On World AIDS Day, health department encourages testing
Monday December 1, 2008
Patti Daniels
Colchester, VT
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The department says 482 people in Vermont are known to be living with HIV/AIDS. But that doesn't account for people who are HIV-positive, but haven't been tested.
Rob Lunn directs HIV/AIDS programs for the Health Department. He says the federal Centers for Disease Control is changing the way it estimates the number of people who are HIV-positive but don't know it:
(Lunn) "We're not able to calculate the unknown cases at this point in time due to recent information from the CDC. There used to be statistics that the CDC would follow that approximately 25 percent of people may not know their infection rate. But we've been waiting to have a new estimate form come out so we can accurately determine what that is at this point."
(Host) Accurate data about HIV cases is important because it determines funding public health services, prevention and testing programs.
Peter Jacobsen is executive director of Vermont CARES. The non-profit group provides testing, prevention programs, and helps people with HIV and AIDS get services.
He says his organization is focused on people in rural parts of Vermont who are less likely to get tested.
(Jacobsen) "The perception that HIV affects mostly cities seems to be the biggest myth we're dealing with in Vermont. ‘This is a problem that happens elsewhere, this happens to other people, this isn't going to affect me' - that's the No. 1 myth perception that we're working against."
The CDC recommends that everyone ages 13 to 64 get an HIV test at least once. Both the Vermont Department of Health and Vermont CARES have information and testing services available.
- Vermont CARES:
- http://www.vtcares.org/
- Vermont Department of Health:
- http://healthvermont.gov/prevent/aids/testing.aspx
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