Did you know that one out of five people with HIV in the U.S. does not even know they are infected? If you think, “Oh, it could never happen to me,” ask yourself, “How can I be sure?”

Think about it! Anyone—young or old, male or female, black or white, gay or straight—can get HIV. So how can you really be sure whether or not you have HIV? There’s only one way to know for certain—get tested.

No matter how safe you think you are are when having sex, get tested.
No matter how much you trust your partner to be STD and HIV-free, get tested.
No matter how scared you are of getting tested, get tested.

Saturday, June 27th is National HIV Testing Day. Grab the widget below and spread the word about getting tested on MySpace or your personal Web site or blog. Check out Blog.AIDS.gov for real stories and videos. And, most importantly, get yourself tested!

To find easy, confidential testing sites in your area, you can simply text your ZIP code to “KNOWIT” (566948), or visit HIVTest.org.

This week MTV premiered Pedro, a film about the life of AIDS activist Pedro Zamora. He was the first openly gay, HIV-positive person on TV. Pedro’s story is just as relevant today as it was in 1994, when he grabbed the nation’s attention on The Real World: San Francisco.

Pedro was diagnosed as HIV positive when he was 17 years old. While MTV’s cameras were rolling, Pedro used the spotlight to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and openly talked about how he got HIV through unprotected sex. Although he died when he was only 22 years old, his story lives on as a reminder for young people to take control of their sex lives and to speak openly and honestly about safer sex and getting tested.

MTV’s Get Yourself Tested (GYT) is a new campaign, aiming to remove the taboos surrounding STD testing. One in two young people will get a sexually transmitted disease (STD) by age 25-and most won’t know it! So before foreplay, GYT!

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! Getting your boo flowers, chocolate and a card might be nice. But why not try something unique? Have a conversation about safer sex!

Having convos about condoms and STD testing on V-Day might sound like the ultimate mood killer. But safer sex and romance go hand in hand! It’s fear of STDs and pregnancy that can get in the way of enjoying the time you spend with your partner, not condoms. Show your partner that you really care about him or her: Talk about getting tested and using condoms or other latex barriers before things get hot and heavy.

Can you imagine getting an STD for Valentine’s Day? That’s no way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Check out this great video from Trojan’s Evolve campaign reminding you to have safer sex and use condoms:

Virginity pledges are a part of some abstinence-only programs and have even gotten big endorsements from celebrities like Jordin Sparks and the Jonas Brothers. The idea makes sense on paper: Take a virginity pledge and promise to not have sex. This pledge is supposed to help you remain abstinent, and we know abstinence is the only birth control that is 100-percent effective at preventing pregnancy and STDs. But what if taking a pledge doesn’t work, or even worse, puts you at risk for pregnancy and STDs?

According to a new study, teens that take virginity pledges are just as likely to have sex as teens that don’t take a pledge. Teens that pledged had just as many sexual partners and started having sex at the same age as those that didn’t pledge. And the teens that took the pledge were less likely to use protection when they eventually had sex!

You just can’t take a virginity pledge, cross your fingers and hope to not have sex! What happens if you don’t stick to your pledge and never learned about how to protect yourself from pregnancy and STDs? Whether or not you take a virginity pledge, make sure you know where to get tested, how to get birth control and how to properly use a condom. It doesn’t hurt to be prepared!

This year marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. You probably weren’t even born when World AIDS Day first started. But since 1988, the 1st of December is a day to come together and raise awareness about the global AIDS epidemic.

AIDS is a major health concern for everyone on the planet. And the solution to this global problem has to start from the bottom up—it starts with you! Do your part to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS: Get educated about the virus and how it’s transmitted.

If you’ve never had sex, great! Abstaining from oral, anal and vaginal sex is the only way to be 100- percent safe from HIV/AIDS. And if you’ve already had sex, that’s OK. Make sure you and your partner get tested for HIV. You may choose to stop having sex, as that’s the safest choice. But if you choose to continue having sex, properly using a latex barrier, like a condom or Sheer Glyde dam, each and every time you have oral, anal or vaginal sex, will protect you and your partner from HIV/AIDS, too.

Want to test your knowledge of HIV/AIDS? Play AVERT.org’s game, AIDS Challenge. Or try their World AIDS Day Quiz.