Incidence of AIDS in US Higher Than Previously Thought

[dr. twiggers]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...print/asection

Interesting to see that there is a 13% increase in AIDS among the homosexual population from 2001-2005. It is a reversal from what was happening previously.....I've read about this elsewhere (in a class in college) that the incidence was decreasing in the homosexual population for years....but now that people with AIDS are living longer and the medications have become better the younger generation is now thinking it isn't big deal and unprotected sex is becoming more popular again! WHY??? I just don't get it....why anyone, homosexual or not, would have unprotected sex in today's day and age? Haven't we learned.....despite medical advances there is no cure, AIDS is still a fatal disease that will (either itself or due to complications) kill you!

[Wentworth-Roth]

I have no idea why people who choose to sleep around do not use condoms to make sure they don't catch the virus, especially if they belong to one of the high-risk groups like homosexuals. Maybe it's simple stupidity or a false sense of security like twiggers posted.

[H&H]

I just thing regardless who ... people just get a little negligent. think it is over... but it is not...

[wordpast]

Originally Posted by Wentworth-Roth

I have no idea why people who choose to sleep around do not use condoms to make sure they don't catch the virus, especially if they belong to one of the high-risk groups like homosexuals. Maybe it's simple stupidity or a false sense of security like twiggers posted.

I personally think this is what it is. or low self esteem.

[Roo]

I don't want to speak for the gay community as a whole, but I have a very close friend, who is like a brother to me, who is a gay man. He's told me that he's noticed promiscuity among gay men in his community (Toronto, has one of the largest gay communities in North America) is increasing again. He's told me that he believes it is because people are now living with AIDS- and there is a perception that it's not such a threat anymore-- and also because there is a subset of gay men who get off on dangerous, unprotected sex. I'm not an expert on this and I only know what he's told me, so that's the disclaimer here.

[Speedy]

I think it's unfair and biased to say it's only risen within the Gay community. I believe it seems to have gotten more prevelent because, well, homosexuality is more accepted nowadays, so more people are proudly admitting they are gay.

But I totally agree (as usual) with Roo, our young folks don't percieve it as the death penalty it once was, therefor, caution is thrown to the wind. I think they should start showing what an HIV postive person must go through to treat his/her condition, all the pills, the tests, etc. Not to mention the cost.

[oo_let_me_see]

I had an uncle die of complications from AIDS. Although I wasn't around to see it, I've heard from family members it was a horrible, horrible death. Sure, these days you can live longer with HIV, but (to those who think it's no big deal anymore) someday you will go through a miserable death. It isn't worth it!

[flungflung83]

I know of so many young people that sleep around and don't think anything of it. Gay or not. The more unprotected sex you have the higher the chance of contracting something. It doesn't even have to be 20 people, it could just be ONE, but the wrong one to ruin it. I guess a lot of people still think, "This could never happen to me"

I know of a guy that sleeps around with tons of girls, and he actually contracted mononucleosis. Nothing too major, but the fact that he got it from one of the girls to me is dirty. He actually got sick and got medication for it. But he shrugs it off and continues to sleep around. I would think after getting something small, he'd know better. Seems like he thinks medicine will cure anything and everything he may get. I just don't understand.

[dr. twiggers]

Originally Posted by Speedy

I think it's unfair and biased to say it's only risen within the Gay community. I believe it seems to have gotten more prevelent because, well, homosexuality is more accepted nowadays, so more people are proudly admitting they are gay. But I totally agree (as usual) with Roo, our young folks don't percieve it as the death penalty it once was, therefor, caution is thrown to the wind. I think they should start showing what an HIV postive person must go through to treat his/her condition, all the pills, the tests, etc. Not to mention the cost.

I wasn't saying it was ONLY risen in the gay community...merely cited that statistic in the article. I cited that statistic to raise this discussion about why it is happening within that population....perhaps the most vocal population afflicted with the disease (you don't really see the needle-sharing heroin addicts running around promoting safe needles)!

[dr. twiggers]

Originally Posted by Roo

I don't want to speak for the gay community as a whole, but I have a very close friend, who is like a brother to me, who is a gay man. He's told me that he's noticed promiscuity among gay men in his community (Toronto, has one of the largest gay communities in North America) is increasing again. He's told me that he believes it is because people are now living with AIDS- and there is a perception that it's not such a threat anymore-- and also because there is a subset of gay men who get off on dangerous, unprotected sex. I'm not an expert on this and I only know what he's told me, so that's the disclaimer here.

This was pretty much what was discussed in my college class (taught by a lesbian professor who said she was very active in the gay community).....she was saying that the 'older' generation is still practicing safe sex because they have seen so many friends die from the disease back in the 80s and 90s...but the younger generation has not seen this happen...they see people like Magic Johnson who are still living and seem to be healthy.

[Speedy]

Originally Posted by twiggers

I wasn't saying it was ONLY risen in the gay community...merely cited that statistic in the article. I cited that statistic to raise this discussion about why it is happening within that population....perhaps the most vocal population afflicted with the disease (you don't really see the needle-sharing heroin addicts running around promoting safe needles)!

Ah, I see now, thanks for clarifying that.

I would assume that it was highest in drug-abusing gay prostitutes. When I think of the gay community, especially my generation, I think of the people that yes, died horribly in the 80's and 90's, so many changed their lifestyles.

Can't help but be upset with the way the young feel nowadays, that they should live fast and die young.

[dr. twiggers]

^^^^I know what you mean......they (young people in general) think they are invulnerable and think of stars like Magic who are still living and seem to be doing OK. Someone needs to shake some sense into them and take them to some of the hospice centers!!!

[dr. twiggers]

This article seems to apply mainly to Africa...but still interesting:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/90391.php

[mcbg1]

Another interesting article. Apparently the increase of HIV infections is higher in heterosexuals than in homosexuals (in Washington DC anyways):

Report Finds Washington Has Highest AIDS Infection Rate Among U.S. Cities

By IAN URBINA
WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 — The District of Columbia has the highest rate of AIDS infection of any city in the country and the disease is being transmitted to infants, older adults, women and heterosexual men at an epidemic pace, according to a report released Monday by city health officials.

The report said more than 12,400 people in the city — about 1 in 50 — are living with AIDS or H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

“H.I.V./AIDS in the district has become a modern epidemic with complexities and challenges that continue to threaten the lives and well-being of far too many residents,” said the report, which includes the first-ever study of statistics on H.I.V. in the city, along with updated data on AIDS cases. The H.I.V. data offers a vital snapshot of the most recent infections so health officials can study any changes in transmission patterns, the officials said.

The city’s AIDS prevention office has been faulted in the past as not keeping proper data to track and fight the disease, and the director of the office is the 13th in just over two decades, a turnover rate that has hampered its focus, advocates for AIDS patients said.

The report said that from 2001 to 2006, 56 children, ages 13 or younger, were found to have either H.I.V. or AIDS, and almost all of them were infected at birth.

These cases, which account for 6 percent of all mother-to-child H.I.V. infections in the nation in the last five years, were especially alarming, city officials said, because they could have been avoided with routine H.I.V. testing during pregnancy, quick-results oral swabs during labor and “fast tracking” of the anti-retroviral drugs that can prevent transmission during delivery.

Although black residents account for 57 percent of the city’s population of 500,000 or so, they account for 81 percent of new reports of H.I.V. cases and about 86 percent of people with AIDS.

The report also found that the disease spread through heterosexual contact in more than 37 percent of the cases detected from 2001 to last year, in contrast with the 25 percent of cases attributable to men having sex with men. Starting in 2004, the number of new H.I.V. cases among men and women ages 40 to 49 outpaced every other age group in the city.

While the report found 8,368 reported cases of people living with AIDS in the district at the end of last year, a 43 percent increase from 2001, it also found that the number of new H.I.V. cases began declining in 2003. City health officials say the drop in H.I.V. numbers was most likely a result of under-reporting or delayed reporting.

Dr. Shannon Hader, who became head of the city’s H.I.V./AIDS Administration in October, said the city had begun confronting the problem. In the last year, Dr. Hader said, the city began providing voluntary screening to all incoming prison inmates, tripled the number of locations for free screening and initiated a free condom distribution program.

“We are also trying to raise awareness that there are programs in the city where people who are infected can get antiretroviral treatment, even if they do not have insurance and or cannot afford to pay for the treatment,” she said.

City health officials said unprotected sex was the most common way H.I.V. is spread, followed by intravenous drug use. Since 2000, about 13 percent of all new H.I.V. cases in the city involved intravenous drug use, most likely the sharing of needles.

Washington is still the only city in the country barred by federal law from using local tax money to finance needle exchange programs. Congress controls the city’s system of government, and for nearly a decade members of the House, citing concerns about worsening drug abuse, have inserted language into the bill approving the city’s budget to prohibit financing such programs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/us/27aids.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[keodi]

Originally Posted by mcbg1

Another interesting article. Apparently the increase of HIV infections is higher in heterosexuals than in homosexuals (in Washington DC anyways): Report Finds Washington Has Highest AIDS Infection Rate Among U.S. Cities By IAN URBINA WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 — The District of Columbia has the highest rate of AIDS infection of any city in the country and the disease is being transmitted to infants, older adults, women and heterosexual men at an epidemic pace, according to a report released Monday by city health officials. The report said more than 12,400 people in the city — about 1 in 50 — are living with AIDS or H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. “H.I.V./AIDS in the district has become a modern epidemic with complexities and challenges that continue to threaten the lives and well-being of far too many residents,” said the report, which includes the first-ever study of statistics on H.I.V. in the city, along with updated data on AIDS cases. The H.I.V. data offers a vital snapshot of the most recent infections so health officials can study any changes in transmission patterns, the officials said. The city’s AIDS prevention office has been faulted in the past as not keeping proper data to track and fight the disease, and the director of the office is the 13th in just over two decades, a turnover rate that has hampered its focus, advocates for AIDS patients said. The report said that from 2001 to 2006, 56 children, ages 13 or younger, were found to have either H.I.V. or AIDS, and almost all of them were infected at birth. These cases, which account for 6 percent of all mother-to-child H.I.V. infections in the nation in the last five years, were especially alarming, city officials said, because they could have been avoided with routine H.I.V. testing during pregnancy, quick-results oral swabs during labor and “fast tracking” of the anti-retroviral drugs that can prevent transmission during delivery. Although black residents account for 57 percent of the city’s population of 500,000 or so, they account for 81 percent of new reports of H.I.V. cases and about 86 percent of people with AIDS. The report also found that the disease spread through heterosexual contact in more than 37 percent of the cases detected from 2001 to last year, in contrast with the 25 percent of cases attributable to men having sex with men. Starting in 2004, the number of new H.I.V. cases among men and women ages 40 to 49 outpaced every other age group in the city. While the report found 8,368 reported cases of people living with AIDS in the district at the end of last year, a 43 percent increase from 2001, it also found that the number of new H.I.V. cases began declining in 2003. City health officials say the drop in H.I.V. numbers was most likely a result of under-reporting or delayed reporting. Dr. Shannon Hader, who became head of the city’s H.I.V./AIDS Administration in October, said the city had begun confronting the problem. In the last year, Dr. Hader said, the city began providing voluntary screening to all incoming prison inmates, tripled the number of locations for free screening and initiated a free condom distribution program. “We are also trying to raise awareness that there are programs in the city where people who are infected can get antiretroviral treatment, even if they do not have insurance and or cannot afford to pay for the treatment,” she said. City health officials said unprotected sex was the most common way H.I.V. is spread, followed by intravenous drug use. Since 2000, about 13 percent of all new H.I.V. cases in the city involved intravenous drug use, most likely the sharing of needles. Washington is still the only city in the country barred by federal law from using local tax money to finance needle exchange programs. Congress controls the city’s system of government, and for nearly a decade members of the House, citing concerns about worsening drug abuse, have inserted language into the bill approving the city’s budget to prohibit financing such programs. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/us...=1&oref=slogin

I've actually heard about the information posted in this artice for some time now, I just wonder if they're really doing the best they can to help put a stop to the high HIV/AIDS infection rate in the area...I men officials are talking about ways to educate people and help those infected but are they actually doing what they say?