Hiv Resurges In Men Who Have Sex With Men

[Paladin D]

[url="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25398121/"]HIV resurges in men who have sex with men[/url]
[b][i]Cases climb 12 percent among group of U.S. boys and men ages 13 to 24[/b][/i]

[quote]A new analysis of HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men points to a troubling increase in new cases among young men, U.S. health officials reported Thursday.

Public health experts use the term "men who have sex with men," or MSM, because many of these men are not strictly homosexual or even bisexual.

Between 2001 and 2006, male-to-male sex was the largest HIV transmission category in the U.S., and the only one associated with an increasing number of HIV/AIDS diagnoses, according to a report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The jump was highest — an increase of 12.4 percent — among boys and men between the ages of 13 and 24 years who had sex with other males, particularly among ethnic minorities.

"To reduce transmission of HIV among MSM of all races/ethnicities, prevention strategies should be strengthened, improved, and implemented more broadly," CDC health officials wrote in their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Testing is important, they add, because "after persons become aware that they are HIV positive, most reduce their high-risk sexual behavior."

The report describes trends in diagnoses of HIV/AIDS in 33 states that have confidential, name-based HIV case reporting.

Of 214,379 diagnoses during the study period, 46 percent were among MSM. The rate of new diagnoses declined in all other transmission categories — injection drug use, high-risk heterosexual contact, and other routes of transmission.

Among all MSM, the estimated annual percentage change was 1.5 percent, the great majority of which involved the 13 to 24 year age group.

Among racial/ethnic groups, the annual increase in the number of diagnoses among MSM was highest among Asian/Pacific Islanders at 12.1 percent, followed by a 3.6 percent rate among American Indians/Alaska Natives; however, these two groups accounted for fewer than 1 percent of all diagnoses made during the study period. The annual increase was 1.9 percent among both African Americans and Hispanics, and 0.7 percent among Caucasians.

In MSM younger than age 25, African Americans bore the greatest burden with 7,658 new diagnoses (annual rate of change of 15 percent), followed by 3,221 new cases among Caucasians (9 percent annual increase) and 2,422 new cases among Hispanics (8 percent).

June 27 is National HIV Testing Day. To address the disproportionately high rate of HIV infection among blacks, the CDC has increased the number of testing sites in 23 geographic areas with the largest number of HIV cases. A list of testing sites is available at www.hivtest.org.[/quote]

[Maggyie]

[quote name='Paladin D' post='1584447' date='Jun 27 2008, 12:22 AM']Public health experts use the term "men who have sex with men," or MSM, because many of these men are not strictly homosexual or even bisexual.[/quote]

This part confuses me. I guess these guys are just "experimenting" and so don't fall into the category of homosexual?

When I saw the term MSM I almost fell off my chair because in the circles I move in, that acronym refers to "mainstream media," not... men who have sex with men.

[picchick]

[quote name='Maggie' post='1584541' date='Jun 27 2008, 01:57 AM']This part confuses me. I guess these guys are just "experimenting" and so don't fall into the category of homosexual?

When I saw the term MSM I almost fell off my chair because in the circles I move in, that acronym refers to "mainstream media," not... men who have sex with men.[/quote]

yeah....I betcha it would be politically incorrect to say homosexual.

However, I surprised that this is new to the media...

meg

[Justin86]

I don't know how true it is, but some very smart people have told me that actual cases of HIV resulting from heterosexual contact are minimal at best. It is mostly occurs in men that have sex with men, apparently.

[Aloysius]

I don't know about the stats on that, but it is true that anal sex of any sort increases the risk... things weren't meant to go that way so there's tissue tearing that creates open wounds through which the virus can get in more directly.

the "MSM" term is actually a better term according to Catholic principals than "homosexual" is, as it doesn't define the person but simply describes their actions.

[Justin86]

[quote name='Aloysius' post='1584573' date='Jun 27 2008, 04:43 PM']I don't know about the stats on that, but it is true that anal sex of any sort increases the risk... things weren't meant to go that way so there's tissue tearing that creates open wounds through which the virus can get in more directly.[/quote]
Virus' also thrive in dark, warm, and moist areas of which the anus is a perfect example of. Gay men are also likely to have anal sex more frequently then any other group, for obvious reasons.

[RandomProddy]

[quote name='Justin86' post='1584588' date='Jun 27 2008, 11:26 AM']Virus' also thrive in dark, warm, and moist areas of which the anus is a perfect example of.[/quote]

That's not the first place I thought of.























(freshly baked bread!!)

[Galloglasses]

I don't want to sound homophobic here, but the Lesbian/Gay Community in America really does have a high percentege of HIV cases. Considering its a minority, that high percentege is scary.

[Justin86]

[quote name='Galloglasses' post='1584663' date='Jun 27 2008, 10:32 PM']I don't want to sound homophobic here, but the Lesbian/Gay Community in America really does have a high percentege of HIV cases. Considering its a minority, that high percentege is scary.[/quote]

Yeah, I've read reports that claim by 2010 50% of gay men in the US will have HIV. Not sure how accurate that prediction is but still, yikes!

[Justin86]

[quote name='RandomProddy' post='1584633' date='Jun 27 2008, 09:39 PM']That's not the first place I thought of.
(freshly baked bread!!)[/quote]
When the bun is in the oven?

[CatherineM]

Their behavior only changed the first time when they started burying their friends every week. That's probably what it will take again with this group that wasn't born when the disease first started killing.

[mommas_boy]

[quote name='Galloglasses' post='1584663' date='Jun 27 2008, 09:32 AM']I don't want to sound homophobic here, but the Lesbian/Gay Community in America really does have a high percentege of HIV cases. Considering its a minority, that high percentege is scary.[/quote]

A high-percentage for a small population makes sense.

Think of the virus as like food coloring that you add to a glass of water. The smaller the glass, the less food coloring you need to make it dark.

Because the community is smaller, the number of potential sexual partners is also smaller. This means that a single person infected with an STI is more likely to infect a person whom you have also slept with.

It's sorta like the difference between playing Russian Roulette with 11 blanks and 1 live round, versus 5 blanks and 1 live round. The six-shooter is twice as likely to kill you.

[CatherineM]

There's also the fact that many are on serious drugs or alcohol when having gay sex. I think I had over 50 HIV+ clients in the '80's, and to a man, they were all high when they thought they had contracted it. To a man, they are also all dead now. When the coverage of the first day of gay marriages in California were being broadcast, what struck me is that they all seemed so happy. That wasn't my experience with gay clients. They were all very unhappy, troubled guys, that had to be high out of some kind of self hatred. Granted, I only dealt with ones who were sick and needed to go on disability, or were dying and needed their estates dealt with. If you're high, you're much less likely to think of condoms I guess.

[mommas_boy]

[quote name='CatherineM' post='1584788' date='Jun 27 2008, 11:59 AM']There's also the fact that many are on serious drugs or alcohol when having gay sex. I think I had over 50 HIV+ clients in the '80's, and to a man, they were all high when they thought they had contracted it.[/quote]

Makes sense. I was thinking this too when I wrote my post, but decided not to mention it for the sake of simplicity. But yes, sexual deviance is likely not the problem itself, but rather the symptom of certain other problems. These other problems then cause other symptoms common with sexual deviance, generally including drugs.

Another issue is that societal pressure related to the sexual deviance, in addition to the act of sexual deviance itself, is likely a contributor to the source mental problem. beaver dam vicious circle.

[quote]When the coverage of the first day of gay marriages in California were being broadcast, what struck me is that they all seemed so happy.[/quote]

Of course they were happy. Legal gay "marriages" constitute societal approval in a society that while righteously denouncing the act, inadvertently makes these people feel unloved. Now, they believe, they are finally able to obtain that which they think will make them truly happy. And they might indeed be happy, but will never possess the depth of happiness that God had originally intended for them.

[quote]That wasn't my experience with gay clients. They were all very unhappy, troubled guys, that had to be high out of some kind of self hatred. Granted, I only dealt with ones who were sick and needed to go on disability, or were dying and needed their estates dealt with. If you're high, you're much less likely to think of condoms I guess.[/quote]

So sad.

[Madame Vengier]

[quote name='Paladin D' post='1584447' date='Jun 26 2008, 10:22 PM'][url="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25398121/"]HIV resurges in men who have sex with men[/url]
[b][i]Cases climb 12 percent among group of U.S. boys and men ages 13 to 24[/b][/i][/quote]


The revolt of nature against aberrant sexual behavior.

I used to volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity working with their femals AIDS patients. Never as long as I live will I forget what a horrible, horrible disease AIDS is and how it ravages the body from the inside out. If AIDS hasn't been a wake-up call for sexual deviants and drug users then I don't know what ever will be.