HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, has long been considered a problem affecting urban areas. But now the deadly virus is popping up increasingly on Southern college campuses.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), there have been at least 56 new HIV infections in college students in North Carolina since 2001 and the majority of the infected students were African-American men. who are 11 times more likely than white Americans to get AIDS.
"Among black men, like whites, the leading cause of infection is sex with other men," an MSNBC article noted last month.
Although African Americans make up only 12 percent of the population, they account for 39 percent of AIDS cases and 54 percent of new HIV infections, according to a February MSNBC article.
This increased rate of infections in North Carolina could potentially happen in Virginia as well.
Blake Wilding, a member of the University group Promoting HIV Negativity, noted that many African-American men keep their sexuality a secret more so than other gay men do to the stigma in the African-American community. This phenomena that Wilding called referred to as keeping your sexuality on the "down low" can contribute to the transmission of HIV.
"We've heard a lot about it recently," he said.
A gay African American graduate student who wished to remain anonymous offered his opinion on why the Black community has been hit so hard by the virus.
"I think it is easy to generalize, but there is a huge amount of denial out there among black men who are having sex with other men," he said.
He added that some black men consider gay sex "safe." In his opinion, some African-American men avoid coming to terms with their sexuality by not using some form of protection. This, of course, increases their chances of becoming infected with HIV.
The anonymous graduate student also noted that he found it interesting that "a black man can spend 5 to 10 years in jail, and be welcomed home with open arms to the community, but many black gay men who come out [about their sexuality] are being shunned."
The fear of rejection encourages many African Americans to remain closeted. These men like to keep their sexuality on the "down low."
"'Down low' usually means bisexual, relationships with women, sex with men," the graduate student said.
Wilding also commented that HIV is not only a problem for the African-American community, but youth in general as well. He said that more than 50 percent of the new HIV infections next year will happen to people under the age of 25.
According to Wilding, there are almost a million people in the United States suffering from HIV or AIDS.
He elaborated that of those one million, a third do not know that they are infected.
Wilding suggests that students get tested at one of three places in Charlottesville that perform free HIV testing: the Aids Services Group in Charlottesville, the UVA Hospital, or the Charlottesville Health Department.
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