Drug abuse and AIDS: how young people are at risk.

Dear Teacher:

More than ever before, teens today are at risk for the deadly blood-borne illnesses AIDS and hepatitis C. We know for a fact that drug abuse is the single largest factor driving this troubling trend.

How is that so? We have long understood that blood-borne viruses are spread by behaviors related to drug use, such as sharing contaminated needles. In addition, research indicates that many drugs of abuse can affect judgment, which means that teens under the influence of drugs are more at risk for behaviors that can lead to the transmission of blood-borne viruses. Perhaps even more disturbing, though, is another fact also at play: Drug abuse causes long-term changes to the parts of the brain responsible for decision making.

In this installment of HEADS UP: Real News About Drugs and Your Body, we give students the facts about the connection between teen drug abuse and blood-borne illnesses. We also explain the science of AIDS and hepatitis C and show how research is illuminating new ways to fight and understand these diseases and the disease of addiction. Finally, we remind students that when they are armed with information that will enable them to make smart choices, they are in a unique position to fight the spread of HIV and hepatitis C--creating a safer world for themselves and their peers.

Thank you for bringing this enormously important scientific information to your students. You are truly a key player in the fight against addiction and disease.

Sincerely,

Nora D. Volkow, M.D. Director of NIDA 

Lesson 2: Heads Up: The Rising HIV Rates Among Girls and Women

OBJECTIVE Students use scientific data to analyze and draw conclusions about the effects of the worldwide AIDS epidemic on women.

NATIONAL SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS 

Science as Inquiry; Science in Personal and Social Perspective

WHAT YOU WILL DO

* Tell students that an epidemiologist is a scientist who studies epidemics. Explain that one important way these scientists learn about epidemics is by examining data that show who is developing a particular illness. Studying these statistics and the way they change over time helps scientists figure out the best ways to fight epidemics. Generate discussion by asking students: "Why does knowing who gets a disease help epidemiologists formulate plans to fight the illness?"

* Tell students they are now going to look at a table. The table compares the number of HIV infections among girls and women in 10 regions of the world in 2002 and 2004.

* Distribute Reproducible 2. Have students complete the reproducible.

* Wrap up the lesson by asking students: "Why does looking at statistics on a table or graph make it easier to see patterns?" and "What other information and statistics would help AIDS policy-makers figure out how to fight the epidemic?"