HIV: New Challenges For Women And Older Americans

Saturday, March 1, 2008

(NAPS)—Information is an important part of a healthy lifestyle at any age. That’s one reason experts say you are never too old to learn about your health—particularly when it comes to AIDS and HIV. AIDS takes about 10 years from the timeof initial infection to diagnosis. As a result, it’s possible for someone to be unaware of the risk he or she faces for years. Thus the need for early testing and detection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 13 percent of new HIV diagnoses occur in the age group 50-64, with women over the age of 60 at higherlevels. It’s suspected that the availability and usage of drugs for men with erectile dysfunction have contributed to the increased incidence of unprotected sex with partners who are HIV positive, resulting in transmission back to their regular and/or new sexual partners. In the past, many people thought HIV was something that only concerned those who were members of a high-risk behavior group, such as injection drug users or homosexual men. That meant, for many, just getting an HIV test was associated with some degree of stigma. Unfortunately, data show that older people don’t think they have a chanceof being infected, so they get diagnosed later in the course of the disease. Because they are diagnosed later, they respond less ) \S a he > —

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