Bucks County Conference Tackles The Myths And Facts About HIV
by Mark Abrams
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A sexual wellness conference in Bucks County tackled the myths and facts about HIV.
Sharita Flaherty, of the Bucks County Health Department, says one of the goals of Thursday's conference on the campus of Bucks County Community College is to get people focused on HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Flaherty says one of the critical steps in fighting the disease is for sexually active people to get tested.
"As soon as they find out their status, the sooner they get on medications, and they can have a good, healthy life. It's just the challenges, helping people to understand that without medications, yeah, it can look like 1980. And people can get very sick, and people are very sick and are dying," said Flaherty.
She says HIV infection is no longer a death sentence, but a chronic illness.
Conference attendees also learned about preventing transmission and combating the stigma of living with the virus.
