Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 1, 1993                   TAG: 9312020262
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SPEAKER SAYS NEWS MIXED ON AIDS FRONT

But there it was: "What is the difference between AIDS and HIV?"

Such questions go to show the educational work is never done in the battle against the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, say educators.

Today is World AIDS Day, recognized for the first time in Blacksburg. Tuesday, the University of Maryland's health education director, Dr. Margaret Bridwell, spoke to a gathering at Virginia Tech about AIDS on campus.

The news is mixed. Students seem to be making some efforts to deal with the epidemic, taking actions such as getting tested when they enter a new relationship, she said.

But gauging HIV infection on campus is difficult, she said. Ten years can pass before HIV blows up into AIDS, so college students are often too young to be sick with AIDS.

"We suspect people who are reasonably sure they are already positive probably are not coming to us," said Bridwell.

And the same thing is probably true at Tech, said Dr. Elizabeth Alexander, director of Student Health Services at Tech.

The good news is that students pass through college during a "window" in their lives that means education is possible, said Bridwell.

Efforts must be aimed at controlling drinking, which lowers inhibitions and leads people to sleep with partners they otherwise would not. Self-esteem also must be raised, especially among young women who are bombarded with sexual images that convey an everybody's-doing-it message, she said.

A late '80s study by the federal Centers for Disease Control showed nine cases per 1,000 as the average on 19 campuses.

Anonymous testing has been offered just recently at Tech, where three students are being treated for HIV at the clinic, said Alexander.

But the majority "never relate that `It can happen to me,' " she said. "It's a problem we have with a lot of health issues."

The same problem seems to apply to the New River Valley, an area that considers itself rural, and therefore removed, from problems like AIDS, said Jeff Trollinger, secretary for the New River AIDS Coalition.

But 40 people have AIDS in the valley, and the coalition is caring for 15, he said.

"We don't really get a full reading of what's going on in the New River Valley," said Trollinger, who added that many transient students may be getting tested elsewhere.

Still, one statistic points to a growing problem.

"When I joined the AIDS Coalition five years ago, we had $300 and it lasted a year," he said. "We're projected $15,000 by next year. We're not keeping up with demand by any stretch of the imagination."

Tonight, World AIDS Day will be commemorated at 7 p.m. in McBryde Hall, Room 100. Steve Shepard, an educator for the state Health Department, and a 25-year-old man from Blacksburg who has HIV will both speak. The program will conclude with a candlelight vigil, with participants walking from McBryde Hall to the steps of Burruss Hall.