Sheesh! Hasn’t HIV had enough? Isn’t it time to, like, just go away? Apparently not, because the Center for Disease Control just released some startling data:
The latest data on HIV infection across 33 states finds new diagnoses jumping by 12 percent annually between 2001 and 2006 among young gay and bisexual men.
Researchers at [CDC] say the rise is “especially concerning” for young black men aged 13 to 24 who have sex with men. For this group, the annual rate of new HIV diagnoses rose by 15 percent annually, compared to a 9 percent and an 8 percent annual rise among their white and Hispanic peers, respectively.
…
The CDC researchers reported that, “during 2001-2006, an estimated 214,379 persons had HIV/AIDS diagnosed in the 33 states.” Almost half (46 percent) of these new cases were diagnosed among men who have sex with men, and there was a noticeable decline in HIV transmission for the time frame in all categories except for this high-risk group, the report found.Overall, gay and bisexual men comprised 63 percent of all cases of new infection among U.S. males, and almost two-thirds of new cases among men who have sex with men occurred in the 25-to 44-year-old age group, the CDC said.
Gosh, if only there were someone to prevent HIV infection. Oh, right, there is: condoms!
fredo777
I forget where, but I recall hearing something about a potential problem among black MSM on the “DL” possibly refraining from condom usage when sleeping with other men b/c it makes it seem too “real” + would validate the fact that they’re actually going out to have sex with another man. I’m not sure how much truth there is to it, but those numbers are not encouraging.
Qjersey
Lets see:
Most schools promote abstinence and that leaves gays out and very few states offer gay inclusive sex ed.
Gay men/MSM/whatever, account for 50% of HIV infections and AIDS cases yet only 20% of the federal budget for HIV prevention is targeted for them… and there are restrictions on what can be done, eg., the ABC model is what is “permitted”
So totally makes sense to me that young gays aren’t “getting the message.”
Scott
Definitely shocking findings, but we also have to remember that HIV testing methods have improved between 2001 and 2006. We now have the HIV rapid test which is easily done with either a drop of blood or a drop of saliva. The easier and more available the HIV test – both of which have improved significantly since 2001 – the more people are going to get tested, and the more people who are inevitably going to test positive.
What this means is that it’s not necessarily true that such a big increase in HIV+ individuals has occurred, but rather an perceived increase due to improved testing mechanisms and availability have made it possible for more individuals who would normally be missed by the system to learn their true status.
Sorry for the science mumbo jumbo, but it’s not always a smart thing to take statistics for their face value. You always have to look at the big picture! In epidemiology this is referred to as “testing bias” if you want to check my facts.
RPCV
I have no sympathy for anyone who contracts HIV through unsafe sexual practices. Wrap it or suffer the consequences. Period.
Jen
Actually, condoms aren’t 100% against AIDS…most studies place them between 50% and 90%. (WHO, I think, posts 90%).
mark
There will also be increases in new hetero cases, and it’s all the fault of the stupid f*cking useless abstinence only BULLSH*T which failed in 80% of Senior High School girls.
Keep safer sex methods from kids…and they DIE from your IGNORANCE!
mark
I’ve had AIDS since 96′ and been HIV poz since 85′, we lost an entire generation of men. Unless you were there watching a dozen friends sicken and die, before meds were available, you don’t know the horrors of AIDS. I lost the man I loved, more than my own life at 24yo. from cardio myopathy due to AIDS in 1990. He was poz before we met, and I’ve had HIV negative lovers for over three years each, who never became poz. My current lover has also been disabled from AIDS since 85′.
Respect yourselves and your partners, use a condom.
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/Aids/pictures/tom.gif
hisurfer
I remember reading awhile back that the CDC was predicting a spike now that HIV+ men were living longer and looking healthier. AIDS became less scary, education became non-existent, and bare-backing started to increase. Add to that a larger population of men with HIV who were still healthy, and thus able to spread it more easily (knowingly or unknowingly), and the spike becomes almost inevitable.
I remember when it was routine for all of us to go to the clinic a couple times a year to get tested. I remember testing in bars and clubs. I remember safe-sex posters – graphic & informative – plastered around. I remember listening to / and later giving / safe-sex talks to community groups, complete with demonstrations of condoms on dildos.
I don’t know that any of this still happens anymore.
I don’t even volunteer anymore. I resigned from my last Board over a year ago. AIDS organizations seem to be about securing federal funds and grant writing and throwing benefits for the same elite cadre who have the money to donate, and almost nothing is done on actual street outreach.
It’s all so fucked.
conrad
but isnt gay marriage going to solve all this…?
Steve
Prevention starts and ends with education. If you teach people how dangerous a disease is, and how to avoid getting it, then the great majority of them will. That teaching needs to happen in the schools, at the age when the kids enter puberty. And, it needs to happen in public-health advertising and public-service messages, to reinforce the lessons throughout adulthood.
Our recent political leaders have completely eliminated sex education in the schools. And, they have completely eliminated public-health spending on education and prevention. They want to teach “abstinence”, instead.
Abstinence education programs don’t work. Of course, any individual who actually abstains from sex will not get sexually transmitted diseases. But, extremely few people will voluntarily abstain from sex for any length of time. Humans, along with all other animals, have a genetic imperative to seek out and engage in sex.
We know that people will not refrain from sex. We know that people who do not know how cannot avoid sexually transmitted diseases. I believe it is unethical, even immoral, to prevent the teaching that can prevent sexually transmitted diseases.
The problem is political. Neither party wants to put out the messages that might encourage kids to have sex safely. They both think they would be viewed as encouraging kids to have sex. The reality is the kids are going to have sex anyway — and they really would only be encouraging the kids to be safe.
The solution is to depoliticize the process. The politicians don’t have to set the curriculum. They can just give some resource to the public-health and education professionals, with a directive to teach the kids how to be safe and healthy. Let the professionals decide how best to do that, set the curriculum to teach that material, and run the program.
RPCV
Mark write: “…I’ve had HIV negative lovers for over three years each, who never became poz. My current lover has also been disabled from AIDS since 85′.” Annoying point 1, it’s ’85 – apostrophe before the years. Annoying point 2, how many lovers have you had? Seems you have had as many “lovers” as Iraq has insurgents. They’re not lovers, rather they’re short- to medium-term tricks. Maybe if you hadn’t have been so “active” you wouldn’t be poz today!! And, don’t tell us you’re a proponent for gay marriage; to do so would be hysterical. Just a few thoughts………
michael
RPCV- You have heard the old saying”only the good die young”?
Just stay the way you are and you will live forever.
ALAN
RPCV–You should see if they’re looking for volunteers down at the Save the Family/Kill the Fags foundation at your local church. What a bitter, awful, nasty post…the sad part is that there are many more icky queens like you out there. If we can’t love our own community for who we are, how can we ever expect anyone else to love (or accept) us?
Mr C
Don’t worry folks RPVC is a sissy who has alot of internet mouth and no Physical action.