84 | HealthLinksSC.com navigators to connect people to care for early access to antiviral meds. As a result of these endeavors, in most cases, clients can be linked to care and provided medication within a week. THE EVOLUTION OF HIV/AIDS MEDICATIONS AND INCREASED LIFE EXPECTANCY HIV/AIDS medication and treatments have come a long way since the epidemic arose in the 1980s. In the early ’80s, cocktails of medications used to treat the disease often caused severe side effects, explained Roshan McDaniel, DHEC program manager with the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. For people who contracted AIDS in those formative years, even with medications, life expectancy remained low. AIDS grew to become a leading cause of death among young adults during the 1980s. Then around the early 2000s, drug manufacturers approved a single tablet regimen with greatly reduced side effects. This advancement in treatment led to people with HIV/AIDS living longer and having an improved quality of life. Now there is another alternative available, a relatively new form of HIV treatment and prevention introduced in recent years. Long-acting injectables offer the dual benefits of low side effects and no pill fatigue. People receive two injections of antiretroviral drugs at once but only every other month, which significantly reduces the viral load in the body. Additional long-acting injectables are poised to hit the market soon, according to McDaniel. “The person can lead a very healthy life and can prevent spread to their partner if they take it as prescribed,” said McDaniel. Price said that this treatment approach aligns with DHEC’s “U=U” motto – undetectable equals untransmittable – because low to no viral load helps prevent the spread of HIV. “If you can get people rapidly linked to treatment, and they have an undetectable viral load, it has great impact across the board, and, over time, greatly diminishes the spread of HIV,” asserted Price. HIV IN SOUTH CAROLINA By the Numbers Among people newly diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in South Carolina, 58% were African American; 25% were white; 9% were Hispanic; 8% were of unknown and multiple races/ethnicities. In 2020-21, African Americans had a case rate 2.3 times greater than whites in South Carolina. Most people living with HIV in South Carolina were African American men – 43%. 19% were African American women, 20% were white men and 5% were white women. 6% of people living with HIV were Hispanic/Latino – men and women – and 7% were unknown and multiple races/ethnicities. 79% of new HIV/AIDS cases occur among men; 21% were among women, reflecting the national trend. As of Dec. 31, 2021, there are an estimated 19,872 South Carolina residents living with diagnosed HIV infection. Over the two-year period 2020-2021, 1,460 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in South Carolina, a slight decrease from the 1,519 diagnosed in 2017-2018. 36% of new HIV/AIDS cases were among people ages 20 to 29, 27% were among people age 30 to 39, 15% were among people age 40 to 49 and 17% were age 50 and up. 5% of new cases were under the age of 20. Among the 853 people with a reported risk, men who have sex with men represent the largest proportion – 83% – of newly diagnosed people. *Information courtesy of SC DHEC 2022 HIV/Aids summary, DHEC's 2022 South Carolina Epidemiologic Profile of HIV, AIDS, and Sexually Transmitted Infections Additional article sources: https://scdhec.gov/sites/default/files/media/document/2022-EPI-State-Profile.pdf, https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/dataand-trends/statistics/, http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance. html, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001880.htm#:~:text=- From%201981%20through%201990%2C%20100%2C777,deaths%20were%20 reported%20during%201990.
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