Editorial: The AIDS epidemic: Just as real in 2014

How do you spell H-I-V? Are you positive?

They say a problem shared is a problem halved, but not if it’s AIDS.

Today, a handful of jokes surround the HIV virus and AIDS.  In retrospect, this wouldn’t have worked in the 1980s, when fear surrounding the new disease gripped the U.S. population.

Although fear of the virus and disease has dissipated in recent years, the AIDS epidemic is still prevalent — more than we realize.  In Allegheny County alone, there are about 150 new cases of AIDS each year, with no decline in sight.

Especially crippling is that roughly 26 percent of all new HIV cases in the United States are attributed to youth between the ages of 13 and 24 — including college students. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 60 percent of youth with HIV don’t even know they have the virus and are unknowingly and recklessly spreading it to their partners.

But the issue at hand is the negative stigma surrounding STD testing. An adult who goes to a clinic for an STD test essentially admits to having engaged in unprotected sex with at least one person — if not more.

In addition, HIV and AIDS are often associated with death, homosexuality, sex work and infidelity. The common mantra is that contracting HIV is a result of some moral fault, as if getting AIDS is comparable to murdering someone.

This stigma is not only affecting individuals who are discriminated against for having the disease, but also the overall battle against AIDS.  When people aren’t willing to own up to the possibility of having HIV or even AIDS, they aren’t willing to tell others, so they infect others.

In fact, only about 30 percent of those with AIDS are undergoing long-term treatment.

Screening for HIV is simple. It can be done at home with a toothbush-like device that is placed in the mouth for two to five minutes and then sent to a lab.

So, the stigma is keeping us from the simplest route of awareness: testing.

In Eastern Europe, about 24,000 HIV infections were reported in 2011.  This is much less than the 50,000 new cases reported in the U.S. This is likely due to the lessened stigma surrounding sex in Europe.  

The United States, and Pittsburgh especially, need to take a leaf out of Europe’s book. In lieu of World AIDS day on Monday, we should recognize that AIDS is still an epidemic that we need to actively fight.  

To help dissolve the frequency of cases, quit contributing to the AIDS stigma — get tested.