HIV/AIDS

December 8, 2009, WWSB ABC Sarasota County (FLTV)

As many as one in four U.S. teenage girls have had a sexually transmitted disease (STD), many infected soon after their first sexual encounter, a new government report shows.

"The high burden of STDs among teen girls reminds us that we can't ignore this," said study author Dr. Sami L. Gottlieb, from the division of sexually transmitted disease prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention.

December 1, 2009, Tallahassee Democrat

Of all the heartbreaking moments in the movie "Precious," one defines the inescapable circumstances of the victim-turned-heroine.

In 1987, Clareece "Precious" Jones is a teenager with two children sired by her own father. Because of him, she is also HIV-positive. Back then, the diagnosis signaled a hastening death; today medical care and precautionary measures reduce the terror of this affliction.

Yet this new movie is a reminder of the importance of World AIDS Day, when nations turn their attention to education and prevention of the auto-immune disease that has ravaged our world — moreso in some nations than in ours.

December 1. 2009, Miami Herald

November 30, 2009, St. Petersburg Times

On the eve of World AIDS Day on Tuesday, the medicine is getting better, but human behavior is not. AIDS deaths in Florida have declined for two consecutive years, thanks to drug therapies, but infections hold steady

Feb 6, 2009, Reuters