Statistics on Gays, AIDS and other STDs

In one study, 70% to 78% of gays reported having had a sexually transmitted disease. However, approximately 25% of people in the United States who are infected with HIV do not know they are infected. A new study in the United Kingdom has revealed that homosexuals are about 50% more likely to suffer from depression and engage in substance abuse than the rest of the population, reports Health24.com. Those who treat AIDS patients are at great risk, as are those who are housed with AIDS patients. That, combined with shared needle drug use with homosexuals who had AIDS, contribute to spreading AIDS to non-homosexuals. In addition, gays get other diseases and problems. The proportion with intestinal parasites (worms, flukes, amoeba) ranged from 25% to 39% to 59%. Dr. Max Essex, chair of the Harvard AIDS Institute, warned congress in 1992 that "AIDS has already led to other kinds of dangerous epidemics...If AIDS is not eliminated, other new lethal microbes will emerge, and neither safe sex nor drug free practices will prevent them."

(Note: MSM = gay)

In the United States, HIV infection and AIDS have had a tremendous effect on men who have sex with men (MSM). MSM accounted for 71% of all HIV infections among male adults and adolescents in 2005 (based on data from 33 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting), even though only about 5% to 7% of male adults and adolescents in the United States identify themselves as MSM.

In the 33 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting, an estimated 19,620 MSM (18,296 MSM and 1,324 MSM who inject drugs) received a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, accounting for 71% of male adults and adolescents and 53% of all people receiving an HIV/AIDS diagnosis that year.

The number of HIV/AIDS diagnoses among MSM (including MSM who inject drugs) increased 11% from 2001 through 2005. It is not known whether this increase is due to an increase in the testing of persons with risk factors, which results in more HIV diagnoses, or due to an increase in cases of HIV infection.

An estimated 231,893 MSM (207,810 MSM and 24,083 MSM who inject drugs) were living with HIV/AIDS.

Transmission categories of male adults and adolescents with HIV/AIDS diagnosed during 2005:

- 67% had male-to-male sexual contact
- 5% had male-to-male sexual contact plus injection drug use (for a total of 72% being gay)
- 13% was merely from drug use (and, if needles were shared, some or all of that could have originated from gays using the needles)
- 15% was from high-risk heterosexual contact
- 1% was listed as "other" (could that include beastiality??)

Note: Based on data from 33 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting. Because of rounding, percentages may not equal 100.

Sexual risk factors account for most HIV infections in MSM. These factors include unprotected sex and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

* STDs, which increase the risk for HIV infection, remain an important health issue for MSM. According to the Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project, the proportion of gonorrhea-positive test results among MSM increased from 4% in 1988 to 20.2% in 2004. Rates of syphilis among MSM have increased in some urban areas, including Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle. In the 9 US cities participating in the MSM Prevalence Monitoring Project, the rates of STDs and HIV positivity varied by race and ethnicity but tended to be highest among black and Hispanic MSM. In addition to increasing susceptibility to HIV, STDs are markers for high-risk sexual practices, through which HIV infection can be transmitted.

Approximately 25% of people in the United States who are infected with HIV do not know they are infected.

Through its National HIV Behavioral Surveillance system, CDC found that 25% of the MSM surveyed in 5 large US cities were infected with HIV and 48% of those infected were unaware of their infections.

HAART has enabled HIV-infected MSM to live longer. However, HAART’s success means there are more MSM living with HIV who have the potential to transmit the virus to their sex partners. This emphasizes the importance of focusing prevention efforts on those who are living with HIV.

from:
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/msm/resources/factsheets/msm.htm


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The vast majority of young gay and bisexual men in the United States who were found to have the AIDS virus in a new study were unaware of their infection, according to findings reported as the 14th International AIDS Conference opened here today.

The rates of unawareness among minority gay men ages 15 to 29 in the study were staggeringly high. Among those found to have H.I.V., the AIDS virus, 90 percent of blacks, 70 percent of Hispanics and 60 percent of whites said they did not know they were infected.

Most of these infected men perceived themselves to be at low risk of being infected, despite having engaged in frequent high-risk sex like unprotected anal intercourse, said Duncan MacKellar, an epidemiologist from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which conducted the study.

'The study shows that the very men who are at greatest risk of H.I.V. infection are those who are least likely to think they are at risk,' Mr. Wilson said.

In presenting an overview of the AIDS epidemic in the United States at the conference, Dr. Ronald Valdiserri, an AIDS official at the disease centers, described what he said was a growing apathy about the H.I.V. epidemic in the country.

from:http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E2DE1630F93BA35754C0A9649C8B63

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Among men who have sex with men, there has been a steady rise in new infections since the early 1990s.

It is thought that more than one million people are living with HIV in the USA and that more than half a million have died after developing AIDS.

American HIV surveillance data are not comprehensive so many statistics must be based on reports of AIDS diagnoses. In interpreting such AIDS statistics, it is important to remember that they do not correspond to new HIV infections. Most people live with HIV for several years before developing AIDS.

At the end of 2006, the CDC estimates that 448,871 people were living with AIDS in America. This number includes all people who have ever been diagnosed with an AIDS-defining condition and are believed to be alive, including many people who have recovered their health by taking antiretroviral therapy.

Around 77% of adults and adolescents living with AIDS are men.

An estimated 3,775 children aged under 13 were living with AIDS at the end of 2006. The vast majority of these children acquired HIV from their mothers during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding.

At the end of 2006, the CDC estimates that there were 509,681 people living with HIV/AIDS in the 38 areas that have a history of confidential name-based HIV reporting, based on reported diagnoses and deaths2. However, the total number of people living in the USA with HIV/AIDS is thought to be around 1.1 million3. The discrepancy between these figures is due to several factors including:

* confidential name-based reporting of HIV diagnoses has not yet been implemented in all states4
* anonymous tests, including home tests, are excluded from case reports
* one in every five people living with HIV has not even had their infection diagnosed, let alone reported.5

During 2006, an estimated 36,817 new diagnoses of HIV infection were reported from the 38 areas with a history of confidential name-based reporting, a number that has remained relatively stable since 2001. Of these cases, 73% were among adult or adolescent males, 26% were among adult or adolescent females, and less than 1% were among children under 13 years of age. Recent HIV reports represent a mixture of people with recent infection and others who may have been infected in the past but are only now being diagnosed.

It is estimated that around 56,300 Americans became newly infected with HIV in 2006.6 The number of new infections peaked in 1984-85 at around 130,000 per year, fell to a low of around 49,000 in the early 1990s, peaked again at around 58,000 in the late 1990s, and then declined slightly to its current level. This overall pattern masks variation between exposure groups.

from:
http://www.avert.org/statsum.htm

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25% of white gays admitted to sex with boys 16 or younger as adults. In a 9-state study, 33% of the 181 male, and 22% of the 18 female teachers caught molesting students did so homosexually (though less than 3% of men and 2% of women engage in homosexuality).

Fear of AIDS may have reduced the volume of gay sex partners, but the numbers are prodigious by any standard. Morin reported that 824 gays had lowered their sex-rate from 70 different partners/yr. in 1982 to 50/yr. by 1984. McKusick reported declines from 76/yr. to 47/yr. in 1985. In Spain the average was 42/yr. in 1989.

Death and disease accompany promiscuous and unsanitary sexual activity. 70% to 78% of gays reported having had a sexually transmitted disease. The proportion with intestinal parasites (worms, flukes, amoeba) ranged from 25% to 39% to 59%. As of 1992, 83% of U.S. AIDS in whites had occurred in gays.

Those who treat AIDS patients are at great risk, not only from HIV infection, which as of 1992 involved over 100 health care workers, but also from TB and new strains of other diseases. Those who are housed with AIDS patients are also at risk. Dr. Max Essex, chair of the Harvard AIDS Institute, warned congress in 1992 that "AIDS has already led to other kinds of dangerous epidemics...If AIDS is not eliminated, other new lethal microbes will emerge, and neither safe sex nor drug free practices will prevent them."

Unfortunately, the danger of these exchanges does not merely affect homosexuals. Travelers carried so many tropical diseases to New York City that it had to institute a tropical disease center, and gays carried HIV from New York City to the rest of the world. Most of the 6,349 Americans who got AIDS from contaminated blood as of 1992, received it from homosexuals and most of the women in California who got AIDS through heterosexual activity got it from men who engaged in homosexual behavior. The rare form of airborne scarlet fever that stalked San Francisco in 1976 also started among homosexuals.

from:
http://www.familyresearchinst.org/FRI_EduPamphlet3.html

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After analyzing 25 earlier studies on sexual orientation and mental health, researchers, in a study published in the medical journal BMC Psychiatry, also found that the risk of suicide jumped over 200% if an individual had engaged in a homosexual lifestyle.

These findings strongly support the results of similar studies conducted in the United States, which have unveiled the severe physical and psychological health risks associated with homosexual behavior. Drs. Paul and Kirk Cameron of the Family Research Institute revealed in 2007 that research shows that the lifespan of a homosexual is on average 24 years shorter than that of a heterosexual. As a health threat, even smoking pales in comparison, as studies show smoking can shorten one's life by only 1 to 7 years on average.

While the Health 24 article suggested that homosexuals may be pushed to substance abuse and suicide because of anti-homosexual cultural and family pressures, empirical tests have shown that there is no difference in homosexual health risk depending on the level of tolerance in a particular environment. Homosexuals in the United States and Denmark - the latter of which is acknowledged to be highly tolerant of homosexuality - both die on average in their early 50's, or in their 40's if AIDS is the cause of death. The average age for all residents in either country ranges from the mid-to-upper-70s.

from:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=255614