The Richmond AIDS Consortium, based at Virginia Commonwealth University, has more than a dozen clinical trials under way studying different aspects of HIV/AIDS care, with more studies in the pipeline. At the University of Virginia, a researcher is investigating a technique that might make developing an HIV vaccine easier. Billions of dollars have been spent in the past two decades on HIV research. One result: drugs that have added years to the life expectancy of people infected with HIV.

Virginians living with HIV/AIDS: 20,265 (through Dec. 31)
  Gender: 5,443 female,
14,822 male
  Age: (range, number) 0-12, 55; 13-19, 179; 20-29, 1,655;
30-39, 4,051; 40-49, 7,942; 50-59, 4,817; 60 and older, 1,564; unknown, 2.
  Race/ethnicity: American Indian/Alaskan Native, 18; Asian/Pacific Islander, 203 (1%); Black, 12,608 (62%); Hispanic, 1,209 (5%); White, 6,173 (30%); Unknown, 54.

HIV: human immunodeficiency virus , the virus that causes AIDS. HIV attacks the immune system by destroying CD4 positive (CD4+) T cells, a type of white blood cell that is vital to fighting off infection.
  AIDS: acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , the final stage of HIV infection. A person infected with HIV is diagnosed with AIDS when he or she has one or more opportunistic infections, such as pneumonia or tuberculosis, and has a dangerously low number of CD4+ T cells (less than 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood).

Mark Baker’s fitness routine sounds as if it could be that of any other 41-year-old approaching midlife concerned that the years ahead are lived in relative wellness. “I work out three to four days a week,“ said Baker. “I do yoga. I don’t eat a lot of fried foods. I try not to eat after 7 o’clock [p.m.]. I drink a ton of water. I haven’t smoked a cigarette in 15 years. I have never done any type of recreational drugs.“

1981: AIDS is described in an issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
  1984: AIDS identified as being caused by a human retrovirus, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
  1985: U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves first test kit to screen for antibodies to HIV.

Sept. 18: National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day
  Sept. 27: National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
  Oct. 15: National Latino AIDS Awareness Day
  Dec. 1: World AIDS Day

Rosemary Noftsinger says compassion always has been dyed deeply into her daughter Sarah Kate’s psychological fabric. Sarah Kate, said Rosemary, was this sort of child: “If you picked her up to hold her to try to make her feel better about something, she’d reach around and pat you on the back to try to make you feel better.“

One of every 84 people in Petersburg has HIV or AIDS. In Richmond, that number is one of every 91 people, and in Norfolk, it’s one of every 102 people. (The statewide rate is one in every 370 people.) These three urban areas are among the nation’s HIV and AIDS “hot spots,“ according to a group that yesterday launched a Web site that let users geographically map areas where the HIV and AIDS burden is high.