Miami Herald - November 27, 2005
Fred Tasker, ftasker@herald.com

Across the U.S., people under 25 make up nearly half of all new HIV cases. And the younger the victim is, the more likely that victim is to be female.

And among all U.S. AIDS cases, the CDC says the younger the victim is, the more likely that victim is to be female. For example:

* Among all ages, AIDS is 18 percent female, 82 percent male.

* Among ages 20-29, it's 35 percent female, 65 percent male.

* Among ages 13-19, it's 50 percent female, 50 percent male.

A September 2005 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation says: "Among youth, teen girls and minorities have been particularly affected. Young African Americans represented 65 percent of AIDS cases reported among 13-19-year-olds in 2002; Latino teens represented 20 percent."

"When you look at the whole picture of HIV/AIDS, male groups lead the epidemic," says Dr. Evelio Velis, assistant professor at Barry University's School of Public Health graduate school, who did a 2004 study titled STDS & HIV/AIDS in adolescents, U.S. and Miami-Dade County. "But when you get to teenagers, the prevalence is female."

To probe this and other aspects of AIDS and youth, The Miami Herald put together a panel of young South Florida AIDS activists, along with Velis.

One problem, Velis says, is that one young male who has multiple sex partners can infect several females.

Some young panel members agreed, others didn't.

'LABELS'

Jessica Anderson, 16, a panel member and a member of the HIV Peer Education at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach, agrees: 'To boys, it's cool to have a lot of girls. They don't get a label. We girls get labels like 'the whore' unless we remain with one guy."

"It ties in with machismo behavior," adds Yuri Velasquez, 20, a member of a University of Miami peer-education group.

Keniel Pierre, 17, another peer counselor at Blanche Ely, disagrees: "The real reason girls are more prone to HIV is that they like to date older men. I know 16-year-olds dating men who are 20 or 21. They don't consider that older men have more sexual experience so it's easier to get HIV from them."

Velis' study cites CDC statistics that say AIDS peaked in 1995 among youths 13-19, dropped dramatically with the advent of powerful antiretroviral drugs, but since has crept back up to nearly the 1995 level again. And cases among teen girls are higher now than in 1995.

He says a major cause is lack of condom use: In Miami-Dade County, 36 percent of girls 13 to 19 say they're sexually active, and only 58 percent say they used a condom in their most recent intercourse, according to the Florida Department of Health. In Broward, 37 percent of girls say they're sexually active, and 65 percent say they used a condom.

Velis blames inadequate educational programs in middle and high schools.

"Seventy-nine percent of HIV cases are associated with unprotected sex," he says.

'I teach college, and every single time I talk about it, I hear, 'You know what? We're not totally aware of that.' And these students are studying to be health professionals."

'DIFFERENT STORY'

"Nicole," another member of the UM program, who asked that her last name not be used, said, "I think college students understand the concept of a condom. But when it comes to elementary, middle and high school students, it's a different story."

"I think teenagers know condoms help," says Pierre, 'but in a time of passion they just pass them by. It might slow them down, or be embarrassing with their partner. 'Why are you putting that on? Are you scared?' "

Says Anderson: "A lot of guys don't like to use condoms. They don't feel as masculine. . . . Others know, but they don't care. They don't think long-term."

And the youth on The Herald's panel agree that, despite the dangers involved, sex has become more and more casual to their peers.

"Friendship soon leads to sex; it's nothing more than a handshake," says Yuri. "Everybody's is doing it."

"I don't know anybody who says he's too scared to have sex because of HIV," says Pierre.

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