Sue Saunders, 73, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., bakes a sheet of cookies (left) and organizes her daily HIV medication regimen.
Photos by Katja Heinemann/Aurora Select

The image of a grandmother living with HIV in the 1980s was unheard of. Not impossible. Simply unheard of.

Older people didn't get AIDS, we thought. It wasn't an older person’s disease; it was “theirs”—the gays, the blacks, the reckless young folks. Youth-targeted prevention campaigns weren't aimed toward older generations.

And a diagnosis often meant a death sentence.

No longer.

About 24 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS are 50 and older, up from 17 percent in 2001, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Why are the numbers increasing? People are getting older. Through medical advances, AIDS has become a treatable chronic condition, which has made it possible for many HIV-infected persons to live longer.

The rules have also changed. People are re-entering the dating world at an older age and they’re less likely to practice safe sex and more reluctant to be tested. Consider this sobering stat: 15 percent of all new HIV/AIDS cases occur in persons age 50 years and older.

So, yes, the face of AIDS has changed. It reflects grandmothers and grandfathers, young, old and in between. It is the face of America.

— Tina Johnson-Marcel

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It's easy for most of us to forget that, not too long ago, an AIDS diagnosis meant certain death. Sue Kehler remembers. She was one of dozens of people in the 1993 film Philadelphia who had the disease or were HIV positive. More >>

HIV/AIDS Prevention Pushed for the 50+

As growing numbers of older adults are diagnosed and living with HIV/AIDS, prevention and counseling services now target the 50+ crowd. More >>

Resources:

• World AIDS Day 2008 (Source: World AIDS Campaign)

• AIDS Health Illustrated Encyclopedia (Source: A.D.A.M.)

• HIV/AIDS among Persons Age 50 and Older (Source: CDC)

• HIV infection Health Illustrated Encyclopedia (Source: A.D.A.M.)