Florida's Abstinence Program

The state of Florida has the abstinence website It's Great to Wait. The site has the online quiz "How To Say No". The title is a reminder of Nancy Reagan's unsuccessful anti-drug program. The STD page information is a site to behold. The HIV information is misleading.

Symptoms: There are no standard symptoms of HIV infection or of AIDS. With time HIV can weaken an infected person's immune symptom and make them more susceptible to infections.

The statement of "no standard symptoms" is not inaccurate. The problem is it fails to inform teens what to look for in they are infected.. The usual symptoms is flu-like illnesses.

The first thing that happens after infection is that many people develop a flu-like illness. This may be severe enough to look like glandular fever with swollen glands in the neck and armpits, tiredness, fever and night sweats. Some of those white cells are dying, virus is being released, and for the first time the body is working hard to make correct antibodies. At this stage the blood test will usually become positive as it picks up the tell-tale antibodies. This process of converting the blood from negative to positive is called `sero-conversion'. Most people do not realise what is happening, although when they later develop AIDS they look back and remember it clearly. Most people have produced antibodies in about twelve weeks.

The site does not inform kids of the difference between HIV and AIDS. HIV-1 is the early stages of the virus killing T-cells. The AIDS virus attacks organs and increases the chances of cancer. Florida doesn't even give teens the information they need to know if they are at risk.