From BlackVoices:

According to scientists, HIV research is undergoing a “renaissance.” Recent developments can lead to a plethora of new drugs to fight a disease that has crippled the black community. The most interesting part of it all is that much of the progress has come from the body of a black man.

The U.S. government recently stated that its scientists have found three new antibodies to fight the disease, one of which can neutralize 91 percent of HIV strains. That’s more than any antibody has produced thus far. The antibodies don’t cure HIV, but they can be used in powerful new vaccines.

For black people in the United States, the rate of HIV infection is reaching epidemic proportions. Half of all Americans infected with HIV are African Americans. Washington DC is among the worst cities in the US, where 6.5 percent of all African American men are infected with the disease.

The Center for Disease Control also estimates that 39 percent of black men and 48 percent of black women are infected with genital herpes, so the spread of Sexually Transmitted Diseases is quite rampant.

The best recommendation in all this: Get tested and make sure your partner is getting tested. The days of simply believing that someone is clean because of how they look are over (not that there ever really was such a time, but everything is relative). Nowadays, the most attractive people can be the ones most likely to have been places and done things that you don’t know much about.

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