Bad News From the CDC

[Lucky]

I copied this from the Washington Post, on the theory that if I just linked it, it might not get read. Since the Post got the info from the CDC, i don't feel so bad copying it:

CDC: One in five sexually active gay urban men has HIV

Here's an update on the AIDS epidemic from one of my colleagues, Darryl Fears:

One in five gay men in the United States has HIV, and almost half of those who carry the virus are unaware that they are infected, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Thursday.

The study, which tested more than 8,000 men in 21 cities in 2008, the most comprehensive such study by the CDC, found that young, sexually active gay men and those in minority groups are least likely to know their health status, even as infection rates are climbing among men who have sex with men, while the rates of other at-risk groups -- heterosexuals and intravenous drug users -- are falling. The findings were published Thursday in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report and were released ahead of National Gay Men's HIV Awareness Day on Sept. 27.

A CDC official called for a sharper focus on testing. "This study's message is clear: HIV exacts a devastating toll on men who have sex with men in America's major cities, and yet far too many of those who are infected don't know it," said Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention.

Cities in the study include Baltimore, where the prevalence rate among men who have sex with men was highest at 38 percent, and Atlanta, where it was lowest at 6 percent.

In the District, where the general HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is about 4 percent, more than 16,000 adults, one of the highest numbers in the nation, has the virus, according to the city Department of Health. According to the CDC study, the District had a 14 percent prevalence rate among men who have sex with men.

In the Atlantic region, New York had a rate of 29 percent, Philadelphia had a rate of 11 percent and Newark had a rate of 19 percent. The more impoverished the men were, the more likely they were to be infected, the study found.

A CDC spokeswoman said the recent study's findings were similar to those of a National Health Behavioral Study conducted between June 2004 and April 2005, when one in four gay men tested positive for the virus.

But the percentage of minorities who tested positive changed dramatically in the three years since the previous study. Back then, 46 percent of gay black men tested positive in the smaller study, compared to 40 percent in the larger 2008 study. Black gay men outpaced white and Hispanic men in both studies. In the earlier study, Hispanics represented 18 percent of the infected compared to 23 percent in the most recent study. White men comprised 21 percent of the infected in 2004-2005 and 20 percent in the more recent study.

By Darryl Fears

[BiBottomBoy]

This is why we need to speak out against "stealthing."

On many, many gay blogs recently dudes have be been bragging about and encouraging stealthing which is really bad news.

There is also a sense on many gay blogs written by younger gays that "well, I'll be poz eventually anyway so I might as well just get it over with."

And if you go to Raw Top's blog - which is ridiculously popular, he recently added a special section for erotic stories about getting HIV.

Many of the stories are essentially a "how to" guide to giving a guy HIV without him knowing it.

[MsGuy]

Yeah, I read about the report, Lucky. Sad. The younger guys have never seen a friend wasting away with AIDS. Trying to educate young men is like herding chickens. (pun intended)

----

Some real horrible people loose in this world, BBB. Can not wrap my head around why they would want to do that stuff. Pure evil.

[Guest FourAces]

After reading the article I just find myself becoming depressed. All these years and all this knowledge of prevention and people still do not take advantage of it .. yet I still believe its their right to chose.

What I also find depressing is how we do not seem any closer to a vaccine or cure for the disease. We appear to be stuck on just maintaining it or maybe I should say living healthy with it which in itself is a good step but need to move further along now.

Thanks for bringing the article to my attention. Makes me also think about my own practices which I feel have been safer however I wonder more about some of the young men I play with.

btw I doubt OZ or TY care what copyright article you post here in print .. I think they are more concerned about images.

[BiBottomBoy]

There's no incentive for the pharmaceutical industry to cure AIDS. There's much, much more money in them creating drugs that allow people to live with it for a long period of time.