Report: 933 West Virginians Died of AIDS in Past 26 Years
WHEELING - In West Virginia, 2,440 people have contracted HIV/AIDS since the state began collecting data 26 years ago, according to the latest surveillance report. Loretta Haddy, Office of Epidemiology and Prevention Services director, said a county-by-county breakdown of the number of cases is not available in the report because of privacy issues.
"The numbers are too small to accommodate your request. ... After 26 years, we're still only at 2,400 (cumulative) cases," she said.
Some counties, she noted, only have one case, which could lead to that person being identified.
"Even our cancer registry data, it was 10 years before we released it by county," Haddy noted.
However, the document, titled "West Virginia HIV/ AIDS Surveillance Report 2009 Update," does give numbers by district. For example, District 6 includes the Northern Panhandle counties of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall and Wetzel. Tyler County is in District 5.
Data for 2010 is expected to be released in about a month.
According to the 2009 numbers, West Virginia had a total of 69 HIV/AIDS cases. And in 2009, 26 people statewide died because of HIV/AIDS. Cumulatively, 933 people have died during the past 26 years as a result of the disease. And in 2009, there were 1,507 people living in the Mountain State with HIV/AIDS. District 6 had 173 cases in 2009. Five of the state's eight districts had more cases than District 6. Of the 173 District 6 cases, people 25-34 years old had the highest number at 63. More males (138) than females (35) were infected. And more whites (153) had the disease than people of other races. Read More
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