GREENSBORO, N.C. — December is HIV awareness month and on average, three people a day in North Carolina contract HIV, according to data from the CDC.
Doctors said that number is high because not everyone who should get tested is to help change that.
Cone Health Nurse Practitioner Stephanie Dixon said people don’t often talk about HIV anymore, but we can’t forget the virus is out there.
“Here in North Carolina, it’s still a problem. In the world it’s still a problem," Dixon said.
She said North Carolina ranked the highest in transmission rates among younger adults.
“My typical new patient, I would say, is usually 18 to 25 typically African American male.”
She said it's largely due to a lack of education.
With COVID being in the spotlight the past few years, she said many of her patients come in unaware they have HIV. Some don’t even know what the virus is.
“That’s probably one of the more common things people tell me, 'I didn’t know it was still there'.”
While the talk of HIV hasn’t been at the forefront, the treatments for it have been advancing behind the scenes.
Dixon said now treatments are keeping people undetectable and living longer.
Plus, there is medicine to prevent people from getting the virus. "Prep" is a pill you can take once a day, which has a 99% effectiveness rate when taken as prescribed.
“That’s pre-exposer prophylaxis. So, it’s medications taken as prescribed whether that’s pills daily or injections that help reduce the risks for people acquiring HIV,” Dixon said.
And testing now can tell if your medicines are doing their job
In addition to monitoring your HIV status, lab tests can also make sure the medicine isn’t having any side effects on your body.
With the start of World Aids Day, Dixon said there’s no better time to spread awareness and encourage folks to know their status.
A general rule Dixon recommends is that if you are sexually active, get tested for HIV at least once a year or every three to six months if you're at higher risk or engage with more sexual parents.