For 22 years a fairly unknown law has barred HIV-positive foreigners from traveling and immigrating to the U.S. Last year Congress voted to repeal the restrictions as part of a package of AIDS reforms proposed by President George W. Bush.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to make a decision on the proposal which would remove HIV from the list of diseases that can bar entry and do away with HIV testing as part of medical exams for permanent resident and, in some cases, travel visas.

"We're trying to end the stigma and the discriminatory practice for a disease that doesn't warrant exclusion for coming into this country," said Dr. Martin Cetron, director of the CDC's Divison of Global Migration and Quarantine. "We have to appreciate this is not a threat we face from abroad."

Immigration critics do not agree and express fear that a lifting of the ban could allow an average of 4,275 HIV-infected people into the country annually. The major concern is that tax payers will have to cover the lifetime medical costs, which the CDC estimates would be $94 million for those admitted during the first year. Others are concerned that HIV-positive visitors and immigrants will spread the disease.

The travel and immigration ban was first enacted by Congress in 1987, and upheld in 1993, at a time when AIDS was believed to be a death sentence and people thought it might be spread through casual contact like kissing or sharing a towel. The past two decades of research and experience have proved these fears false.

In fact, HIV has become a manageable, chronic condition that can be controlled with drugs so that many patients can live a normal lifespan.

As it stands now, diseases that require exclusion include HIV, active tuberculosis, infectious gonorrhea, syphilis and infectious leprosy.

In more HIV/AIDS-related news, a new Internet data map offers a first-of-its-kind, county-level look at HIV cases in the U.S. and finds the infection rates tend to be highest in the South.

Many of the areas with the highest rates of HIV — that is, the highest proportion of people with the AIDS-causing virus — are in the South, according to the data map.

What can you do?

• Take action to end the ban by adding your name to the petition.
• Check out what Do Something Award Winner and HIV-positive Marvelyn Brown is doing to educate young people about the disease and the stereotypes that persist 30 years after HIV/AIDS was first reported.