AIDS and HIV infections are on the climb. The numbers in Maine aren’t great, and they mirror a national trend that points to a more casual and dangerous attitude about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases than held in the last decade.

Cases of the terminal disease increased 2.2 percent nationally in 2002, the first increase in the United States since 1993. So far this year, 28 new cases have been reported in Maine. That’s up from 21 reports during the same time in 2002. There are about 1,200 people in this state of 1.2 million people who have been diagnosed with either HIV or AIDS.

At the peak of the disease’s destructive rampage in the United States, there were constant reminders of the price for unsafe sexual practices. As treatments have improved and allowed the infected to survive and lead somewhat normal lives, the terrible dread of AIDS and the wasting away that characterized many AIDS deaths has faded from view.

The disease is growing most quickly in the gay and bisexual communities, where rates increased by more than 7 percent in 2001 and 2002. If there is good news, the rate of AIDS deaths declined almost 6 percent last year.

Even while treatments are effective at forestalling the disease’s progress, economic strain has cut the access the poor have to the expensive drugs that slow HIV’s development into full-blown AIDS. The treatments, themselves, aren’t fairy tale solutions that automatically restore health and vitality. There are often dangerous side effects and complications, including kidney and heart disease.

The disease continues its terminal march.

When AIDS reached its most devastating levels in the United States, the signs of its deadly touch were everywhere. The deaths were horrible and reached across gender, age, sexual orientation and economic lines. Few of us were untouched. We knew someone, we saw someone, we were related to someone who would never get better, never be whole again.

Things are better now, and the disease has moved back underground. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that as many as 25 percent of those infected don’t know it and that four Americans become infected every hour.

Ultimately, the responsibility for preventing this disease’s spread falls to the individual. Practice safe sex, get tested if you participate in risky sexual behavior and remember there is no cure. Out of sight, out of mind is no excuse.
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Fading tribute


The patriotic and loving gesture of hanging yellow ribbons on light poles and trees in the Twin Cities was a welcome sign of support for our troops shipping out so many months ago.

Those bright, cheery ribbons have since faded. Some are bleached white from the sun; all are hanging limp from wind and rain. Some have fallen off and are now crushed in the street; all have lost their luster.

Ribbons hung in pride are now fading tributes that should be removed or replaced.

Although a number of soldiers have returned from Iraq and are safely back with their families, local troops remain overseas. They don’t deserve the disregard apparent in the forgotten ribbons.
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