Southern Brothers are unaware of Risky Behaviors

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to break my heart with this news.

Young black gay and bisexual men from the South are infected with HIV at staggering and high numbers.

In a small survey, we learn more than half of the 29 gay or bisexual men surveyed have had unprotected anal sex in the year before they were infected. The sad part is they thought they would never be infected.

The health officials are scrambling to find the risk factors to develop education and intervention programs.

Here are the deeper details:

The agencies surveyed 29 black men ages 17 to 25 who had tested positive for H.I.V. between 2006 and 2008 and who reported having sex with other men. Twenty reported having unprotected anal intercourse with a man during the year before their positive H.I.V. tests, and 16 reported having male sex partners who were 26 or older.

Having older sex partners increases the risk of infection because older men are more likely than younger men to be infected.

Only three of the 29 men thought it likely they would acquire H.I.V. during their lifetime. More than half thought it unlikely or very unlikely, the survey found.

Health officials were particularly concerned about the lack of routine H.I.V. testing in this group of young men. Six of the men had not had a single H.I.V. test in the two years prior to testing positive, and five had had only one test in the two years before the positive result, the survey found.

“These men may have taken what they believed were reasonable steps to reduce their risk, but unfortunately the rates of H.I.V. infection are so high in this population that sometimes people have partners who are H.I.V. positive and do not know it,” said Richard Wolitski, director of the C.D.C.’s division of H.I.V./AIDS Prevention.

Brothers please wrap it up and get tested. Also start loving yourselves...please.

Someone lay hands on Normandy High School in St. Louis, Missouri

This is heart shattering to read.

Students at a suburban St. Louis high school headed to the gymnasium for HIV testing this week after an infected person told health officials as many as 50 teenagers might have been exposed to the virus that causes AIDS.

Officials refused to give details on who the person was or how the students at Normandy High School might have been exposed, but the district is consulting with national AIDS organizations as it tries to minimize the fallout and prevent the infection -- and misinformation -- from spreading.

"There's potential for stigma for all students regardless of whether they're positive or negative," Normandy School District spokesman Doug Hochstedler said Thursday. "The board wants to be sure all children are fully educated."

A teacher in a neighboring district singled out a girl who dates someone at Normandy High and instructed her to get tested, Hochstedler said. A competing school's football team initially balked at playing Normandy's 8-0 team.

Jasmine Lane, a 16-year-old sophomore, said her boyfriend from a neighboring high school broke up with her on learning of the news -- after she bought them tickets to homecoming.

"I cried so hard," she said.

Sad stuff, y'all. My heart goes out to them.

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