Something important just happened.

Something important just happened - and you need to know about it.

This weekend, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) released the results of a study on HIV. All of the people who do HIV prevention or treatment work everyday had been waiting on pins and needles to hear the results of this really important study.

So why was it so important? This new study is an estimate (but a very scientific one!) about the number of new incidences of HIV in the United States. This is different from the number of positive tests; it is virtually impossible to know all new infections because some people think they are not at risk so they do not get tested, some people are too scared to be tested, and so on.

The CDC developed new technology that uses two types of HIV tests. The first is the test that you would get if you walked into any clinic. This tests sees if there are antibodies in your blood that then lets you know that you are HIV+. They took samples that came back positive in more than twenty states and ran them through an additional test - one that is less sensitive, which means that it would take more antibodies in your blood to show up on the test. If a sample was positive on the first test, but not on the second test, it was considered to be a new infection.

So... sounds like a lot of science. Why do we need to know the number of new infections in the first place? Fancy answer: knowing the rate of new infections helps us know where the epidemic is moving. Real answer: when we know where and among whom new infections are occurring, we can do a better job making sure people are being tested and treated. Basically, we want to know where the new infections are occurring so we can help people get treated, but also so we can stop the disease from spreading even further.

Now you know what the CDC has been up to lately - but what about the really important findings? What the new estimate found was that there are approximately 56,000 new cases of HIV in the US every year. This is significantly higher than the original estimate (40,000), but not because all of a sudden we have a lot more HIV. The reason it is higher is because the old estimate was too low int he first place. This does mean, though, that the numbers are much worse than we thought.

All of this is interesting, but why do YOU need to know? Because the new study found that one-third of new infections in the US occur in someone between the ages of 15 and 24. Read that again. That means that 1 in 3 people who becomes infected with HIV is young. And not sort of young. Really young. Like our age.

Something really important just happened - we know more than we did before, and we know now that it is worse than we thought. Something needs to change, and it needs to change fast. This is going to turn into an issue in the election; both candidates have already issued statements about it.

The real reason I want you to know about this is because it is important for your everyday life. Why is this happening to young people? What can we do about it?

The first thing you can do is know your status - find a testing center near you, swallow any fears you have, and know. You cannot stop there though... using protection when you have sex is not just to prevent pregnancy - it could literally save your life. And you can do even more. Read more to learn how you can be an advocate. Start by forwarding this information to your friends. Go together to get tested. Encourage your family members to become involved.

This is serious. It is time for young people to respond in a big way. HIV can stop with us... it has to.