DICKINSON COUNTY -- Young adults ages 13 to 24 make up 26 percent of new HIV infections every year -- making them one in every four new infections.
A vital signs report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reveals that 60 percent of them are completely unaware.
In a telebriefing about the report Thomas Frieden, the director of the CDC, says "this is our future generation" and "the bottom line is that every month 1,000 youth are becoming infected with HIV."
Philip Hefner is an HIV and Aids advocate in Dickinson County who says it's an alarming issue. Only two years ago he had a 15-year-old girl who tested positive that never came back for her results.
"One of the things that I’m hoping is that she did find her results out and that she did get the help that she needed," explains Hefner. "If people aren't getting tested, and they don't know their status, they're spreading it with whoever they slept with."
Joyce Ziegler of the Dickinson-Iron District Health Department says although the infection rates in the Upper Peninsula remain low she constantly urges our youth to get tested.
"We're always out there educating and providing information... I guess that's a job that never ends," insists Ziegler. "It's very important to remember that many people who have HIV are unaware that they are infected."
Anyone that believes they are at risk should contact their health provider, or even the health department, for testing.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWLUC