of security and feel like they know everything about their
sexual partners.
This level of intimacy can become a problem when
people try to find a health care provider they are comfortable going
to for testing or treatment because social networks in small towns are
so small, Anderson said.
And typically, those providers are less experienced
in dealing with HIV and AIDS and the complex and rapidly changing regimens
of drugs taken to control the disease.
Another issue in rural areas is the fact that the
number of potential sexual partners is small.
"In a rural area, there's a very small network
of sexual partners and once the disease is introduced into a population,
it can spread quickly among a circle of people," Clesi said.
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