20% of Gay Men Are HIV-Positive

[atensari]

CDC: 20% of Gay Men Are HIV-Positive, but Nearly Half Don't Know It

Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that 1 in 5 sexually active gay and bisexual men in America are HIV-positive but that 44% of them don't know it.

More than 8,000 self-identifying gay and bisexual men (or, as the researchers call them, MSM, for men who have sex with men) were tested by CDC workers in the 21 American cities with the highest infection rates. The gay population in Baltimore had the highest rates of HIV infection, at 38%, while Atlanta scored lowest, at 6%.

The highest absolute number of infections occurred in white MSM, primarily those between the ages of 30 to 39. However, young black gay and bisexual men (aged 13 to 29) had the highest rates of HIV infection per capita, and young Hispanic MSM also had disproportionately high rates of infection. (More on Time.com: 'It Gets Better': Wisdom From Grown-Up Gays and Lesbians to Bullied Kids)

HIV is a growing problem in other groups as well. The CDC study also found that the HIV infection rate in heterosexual black women is higher than in their white or Hispanic counterparts, and even higher than rates in Hispanic gay men. According to another CDC study, HIV infection was the leading cause of death for black women aged 25 to 34. Fully 81% of American women living with HIV are women of color.

Overall, the CDC estimates that more than 1 million people are living with HIV in the U.S., and that 21% are unaware of their infection. More than 18,000 people with AIDS still die each year. Although the total number of people living with HIV in the U.S. has increased in recent years, according to the CDC, but the annual number of new HIV infections has remained relatively stable an estimated 56,300 Americans become infected each year.
There is no denying that the highest infection rates occur in gay and bisexual men. Although they account for 4% of the male population in the United States, their HIV-infection rate is 44 times the rate of heterosexual men. African-American men and men under 30 years old were the two groups least likely to be aware of their status. (More on Time.com: Multimedia: The Graying of AIDS)

When data on the two groups are broken apart, however, HIV-infection rates in bisexual men are lower than in gay men, according to a study in the American Journal of Public Health. Study author Gregorio Millett, the senior policy adviser for the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, explained why in a press statement, while focusing on the black population:​

The CDC's recommendations to reduce HIV transmission emphasize testing:​

CDC estimates that the majority of new sexually transmitted infections are transmitted by individuals who are unaware of their infection, and studies show that once people learn they are HIV-infected, most take steps to protect their partners. Therefore, because undiagnosed infection likely plays a major role in HIV transmission, reaching younger MSM with regular HIV testing is critical.
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Read the entire CDC report here. For more info on National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (Sept. 27) activities, click here.

More on Time.com:
Did the Rise of Cities Help HIV Take Off?
Are HIV Rates in Gay Men Really 'Out of Control'?​

Find this article at:

http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/26/study-20-of-homosexual-men-are-hiv-positive-but-only-half-know-it/​

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/...ve-but-only-half-know-it/print/#ixzz10vtsgEBz​

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[Raaz]

This 20 % is reported for the countries , where they could survey....

The third world are not included in it and we think that we are good because not mentioned here....

No no , In our countries it is more than double....careful....

 

[B3LGiAN]

This 20 % is reported for the countries , where they could survey....

The third world are not included in it and we think that we are good because not mentioned here....

No no , In our countries it is more than double....careful....

in Our Countries There are No Gay or Bi !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Many will Agree , Few Disagree LoL > FACTa

 

[QaiserMirza]

جب الله کے قانون سے کھیلوگے تو الله کا عذاب تو برداشت کرنا پڑےگا

 

[Raaz]

in Our Countries There are No Gay or Bi !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Many will Agree , Few Disagree LoL > FACTa

I pray that u are correct.

 

[Night_Hawk]

Majority of the Asian countries have a very high percentage of HIV.
The mode of transmission is not limited to sexual transmission.
The HIV is transmitted by various means, blood transfusions, dirty needles, non sterile reused surgical instruments and prostitution. This may not be true in large Hospitals but small hospitals
I am not sure of. Diagnosis of HIV and then prevention of spread of the HIV should be the main priority. We know that we do have surgeries, minor or major in our part of the world. This is true for a fact that to save money how we bypass certain requirements for cleanliness.
Take a trip to CIVIL hospital and see for yourself about the cleanliness in our hospitals.
Look at the people sitting outside the hospital selling blood to the needy, majority of them are professional sellers and 99% of them are drug addicts.
They would not care much about sterilizing the syringes and needles they use for injecting the illicit drugs.
We do not have a system to identify and Isolate HIV positive individuals. Even if it is diagnosed, we have no way of isolation, can you imagine if a person is HIV positive could we label it as such, no it will be like giving a death sentence to that individual.
I was reading a report recently with description of Business travelers to Far-East countries, what goes out-there is beyond comprehension.
We are in the denial mode all the time. These are the facts of life.

Asia

The diversity of the AIDS epidemic is even greater in Asia than in Africa. The epidemic of AIDS in Asia appears to be of more recent origin, and many Asian countries lack accurate systems for monitoring the spread of HIV. Half of the world's population lives in Asia, so even small differences in the infection rates can mean huge increases in the absolute number of people infected.
The total number of people living with HIV in Asia is thought to be around 4.7 million.6Around half (2.4 million) of these were in India followed by China (700,000), Thailand (610,000) and Myanmar (240,000).
HIV positive migrant workers in Mumbai, India

National adult prevalence is under 1% in all Asian countries except Thailand. However some of the countries in this region are very large and national averages may obscure serious epidemics in some smaller provinces and states.
In most Asian countries the epidemic is centred among particular high-risk groups, particularly men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, sex workers and their partners. However the epidemic has already begun to spread beyond these groups into the wider population. Some Asian countries, such as Thailand, have responded rapidly to the epidemic with extensive campaigns to educate the public and prevent the spread of HIV – and have succeeded in cutting prevalence. Other very populous regions, such as China, have only recently admitted that the spread of HIV threatens their populations, and as a result their prevention work is lagging behind the spread of the virus. Unless rapid and effective action is taken in this part of the world, then the size of the epidemic to come will dwarf the many deaths that have already occurred.
The epidemic in Asia has ample room for growth. The sex trade and the use of illicit drugs are extensive, and so are migration and mobility within and across borders. The fluidity in international markets has erupted into non-stop movement within countries and among countries, facilitating the spread of HIV. India, China, Thailand and Cambodia, to name only a few, have highly mobile populations within their borders, with people moving from state to state and from rural to urban areas.
Eastern Europe & Central Asia

The AIDS epidemic in Eastern Europe & Central Asia is rapidly increasing. In 2008, some 1.5 million people were living with HIV, compared to 900,000 in 2001. AIDS claimed an estimated 87,000 lives during 2008, over three times 2001's figure.7
In any country where rates of injecting drug use and needle sharing are high, a fresh outbreak of HIV is liable to occur at any time. This is especially true of the countries in Eastern Europe where the HIV epidemics are still young and have so far spared some cities and sub-populations. Heroin smuggled into the West crosses through a number of Eastern European countries, and its path is marked by a high concentration of injecting drug users, and a high HIV prevalence.
The Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) are the worst affected, although HIV continues to spread in Belarus, Moldova and Kazakhstan, and more recent epidemics are emerging in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. An estimated 940,000 HIV-infected people were living in the Russian Federation at the end of 2007. However, as reporting of HIV cases in many areas of Russia is at best patchy, it is difficult to determine a precise figure.8 The epidemic in Eastern Europe is primarily driven by injecting drug use, and the criminalisation of this practice makes it difficult to gain an accurate picture of the proportion of drug users who are living with HIV.
High-income countries

In high-income nations, HIV infections have historically been concentrated principally among injecting drug users and gay men. These groups are still at high risk, but heterosexual intercourse accounts for a growing proportion of cases. In the United States, a quarter of people diagnosed with AIDS in 2008 were female, and three quarters of these women were infected as a result of heterosexual sex.12 In several countries in Western Europe, including the United Kingdom, heterosexual contact is the most frequent cause of newly diagnosed infections.
Very early in the epidemic, once information and services for prevention had been made available to most of the population, the level of unprotected sex fell in many countries and the demand rose for reproductive health services, HIV counselling and testing and other preventive services.
Prevention work in high-income countries has declined, and sexual-health education in schools is still not universally guaranteed, in spite of the fact that the risks of HIV are well-known to governments. Political factors have been allowed to control the HIV prevention work that is done, and politicians are commonly keen to avoid talking about any sexual issues. Furthermore, it is very hard to show that a number of people are not HIV positive who otherwise would be – and politicians like the electorate to see results.
Among gay men, the virus had spread widely before it was even identified and had established a firm grip on the population by the early 1980s. With massive early prevention campaigns targeted at gay communities, risk behaviour was substantially reduced and the rate of new infections dropped significantly during the mid- and late 1980s. Recent information suggests, however, that risky behaviour may be increasing again in some communities. People think that the danger is over because of lack of media coverage of the issues around HIV and AIDS - and many new infections continue to occur.
Some communities and countries have initiated aggressive HIV prevention efforts, particularly among high-risk groups such as injecting drug users. But in many places the political cost of implementing needle exchange and other prevention programmes has been considered too high for them to be started or maintained.
Many high-income countries suffer from the belief that HIV is something that affects other people, not their own populations. On a national level, this belief prevents policy makers and budget setters from seeing the epidemic on their own doorsteps, looking instead to the situation in areas such as Africa. Some high-income countries fund medication provision for low-income countries whilst failing to provide medicines for their own citizens who have AIDS. For example, many people cannot afford HIV treatment in America.

 

[Wadaich]

Qoum-e-Loot ki aulad aaj bhi zinda hay.

 

[Night_Hawk]

جب الله کے قانون سے کھیلوگے تو الله کا عذاب تو برداشت کرنا پڑےگا

May Allah protect us from the evils of the world.