 
March 25, 2009
Prince George’s County Ranks 2nd in Maryland for STIs
Prince George’s County, Maryland, continues to have the second-highest rate of both sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS cases in the state, The Washington Post reports. The county trails Baltimore in both categories.
According to county health officer Donald Shell, the most recent available data show 5,240 reported HIV/AIDS cases in 2007. Shell attributes the high caseload in Prince George’s County to its proximity to Washington, DC, where at least 3 percent of the total population is HIV positive.
Shell added that a lack of access to health care also contributes to the county’s high number of HIV and STI cases; about 151,000 residents lack health insurance, and about 102,000 are on Medicaid. Another alarming factor, Shell said, is a lax attitude toward safe-sex practices among heterosexuals, particularly young people.
“They don’t care about condom usage or about their partners,” he said, citing his own experiences speaking on college campuses. “There is a blatant disregard that anything is going to happen to them.”
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