For over ten years Brothers United has provided high quality, comprehensive prevention and care programs in a welcoming environment. We seek to improve the overall health of the Indianapolis community, through education and training, outreach and advocacy, prevention and research. Today, Brothers United accomplishes this mission through a variety of prevention education programs; support groups and training workshops; and a semi annual “Prevention Jam”. Brothers United offers a wide range of programmatic supports that are culturally appropriate and reflective of the needs and interests of our community.
HIV Testing
The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) strongly encourages people who are at risk for HIV to be tested regularly. Whether or not to take the HIV antibody test, however, is a personal decision that only you can make for yourself. Here are some things you may wish to consider:
HIV & AIDS
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Like other viruses, HIV attacks cells in the body. But what makes HIV different is that the immune system can never fully get rid of HIV because the virus attacks the immune system itself--the very mechanism that would normally get rid of a virus.
AIDS severely weakens the body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers. People diagnosed with AIDS may have opportunistic infections, which are caused by microbes such as viruses or bacteria that usually do not make healthy people sick.
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. It has often been called “the great imitator” because so many of the signs and symptoms are indistinguishable from those of other diseases.
Hepatitis
Hepatitis means "Inflammation of the liver". There are seven known types of hepatitis, but it is usually caused by one of three viruses: Hepatitis A, B or C. The effects of each virus are different. In some cases viral Hepatitis can lead to cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), which can lead to serious life-threatening diseases including cancer of the liver. People can die from Hepatitis.
Gonorrhea
Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Gonorrhea is caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a bacterium that can grow and multiply easily in the warm, moist areas of the reproductive tract, including the cervix (opening to the womb), uterus (womb), and fallopian tubes (egg canals) in women, and in the urethra (urine canal) in women and men. The bacterium can also grow in the mouth, throat, eyes, and anus.
Chlamydia
Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the bacterium, Chlamydia trachomatis, which can damage a woman's reproductive organs. Even though symptoms of chlamydia are usually mild or absent, serious complications that cause irreversible damage, including infertility, can occur "silently" before a woman ever recognizes a problem. Chlamydia also can cause discharge from the penis of an infected man.
Genital Herpes
Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the herpes simplex viruses type 1 (HSV-1) or type 2 (HSV-2). Most genital herpes is caused by HSV-2. Most individuals have no or only minimal signs or symptoms from HSV-1 or HSV-2 infection. When signs do occur, they typically appear as one or more blisters on or around the genitals or rectum. The blisters break, leaving tender ulcers (sores) that may take two to four weeks to heal the first time they occur. Typically, another outbreak can appear weeks or months after the first, but it almost always is less severe and shorter than the first outbreak. Although the infection can stay in the body indefinitely, the number of outbreaks tends to decrease over a period of years.
Safe Sex
When thinking about "safe" sex, it is important to realize that risk from various sexual practices often falls along a continuum, rather than having a clear safe vs. not safe boundary. Throughout this discussion, we will refer to "safer" sex, with the thought that by placing more or fewer "boundaries" around a particular sexual act, it can be made more safe or less safe.