CDC: HIV Down in General Population but Surging with Gay,
Bisexual Males
by William Bigelow 20 Jul 2014,
6:45 AM PDT
A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention states that although the annual diagnosis rate of HIV has
dropped by one-third in the general population,
the percentage is increasing among young gay
and bisexual males.
HIV, the virus that causes AIDS,
has been dropping among heterosexuals, drug users, and women, but the rate for
young gay and bisexual males has risen over 100%.
Co-author Amy Lansky, deputy
director for surveillance, epidemiology, and laboratory sciences at the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, said that because the AIDS epidemic was first
reported in the 1980s, young people are inured to the disease’s preponderance.
She said, "It's been more than 30 years since the first cases were
reported. It's harder to maintain that sense of urgency."
To make matters worse, the cases
studied in the CDC report only dealt with those actually diagnosed with HIV,
and health officials estimate there are many more cases where people have the
infection unknowingly. Another problem is that the data collected does not
include the date when the disease was contracted, which makes determining
trends of the disease difficult to pinpoint.
Lansky admitted that the increased
occurrences of HIV among young gay and bisexual males are "a considerable
problem." She said 1.1 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have
contracted HIV and added that 16% of that number—roughly 176,000 people—don’t
know they have the disease.
The CDC report, published in the
July 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that
in the period between 2002 to 2011, among people 13 and older, the diagnosis of
HIV fell from 24 out of every 100,000 people to 16, a 33% drop. Women saw the
number of diagnoses cut in half; men dropped by 25%, blacks plunged 37%, and
Hispanics dropped 41%. Among those who had heterosexual sex, the number dropped
more than 33% for men and women.
But among males 13-24, the number
of HIV diagnoses soared. New diagnoses climbed from 3,000 to 7,000.
Lansky said that targeting the
young gay and bisexual males was the next step, asserting, "The increases
tell us where we need to keep putting our efforts. To build on the progress
that we've made, we're really starting to focus on those who are in greatest
need."
Dr. David Margolis, an AIDS
specialist at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, wants to give HIV drugs to that same population
even if they have not contracted the disease. He said, "The use of
antivirals to prevent HIV infection is fraught with many challenges, but if
there is a more than doubling of new infections in one demographic, perhaps
something needs to be done."
Others claim giving the drug to
those who are not infected would further encourage promiscuous sex.
HIV/AIDS
Helene
D. Gayle was the director of HIV
& TB & reproductive health for the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation, and is a director at the New America Foundation.
Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation was a funder for the Debt AIDS Trade Africa, the Pangaea
Global AIDS Foundation, the U.S.
Agency for International Development, the New America Foundation, and the International Rescue Committee.
J. Brian Atwood
was an administrator for the U.S. Agency
for International Development, and is a director at Population Services International.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the New America Foundation, the International
Rescue Committee, the Robin Hood
Foundation, and the Harlem
Children's Zone.
George
Soros was the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society, a benefactor at the Harlem Children's Zone, and is Daisy
M. Soros’s brother-in-law.
Daisy
M. Soros is George Soros’s sister-in-law,
and a leader’s council member for the Breast
Cancer Research Foundation.
Joan
H. Tisch is a leader’s council member for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and a lifetime trustee at the Gay Men's Health Crisis.
Kenneth R. French
is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, and the professor of finance at the Tuck School of Business.
Carol
L. Folt is an overseer at the Tuck
School of Business, and the chancellor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Clifford S. Asness
is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, supported same-sex
marriage in New York, and a leadership council member
at the Robin Hood Foundation.
Michael R.
Bloomberg was a donor for the Robin
Hood Foundation, a benefactor at the Harlem
Children's Zone, the New York (NY) mayor, is Emma Bloomberg’s father, and the founder of the Bloomberg Family Foundation.
Emma
Bloomberg was the senior planning officer for the Robin Hood Foundation, is Michael
R. Bloomberg’s daughter, and a director at the Bloomberg Family Foundation.
Bloomberg
Family Foundation was a funder for the CDC
Foundation.
CDC Foundation
is a foundation for the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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