HIV-Positive Woman Struggles With Poverty And Survival In Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 14: HIV-positive Shana Reynolds-Fairley's internal medicine doctor, Dr. Nathan Samras shows his frustration in combating the myriad symptoms and side effects that pop up while treating her HIV at the Georgetown University Hospital August 14, 2013 in Washington, DC. While her CD4 (white blood cells that fights infection) count is increasing and her viral load is decreasing, the damage that HIV has wreaked on her body continues to progress. Shana's body is not repairing itself the way it should and the necrosis continues in the bones throughout her body, including in the marrow. In 2006 Shana and her husband were diagnosed with HIV, most likely the result of the risky life her husband lived before they were married in 2001. According to the District of Columbia Department of Health, while the overall HIV infection rate in Washington declined from 2010 to 2012, the infection rate for heterosexual African American women in the District's poorest neighborhoods nearly doubled, from 6.3 percent to 12.1 percent, over the same time period. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)