Why does hiv affect gay
What led to the descend in HIV cases in UK gay men?
HIV incidence in gay and bisexual men in the UK has fallen to such an extent that new diagnoses among heterosexuals exceeded those in lgbtq+ and bisexual men for the first time in a decade in 2020.
A poster presented at this week’s Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2022) by Dr Valentina Cambiano and colleagues from University College London (with input from the UK Health Security Agency and community organisations, including aidsmap.com), estimates that there were 669 new HIV infections in gay and attracted to both genders men in 2021.
In 2011 there had been about 3000 infections. Cambiano and colleagues estimate that this 75% drop in a decade will continue if current prevention measures are maintained, leading to unused cases of HIV in gay and bisexual men becoming rare by 2040.
This is new infections, not diagnoses. During 2020, 976 gay or bisexual men tested HIV positive and 1067 heterosexuals. But this includes people diagnosed with a low CD4 enumerate who may have had HIV for years and people who caught it outside the UK. In fact, while substantial falls in diagnoses in queer men were first reported in 2016, epidemiolog
Debunking Common Myths About HIV
Read responses to myths that 'HIV is a gay disease' or a 'death sentence,' and discover other important knowledge about getting tested.
Myths about who contracts HIV
MYTH: “HIV is a ‘gay’ or ‘LGBTQ+’ disease.”
REALITY: While rates of HIV are disproportionately higher among members of the LGBTQ+ society, HIV is by no means confined to LGBTQ+ people. Anyone—regardless of sexual orientation, gender persona, gender expression or other factors—can receive HIV. Calling HIV a “gay” or “LGBTQ+” disease is medically untrue and only serves to perpetuate harmful stereotypes about people living with HIV and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
MYTH: “I am over 50! I don’t depend on to worry about HIV.”
REALITY: HIV transmission is about behavior; not how aged you are. Moreover, according to the CDC, older Americans are more likely to be diagnosed with HIV at a later stage of the disease.
MYTH: “I am in a monogamous association. I don’t own to worry about HIV.”
REALITY: It is still important to get tested for HIV even if you’re in a monogamous relationship. According to the latest estimates, 68 percent of new HIV transmissions among homosexual and
40 years of HIV discovery: the first cases of a mysterious disease in the early 1980s
Since the year of its finding out, HIV has spread from Africa to North America and then to Europe. The first cases were reported in the Joined States in men who have sex with men. The following cases concerned transfused patients, hemophiliacs and drug addicts, demonstrating the strong involvement of the blood route in the transmission of the virus. The disease only appeared in Asia around 1986-1987, first in Thailand, then in other Southeast Asian countries.
It should be noted that contrary to famous belief, the most crucial mode of transmission worldwide occurs between heterosexuals. It is estimated that nearly 38 million people are currently infected worldwide.
“AIDS is a late phase of HIV infection,” clarifies Asier Sáez-Cirión, head of the Viral Reservoirs and Immune Control Unit at the Institut Pasteur. “We really need to break down this direct HIV/AIDS association because it represents an obstacle to the eradication of HIV infection. This is our daily struggle.” Indeed, a person who has AIDS is necessarily a carrier of HIV, but a person who is a carrier of HIV does not necessarily h
Why Do Gay Men Contain a Higher Chance of Getting HIV?
HIV is preventable. Here are a scant ways to reduce the risk of transmission.
1. Utilize a barrier method during sex
Condoms and other barrier methods can protect against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
If you have HIV or another STI, getting treatment and using a condom or other barrier method every time you have sex can reduce the uncertainty of transmission.
If you don’t have an STI, you can protect yourself from acquiring an STI by using a condom or other barrier procedure every time you hold sex.
Also, it’s important to buy the right size condom for you and to use it properly.
2. Choose alternative sexual activities
Some activities carry a higher risk of HIV transmission than others.
The chance of transmission is upper during anal sex without a condom or other barrier method.
The chance of transmission is shallow during oral sex or activities that don’t involve contact with bodily fluids.
3. Limit your number of sexual partners
The chance of HIV transmission increases with the number of sexual partners a person has.
4. Get testing and treatment
If you’re an MSM, reflect on getting
LGBTQ History Month: The early days of America's AIDS crisis
It was not until the late 1970s when the HIV strain that started the North American pandemic had made its way to the United States, via Zaire and Haiti. By then, the sexual revolution was in packed swing and HIV was spreading silently among gay male populations in grand American cities. Men who have sex with men were, and still are, disproportionately impacted by HIV because it transmits much more easily through anal sex than through vaginal sex.
The first official government inform on AIDS came on June 5, 1981, in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a government bulletin on perplexing disease cases: “In the period October 1980-May 1981, 5 young men, all active homosexuals, were treated for biopsy-confirmed Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia at 3 different hospitals in Los Angeles, California. Two of the patients died.”
In NBC Nightly News’ first report on AIDS in June 1982, Robert Bazell reported that “the leading guess is some infectious agent is causing it.”
In a 1983 appearance on NBC's "Today" show, activist and Gay Mens Health Crisis co-founder Larry Kramer asked host Jane Pauley, "Jane, can you dream