Canada: Seniors Getting AIDS -- and No One Is Talking About It

Health care workers are seeing a quiet crisis: Seniors are getting AIDS and no one is talking about it. AIDS Committee Guelph-Wellington worker Brian Warrington said, "These people are isolated. They don't know where to go, what to do. There is still so much stigma with seniors," he said. In addition, since some of the symptoms of AIDS are similar to conditions related to aging, like dementia and pneumonia, doctors treating seniors may not bother having them tested.

According to statistics from Health Canada, 11.5 percent of the reported cases in 2001 involved those 50 years or older. Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik, a regional HIV specialist who practices in Guelph, said she has more than 10 patients older than 65 who are HIV-positive. In the United States, the data are more alarming. According to the Washington Post, the percentage of people over age 50 contracting HIV spiked in the past six years. In 1997, 11.6 percent of cases were seniors; in 1998, 12.7 percent were; and in 1999 13.4 percent were.

Education is key, but it remains uncharted territory for most prevention activists. "It's like you have to speak an entirely different language," said Julie Porter, health promotion educator for the local AIDS committee. The AIDS Committee of Guelph-Wellington is one of only two groups in Canada known to be targeting seniors with an education program. Planned Parenthood in Fredericton, New Brunswick, is the other.

"Generally, as a population, it's thought that people over the age of 'X' don't have sex," said Jim Truax, a Toronto-based consultant who has spoken at various international AIDS conferences about seniors and HIV. Truax said he has tried to convey the message -- to both the medical community and fellow seniors -- that seniors are still sexually active. "Doctors are not asking the right questions," he said. "They need to ask questions about drug use. Yes, there is recreational drug use among seniors."

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