Thanks to modern-day medicine, more than 80 percent of senior citizens are having sex at least once a month.

The generation that brought free love into the world is now facing a growing problem. Studies show senior citizens are the fastest-growing age group contracting STDs.

“I do think the older generation is also a little less receptive to using devices like condoms,” said Dr. Daron Farris of GHS Medical Center.

There were more than 2,500 cases of syphilis among adults ages 45 to 65 in 2010 — that’s up from 900 a decade earlier.

Nearly 27 percent of people living with AIDS in America are 50 or older.
They are people like Sue Saunders, who at 73 is the new, more mature face of AIDS. She contracted HIV from her boyfriend when she was 56.  She’s appeared on talk shows and before senior groups in South Florida warning of the dangers of unprotected sex.

During the last decade, AIDS cases among the over-50 crowd soared from 16,000 in 1995 to 90,000 in 2003 — a 500 percent increase.  AIDS activists say that due to Viagra and similar drugs, older Americans are sexually active like never before. That’s a message Saunders says she has the toughest time getting across to older men.

But older women also share some responsibility. Many who’ve passed menopause don’t use protection because they won’t get pregnant.

“I have several patients, women in their late 50s who can’t tell their children,” said Sally L. Hodder, executive vice chair and director of HIV Programs at the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School in Newark. “They wouldn’t know how to explain it.”

Consider a 76-year-old grandmother from Irvington. The man she dated for years tiptoed outside their relationship seven years ago and turned her life upside down. Our Irvington grandmother lost over 60 pounds in a year, dropping from 160 to 96 pounds before doctors at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark tested her for the HIV/AIDS virus. Her T-cells, the ones that protect the body from infection, are up. So is her weight at 146 pounds. Vegetables never tasted better. She hopes seniors use protection, something she doesn’t worry about anymore. She’s finished with intimacy.

“I’m 65 years old, a widow, a friend, a grandmother, and yes, I am HIV positive,” said Anna Fowlkes, an advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention and a motivational speaker.

When Fowlkes was 59, she began noticing unusual chronic fatigue and became worried that something was wrong. She decided to go to the doctor and was tested for HIV/AIDS.

“Getting infected as a senior citizen opened my eyes that HIV is still prevalent, and somebody needed to speak out,” Fowlkes said. “It looks like your grandmother, it’s your next door neighbor, the person sitting next to you in class. There is no look.”

Jane Fowler is a 68-year-old retired journalist in Kansas City, Mo. After her 23-year marriage ended in divorce, Fowler was nervous about dating until she started seeing a male friend she’d known for more than 30 years. During a romantic New Year’s Eve, she decided to brave more than their usual kisses and caresses. Fowler founded HIV Wisdom for Older Women, a nonprofit advocacy organization based in Kansas City that reaches out to infected seniors.

Across the United States, as infection rates escalate, the network of senior female AIDS activists is also growing. In Austin, Texas, Mary Moreno serves as an advisor for Women Rising Project, an HIV program that she co-founded. In New York City, Brenda Lee Curry runs an HIV support group called Copasetic Women. In Baltimore, Marilyn Burnett speaks about AIDS at churches and community centers.

“We tell seniors that they may not have control over cancer, diabetes, arthritis and the other ailments that come with old age,” says Burnett, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1991. “But we tell them that this disease is one that is preventable.”

When they speak to other senior women, Burnett and her colleagues point out that women of a certain age are at especially high risk of contracting HIV and AIDS.

Menopause can lead to vaginal dryness, contributing to abrasions and small tears during sex that boost the chance of HIV transmission. With weight loss, fatigue, skin rashes and other HIV symptoms mimicking those of old age, many older women are not diagnosed until they have full-blown AIDS.

With their immune systems compromised by age, older women can have trouble fighting off pneumonia and other secondary infections. Since many have been socialized to think of sex as embarrassing or secretive, many are reticent about their condition. This puts them in greater jeopardy because they are less likely to be coaxed and prodded by friends and family into treatment.