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At a recent town hall
meeting at the Lake Worth Playhouse, Palm Beach County health experts
launched a drive to make regular HIV testing the norm for men who have sex
with men (MSM). Attendees were urged to take and sign cards that pledged:
"I, [name], commit to encourage 10 friends to get tested for
HIV.
HIV is a serious issue, and if we band together we can do something about
it."
The impetus for the drive was Florida's "Out in the Open" report, released
late last year. It found that at least one in 22 MSM in the state has
HIV/AIDS. In Palm Beach County, the report estimated that at least one in 13
black MSM is HIV-infected.
Chris Larcharite, the HIV prevention manager for Compass, the county's gay
and lesbian community center, said those figures likely underestimate the
situation in Palm Beach County. The data, he said, are based on an estimate
more likely to be true in dense urban areas like Miami and Fort Lauderdale,
where one in 10 men is MSM. The number of HIV-infected gay or bisexual men
probably represents a larger percentage of the total in the county. He
believes as many as one in every seven black MSM in the county is living
with the virus.
Larcharite and Lorenzo Robertson, the county's regional AIDS coordinator,
noted many of these men are not getting tested. "Stigma and denial still
play a large part in why black and Hispanic [MSM] are disproportionately
affected by the epidemic," said Robertson, who is also the state's outreach
coordinator for black MSM.
Surveys show that people who have not been tested for HIV are more likely to
be afraid to find out whether they have the virus or do not consider
themselves to be at risk. Rob Scott, early intervention specialist at the
county health department, said that for people who do not believe they are
at risk, routine testing is all the more important. |
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Palm Beach Post
(03.31.08):: Antigone Barton |
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We are providing the above information as a public
service only. Providing synopses of key scientific articles and lay
media reports on HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases
does not constitute endorsement. The above summaries were prepared
without conducting any additional research or investigation into the
facts and statements made in the articles being summarized, and
therefore readers are expressly cautioned against relying on the
validity or invalidity of any statements made in these summaries. This
CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News
Update also includes information from CDC and
other government agencies, such as background on MMWR articles, fact
sheets and announcements. |
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