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Community Corner

Patch Picks: A Look at World AIDS Day

Each year, Dec. 1 marks more than the countdown to Christmas, It's World AIDS Day. This is a time of awareness. A time to learn and promote prevention.

Thirty (30) years is how long it has been since the first cases of AIDS were reported in the U.S., according to Facing AIDS. The movement, which comes from the federal government's site AIDS.gov, also states that HIV is still a reality for more than 1.1 million Americans.

So this Patch Picks column is dedicated to enlightening everyone with a few facts you may, or may not know about HIV and AIDS:

HIV can go Undetected: One of every five people living with HIV in the U.S. doesn’t know it.

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DEFINITION: HIV stands for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is a virus which attacks the body's immune system—the body's defense against diseases. According to the World AIDS Day website, HIV can be passed on through infected bodily fluids, most commonly via sex without a condom or by sharing infected needles, syringes or other injecting drug equipment.

90 Percent: This is the number of people with HIV that were infected through sexual contact.

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15 to 20 Minutes: You can get the results of an HIV test in just 15-20 minutes, and you can now get tested for HIV using a saliva sample.

Contraction: HIV is not passed on through spitting, biting or sharing utensils, according to the World AIDS Day website, and here is no vaccine and no cure for HIV.

Mothers and Babies: Only 1 percent of babies born to HIV positive mothers have HIV.

Final Step: AIDS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, is the final stage of HIV infection. People at this stage of HIV disease have badly damaged immune systems, which put them at risk for opportunistic infections like pneumonia.

Monkeys: Scientists believe HIV came from a particular kind of chimpanzee in Western Africa, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Humans probably came in contact with HIV when they hunted and ate infected animals. Recent studies indicate that HIV may have jumped from monkeys to humans as far back as the late 1800s.

Missouri Facts: There is 9.8 percent of Missouri's population currently living with AIDS, according to statehealthfact.org. 2010 data showed that St. Louis ranked second in chlamydia, third in gonorrhea and 20th in syphilis among the 65 cities and counties in a report from the CDC.

Get Tested: St. Louis Testing Centers has multiple locations at which to get tested. The St. Louis area sets a poor example for safe sex, according to 2010 data, which showed that St. Louis ranked second in chlamydia, third in gonorrhea and 20th in syphilis among the 65 cities and counties in a report from the CDC.

There are testing location all throughout St. Louis and St. Charles counties. There is a testing location in Hazelwood: 637 Dunn Rd., Ste. 155, Hazelwood, MO 63042, or at any doctor's office. The North Central Community Health Center provides free, confidential testing.

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