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Hundreds of southwest Georgians are exposed to the HIV/AIDS virus each year. 

As part of HIV/AIDS Awareness Month, ASU Students learned ways to decrease those numbers today with the help of a former U.S. Surgeon General.  Albany State University invited Dr. Joycelyn Elders to speak with students about this incurable disease. Elders says safe sex is the best sex.  Elders also educated the students about sexual transmitted diseases.  In the Southwest Health District, which in includes 14 surrounding counties, nearly 4,300 cases were reported in 2007, over 2,000 in Dougherty County alone.  Elders says the risk of acquiring AIDS increases if you inherit an STD.

Elders said, “It’s called a sexual transmitted disease because it’s related to having sex, be it vaginal sex, oral sex, or anal sex.  If you have one STD, you have a three times increase risk of getting AIDS.”