Data & Awareness

When asked to guess how many AIDS cases there were in Allegheny County I guessed a mere 80, and thought even that was high. So how many actual AIDS cases were there in my area? Around 2,336. As one can clearly see, I was way off. The actual number of AIDS cases within the Pittsburgh area is absolutely startling for someone like me, who has lived in Pittsburgh, yet heard barely anything in regards to AIDS. Even after meeting someone with AIDS, I had no idea of the volume of cases was so extraordinary. I had never heard of cases like that. Tina - the woman I met who had AIDS, and later that year, died from it – had been a prostitute for the majority of her lifetime. She occasionally dabbled in the drug injection field as well. To an outsider, such as myself, it seemed as if AIDS only affected few and far between: people like Tina, who simply made bad decisions. After calculating the data for AIDS present in my community, I now realize, this is clearly not the case.

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So, let’s ask the tough question – is there a real AIDS problem in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania? Well, all the zip codes which I have received data for are over the county rate of 64.37, save for three (Table 1.5). In addition, every zip code that I have examined is over the state rate of 50.924 except for one, and there are nine zip codes over the national rate of 412.08(Table 1.2, 1.5). In fact, one zip code -15206, East Liberty - is actually almost twice the national rate, coming in at 729.63(Table 1.5). Even more appalling is the zip code of 15233, which acquired a rate of 1804.76 per 100,000(Table 1.5). This rate is even more startling due to the fact that it is nearly four and a half times the national rate, indicating a very large problem indeed (Table 1.5).

 The HIV/AIDS cases within Allegheny County are disproportionately located in areas of higher diversity and more ethnic communities. When looking at the zip code data for Allegheny County, there are two areas that have not only some of the top five highest number of AIDS cases, but also the top five highest AIDS rates per 100,000(Table 1.5). In addition, these two zip codes also appear on the top five highest HIV cases, as well as the top five HIV rates (Table 1.6). The zip codes are 15206 and 15212 – better known in Pittsburgh as East Liberty and the Northside/Hill District. Both these areas are more downtrodden communities, primarily consisting African Americans with low income and a heavy dependency on drugs. I immediately guessed these areas as ones with the highest AIDS rates for these very reasons. The average income for East Liberty (15206) in 2005 was estimated at $30,203, while the average income in Pennsylvania is $44,537 (15212 Zip Code Detailed Profile, 1). This means that the East Liberty community is almost $15,000 below the state average, leaving it highly oppressed and impoverished, and thus highly susceptible to AIDS and other diseases. Likewise, the average income for Northside/Hill District (15212) in 2005 was $28,291, well over $15,000 less than the Pennsylvania state average (15212 Zip Code Detailed Profile, 1).

In percent of cumulative AIDS cases in Allegheny County that are female, I guessed 40%. The actual percent for females is 14% (Table 1.1). Clearly, I was way off in this estimate as well. In fact, 71.24% of the male AIDS cases in Allegheny County are transmitted through homosexual men (Table 1.3). I, however, had no idea of this. Pittsburgh is the kind of city that keeps subjects like homosexuality suppressed. There is no real gay community that I’m even aware of, and I’ve only met one openly gay person throughout my time there. The naivety in my knowledge of a gay community led me to believe that Allegheny County AIDS cases were fairly equal between men and women, which it is evidently not. In regards to transmission, most females acquire AIDS through heterosexual contact with males, or through injecting drug use- which makes sense, since AIDS originally began in gay communities and then spread to women (Table 1.3). However, this still only affects the females, who make up 14% of all cumulative AIDS cases in Allegheny County (Table 1.1).

The remaining male 86% of AIDS cases typically get the disease through MSM, or injecting drug use as well (Table 1.3). This would also explain why the communities of East Liberty and Northside were among the most heavily afflicted with AIDS, seeing as these communities hold a considerable amount of well known drug trafficking in comparison with the rest of the Pittsburgh region (OPERATION WEED AND SEED, 1).  Furthermore, the percentage of cumulative AIDS cases in Allegheny County that resulted from heterosexual contact is actually 10%, while I guessed 30% (Table 1.3). As said before, I had assumed that the gay community in Pittsburgh was nearly nonexistent and therefore, thought the percentage for heterosexual contact would be higher; how wrong I was. While the gay community may be suppressed, it is apparently still intact, even if everyday citizens aren’t aware. This is evident from the 1439 cases of AIDS that resulted from men having sex with men (Table 1.3). In addition, only 3.47% of all male AIDS cases in Allegheny County result from heterosexual contact; however, 8.85% of all male HIV cases result from heterosexual contact – a percentage almost three times that of AIDS (Table 1.3, 1.4).