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"You're giving out condoms," 82-year-old Rose Crescenzo asked with a wistful smile, "but who's going to give us a guy?"

But this was no joke.

The condom giveaway is part of an effort by New York City's Department for the Agingto educate older people about the risks of contracting the virus that causes AIDS. After the condom giveaway, free HIV testing was offered.

AIDS education of the elderly has become an important issue as antiretroviral drugs that can keep patients living into their golden years change the face of AIDS. Experts warn that ignorance about HIV among seniors can lead to new infections.

And those infections are happening. A physician from Howard University Hospital in Washington recently diagnosed unsuspected HIV in an 82-year-old.

So HIV educators are taking their message of prevention to senior centers and other locales where older people meet. They also hope to create a welcoming environment for people who have the virus.

New York City has the most HIV cases of any U.S. city -- nearly 100,000 -- and is considered a leader in AIDS education for seniors, with the City Council having budgeted $1 million toward HIV education for older people.

But smaller-scale campaigns are also under way elsewhere.

Nancy Orel, a professor of gerontology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, is organizing a workshop for seniors that will include free condoms and HIV tests.

"Unfortunately, most individuals have the perception that sex ends at, what, 32?" Orel said. "And many older adults report that when they go to see their physicians, the physicians don't ask if they're sexually active."

A study last year by the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America projected that within the next decade, the majority of HIV-infected New Yorkers will be over 50.

SOURCE: Karen Matthews, chicagotribune.com