Pediatrics Academy Urges Teen HIV Testing
Posted by Patrick in Children, Health
There’s a sobering headline for you.
The American Academy of Pediatrics wants pediatricians testing all teens routinely for the virus that causes AIDS in areas where a certain percentage of the population is HIV+.
Of the million Americans living with HIV in 2006, apparently the last year that we have full stats for such things, more than 55,000 were between the ages of 13 and 24.
Maybe it’s that mechanism in a young person’s brain that convinces them that they’re invincible. I guess that’s what it is.
But between calls for routine HIV tests and calls for routine vaccination for HPV, a sexually-transmitted virus, I honestly wonder why teens would risk touching anyone out of fear of catching something nasty.
Yes, I’m a recovering hypochondriac, so of course I’d think that way.
Still, I’d hate to think of what’ll be waiting for the next generation at it’s hitting puberty.
Welcome to Patrick’s Place, home of the Saturday Six and the Sunday Seven.
One of the reasons that AIDS/HIV is increasing in that age group is lack of education in schools. The number of schools that teach abstinence-only sex education programs is increasing and the number of schools that teach safe-sex is decreasing. We are seeing the results of those policies now with an increase in STIs in teenagers.
http://ari.ucsf.edu/science/reports/abstinence.pdf
BTW, another age group where AIDS/HIV is increasing is the 65+ age group.
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