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WASHINGTON — HIV is more than a science term taught in an awkward high school sex education class. In fact, in the 45 minutes it takes for such a lecture, more than four people in the U.S. become infected with the disease.
Sometimes, that can even happen at one HIV-testing event.
“The most positive results that I’ve encountered after testing was like four at one time, in one session,” said Herman Williams, intervention specialist at the Community Education Group, a nonprofit HIV outreach organization in Washington. “And sometimes, we test and we get no positives. It varies.”
Washington is on the global monitor this week as the U.S. hosts the International AIDS Conference, where experts and policy makers will discuss scientific developments and assess statistics.
The nation’s capital is a troubling appropriate venue for the conference. Every one in 20 individuals in the District of Columbia test positive for the HIV virus, the highest rate of any American city.
“It’s a real lack of knowledge in the inner city,” said Williams, who has worked for CEG for two years.
CEG operates out of passenger vans, cruising through the District’s Wards 7 and 8 to administer preliminary HIV oral tests. The areas, mostly lower-income black neighborhoods, are among the most affected. More than 90 percent of new cases in D.C. are black heterosexuals.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 1 million people currently live with the HIV virus. Williams’ sister is among that group — and she’s the reason he decided to work with CEG.
He said that HIV is no longer the death sentence it used to be in the 1980s and 1990s. Those infected can live a normal, healthy life with awareness and treatment.
“Some people may take one pill, twice a day,” he said. “Some people may only take two or three. It’s not, like 20 years ago, taking 10 or 11 pills in the morning and again at night.”
The conference kicked off Sunday. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other prominent leaders will speak throughout the event, which ends July 27.
For more information, visit the http://www.aids2012.org/