AIDS Still Kills - Spread the Word

Apparently we need to keep our fellow Latinos informed since we have the highest percentage of new cases of AIDS or HIV:

AIDS rates in the nation's Latino community are increasing and, with little notice, have reached what experts are calling a simmering public health crisis.

Though Hispanics make up about 14 percent of the U.S. population, they represented 22 percent of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses tallied by federal officials in 2006. According to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Hispanics in Washington, D.C., have the highest rate of new AIDS cases in the country.

So far, the toll of AIDS in the nation's largest and fastest growing minority population has mostly been overshadowed by the epidemic among African Americans and gay white men. Yet in major U.S. cities, as many as one in four gay Hispanic men has HIV, a rate on par with sub-Saharan Africa.

Emphasis added.  There's really no reason for this.  But this is what is allegedly going on:

Blacks still have the highest HIV rates in the country, but language difficulties, cultural barriers and, in many cases, issues of legal status make the threat in the Hispanic community unique. For those who arrived illegally, in particular, fear of arrest and deportation presents a daunting obstacle to seeking diagnosis and treatment.

Well, if it's a language barrier, lets make it clear right now:

Latino, protégete.  Usa condones de latex.  Si no lo haces, corres el riesgo de contraer AIDS SIDA.  Y el AIDS SIDA te matará a tí y a los que te lleves por el medio, sin pena ni gloria.  Protege tu vida y la de los tuyos.

Updated on 7/25/2008:
(Thanks Cai, although I think most everyone knows that AIDS is SIDA.  But just in case . . . )