HIV/AIDS cases among older adults on the rise

Washington, January 16 (ANI): Scientists have observed a rise in the number of HIV/AIDS cases among adults 50 and older over the course of the epidemic.

Diane Zablotsky, UNC Charlotte Associate Professor of Sociology, pointed out that "historically when you looked at AIDS diagnoses people 50 and older accounted for 10 percent of all diagnoses", and the number was up to 12.5 by 2007 in America.

Zablotsky laid the blame behind the upsurge on the lack of talk about HIV/AIDS prevention and transmission.

Zablotsky, in an analysis of National Health Interview data, discovered that almost half of women over age 50 were totally uninformed about HIV, compared with only 14 percent of younger adults.

While working at the National Institutes of Aging, Zablotsky published one of the first papers on the issue.

She said: "When I first started my work, when we were trying to explore the situation with HIV generally, our first approach was to alert people that this [HIV/AIDS] was something that people across the life course need to know about.

She added: "What we need to talk about is how you make choices to stay well." (ANI)