On June 27th, the Dallas Morning News
reported that the Resource Center of Dallas would be commemorating National HIV Testing Day by offering free HIV testing. Also on that day, the Washington Post published an
article about how HIV/AIDS infections were up 12% in young men who have sex with men (MSM) and up 1.5% in the entire MSM demographic. The Washington Post called this resurgence of new HIV infections a "'second wave' AIDS epidemic." Trojan runs ads informing the general public that one in four HIV-positive Americans doesn't know his/her/hir status. Call me crazy, but doesn't it make sense to offer free HIV testing everyday as opposed to once a year? [Sidenote: I did some research and it seems free HIV testing is
available in Dallas on a nearly daily basis]
Happily, the rate of new infections has been declining for heterosexuals and IDUs (the article didn't mention rates for other groups). That being said, it's still a good idea to use condoms and take advantage of the services your local syringe exchange offers (if you're lucky enough to have a local syringe exchange). Oh, and get tested, please.
Have a safe holiday.
Posted by Ellen