Because of these reasons many gay and bisexual men of younger age groups underestimate personal risk and suffer the illusion that because of treatment advances, HIV is no longer a serious health threat. Among younger men, this lack of awareness may be worsened by a sense of complacency since they did not personally experience the severity of the early AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s.
All these statistics become pertinent in the light of the final fact that since the beginning of the epidemic, more than 286,000 MSM with AIDS have died.Ī complicated nexus of social, sexual and economic factors seem to increase the risk of gays and bisexual men of contracting HIV infection. What is especially a matter of concern is that among those who were infected, nearly half or 44 percent were unaware of their HIV status. While MSM of all races and ethnicities were severely affected, MSM from the African-American community seemed to bear the greatest brunt of the HIV infections. The results of the study found out that overall, one in five MSM was infected which amounted to 19 percent of the MSM participating in the study. cities in 2008, which the CDC factsheet quotes, gays and bisexual men were found to have high levels of HIV infection, and what’s worse many of those infected with HIV did not know it. In terms of numbers, the rate of new infection is 522 – 989 per 100,000 among MSM as opposed to 12 new infections per 100,000 among other men. While CDC estimates that only 4 percent of men in the United States are MSM, what is especially worrying is that the rate of new HIV diagnoses among MSM in the United States is more than 44 times that of other men. So 61%, of the new HIV infections each year are those of gays or bisexual men - in terms of numbers this amounts to an estimated 29,300 new infections each year among them. Not only this, MSM account for more than half of all new HIV infections in the United States each year.
This accounts for nearly half of the approximately 1.2 million people living with HIV in the country. The fact sheet states that in the US the percentage of MSM infected by HIV is 49%, or an estimated 580,000 total persons.
While it is necessary for an AIDS patient to be infected with HIV, one can have HIV in the system without exhibiting the symptoms of AIDS.
AIDS is caused by the HIV or human immunodeficiency virus which belongs to a group of viruses known as retrovirus. AIDS or Acquired Immunodefiency Syndrome is a disease that weakens the human immune system to the point when it can no longer fight off infections and results in death unless treatment is started. While the prime reason for this continues to be the fact that a definite and complete cure has continued to elude scientists, another equally strong cause remains the confusion and misconception over how AIDS is transmitted and who is at highest risk of the infection.įirst of all it is necessary to get a clear picture about AIDS the disease. Since the end of the last century few diseases have evoked so much fear and concern as AIDS.