AIDS Risk

HIV is a time-bomb. Because the moment of infection is silent, and because the symptoms of AIDS often don’t show up until many years later, we may be misled into thinking that HIV is not a major problem for teens. But the Office of National AIDS Policy issued a sobering press release in October 2000: fully half of the new HIV infections in the US each year occur in youth! And the number of new HIV infections is not going down. But there is something we can do: the youth with the lowest risk of HIV are those with the best education. Let’s teach our children well.