DailyMississippian The
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Vol. 100 No. 228
Overweight students at HIV rates on the rise in the South risk for Type 2 diabetes Persons Living with AIDS by Region BY ROSS CABELL rsscabell@gmail.com
Being considered the “fattest state in the Union” comes with its fair share of problems, one of the most notorious being Type 2 diabetes. In 2010, Mississippi had the second-highest rate of diagnosed diabetes, a problem that is directly related to high obesity rates. About 26 million people in America are diagnosed with diabetes, and according to the State Department of Health, 12 percent of Mississippi’s adult population has Type 2 diabetes, with over 890 deaths related to the disease. Barbara Collier, director of University Health Services and nurse practitioner, estimates that approximately one third of the students on the University of Mississippi campus are overweight. The good news is that Type 2 diabetes can be prevented by managing a healthy diet and not eating foods high in calories and fat. Exercising and losing weight also decrease the risk of having Type 2 diabetes. Warning signs for diabetes are difficult to spot. Symptoms may include fatigue, blurry vision, frequent urination and extreme thirst, according to the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi. Collier said students who have a Body Mass Index of 30 or higher should be screened for diabetes. BMI measures weight according to height and is used to calculate whether or not someone is underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese. If a person has a BMI of 30 or higher, that person is considered obese. “We are in the process of screening everyone with a BMI over 30, and especially over 40,” Collier said. “We are going ahead and giving these students a fasting blood sugar test to check for diabetes. Through this process, we have found a number of students who have diabetes that would not have known otherwise.” Steps are being made on cam-
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pus to help students who struggle with obesity. By giving attention to the problem, complications stemming from obesity, like diabetes, are being addressed. A little more than two years ago, Student Health Services created a campus group called New Beginnings, which focuses on weight loss and making healthier choices. Students who join are required to have a BMI of 30 or above and must go to the Student Health Center first to be screened for issues like as diabetes and hypertension. Psychology senior Sonny Schulman said she thinks having a program like New Beginnings could benefit students who are at risk for diabetes. “I think that it’s good for people who can’t do it on their own that there is a place on campus for them to get help,” she said. Collier said she believes this group has done a good job in educating students and helping them lose weight. “I believe even if they are here for a semester they will learn things; they will learn about choices,” she said. “I am stunned by how much weight these students are losing in a year.” Type 2 diabetes may be the more well known of the two types, but Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, affects students on campus as well. Art senior Lindsay Dillon Maginnis has had Type 1 diabetes for 15 years. She said many people misunderstand what having Type 1 diabetes means. Maginnis said she believes school systems could do a better job in educating students about diabetes. “When I was in school I had a teacher try to take my insulin pump off because they thought it was an iPod,” she said. “I would say they are doing a poor job.” Collier said that while the state and school systems should play a role in providing education about diabetes, the responsibility ultimately lies at home in the diet that parents promote. “It needs to start early,” she said. “Overweight kids become overweight adults. I think education will be a key in changing that.”
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Northeast 29%
Midwest 11%
West 20%
South 40% info from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/geographic.htm GRAPHIC BY KELSEY DOCKERY | The Daily Mississippian
BY KATHRYN WINTER Kathryn.winter2011@gmail.com
The number of people testing positive for HIV in Mississippi is approximately 600 every year for the past 10 years. Mississippi has a reported higher rate of HIV-positive people than the rest of the nation as a whole. Mississippi reported 7,577 cases to the Centers for Disease Control in 2010 and ranks 25th among the 50 states for reported AIDS cases. HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, which can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, also known as AIDS. The virus attacks the immune system and the survival rate with no treatment is 9.2 months after contracting HIV/AIDS. An estimated 21 percent of people are living with HIV undiagnosed, according to the San Francisco Aids Foundation. Since 1981, when the epidemic was first reported, 1.7 million Americans have been infected and more than half a million have died from HIV/AIDS. In 2009, people aged 20-24 accounted for the highest rate of new HIV diagnoses. Barbara Collier, a certified family nurse practitioner at the Student Health Center, said the reason HIV has spread so quickly is because people have more sexual partners than they did in the past.
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“Some people don’t know they have it for up to 10 years, and they have seven or so sexual partners and spread it around,” she said. “HIV is riskiest during anal intercourse or among IV drug users.” Infection occurs through blood, semen or breast milk — basically any bodily fluid. An infected mother transmits the disease to her baby at birth. “The problem with HIV is that people are lulled into a sense of security,” Collier said. “You think ‘Oh, this fraternity guy can’t have HIV’ or ‘He tested negative, it’s OK to have unprotected sex,’ when really an HIV test has a six-month window.” HIV is a progressive disease, meaning it gets worse over time. However, HIV can often be stopped from progressing with treatment. There is no HIV clinic in Oxford, but Collier said they usually refer people to Tupelo. In August of 1990, the U.S. Congress enacted a piece of legislation called the Ryan White Act to help people with HIV/ AIDS. It is the largest federally funded program that focuses on HIV/AIDS. It has been amended and reauthorized four times: 1996, 2000, 2006 and 2009, according to the Human Resources and Services Administration. The program helps people living with the virus to pay for medication and get the care
they need especially if they lack financial coverage, have no health care coverage or have no health insurance. Ryan White, who the program was named after, was a high school student who died from AIDS after an infected blood transfusion. Travis Zulfer, a junior from Fort Worth, Texas, said he feels like obesity, education, poverty and HIV/AIDS all go hand in hand. “That’s why I feel like Mississippi’s number of HIV cases (is) rising because it takes education to prevent it,” he said. Stephen Quinn, a broadcast major from Virginia, feels like the rising numbers make the debate for Planned Parenthood and things like Initiative 26 more important. “People aren’t being treated; people don’t use contraceptives,” Quinn said. “That being said, you have a lot of young, early parents.” A person with HIV usually develops AIDS within 10 years, according to the Mississippi Department of Health. Symptoms of HIV are rapid weight loss, fatigue, dry cough, fever, night sweats, swollen lymph glands and white spots or unusual blemishes on the tongue. The CDC reports that 50,000 people are newly infected in the U.S. every year, with 61 percent of new infections occurring in gay and bisexual men. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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