Education and awareness are the most efficient antidotes to HIV, AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases – incurable health issues that exist in the world.

The Student Union Board sponsored an AIDS awareness event Wednesday night in the South Ballroom of the Memorial Union which included a presentation by Katie Noynaert, disease prevention education prevention education coordinator for the American Red Cross central Iowa chapter. Noynaert stressed that education and prevention may be well-known, but the stigma surrounding sexually transmitted diseases has prevented effective cessation of STIs, HIV and AIDS.

“HIV is a virus, not a bacterial disease. Once you have it, it’s yours for life,” she said. “You can’t die from HIV. You can’t die from AIDS. You die from the infection you get because of AIDS.”

Noynaert said 40,000 people will be diagnosed with HIV this year in America.

She also said HIV traditionally attacks human white blood cells called T-4 helper cells, which weakens the immune system. After transmission, there is a three-to-six month “window period” where someone cannot be tested for and diagnosed with HIV, but transmission is still possible.

After that, there is a “honeymoon period” during which someone’s antibodies start to fight off the disease. When white blood cells reach low levels, then the HIV infection becomes AIDS.

The production of antibodies can be tested for, which allows the diagnosis of HIV, she said. The disease is transmissible through semen, vaginal fluids, blood and breast milk, but not from public toilet seats, kissing or physical contact, which Noynaert said are all common misconceptions.

Noynaert said 25 percent of teenage girls ages 14 to 19 have a sexually transmitted disease and 25 percent of sexually active women will get an STI during their lifetime. According to tests conducted by the Red Cross, 43 people in Story County, college students excluded, have HIV.

“A person can have [an STI] but don’t know they do, which is the dangerous part about HIV,” she said. “The stigma is so strong about getting tested that people will go on living with this disease.”

Noynaert said the only ways to be truly protected from getting an STI, HIV or AIDS is to obtain an education about sexually transmitted diseases, practice sexual abstinence and correctly use condoms.

She said condoms work 99 percent of the time, but improper storage of condoms, such as in a glove box or wallet, can degrade their effectiveness.

“Every one dollar spent in prevention saves four dollars in treatment,” she said. “The more you talk about it, the more you think about it, the more you can do for prevention of the disease.”