New Study Shows High Rate of HIV/AIDS In Augusta Area

A new interactive online map shows more than 7 percent of people living in Richmond and Burke counties have the HIV virus.

According to the study's authors at the National Minority Quality Forum, the 13-county East Central Health District has the third highest number of reported AIDS cases in the state.

The new database gives a closer look at Georgia's infection rates because it breaks government records of HIV/AIDS cases down by county. That’s something that state reports don’t do.

Sandra Wimberly is a spokesperson for the East Central Health District which includes Richmond and Burke counties. She says that the fear of being seen at a testing facility might cause some to forgo being tested, especially in tight-knit communities.

"When you have smaller counties with less population and everybody knows everybody….there’s more stigma associated with smaller areas or rural counties."

Officials say that 79 percent of the people who reported having HIV or AIDS are African American. Of the 17-hundred infected men nearly half were infected through sex with men.

National H.I.V. testing day is this Saturday.

Free H.I.V. tests will be available throughout the Augusta area and across the state.

Senate Passes Bill Requiring HIV Testing in Prisons

The state Senate passed a bill today that requires HIV testing for inmates before being released from state prisons.

Right now, Georgia law already requires HIV testing when inmates enter the prison system.

But Democratic Senator Kasim Reed says he wants to protect people who are around those infected with the virus once released from jail. He says knowledge is power.

"The data suggests that when people know their status, they change their behavior."

But some lawmakers, like Republican Senator John Douglas, question whether testing inmates who go back into the community will protect others.

"Once these people are released from prison, there is no, there is nothing to force them to tell their partner that they have HIV."

The AIDS tests, which cost about $4.00, would not be required unless the state decides to fund them. The bill now goes to the House.

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