A study conducted by the Center of Disease Control determined about 2.3 out of every 1000 college students nationwide are HIV-positive.

Dr. Robert Patterson, director of the ISU Health Center, said the national statistics are close to HIV-positive numbers here at ISU.

For example, in an ISU lecture with 500 students, at least one student may be HIV-positive. ISU has nearly 25,000 students, meaning about 58 students may be HIV-positive.

Every month 80 to 100 people are anonymously tested for the HIV virus at the Student Health Center. However, the number of people who are at risk may be considerably higher. Many students do not consider their sexual activities risky.

Pam Carnine, director of the Story County AIDS Coalition, said those who do not think they are at risk pose the greatest threat — to themselves and others.

Carnine said that serial monogamy is the most likely cause of AIDS at ISU.

For example, if a couple becomes involved in a serious relationship, they may chose to have sex. When the relationship ends, the individuals may become involved in another serious relationship, and the cycle is repeated. Soon, there is a chain of dangerous activity.

Carnine said since statistics show that many ISU students have sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s), the evidence is there that students are engaging in activities that invite HIV.

The number of people diagnosed with AIDS, multiplied by 10, equals an average number of people who may have HIV, she said.

Most of Carnine’s clients are ages 20 to 30. Taking into account that HIV has an incubation period of 10 years, many people are contracting the disease in their teens and twenties.

Still, many don’t believe AIDS can harm them, Carnine said.

Carnine has had six clients, all ISU students, faculty or alumni, who have died from AIDS in the last two years.

Carnine and Jane Padilla, an AIDS education coordinator for the coalition, said that Iowans are dreaming.

AIDS is immune to Iowa, but Iowans are not immune to AIDS, they said.

People are not willing to accept that AIDS is a threat, but Carnine said everyone diagnosed with the virus will have to face reality, because “penicillin won’t be able to cure it.”