MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In continuing their effort to prevent the spread of HIV, the Shelby County Health Department is connecting with several local partners, including Memphis schools and universities, to decrease those numbers.
Shelby County is having a peak in a six-year trend of increased HIV infections, and according to the Shelby County Health Department, those numbers are specifically high in 14 to 35-year-olds. The Department is looking to create relationships with Memphis schools, including colleges and universities, to determine why some other major cities have falling rates while Memphis continues to rise.
Dr. Steve Threlkeld is the medical director for Infectious Diseases at Baptist Memorial Health Care.
After a continued increase in HIV rates, he wants people to understand how vital testing is.
"This is a preventable problem," he said. "And there are any number of steps that we can use to prevent them. Of course, we mentioned education. And then there are a number of ways once we know that someone is at risk. For example, to prevent the infection, abstinence, certainly barrier precautions."
The Shelby County Health Department has listed a 36% increase in the county since 2018 and an even larger increase in those ages 15 to 19 in that same time span. However, recently, the health department has expanded outreach to local schools to help decrease those rising numbers.
"The Shelby County Health Department right now is in an active role of touching base with the school systems that would be more for younger kids up through the high school age to try to get new programs developed," Threlkeld said. "Now it is true, certainly, that they've already increased testing by 30-40% or more over the last six months or so. So that's going to be very helpful."
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center is one of those schools, and Dr. Chinelo Animalu is an associate professor in the Infectious Diseases Division at UT Health Science Center. The health department is creating the opportunity for more conversation and better detection.
"We are trying to help them to encourage people to get tested, know your status, know your health status, because HIV, for the most part, is usually asymptomatic," she said. "What that means is that people that have contracted HIV do not even know they have that infection, and so you being completely on awareness that you have an infection is easier to pass that to, you know, your sexual partners."
Officials encourage everyone to stay aware of their health status and ask parents to talk to their children to help educate and make them aware of the long-term effects of HIV.