HARLINGEN — The numbers are in, and they’re rather surprising.
The Valley AIDS Council has finished compiling the number of new HIV infections in 2015. Across the four-county area last year, HIV infected 189 people.
The number indicates a spike in the number of HIV infections, said Oscar Lopez, director of education and prevention. In 2014, there were 247 new cases, but the count came from a much broader area.
The majority of new cases in 2015 fell into two age groups: young people between the ages of 13 and 24, and then older people, age 55 and older. The majority of cases were in Hidalgo and Cameron counties, Lopez said.
Such drastically-separate age groups at first glance can seem rather baffling. However, Lopez explained it all comes down to AIDS education.
“Those of us in our 30s and 40s had AIDS education,” Lopez said.
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