But data from the CDC from 2008-2010 shows that there has been a steady increase in HIV infections in older Americans, 65 years old and older.
About 10-11% of newly diagnosed US HIV cases per year occur in older adults. That comes out to about 5,000 to 6,000 new cases of HIV in this age range per year. And, for reasons outlined below, there may be many more cases that aren’t diagnosed and reported.
There are a number of ideas as to why this is happening.
One thought is that since the chance of a woman getting pregnant at this age is infinitesimally small, these couples don’t use condoms. Thus the risk of contracting a disease that can spread sexually, like HIV, goes up.
Also, as the population ages, spouses die, move to nursing facilities or divorce. This can leave the other partner free to become sexually active again, this time outside of the monogamous relationship. The newly sexually active spouse may not be used to using condoms and, if a relationship begins, condoms aren’t even mentioned. Additionally, many doctors and other health care providers don’t think of the 65+ age group as being sexually active. Therefore, they spend little or no time talking to them about STDs, safer sex and other sex-related topics.
