Florida: Manatee County's HIV/AIDS Outreach Still an Uphill Battle

With more local residents testing to learn their status, Manatee County's HIV ranking has gone from 13th to 10th among Florida's 67 counties in the past 12 months. From July 1, 1997, when tracking began, through Aug. 31, 2005, Manatee has logged 491 HIV cases. From 1981 through Aug. 31, 2005, Manatee has reported 942 AIDS cases; 475 of these have died of complications from the disease.

"We are seeing more and more infections every week. Every day it is someone new," said Kristen Pate, HIV/AIDS outreach coordinator for the Manatee County Health Department.

Pate's frustration at Manatee's caseload echoes the concerns of Tom Liberti, chief of the Florida Department of Health's Bureau of HIV/AIDS. "Florida has one of the largest testing and counseling programs in the nation. Yet Florida is still third in the nation in HIV/AIDS," he said. While outreach workers have tested more than 600,000 Floridians in the past two years, Liberti wants more doctors and clinics to offer the test routinely.

And there is the concurrent problem of STD infections. Manatee ranks 16th among Florida counties in the rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea. In Manatee, people ages 15-24 account for 72 percent of chlamydia cases and 62 percent of gonorrhea infections.

Pate and colleagues take their prevention message to every corner of the community, speaking to students and civic clubs and urging sex workers and drug users to get tested and protect others.

Back to other news for December 13, 2005