Years, if not more than a decade, of hard living, unprotected sex and addiction to drugs and alcohol put Brian at severe risk of contracting HIV, which attacks the immune system.

He says warnings about AIDS and HIV had never really reached him when he began traveling that path. And even when it did, he figured he'd never have to worry about it. The thought of it didn't cross his mind when he became sick in 2000.

Now, his daily regimen consists of 10 large pills, eight orange and two blue - medicines designed to keep his immune system from breaking down. He's confident AIDS won't kill him.

He'll go almost wherever he's asked to speak about his life and educate counselors by allowing them to ask any questions they want. He'll listen to those just like him, comfort them, and drive them to group meetings.

World AIDS Day will be commemorated around the globe on Dec. 1. While the day is used to celebrates achievements in the worldwide battle, it also focuses on remaining challenges.

"The message has been around for a long time," said Jill Arthur, outreach and prevention specialist at the Wyoming Valley AIDS Council. "Abstinence, use condoms - the same old messages."

Advances in treatments have also resulted in "treatment optimism," Arthur worries. "People are sometimes so optimistic about the treatment, which is improved, they feel it's not such a big deal anymore. "

While hard numbers are difficult to come by, given a two-year lag in the reporting of AIDS statistics and the fact that many people go untested, those who work in AIDS and HIV prevention all say it is spreading locally.

"One of the main issues in our area is people don't believe that HIV is actually here," said Theresa Tyler-Smith, director of prevention at the American Red Cross, Wyoming Valley Chapter. "The general idea is that it's found in big cities, as opposed to smaller towns such as Wilkes-Barre."

The modes of transmission have not changed over the years. Unprotected or risky sex, sharing of needles by intravenous drug use, and the transfer of any of four bodily fluids, including blood, still come with that risk.

Yet experts say the face of HIV and AIDS has changed. An increasing number of women are contracting the HIV virus, children are becoming sexually active at increasingly earlier ages, and intravenous drug use is infiltrating all social stratas.

"We're finding a lot of professionals who are IV drug users," said Tyler-Smith. "That, historically, has not been the face we would put as an IV drug user."

Nationally, the highest rate of growth in new AIDS cases comes from the 13-19 age category. Tyler-Smith recently saw four instances of 11-year-olds in Northeastern Pennsylvania who contracted HIV from a combination of sexual behavior and IV drug use.

Rural counties are no less affected. Wayne County has the second highest percentage of HIV cases from intravenous drug use in the state, second only to Philadelphia, Tyler-Smith said.

For 2005, Pennsylvania received about $53.5 million in federal funding, of which $38 million was spent on care services for those with AIDS or HIV. Another $1.5 million was spent on housing assistance , according to Joseph Pease, director of the HIV and AIDS division at the state Department of Health.

The federal money for 2005 was down almost a full percent from the prior year. Now rumors are swirling that federal expenses for hurricane relief and the Iraq war will result in steeper decreases when the next round of funding comes through.

With limited funding to go around, the agencies tackling AIDS prevention in Northeastern Pennsylvania split up the tasks, each targeting different segments of society.

The four staff members in Tyler-Smith's office at the Red Cross, for instance, gear their efforts toward IV drug users and the homeless, men who have sex with men including those who don't identify themselves as gay, sex industry workers and women of child-bearing age.

His family stayed with him, supporting him as he came to grips with it. His activism keeps him educated about the virus. It also keeps him focused.

He's not quite sure whom he got it from, since he had multiple partners over the years. Yet he wonders what became of that person, and also whether he personally passed HIV to anyone else.

He laughs at the notion of an AIDS vaccine and questions the message it would send. Does that mean you could go out and have unprotected sex and use drugs?

You have to reach kids in grade school, he said, and funding must be available. Chemists, politicians, doctors and even clergy need to work more closely together. The message has to reach people before they walk down the wrong path, he says.

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