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- Just because you are drawing a pension
does not mean you are free from the threat of Aids.
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- The over-50s, who account for one in
10 Aids cases in the US, are the latest focus of HIV prevention campaigns
in the States.
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- In a nation with a high divorce rate,
people are living longer, and many seniors are back on the dating scene.
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- And the introduction of the impotence
pill Viagra has given some a more active sex life.
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- Sue Saunders is a perfectly ordinary
grandma.
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- She is a lively 66-year-old enjoying
the sun in Florida's Fort Lauderdale, but she has been living with the
extraordinary.
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- Some 10 years ago, she found out she
was infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.
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- "I found out the man I was madly
in love with had Aids,'' she said.
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- Her doctor did not want to test her for
HIV, many of her friends just vanished, and even her children were embarrassed
and ashamed.
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- "All my kids said, 'Mum you're not
promiscuous. How can it happen to you?' But it can happen to anyone,"
she said.
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- Howard Warren is a 61-year-old Presbyterian
minister.
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- He is gay, but for decades he has been
scared to admit it. He found it agonising to start to talk about Aids.
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- "It took me two months to even start
telling people. I felt panic, fear," he said.
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- Safe sex for seniors
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- In areas of Florida, where thousands
of elderly Americans retire to the beaches, one in six Aids cases are over
50 and the rate of infection is growing.
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- To help educate the age group about the
disease, the state is hosting forums on safe sex at day care centres for
the elderly.
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- It wants to re-educate those who have
seen it all, including women like Bessy Williams who grew up before the
days of explicit sex education.
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- "When I was little we just didn't
talk about sex," she said.
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- In a gathering dominated by walking sticks
and zimmer frames, the free condoms being given out by the state of Florida
were a hit.
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- The group appears open to the message
that safe sex is relevant to everyone, and taking the HIV test should not
be seen as a stigma.
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