Are We For-Getting AIDS
A couple of years ago; this slogan was seen and were sited in train stations and on the sides of many NY city buses. It caused quite a stir but posed a very serious question; ARE we forgetting AIDS? Every 9 and 1/2 minutes someone is in the U.S. infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and one in five people (21%) are unaware of their infection. On August 3, 2011 the CDC`s new estimate of Americans becoming infected with the HIV virus is 50,000 a year. According to the CDC the infection rates were stable from 2006 to 2009, but not increasing is not good enough. More than 18,000 people with AIDS still die every year in the United States. Since the pandemic started through 2007, more than 576,000 people with AIDS in the U.S. alone have died.
As scary as those statistics sound, the tangible threat is remaining blind to a very real issue. Continuing to bury our heads in the sand like ostrich`s isn`t going to help anyone. The best prevention is to KNOW the statistics and GET TESTED. When you share yourself physically with another person; part of taking the proper precautions is not just using the prevention methods physically but also to ask them their sexual and drug history. Find out when they were last tested, or if they`ve ever even BEEN tested (you`d be surprised how many people haven`t been) and ask if they`ve ever been an intravenous drug user. Don`t worry about feeling nervous and uncomfortable; it is very common for people to feel squeamish when asking these questions-- but isn`t your LIFE worth MORE than a few minutes of embarrassment? We think so too. Talk to your health care provider about getting tested today.