8 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, July 22, 2002
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College students still likely to cross patis with HI, AIDS
AID munity realistically in a way that's by gay or bisexual men aged 15 to tion Project, said in Michigan alone ,
extremely devastating, but at the 29 and reported that of the 573 who there are approximately 15,550 peo- "I think it would I
Continued from Page 1 same time, I'm really troubled when tested HIV positive, 440, (77 per- ple living with HIV and AIDS, with
stem the tide of new infections." other communities don't identify cent), said they did not know they a majority of those cases being in easy to go back
But he said he does not think the themselves as potentially affected were infected with the virus. southeastern Michigan.
issue boils down to an issue of gay because of their perceived distance But many people are affected And he said more cases are naming thi as a
or straight identity. Rather he thinks from the gay community or because nationwide, statistics show. The becoming apparent in younger peo-
it is important for everyone to rec- of their idea that it might not be number of cumulative AIDS cases ple. The median age, he said, is gay issue, a gay
ognize the realities of the disease realistic for them," he said. reported to the CDC is 793,026, and starting to drop, indicating that indi- a
and the difficulties people living A study conducted in several as of June 2001, there were 130,965 viduals are contracting the disease disease .b t
with the disease face. major U.S. cities by the Centers for cases of AIDS reported in individu- at a younger age. thik ms-
"I think it's especially important Disease Control and Prevention sur- als ages 20-29. "Where we were talking about pen- Ink most peop
for gay men to be aware of this epi- veyed 5,719 men at dance clubs, Mark Peterson, outreach coordi- ple in their late 20s and 30s, now we're know that this is
demic because it affects our com- bars and other locations frequented nator of the Midwest AIDS Preven- moving down that age gap to people in
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their mid-20s," Peterson said.
He added that few people get test-
ed soon after contracting the disease
and are more likely to wait to get
tested until they show some type of
symptom.
"What we know about this infec-
tion is that it could be a matter of
five to 10 years (between the time
of infection and when symptoms
start to show), so if we're seeing
people in their late 20s dealing with
symptoms, that probably means
we're talking about people who got
infected in their early 20s or late
teens," Peterson said.
With that in mind, he said, educat-
ing young people is very important
and making sure the messages are
tailored to each audience is also a
necessity.
"Each person can cross the path
of HIV in their own way, as far as
the specific risks each group has to
look at," he said, adding that he
hopes continuing the discussion on
HIV will have positive long-lasting
results.
"It's all based on behavior and if
we could do a good job of continu-
ing to talk to people about what's
happening for them and designing
prevention messages that work
specifically for them, then hopefully
we'll decrease the number of HIV
cases in Michigan."
Kelly Garrett, program coordina-
tor for the Office of Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender Affairs,
hopes to continue the conversations
through providing educational pro-
gramming, particularly to the LGBT
community. The programs, she said,
though focused on the LGBT com-
munity, are open to everyone as a
resource.
She stressed the need to recognize
HIV as an issue everyone needs to be
The /ichigan Daily
Display Staff is proud
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worried about and said though there
has been a rise in the infection levels
among gay men, it is important that
they not be targeted as the only
group affected by the disease.
"I think it would be easy to go
back to naming this as a gay issue, a
gay disease," she said. "But I think
most people know that this is some-
thing that affects everyone."
Garrett said she would urge peo-
ple to get tested and learn how to
protect themselves, as opposed to
subscribing to the notion that it just
couldn't happen to them.
"It's just a common characteristic
of people in their late teens and
early 20s - they feel like nothing
bad is going to happen to them and
might even deny that they're at
risk," she said.
She added that she feels people
are taking more chances because
they see HIV as a treatable disease,
though that isn't really the case.
Rather, she said, it can be manage-
able, but individuals should focus
their attention on prevention, on
protecting themselves and educating
themselves to avoid contracting the
disease.
"It is of concern - it seems like
young people are a little less con-
cerned than they should be," she said.
"...There are a lot of people who think
they're not at risk when they are."
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