Every 9 and a half minutes someone in the United States is infected with HIV.
"It is a real issue in this state, it's a real issue in this country, it continues to be and it's a real issue for us in Ingham county" said Linda Vail.
In the last three years Mid-Michigan has seen more people test positive, "we had 22 new cases of HIV diagnosed in 2015 in Ingham county" Vail said.
"We have a little over 500 people living with HIV in Ingham county" she said.
Vail says proper medication and counseling has made living with the virus easier and that patients who used to take 10 to 20 pills daily now rely on just one.
"It doesn't ever completely go away but it can be non-detectable which means you function fairly normally," she said. "It used to be you found out you have HIV and that was it. Eventually you were gonna die a whole lot younger than you should. That's not the case anymore."
The health officer says the stigma of being infected is what is hurting more people than anything.
She tells FOX 47 News, that some people would rather not get tested and ignore it than be informed.
"There is a label on it as being bad or being associated with inappropriate behavior, activities or things like that" said Vail. "That people avoid getting tested because of the whole stigma associated with having the disease."
That's why every June 27th, Ingham County Health Department and other health agencies around state and country encourage people to get tested and know their status.
"National day of testing is really about breaking down those barriers and stigma. Providing free and anonymous testing to create access" Vail said. "Also, to make sure that people do know their status."
