Metro Atlanta among nation’s worst in HIV/opioid deaths

albany herald ^ | 12/4/16 | Andy Miller

[RC one]

New stats show alarming rise in drug abuse, HIV/AIDS infections

ATLANTA — Fulton County’s rate of opioid overdose deaths was more than double the national average in 2014, newly released figures show.

And the county — which contains most of the city of Atlanta as well as some of Georgia’s most affluent suburbs — had a higher rate of HIV diagnoses than all but one of 28 large cities studied, according to statistics released last week by the Big Cities Health Coalition project.

Fulton’s data were used because the county, not the city, collects the area’s health information, which is processed by researchers so it’s comparable between jurisdictions.

The county performed better than the national average on measures such as the adult obesity rate — 25 percent of adults versus 28.3 percent nationally – the adult smoking rate, and pneumonia/influenza deaths. The report compared data in the latest years available.

The opioid epidemic is a national problem. More people died from drug overdoses in 2014 than in any year on record, the CDC says. Opioids — primarily prescription painkillers, such as hydrocodone and oxycodone, and the illegal drug heroin — are the main culprits in overdose deaths.

Georgia is among 14 states that have seen significant increases in the rate of overdose deaths, the CDC says. In 2014, 1,206 people died from such overdoses in the state, up from 1,098 the year before, an almost 10 percent increase.

Heroin use has skyrocketed in Atlanta and its northern suburbs. In 2010, four people died from heroin overdoses in Fulton County, while in 2015, 82 people died.

The Big Cities Health Coalition data show Fulton had 11.7 opioid-related unintentional drug overdose deaths per 100,000 residents in 2014, compared to the national rate of 5.0 deaths per 100,000 residents.

Many of the deaths have come in northern Fulton County, a mostly suburban area.

The city of Johns Creek in north Fulton has joined other local jurisdictions in providing training and equipment to police officers and other first responders to administer an opiate antidote.

The coalition report shows only one other urban area studied outpaced Fulton’s opiate death rate: Kansas City, Mo..

Meanwhile, Fulton’s HIV diagnosis rate in 2013 was higher than every other city studied except for Washington, D.C. In recent years, metro Atlanta and Georgia have seen alarmingly high rates of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

“We are particularly concerned with the epidemic in the Southern United States, which has become a microcosm of the global pandemic,” Dr. Carlos del Rio, co-director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research, said in a statement. “Atlanta is the No. 5 city in the U.S. for new HIV diagnoses, and Georgia is the No. 2 state. It is critical for us to continue a multipronged focus on prevention, increasing HIV testing, improving access and linkage to care and ensuring long-term retention and viral suppression. The contributions of laboratory and clinical research and studies to understand how to improve outcomes of care will be critical in controlling the epidemic.”

[Little Ray]

I live about 35 miles north of Atlanta, in Gainesville.
My family won’t go inside the Perimeter without a darn good reason. Most of the time, if we do, it is to THROUGH Atlanta on the way to someplace else.
My wife drives 50 miles out of the way to avoid Atlanta when we go to Florida.

[ViLaLuz]

That is so disgusting!

[Dilbert San Diego]

Male.to female transgendered sex workers? I don’t think I want to know what their bodies are like or who buys their “services”. But also not surprised they would have high rates of VD.