International AIDS Awareness Month

At the end of 2006, an estimated 1.1 million persons in the United States were living with diagnosed or undiagnosed HIV/AIDS. In 2007, 42,655 new cases of HIV/AIDS in adults, adolescents, and children were diagnosed. In 2007, persons aged 40-49 accounted for the largest proportion of newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases (27%). Persons aged 30-39 were the second largest proportion (26%), followed closely by persons aged 20-29 (25%) HIV transmission from mother to child during pregnancy, labor and delivery, or breastfeeding is called perinatal transmission. Perinatal HIV transmission is the most common route of HIV infection in children and is now the source of almost all AIDS cases in children in the United States. In the United States, without treatment 25% of pregnant women infected with HIV will transmit the virus to their child. Treatment administered to the mother during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and then to the newborn, as well as cesarean section for certain women, can reduce the rate of perinatal HIV transmission to 2% or less. If you feel you are at risk, GET TESTED!