What does this indicator measure?
This indicator measures the number of Dallas County residents under 20 who were newly diagnosed with AIDS. The data was collected in collaboration with Beyond ABC: Growing Up in Dallas County, 2007, a report issued by Children’s Medical Center Dallas. The underlying data source for this indicator is the Texas Department of State Health Services HIV/AIDS Reporting System Database.
Why is this indicator important?
Adolescents are at higher risk for acquiring sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) since they are more likely to have multiple sexual partners and unprotected sex. In the national 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey, 52.5 percent of Texas high school students said they’d had sexual intercourse. Another 22 percent reported using alcohol or drugs prior to sexual intercourse, and 61 percent of sexually active students reported using condoms. In 2005, 7,280 Texans between the ages of 15 and 19 were diagnosed with gonorrhea, and 25,239 were diagnosed with chlamydia. Chlamydia can result in serious complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease and ectopic pregnancy.
How are we doing?
Dallas County has the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS cases in Texas. In Dallas County, 58 residents younger than 15 and an additional 466 residents between the ages of 15 and 24 were recognized as living with HIV or AIDS in December 2004. More than half of those individuals were African American. There were no deaths among HIV-infected children in 2005. The AIDS-Related Medical Services (ARMS) Clinic at Children's Medical Center Dallas provided comprehensive primary care in 2006 to 99 HIV-infected children and youth and 191 HIV-exposed children including 89 newborns.. No ARMS Clinic patients have died since 1998.
Number of New Aids Cases in Children Younger than 20 |
| 1990 | 1994 | 1996 | 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2005 |
Dallas County | 7 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 6 |
Source:
Beyond ABC: Growing Up in Dallas County, 2007, a report published by
Children’s Medical Center Dallas.
Parkland Memorial Hospital has historically delivered about 75 percent of known HIV-exposed babies in Dallas County. In 2005, 88 infants were born to known HIV-infected mothers in Dallas, including three pairs of twins. Of those, 86 percent of infants received ZDV antiretroviral therapy due to known HIV status prior to delivery; and 71 percent of these deliveries occurred at Parkland, and 29 percent occurred at community hospitals. The perinatal HIV transmission rate in Dallas has remained at less than 1 percent since 2001.
Most HIV infections among children and adolescents were acquired perinatally, with the remainder acquired as a result of intravenous drug use or sexual contact. Infants and children afflicted with AIDS are more vulnerable to bacterial infections, tuberculosis, and recurrent pneumonia. Because the symptoms of AIDS may not appear for years, teens may continue to participate in high-risk activities such as unprotected sex and intravenous drug use after they become HIV-positive.