According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the percentage of young people under the age of 25 infected with HIV has increased from 3.9 percent in 1999 to 4.7 percent in 2003. People this young are estimated to make up one-half of the 40,000 new HIV infections reported each year in the United States.
A New England Journal of Medicine study conducted at several universities estimates that one in 500 college students is infected with HIV.
According to Michael Kurland, director of Student Health Services, unprotected sex under the influence of alcohol and other drugs puts college students at higher risk for HIV infections and other sexually transmitted diseases.
"Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) can increase the risk of acquiring HIV," Kurland said. "We especially see a number of students come into our offices to be tested for STDs right after spring break."
Student Health Services offers pre-test and post-test counseling sessions and the testing is done on a confidential basis, meaning the test results are documented in the student's medical record but information may not be released to anyone without written permission. Health Services offers both the oral fluid (Orasure) and conventional blood tests with results generally available within a few days to two weeks.
An alternative free anonymous rapid HIV/AIDS testing is provided by the Rainbow Center the first Wednesday and third Thursday of every month. The rapid HIV test can provide results in as little as 20 minutes.
"Students might feel more comfortable doing the anonymous testing because it offers complete anonymity and is open to the entire community, not just to UConn students," said Stephanie Marnin, director of the Rainbow Center. It can sometimes take as long as three to six months for antibodies that fight the disease to reach detectable levels, so it is recommended to get tested even six months after the last possible exposure to HIV, according to CDC.
According to Kurland, women more times than men do not know how to use a condom and this puts them at a greater risk for HIV infections or other STDs, because it makes them very dependent on their partner.
"The reason most women might neglect to learn about the use of condoms is that they think it is the men's responsibility to know about it," said Mabedia Moreno, an 8th-semester human development and family studies major.
HIV remains a disproportionate threat to minorities, African Americans are 10 times more likely to have HIV/AIDS than whites while Latinos are more than four times as likely. Young gay men, especially those of minority races or ethnicities are also at a very high risk, CDC statistics show.
According to Rafael Perez-Escamilla, associate professor of nutrition and public health at the Department of Nutritional Sciences, minority groups such as Latinos and African Americans are much more socio-economically disadvantaged than their European-American counterparts. They tend to have lower levels of health literacy and access to primary prevention services or information.
"Poverty is the main culprit for this major health disparity in our country," Perez-Escamilla said.
Research shows that a large proportion of young people are not concerned about becoming infected with HIV, according to CDC.
"The introduction of drug cocktails in the 1990s gives young people the wrong idea that HIV is no longer a fatal disease but a treatable condition," Marnin said. "They are unaware about the fact that the new drugs may only work for periods of time and that in some cases the disease actually builds up resistance to many of them,"
At the end of 2003, people living with HIV in the United States crossed the one million mark for the first time, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
Researchers have found that increased knowledge, along with positive attitudes and beliefs about HIV/AIDS, can lead to positive behavior changes such as the use of condoms, abstinence and avoidance of risky situations.
According to Amelia Lerner, a graduate assistant at the Health Education Office, the university offers plenty of resources about HIV/AIDS and said many students are not seeking out that information.
"I think the university needs to do more and should be required to offer health education classes to inform students about HIV and other health issues that can directly affect them," said Zulma Rios, an 8th-semeseter anthropology major.
According to Kurland, it is hard to know the HIV prevalence at UConn because some testing around campus is done anonymously and other students might seek health services outside the school.
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