US HIV Infections on the Rise in Gay Men
While countries that criminalize homosexuality have largest rates of HIV infection of homosexual men world wide, United States stands as the exception to that rule. According to Michel Sidibe, head of UNAIDS, the continued rise of AIDS in the homosexual community of the US is “shocking.”
In the early 80′s, it became known as the “Gay Disease.” The gay community took a very active role in preventing the transmission of HIV/AIDS during these early years. Their message resonated throughout the community reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS among homosexuals.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), despite this early leadership, “…gay, bisexual, and other MSM (males having sex with males) of all races remain the population most severely affected by HIV.” In fact, “MSM is the only risk group in the U.S. in which new HIV infections have been increasing since the early 1990s.”
Today, 1 in 5 men who have sex with men in 21 U.S. cities has HIV, but nearly half are unaware they even have the disease, and during 2005–2008, the infect ion rate among males increased 7%. Sidibe credits the rise of HIV/AIDS among homosexuals in the US to a growing lack of concern about the disease.
Unless otherwise noted, the data included in this article is from the CDC HIV Surveillance Report: Diagnoses of HIV infection and AIDS in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2008.
US HIV Infections on the Rise in Gay Men
In my experience, most gay men don’t get tested, huge numbers don’t even go to bars but once in a blue moon, and even more aren’t out at all… so a more correct headline would be “20% of bar frequenting gay men who were tested for HIV (perhaps because they had a worrisome reason to do so), were found to be HIV positive”… which is a world of difference from “20% of Gay Men are HIV Positive”.
So if only 50% of gay men go to bars… and of that 50%, 5% were tested… and only 20% of that 5% were found to be HIV positive… that number is orders of magnitude different than 20% of all gay men.
An equitable selection in sample would be made if i went to WalMart Pharmacy and offered free flu testing… of course people who felt flu like symptoms would make up the majority of those getting tested… but would only be a fraction of the people who are actaully in WalMart… if only 5 people had the time to sit down and be tested, and of those five who felt flu like symtoms, 4 actually had the flu… and then i ran headlines that claimed “4 OUT OF 5 WAL MART SHOPPERS ARE INFECTED WITH THE FLU AND 100% ARE UNAWARE!!!!”… if i did that… i’d be very dishonest.
Not that we shouldn’t be tested and safe every single time… but these headlines are used for political purposes when they are this misleading.