© 2026 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.

Elderly and AIDS

Many older women are part of a generation that never discuss sex or sexually transmitted diseases. And many older homosexuals never experienced "coming out". That means that they and their partners are often hit by AIDS unaware. But age confers no special protection against the disease. And NPR's Wendy Schmelzer reports that more than 10% of the cases of AIDS in this country occurs in people over 50 years of age.

Copyright 1996 NPR

Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.