Experts recently told the Senate Committee on Aging that a growing segment of older Americans with HIV/AIDS could provide a new reservoir for the spread of the disease.

Infection rates are not increasing among either older or younger people, according to health experts, but widespread antiretroviral use in U.S. patients has greatly extended their lifespans. Today in the United States, 28 percent of HIV/AIDS patients are over age 50 and by 2015, the percentage will increase to 50, said Sen. Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.).

CDC figures from 32 states show the number of persons over age 50 with HIV/AIDS rose from 40,000 in 2000 to more than 67,000 in 2003. Older blacks are 10-15 times more likely than older whites to be infected.

"One of the challenges in people 50 and older is the mistaken belief that they're not at risk," Robert S. Jannsen, MD, director of CDC's division of HIV/AIDS prevention, told the committee. He said older patients, raised before "safe sex" became a buzzword among youth, are less likely to see the importance of using condoms, and the fact that most women over 50 are not concerned with pregnancy may make them less likely to consider condom use.

Smith said stereotypes and lack of awareness about HIV/AIDS are also challenges. Doctors may be reluctant to think of older patients as sexually active. Studies suggest doctors only ask 30-40 percent of younger patients about sexual activity, and that rate is almost surely lower for patients over 50, Jannsen noted.

Smith, head of the committee, said he will probably insert provisions for improved HIV/AIDS education for older persons when Congress takes up the reauthorization of the Ryan White AIDS Care Act later this year.

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