New HIV/AIDS Registry Includes Rural Areas

EAST LANSING, MICH (WXYZ) - A Michigan State University professor is setting up one of the first HIV/AIDS registries in the country to include people from rural areas.

Associate Professor Peter Gulick is heading up the study that he hopes will provide answers to those who have questions about the disease.

Most registries that deal with questions regarding HIV are urban based and that can be very limiting. Gulick says,"Despite some notable successes in recent years, there still is a critical need to address the multiple problems that afflict all HIV infected populations.”

The need is there for HIV patients in rural areas.

The new registry will be able to sample those who live in mid-Michigan, where professor Gulick has a clinic. Also, in Saginaw and northern portions of Michigan's lower peninsula.

Gulick colleague Linda Dale says, "“The registry will help us identify groups of HIV patients that have specific characteristics, which allows researchers to investigate populations of patients not previously adequately studied.”

Some of the questions that people have concern the use of marijuana and the virus and how some people can stave off the disease.  This will now include those people who live in less populated areas.

The study is expected to include information that is both biological and socio-economic.

Gulick adds, "Using all resources the university offers, we plan to develop an HIV-focused clinical, behavioral and basic discovery research program which translates into the improved health of patients.”