A study released by England’s Health Protection Agency indicates the number of gay and bisexual men contracting HIV has risen over the past two decades, because of an increase in unsafe sex.
Between 1990 and 2010, the number of men barebacking rose by 26%, the study claims.
On the upside, the introduction and more consistent use of antiretroviral drugs has been a boon: Without them, it’s estimated the number of infections would have been 68% worse.
In November, HPA reported the number of people living with HIV in the UK reached an all-time high of 96,000, but that a full quarter of those infected were unaware of their status.
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“Everyone should use a condom when having sex with new or casual partners, until all partners have had a sexual health screen,” says the HPA’s Dr Valerie Delpech. “We also encourage men who have sex with men to get an HIV and STI screen at least annually, and every three months if having condomless sex with new or casual partners.”
2eo
Kinked to massive cuts in Sex Education and awareness initiatives.
The Health Minister Jeremy C*nt believes in Homoeopathy and Abstinence, and because he’s such a c*nt that he forces these actually helpful initiatives to the wayside while promoting Accupuncture and other utter lying fuckery.
He’s a c*nt in case you haven’t gathered up to now.
QJ201
The UK… a nation that has universal healthcare. So what if you get HIV?
Same attitude and problem in the U.S. except that if you don’t have health insurance (and many young men don’t), you may wind up on a waiting list for publicly funded HIV medication programs.
If he ain’t your boyfriend you should be using rubbers. If he is your boyfriend, get fresh HIV tests (“I tested negative last month doesn’t count) before ditching the rubbers.
I got called a “prig” recently on here over my opinions…but I have had two different roommates that are HIV positive…and NOTHING made me more adamant about safer sex than watching them deal with medication side effects (e.g., bloating, diarrhea, numb fingers) as well as dealing with trying to date being HIV positive.
So bareback all you want and when you find yourself sitting on the toilet in the morning with explosive diarrhea bemoaning still being single, no one to blame but yourself.
Josh
What the hell is unsafe sex?
Let’s totally ignore the fact that we can contract hepatitis through rimming, that we can get gonorrhea through getting a blow job, and let’s STIGMATIZE THE HIV POSITIVE by using an outdated, sex-negative term meant to trot out those of us HIV+ to scare the living hell out of people.
Honestly, you have no idea how offensive this is. And the side effects of ARV? There are none that you describe; you friends must not have adhered to therapy as directed – you’re scaremongering and taking a trip down hellish memory lane out of some twisted obsession with thinking that I, as an HIV+ person, have a miserable, sexless life. I don’t – I have quite a nice life. Christ, how utterly backward and bigoted this article (and the ensuing comments) are.
For further illumination, actually read my work: http://joshkruger.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/confessions-of-a-barebacker/
viveutvivas
In my experience, most guys under 35 in the U.S. have bareback casual sex these days. Having done this on occasion as well, I am not judging. It is quite understandable, given that it feels so much better.
alexoloughlin
I don’t support or condone not using a condom, but what about heterosexuals? What are the HIV/AIDS rates and other STDs among that group looking like? These studies suggest that it’s only gay people succombing to HIV and other diseases.
FStratford
@Josh:
I call BS on you.
There is no ure for AIDS yet and you either die or live a horrible life under meds, so all your comparisons about gonorrhea and what not is wrong.
The word to use is “safer sex”, I grant you that. but to imply that people who advocate the use of condoms are advocating fear for something that should not be feared is irresponsible. And selfish sometimes – if its the ones that already have HIV or AIDS that often tell those who are not infected that asking for HIV status and using a condom is discrimination. Pfft
2eo
@Josh: That was the absolute worst written sorry load of self aggrandising bollocks I’ve ever read in my life, and I used to write a blog that was nothing but that.
You’re a minority and your opinions are called out as sh1t because they are sh1t. Stratfoed is spot on.
Get over it, you’ve lost, I’d make a joke about you slowly dying but I don’t thyink you can take a gentle ribbing so I’ll just lol at it hamfistedly instead. Evidently couldn’t be happening to someone more deserving.
Josh
I’m on Complera. There are no side effects that are statistically significant. Occasionally, there’s a dizzy morning. That’s it.
If you
1. Begin ARV under a VL of 100,000
2. Adhere to this treatment as directed 96%+ of the time or more
You have 0 chance of transmitting HIV, even in bareback settings, and you’ll live without major side effects into your 70s.
I’m sorry that you’re so uneducated and unfamiliar with modern ARV. I suggest you discuss your obvious mental handicap with a physician.
Thanks for reading. And congrats on your failed blog!
JK
Josh
If you aren’t entirely illiterate and/or unwilling to observe medical fact (as reported in the UK Lancet, too, so I’m not just a slob American!), these are the conditions and scientifically likely realities facing the HIV+ in 2013:
http://joshkruger.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/barebackingright/
The biggest threat to those who are HIV+ are idiots running around acting like modern ARV is anything like AZT or the treatments that poisoned millions. They aren’t. And, for the record, the biggest threat to the HIV- population are people like you who stigmatize HIV, make people think it’s dirty, and then, paradoxically, inhibit people from getting tested.
The HIV- population is still stubbornly infecting itself with HIV and is still refusing to test itself. Therefore, it’s up to the HIV+ population to innoculate these poor people form themselves and their reckless behavior.
BTW, you’re sort of rude.
Katbox
@Josh: Lol at “0 chance”
JK should have followed that instead of “thanks for reading…”
2eo
@Josh: Who are Catherine, Charles and Melissa?
Josh
…My former landlords and their daughter?
LOL, wow. Congrats, you can google.
Creepy.
2eo
@Josh: Actually it just came up in your aggregate search I did on your blog. You haven’t even had 100 unique visitors yet, my blog paid for my university if you’re so adamant you wish to get into a pissing contest over the amount you are incorrect by.
Chad Hunt
It is really disgusting that in 2013 there is still so much misinformation, fear mongering, sexual irresponsibility, and prejudices regarding HIV, HIV transmission, and those living with HIV.
Josh
I agree with that last comment. The idea that somehow condoms are effective in preventing HIV is about as sound and realistic as the idea that abstinence will save anyone, either.
As a result of this discussion, I clarified my positions here http://wp.me/s33UKz-condoms
JK
viveutvivas
Josh, I really want to believe that unprotected sex with a treated partner is low risk (espescially given my own behavior), but what do you think of analyses like this one?: http://www.who.int/hiv/events/artprevention/wilson_relation.pdf
viveutvivas
Also here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3252623/
Basically, they are saying that if a serodiscordant couple doesn’t use a condom within 6 months of being undetectable, the transmission risk to their long-term seronegative partner is about 3%, which is actually a pretty high risk.
Among men who are being treated but don’t use condoms irrespective of their viral load, it is 22%. So just the fact that someone is on antiretrovirals is not good enough – you also need to know their viral load.
“For MSM receiving treatment, the risk of transmitting HIV to their long-term partner is 22% (uncertainty interval: 9–37%) if condoms are never used. With incomplete use (in 30% of sex acts) the risk is reduced slightly, to 17% (7–29%). However, the risk is as low as 3% (0.2–8%) when men receiving treatment use condoms only 6?months beyond their last undetectable viral load measurement. The risk is further reduced when 3?months is the time period beyond which condoms are used.”
alexoloughlin
@2eo: Yes he is, but in a sort of way, I find him attractive. When I first saw him, even heard him, I thought he was gay, even though he’s married with children.
2eo
@viveutvivas: Like a Climate-Change Denialist he’ll just ignore these facts and wait until he can skew something else in a week or two. I had a pretty nasty argument in person with “The Register” editor Lewis Page on that subject in August last year. He’s decided on what he thinks and he isn’t going to be reasonable, realistic or worthwhile with his opinions and counterpoints.
There’s people like him all over, read any 5 blog sample and you’ll see his level of cognitive bias is absolutely endemic. I must say that Kruger’s level of bias is bordering conspiracy lunatic territory though.
@alexoloughlin: Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
bmwblonde
I’m a “young,” HIV-negative, 65-year gay man who has always been “out.” I’ve also always been very sensual and very sexual. Just not very STUPID.
As I mentioned in a post about the idiotic Facebook barebacking site, I also was given “accidentally” via U.S. military medicine — Hep-C, which I suffered from for decades, but which was finally, completely cured in a radical university multi-drug trial.
SO I KNOW about having a chronic disease for years. And living with a potential death-sentence, or at least, VERY likely life-shortening one. And what living with powerful meds that have huge side effects is like. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT. Now (amazingly) I have a total, second chance. This all gives me a VERY different perspective on “barebacking” and other unprotected sex.
And as an “outsider” from America’s unbelievably Puritan, homophobic society for my entire life, I have made a study of “TRIBALISM.” The majority of ignorant (and Evangelical) “tribes” have very rigid forms of “Politically Correct” thinking, of which we gay people are all too aware.
But the “gay tribe” (of which I am ALSO not a member, because it is SOOOOO stuck in its own political correctness — and I am allergic to ALL TRIBAL behaviors) — has many members who are very confused.
“No one can tell me what to do” = (including, anyone who “tells me” to not bareback, is by definition a homophobe) — is STUCK, reactive, politically-correct (TRIBAL) behavior. It is NOT awake.
If you’re younger, HIV-negative, but still acting out your rebellious reactivity to Puritan idiots — and then you bareback (especially serial, “casual” barebacking) — you have LET THE BASTARDS OUT THERE WIN — because you’ve found a great way of permanently oppressing and hating YOURSELF. They can stop oppressing you, because you’re doing it for them.
The “religion” of “I’m gay and I can do anything I want” — when it leads to such dumb behavior, is tragic. Being on HIV medication for a lifetime because you were “showing THEM who is boss” — is tragic.
(NOT as tragic, however, as so many older gays who got HIV before we all knew what was happening). But to inflict HIV on yourself NOW, acting out some politically correct, rebellious bullshit, is . . . tragic.
I expect that those who can HEAR this and who can THINK, will agree — but others, stuck in tribal rebellion and reactivity — will HATE this post. Maybe you CAN’T teach anyone else anything. It’s annoying to have lifetime wisdom rejected by the undeveloped.
So it goes.