| At The 14th International AIDS
Conference in Barcelona, Spain, Doctor Ron Valdiserri, Deputy
Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
Prevention programs released alarming figures on the
occurrence of unrecognized HIV infection and misconception of
risk among YOUNG men who have sex with men.
Doctor Duncan MacKeller presented
new research data collected from the CDC’s Young Men’s
Survey. CDC studies revealed the following data:
- 9 out of 10 African American
participants were unaware of their HIV status.
- Since 1998, reported U.S.
AIDS cases have remained at approximately 40,000 per year.
- Wide spread use of
antiretroviral therapy and a decrease in AIDS deaths over
the last half decade have lead to a MISCONCEPTION of SAFTEY
among young men.
- As HIV positive men continue
to live longer and healthier lives, they are continuing to
have sexually active lives as these studies illustrate.
In a six-city study
(Baltimore, Dallas, LA, NYC, Seattle and Miami) involving
5,719 (self identified gay and bisexual) sexually active men
ages 15 to 29, conducted out side gay bars, street corners and
dance clubs in gay locations from 1994 to 2000, young men were
offered testing and counseling services. This study involved
1,089 African Americans, 1,497 Latinos and 2,421 Caucasians.
- Of the 5,719 men studied, a
total of 573 (nearly 10%) of the individuals tested positive
for HIV infection, a rate 9 times higher than the general
heterosexual population.
- While African Americans made
up only 19% of the total study group, they represented 43%
(243) of those who tested positive. A distressing 91% (221)
of them were TOTALLY unaware of their status. They perceived
themselves and their partners to be negative and their
sexual behaviors to be safe.
- Of all the men who tested
positive, 77% were TOTALLY SCHOCKED to find out they had
HIV. They thought they were safe and they perceived there
past partners to be negative.
- Of the 5,719 men involved in
the study, 55% had never had an HIV test or had not been
tested in the last year. All these men gave the same reasons
for not using condoms: “I KNEW my partner was SAFE!”
Back to Top
|