SAN DIEGO ( Border Report )- Analysts at UC San Diego and UC Irvine discovered that HIV communications increased in Tijuana and San Diego when border restrictions were in position during the COVID- 19 crisis.
The investigation came to the conclusion that individuals who were moving HIV and COVID-19 across borders were doing so.
This demonstrates that efforts to build a higher wall or immigration-stopping measures wo n’t stop the spread of HIV, according to Dr. Tetyana Vasylyeva, assistant professor of population health and disease prevention at UC Irvine.
According to the study, scientists used” a chemical time” to examine situations to track down and track the spread of HIV.
They discovered that all the new” regions had patterns from members on both sides of the border, indicating that cross-border transmission was taking place when the frontier was closed.”
Despite the frontier shutdown,” two people from San Diego that used drugs in Tijuana” reportedly started a cluster that grew.
They found that during the 18- month phase of their investigation, nine individuals contracted HIV, mainly during the crisis.
” Nine looks like a small number, but it’s actually quite a lot of folks because in the U. S., HIV incidence is somewhat low”, said Dr. Britt Skaathun, adjunct associate professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine. We wanted to look more closely at these regions because we were surprised to see this shift in HIV standing in such a short amount of time.
From October 2020 to October 2021, the research focused on 618 individuals, with a focus on three distinct groups: those who live in San Diego who cross the border to use medication in Tijuana, those who live in San Diego and use medicines there, and those who live in Tijuana and use drugs there.
They looked at how the pathogens were related physically, a field of study called clade.
The researchers identified transfer regions after creating viral-phylogenetic trees.
Vasylyeva explained that if two or three people have viruses that are very similar to one another, it could be that the transmission event occurred more recently because there was n’t enough evolution between these various viruses from these different people.
The recent study, according to Skaathun, shows that closing the frontier during the pandemic served as” a fundamental risk factor.”
” The Frontera ( border ) is one integrated community that is not defined by place of residence. Integration efforts to end the U.S. HIV outbreaks even require an extension to Tijuana.
Dr. Gudelia Rangel, one of the inc- authors of the study, said the results” ensure that HIV has no card”.
She thinks that establishing plans to stop HIV transmission at the border, such as those aimed at harm reduction and drug rehab, “is a more effective way to stop popular spread than trying to close a porous boundary.”
This study was released a few days prior to a scholar in Mexico declaring that her nation is experiencing” a health crisis” as a result of an increase in HIV cases, particularly among young people.
” This is alarming because young people are more effective biologically than most people”, said RocÃo Paniagua, teacher at Mexico’s Autonomous National University. Younger people are undermining the value of preventative steps.
Paniagua reported that Mexico has about 18, 000 effective HIV circumstances, the largest variety ever recorded in Mexico.
She is urging the Mexican government to put more money into HIV protection initiatives and health care for those who are affected.
” I consider this a health crisis in Mexico, we’re having a rise in HIV situations”, Paniagua said
In Mexico, the same analysts are blaring the exact fire.
No one is talking about the risks of carrying the disease and the potential effects, according to medical analyst Ricardo Baruch in Mexico, a “major factor” behind the lack of awareness efforts. According to the statement,” There are n’t enough medications available to combat the virus, and there is n’t enough money in the federal budget to invest in this area.”
Baruch attributed Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of Mexico, to reducing exposure to HIV testing while in business.
” During his administration, we’ve seen the number of accessible test kits lower, especially when it comes to testing pregnant women, which should be compulsory, but it’s not”, he said. This has resulted in a rise in HIV cases among young people and adolescents.
Paniagua added that just like there is an against- vaccination movement, several do n’t think HIV is genuine and a risk.
” Many people question illnesses and claim that they are created by doctors or laboratories who only want to make money, and that everything is a state of mind and that some illnesses do n’t really exist,” she said.
Emmanuel Reyes, chairman of Mexico’s Health Commission, disagrees there’s a lack of state resources being spent in the fight against HIV.
” This year, we’ve invested almost 552 million pesos ($ 33 million ) in HIV prevention efforts, an increase of almost 13 percent from previous years”, he said.
