Grant: Team Gr.:Embracing Diversity-HIV/AIDS and STBBI Co-infections and Co-morbidities

Most people who have HIV or hepatitis know it and receive treatment for it. However, many other infections that are transmitted through sexual, blood, or saliva contact exist, that once acquired, stay in our body forever. Most of the time, our immune system manages to keep them in check, unless we become too tired or stressed, which can result in their resurfacing in the form of cold sores, genital ulcers, mono-like symptoms, shingles, and even cancer. It is believed that these infections can tax the immune system and cause inflammation that can lead to increased risk of many diseases that we typically associate with aging. It is also possible that they affect our hormones, which could in turn influence mental and physical health. Our previous work suggests that women and girls, and persons living with HIV, are more likely to be living with a larger number of these infections, and that may explain why women with HIV have shorter lives and fewer years in good health than their male counterparts. As several of those infections are treated as "benign" and left untreated, we want to study how they affect aging and disease. We want to know how these are different between people of female vs male sex, between people of different genders, and between people living with HIV or not. We also want to ask what role other factors in one's life such as housing security, stigma and gender may play in aging and disease.