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Young people listen up: HIV, AIDS are still killers By ALBERTO ENRIQUEZ Local AIDS activists called on young people to be a force for change Tuesday in fighting a disease that has killed 62 Jackson County residents since 1983. "This disease is not over," said Linda Berry, who is herself HIV-positive. "People who are now most at risk are 10 to 24 years of age." Berry and others supporting the Rogue Valley HIV/AIDS Network held a vigil at the Medford Congregational Church Tuesday evening to commemorate those who have died of AIDS and a news conference in Alba Park to raise public awareness of the continuing epidemic. The human immunodeficiency virus -- HIV -- causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome -- AIDS -- by destroying the body's natural defenses against infection and disease. Although men who have sex with men and intravenous drug users remain by far the largest groups already affected by the virus, several other groups are increasing more rapidly. The virus is spreading rapidly among the young, who fail to avoid risky behaviors, apparently because they incorrectly believe a cure has been found or is on the horizon, Berry said. The reality is far less rosy. No cure has been found. Developing a vaccine to the fast-mutating virus has proved far more difficult than anyone imagined. Treatment with experimental anti-viral drugs and protease inhibitors has helped the very ill, but not everyone can take these drugs. Those who do suffer severe side effects. No one has taken these drugs for more than a few years, so the long-term consequences are unknown. "In Oregon, young people in rural areas have a higher incidence than the country as a whole," Berry said. "That's because kids feel very safe in their own circle of friends, then as they grow up, someone steps out of that circle either through sex or IV drug use, and there is a very high incidence of premarital sex in rural communities." Berry said the only way to stop AIDS is for the young to stop practicing risky behaviors. "They need to think before they have sex -- not after," she said. Since 1983, 118 cases of AIDS have been diagnosed in Jackson County. Of those, 62 cases -- nearly 53 percent -- have proved fatal. Jackson County Health HIV/AIDS coordinator Al Solochier estimates that 400 to 800 county residents may be carrying the HIV virus. Nationally, AIDS is the sixth leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds. Half of the new cases occur among those under 25. Half of that half, or one-quarter of all new cases, occur among those 22 or younger. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA