I work at the Health Care and Wellness Center at my school and my boss forwarded this to all of us.
Sometimes it takes information such as this to really open some peoples eyes...
BE SAFE!
"safer sex...is better sex"
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FYI...
"Number of New HIV Cases Increasing Among North Carolina College
Students"
[Aug 04, 2003,
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_r...rep_index.cfm?
DR_ID=19175]
The number of new HIV cases has "risen sharply" among North Carolina
college
students, especially among African-American males, according to a study
by
the state Department of Health and Human Services and the University of
North Carolina-Chapel Hill that was presented on Wednesday at the 2003
National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta, the Charlotte Observer
reports (Stobbe/Suchetka, Charlotte Observer, 7/31). The study found
that in
the past 18 months, at least 53 male students at North Carolina colleges
have contracted HIV, and almost all of the students are
African-American,
according to the Greensboro News & Record. While examining the results
of a
new test that county health departments and private clinics began
administering in November 2002 that can detect new infections within two
weeks of exposure, researchers found that two of the five people who
tested
HIV-positive over a three-month period in the Triangle area were black
male
college students. The researchers did not disclose what school the
students
attend. The researchers then looked at new HIV infections in Durham,
Orange
and Wake counties confirmed between January 2001 and February 2003. Of
the
146 men who tested HIV-positive during that period, 25 were students at
public, private or community colleges, and 88% were African-American men
who
had sex with men, according to the News & Record. Researchers then
examined
HIV cases in Guilford, Forsyth, Mecklenburg and Pitt counties and
discovered
that 28 HIV cases identified over a two-year period were among college
students (Newsom, Greensboro News & Record, 7/31).
State Data Reflects National Trend
According to the Observer, the number of new HIV cases identified in
North
Carolina has been rising for three years, and African Americans are 14
times
more likely than whites to be HIV-positive (Charlotte Observer, 7/31).
Nationwide, the number of newly diagnosed men who have sex with men rose
in
2002 for the third consecutive year, rising 7.1% from 2001 to 2002, the
CDC
announced last week at the conference. The new findings are fueling
fears
that HIV might be making a comeback among MSM (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS
Report,
7/28). Many of the college students who tested HIV-positive said that
they
had met sex partners at gay bars, over the Internet or through phone
dating
services, according to the Observer. The researchers did not compare the
HIV
incidence among college students to people of the same age in the
general
population (Charlotte Observer, 7/31).
Reaction
The researchers said they were "alarmed" by the recent findings, which
represent the first time in 20 years of HIV/AIDS research in which
college
campuses have been identified as "high-transmission areas," according to
the
News & Record (Greensboro News & Record, 7/31). Christopher Pilcher, a
study
co-author and assistant professor at the UNC-CH School of Medicine,
said, "This is a first indication that there may be a resurgence of HIV
happening in a vulnerable population, in this case young black men in
the
South" (Associated Press, 7/31). Peter Leone, medical director of the
HIV
prevention branch of NCDHHS, said that the recent increase in cases
among
college students could be "just the tip of the iceberg." Pilcher said
that
the findings present a "clear indication that more attention should be
focused on HIV prevention and education" (Greensboro News & Record,
7/31).
In response to the study, colleges are planning new HIV prevention
efforts,
according to the Observer. North Carolina State University in the fall
plans
to run advertisements in school newspapers reminding students that
HIV/AIDS
still poses a threat. N.C. State and several other colleges will also
hand
out cards informing students where they can obtain free condoms or free
HIV
tests. The state last week held a training session for health care
workers
at North Carolina's historically black colleges to try to increase HIV
testing on campuses in the fall, according to the Observer. "We're
really
just stepping up or enhancing what we're already doing," Jerry Barker,
director of student health services at N.C. State, said (Charlotte
Observer,
7/31).
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