World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, shines a light on a disease that continues to spread at home and abroad despite advances in education, treatment and survivability, says Southwest Health District Health Director Dr. Jacqueline Grant.

"Great strides have been made in HIV/AIDS research and treatment, and healthcare providers have worked hard to educate the public on its causes and encourage them to avoid behaviors that increase their risk of being infected. Yet the latest data shows an estimated 53,600 new cases nationally in 2006," she said. "That's substantially higher than the previous 40,000 estimated new infections."

An estimated 33 million people are living with HIV worldwide, with roughly 1 million infected with the disease in the United States.

Of all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, HIV and AIDS have hit African Americans the hardest. Although African Americans account for less than a quarter of the U.S. population, nearly half of the people who get HIV and AIDS are black, according to the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The reasons are not directly related to race or ethnicity," Grant said, "but rather to unsafe sexual practices and risky behaviors as well as barriers limiting access to healthcare for treatment of sexually-transmitted diseases that increase the risk of HIV infection, and a false sense of security regarding personal risk."

On World AIDS Day, Public Health is emphasizing two messages: getting screened and avoiding risky behaviors, Grant said.  "It is important to know your health status, so you can take steps to protect yourself and others," she said. "The only way to know whether you are infected is to be tested for HIV. You cannot rely on symptoms alone because many people who are infected with HIV do not have symptoms for many years." One quarter of the HIV-infected persons in the United States do not know that they are infected, Grant said.

"Through your county health department, you can get confidential counseling, testing and referral services," she said. "If you are infected with HIV/AIDS, the sooner you get started on treatment, the better. New therapies are helping patients with HIV/AIDS live longer, healthier lives."

The disease is primarily spread through having unprotected sex with an infected partner, sharing contaminated needles or syringes or being exposed (fetus or infant) to HIV before or during birth or through breast-feeding, she said.