World AIDS Day | wgrz.com

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Dec. 1 marks the 35th anniversary of the first World AIDS Day in 1988, and on Friday, Kaleida Health announced the renewal of a grant that will allow Kaleida Emergency Department patients to receive HIV and Hepatitis C testing so that they understand their status.

Gilead Sciences just renewed a grant that will allow Kaleida Health’s four emergency departments to offer HIV and hepatitis C testing. Any patient between the ages of 18 and 89 can be tested, but you can also opt out.

Dr. Andrew Talal is one of the doctors in charge of Caleda’s blood-borne virus testing program. He said the medical field had made tremendous progress since the first World AIDS Day.

“When I was in medical school, HIV was really a death sentence to some extent, and I had the privilege of working with Dr. David Ho at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in the late 1990s, and we were really at the forefront of Dr Talal, professor of medicine at the University of Faroe, said: “As you say, combination antiretroviral therapy really makes HIV a chronic disease. “

For hepatitis C, you can take one pill a day for two to three months, and Dr. Talal says almost everyone can be cured. Hepatitis C rates in Western New York increased 10% in 2021 compared to the previous year, according to the state health department.

Dr. Talal recently conducted a large study examining telemedicine as a way to connect people with hepatitis C treatment.

“Ninety percent of patients in the telemedicine group were cured, compared to only 35% in the referral group. So the idea that this approach could also be used for HIV, PrEP or teletherapy is something worth considering. I think it’s very It’s exciting,” Dr. Talal said.

If your test result is positive, you will be contacted by your health care provider.

“Hopefully your results are negative, but even if you test positive, there’s a lot we can do now to help you, so there’s no reason to worry about getting tested,” Dr. Talal said.

The tests are available at Buffalo General Hospital, Oishei Children’s Hospital, Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital and DeGraff Hospital.