NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN TO READ
Different HIV Rates Among Gay Men And Straight People Not Fully Explained By Sexual Behavior
ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2007) — Differences in sexual behaviours do not fully explain why the US HIV epidemic affects gay men so much more than straight men and women, claims research published ahead of print in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.
In 2005, over half of new HIV infections diagnosed in the US were among gay men, and up to one in five gay men living in cities is thought to be HIV positive.
Yet two large population surveys showed that most gay men had similar numbers of unprotected sexual partners per year as straight men and women.
US researchers applied a series of carefully calculated equations in different scenarios to study the rate at which HIV infection has spread among gay men and straight men and women.
They used figures taken from two national surveys to estimate how many sex partners gay men and straight men and women have, and what proportion of gay men have insertive or receptive anal sex, or both.
They then set these figures against accepted estimates of how easily HIV is transmitted by vaginal and anal sex to calculate the size of the HIV epidemic in gay men and straight men and women.
The results showed that for the straight US population to experience an epidemic of HIV infection as great as that of gay men, they would need to average almost five unprotected sexual partners every year.
This is a rate almost three times that of gay men.
But to end the HIV epidemic, gay men would need to have rates of unprotected sex several times lower than those currently evident among the straight population. This is because transmission rates are higher for anal sex than they are for vaginal sex, say the authors.
But "role versatility," whereby people adopt both "insertive" and "receptive roles," also plays a part, they add.
A gay man can be easily infected through unprotected receptive sex, and then infect someone else through insertive sex.
Gay men are therefore far more susceptible to the spread of the virus through the population, even with the same numbers of unprotected sexual partners.
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Gay HIV rate set to be highest ever | Express Online Gay HIV rate set to be highest ever
Posted on 04 March 2011. Tags:
HIV/AIDS,
New Zealand AIDS Foundation,
safe sex
The latest HIV figures from the AIDS Epidemiology Group (AEG) at the University of Otago are on track to make 2010 the worst year on record for men who have sex with men’s (MSM) HIV diagnoses.
Shaun Robinson, the newly appointed executive director of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF) says the organisation is “quite prepared to be bold” in promising an immediate and effective response to the figures. He says the alarming trend of increasing HIV infections among MSM should serve as a “clarion call to the gay and bisexual community”.
The figures, released by the AEG last week, show that there were 90 new HIV diagnoses for gay and bisexual men in 2010. The record number of diagnoses for MSM was 93 in 2008.
Robinson says, “This epidemic has never been worse in New Zealand for gay and bisexual men. In addition to the 90 gay and bisexual men that we know about, there are another 15 men for whom the method of HIV transmission is unknown. It’s highly likely that most of them will be [MSM], which means that this will be the worst year on record. It’s really starkly clear that the epidemic among gay and bisexual men has been staging a major comeback since around 2000.”
Robinson continues, “The epidemic is very cunning. Viruses in particular almost behave like an intelligent enemy – they mutate, they’re very opportunistic and take advantage of the weak points in the social terrain and that’s what they’ve done.”
Research shows that gay men’s communities in New Zealand have very high rates of condom use. However, Robinson says maintaining this rate is no longer enough and only increased rates of condom use will reduce HIV diagnoses for gay and bisexual men.
“We have nearly 70pc of gay and bisexual men using condoms 100pc of the time with casual partners, but clearly in this environment that’s not enough. We are going to put every resource we have behind driving HIV rates down but we can’t do it alone and we can’t do it overnight. We need to get to a situation where wearing a condom is the social norm and you stand out if you don’t. That will be the tipping point.”
HIV testing will also remain critical if New Zealand is to control the HIV epidemic.
“A large proportion were not diagnosed with HIV until their infection was past the point when treatment should have begun,” says Robinson. “These men may have had HIV and been sexually active for a long time before they were diagnosed which means they missed out on effective treatment and they were also likely to be more infectious. This situation could have been avoided by regular HIV testing – which is both free and easy.”
The best estimate of the number of people living with HIV in New Zealand in 2010 is 1800. Robinson says, “That’s 1800 people – the majority of whom are gay and bisexual men – who have been needlessly infected.
“If there’s anything good that comes out of this year’s figures, it’s the very clear message – we cannot ignore this. The message we want to get out there is a mixture of a wake up call, a call to action and hope – we’ve got to do something, we know what we’ve got to do and it will work. We can actually beat this epidemic if we work together.”
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Morality COMPLETELY ASIDE. How is this still harmless? How is this not hurting anyone at all?
Edit:I removed one line from the second story because it was to blunt as the author states in the line.
