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2007 |
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Health Department to hold HIV testing
With AIDS at epidemic proportions in Manatee, the county hopes people will find out their status
DONNA WRIGHT
Herald Staff Writer
One out of every 174 people in Manatee County has HIV/AIDS.
That number is based upon the number of people already diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and estimates from the Centers of Disease Control in Atlanta of the number of people who do know their status.
Manatee County Health Department hopes those who don't know their status show up Saturday for National HIV Testing Day events, said Tom Miller, HIV Health Educator.
"The majority of new HIV cases are being spread by individuals who do not know they are infected or who don't believe they are at risk," Miller said. "The purpose of National HIV Testing Day is to encourage those people to come forward and take a test so we can stop this epidemic." The HIV/AIDS test offered Saturday is anonymous and confidential.
Epidemic is the correct word to describe Manatee County's HIV/AIDS crisis, especially among blacks, Dr. Gladys Branic, health department director, said at the June 5 Leadership Summit on AIDS.
Even though blacks account for only 8.5 percent of Manatee County population, they represent 51 percent of the local HIV infections and 41 percent of AIDS cases, Branic said at the event.
Nationwide, Manatee County is near the top of the lists, ranking among the top 150 most AIDS infected counties in the United States, and Florida ranks third in cumulative AIDS cases.
State health officials predict that by next year more than 100,000 people in Florida will have AIDS.
That's just about twice the population of Bradenton, for comparison.
The spread of HIV/AIDS is increasing rapidly among the elderly, women and the very young, groups who are vulnerable because they do not tend to think of themselves at risk, said Kristin Pate, the health department's HIV/AIDS Prevention and Outreach coordinator.
While a recent federally-funded study showed that drug use, prostitution and sex were key factors in the spread of HIV/AIDS in Manatee County, the public needs to remember that drug use and risky behaviors cross geographical and socio-economic lines, Pate said.
Pate shared her insights on risky behaviors she witnessed on a regular basis throughout the community at the Leadership Summit.
"I talk with our youth in the park and at the community center
and try to convince them that sex does not equal love as they teach
me that the new drugs of the week are Ecstacy or Viagra
and that jelly bracelets tell the boys what kind of sex the girls
will have with them," Pate told summit participants.
"I visit the night club hang-outs and distribute literature and information about safer sex and condoms in hopes that someone takes my messages to heart.
"I knock on doors informing the 13-year-olds to tell them that they are HIV positive and learn it was their first time."
"And I talk to men who drive $40,000 cars and live in affluent neighborhoods, men who have professional jobs, who solicit sex on their way to work."
Pate encourages spouses or partners who think their relationships have been less than monogamous and the elderly who believe that their age somehow protects them from HIV exposure to know their status so they can take control of their lives.
Sponsored by the National Association of People with AIDS, the annual event in now in its 10th year.
The CDC estimates that between 850,000 and 900,000 Americans are infected with HIV.
An estimated 180,000 to 289,000 Americans do not know they are infected, the CDC says, and may continue to engage in behavior that could jeopardize their health and the health of others.
For more information call 748-0747, ext. 1264.
IF YOU GO
• WHAT:National HIV Testing Day
• WHEN: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday
• WHERE: Two locations. The Front Porch Area, 400 Ninth Ave. W., across from Miller's Market and Target Store, 6150 14th St. W., Bradenton.
• TESTS OFFERED: HIV, diabetes, cholesterol. Free screens for blood pressure and syphilis.
• INFORMATION: Manatee County Health Department, 748-0747, ext. 1264
source :- http://www.bradenton.com | 
