Is HIV a big problem in the TS escort community?

[dopearope]

.....

[Shadow0978s]

Yes. Protect yourself. Be safe, and respect who you are with.

[ELSAPO]

Good Question? so is it??

[runround04]

big problem or small, shoud be safe either way. Only takes on to get the Bug

[pointblack]

It's a big problem everywhere if you are not safe.

[dopearope]

lets not skim over the question though..condoms can always break

[FreddieGomez]

i believe it is but it's overlooked unfortunately....

[ELSAPO]

it is overlooked, like bare back bj's freak me out. We could have so much fun if we just practiced safe sex. a little sacrifice goes a long way

[phobun]

Yes it is
Escorts who are positive work but will never tell you

[LibertyHarkness]

clients who are positive will never tell you either .just saying :)

The end of the day use condoms thats your only real protection but that is not 100%, the only real guarantee is simply dont have sex with a escort/stranger if in doubt etc ..

Choice is yours .

[DarylWashington]

Quit being pussies, ROLL THE DICE!!

[fred41]

Usually people that ask questions like this already know the answer and are really just trying to stir up shit.

[DarylWashington]

Usually people that ask questions like this already know the answer and are really just trying to stir up shit.

LMFAO true!

[TsVanessa69]

With all the education and free condoms and free testing available it should not be in ANY community.

[Faldur]

From a study by Mark Cichocki, R.N. December 2009:

There have been a number of studies conducted in San Francisco. One study surveyed transgender people seeking hormones in a public health setting. Of those, 15 percent were HIV infected. In a more recent study, 35 percent were found to be HIV positive.
A study in Los Angeles showed 22 percent of transgender people were HIV infected.

[notdrunk]

Yes it is
Escorts who are positive work but will never tell you

I know of one ex-escort who is hiv positive. And, she was escorting while being hiv positive. She told me a week after we done it that she is hiv positive. I knew her for a minute. However, it was the first time we had sex. Before we had sex I asked her if she was hiv positive and she said no. So, I guess she wanted to come clean with me. She apologized a lot and she said I am safe because she has a low viral count and we didn't have risky sex. Still got to get tested but I am waiting until next week for a baseline (it has been a month). Apparently, she only told close friends that she got the virus and not people who paid for her services.

I count my blessings that I wore protection.

[TsVanessa69]

Alot of bitter TS like to cause false panic in the community.
So they go and make accusations about other girls having it
BUT the reality is, they are the ones you really need to wory about!

[LOS4ME]

BBBJ's pose a very minimal risk in regards to the transmission of HIV/AIDS. ;)

[NYTSJulie]

oral has very low risks of HIV, but sill always use a condom...anal ALWAYS use a condom

[TsVanessa69]

oral has very low risks of HIV, but sill always use a condom...anal ALWAYS use a condom
Best way to put it.
Unprotecetd anal sex is the riskiest for sex with a ts.
The vagina would be for sex with a GG.
HIV is transmitted thru vaginal fluids

[NYTSJulie]

vaginal fluids

I am not a fan of this, so cross that off my list lol

[TsVanessa69]

I am not a fan of this, so cross that off my list lol
HIV is spread thru semen, blood, breast milk and vaginal fluids.

[NYTSJulie]

HIV is spread thru semen, blood, breast milk and vaginal fluids.

yes girl I know I was just making a joke about the coochie fluid

[natina]

YOU CAN GET HIV FROM ANAL,ORAL AND VAGINAL SEX


ESPECIALLY ANAL
many people there gums bleed,many have anal fissures( small cracks) around the anus.


some venereal diseases cause you to bleed.



HIV is transmitted through blood contact from INFECTED PERSONS/ANTIBODIES PLUS CAUTION OTHER BODY FLUIDS (THEY CONTAIN ANTIBODIES)
I know of a GG(X DRUG ADDICT) who infected all her kids by chewing the food and giving it to them.she had bleeding gums from dental issues and HIV.
ALL HER KIDS HAVE HIV NOW!


many of the hospices have mostly Hispanic transsexuals being taken care of in Hollywood CALIF.
I HAVE MANY NURSE FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES AND THEY TELL ME THIS CONSTANTLY ALL THE TIME THAT TRANSSEXUAL ARE THE MAJORITY OF THERE PATIENTS.


SO CAUTION!




White gay males have the highest aids/hiv status


WHITE WOMEN ARE
THE New Faces of HIV/AIDS/The women Philippe infected say they weren't especially worried about HIV/AIDS
http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/print/1


New Faces of HIV/AIDS
Oprah.com When women end long marriages and rejoin the dating world, there's a lot to worry about. Will it be hard to meet someone? Will dating be the same as it was years ago? When should I introduce a partner to my children? But the one factor many middle-aged women don't necessarily think about is the one that can be the most life-altering: sexually transmitted diseases.


These five women sharing the Oprah Show stage have a lot in common. They live in suburban America. They are mothers with successful careers. They also, unknowingly, shared a partner. Each woman, some of whom are in disguise, dated and slept with Philippe Padieu, a man they describe as handsome and charismatic. Unfortunately, he turned out to be very different from the man he claimed to be.


Diane, a 58-year-old martial arts teacher, was the first to meet Philippe. She had been married for 18 years and says when she reentered the dating world, it had changed dramatically. "It was very difficult to meet people, and I really don't do bars. My friends suggested that I use an online dating service," she says. "When I first started dating Philippe, I was head over heels. He was very charming. He made me feel like the only woman on the face of the earth."


Diane and Philippe quickly became serious and decided to move in together. When Philippe lost his job, Diane hired him as an instructor at her martial arts studio and started paying for most of his bills, including his cell phone and medical bills.

[dopearope]

i'm not concerned about getting a blowie..the risks are VERY low for the receiver of BJ and some experts believe it can't be transmitted that way. That is not an issue for me..

anal sex is though..because although condoms work, they can break, and its happened to me before with a gender girl.

[natina]

what if there GUMS are BLEEDING?

now you have antibodies infected with HIV in direct contact with the pink mucous membrane on the tip of your penis.

MOST PEOPLES GUM BLEED BECAUSE THEY HAVE GUM DISEASE

[dopearope]

i agree bleeding gums is a risk but howten do people have gums that bleed that badly?

in the absence of bleeding gums, getting your cock sucked is nothing to worry about as I understand..i sure dont worry about it

[TsVanessa69]

yes girl I know I was just making a joke about the coochie fluid
I know you knew sis, but you would be surprised how many guys who fuck females don't.

[NYTSJulie]

I know you knew sis, but you would be surprised how many guys who fuck females don't.

i know, I think right now black women is the highest new infections

[runround04]

Quit being pussies, ROLL THE DICE!!

Good advice, enjoy your AIDS

[mrsoze00]

http://www.hungangels.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=37981&highlight=mrsoze00

[nonnonnon]

I'm way more paranoid about herpes

[natina]

WHITE WOMEN ARE
THE New Faces of HIV/AIDS/The women Philippe infected say they weren't especially worried about HIV/AIDS
http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/print/1


New Faces of HIV/AIDS
Oprah.com When women end long marriages and rejoin the dating world, there's a lot to worry about. Will it be hard to meet someone? Will dating be the same as it was years ago? When should I introduce a partner to my children? But the one factor many middle-aged women don't necessarily think about is the one that can be the most life-altering: sexually transmitted diseases.


These five women sharing the Oprah Show stage have a lot in common. They live in suburban America. They are mothers with successful careers. They also, unknowingly, shared a partner. Each woman, some of whom are in disguise, dated and slept with Philippe Padieu, a man they describe as handsome and charismatic. Unfortunately, he turned out to be very different from the man he claimed to be.


Diane, a 58-year-old martial arts teacher, was the first to meet Philippe. She had been married for 18 years and says when she reentered the dating world, it had changed dramatically. "It was very difficult to meet people, and I really don't do bars. My friends suggested that I use an online dating service," she says. "When I first started dating Philippe, I was head over heels. He was very charming. He made me feel like the only woman on the face of the earth."


Diane and Philippe quickly became serious and decided to move in together. When Philippe lost his job, Diane hired him as an instructor at her martial arts studio and started paying for most of his bills, including his cell phone and medical bills.


Diane says Philippe's money problems put a strain on their relationship. Eventually, he started pulling away so much that Diane suspected him of cheating. As it turned out, she was right. "I stopped by the [martial arts] school and I noticed that the private lesson room door was closed. He opened the door and he blocked the doorway, and that's when I slammed the door open and she was behind the door," Diane says. The last straw, she says, was catching him in a lie about being staying home sick. "Because I was paying for his cell phone, I checked his voice mail messages. There were not one but two voice mail messages from two different women, and I knew."

http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/print/1





i know, I think right now black women is the highest new infections

[natina]

White gay males have the highest aids/hiv status



German pop star Nadja Benaissa Sex Confession Of Spreading HIV



Pop Star Nadja Benaissa has confessed to keeping her HIV status a secret to sexual partners. Benaissa broke down in tears at a Darmstadt, Germany courtroom apologizing for her sex acts.

Benaissa, 28, denied trying to infect anyone with the virus that causes AIDS. Benaissa recently went to trail due to an ex-lover who contracted the virus allegedly from her.

Benaissa faces 6 months to 10 years in prison.


Once a member of the famous female pop group No Angels, has been charged with causing bodily harm or attempting to cause bodily harm. Her verdict will be on August 26.

Benaissa told the court that she found out she was HIV positive in 1999 when she was 16-years old and 6 months pregnant. Her lawyers claimed that doctors told her the chance of giving someone else the disease was "practically zero."

Benaissa reportedly had unprotected sex on five occasions between 2000 and 2004 with three men. She did not tell them that she had HIV reportedly. The man who brought Benaissa to court has not been named. He did not know that Benaissa was HIV positive until his aunt told him later on. He is HIV positive. (c) tPC


http://specials.msn.com/A-List/Entertainment/Pop-star-HIV-sex-confession.aspx?cp-searchtext=Pop%20star%20HIV%20sex%20confession

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212317802.shtml

http://www.judiciaryreport.com/images/nadja-benaissa-4-17-09-3.jpg

http://www.judiciaryreport.com/images/nadja-benaissa-4-17-09-8.jpg

http://www.judiciaryreport.com/images/nadja-benaissa-4-17-09-6.jpg

http://www.judiciaryreport.com/hiv_never_judge_a_book_by_its_cover.htm

http://www.judiciaryreport.com/images/nadja-benaissa-4-17-09-8.jpg

[natina]

White gay males have the highest aids/hiv status

New Faces of HIV/AIDS



http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/print/1
http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/print/1


Oprah.com | October 20, 2009

http://images.oprah.com/images/tows/200909/20090923/20090923-tows-sex-victims-1-290x218.jpg
When women end long marriages and rejoin the dating world, there's a lot to worry about. Will it be hard to meet someone? Will dating be the same as it was years ago? When should I introduce a partner to my children? But the one factor many middle-aged women don't necessarily think about is the one that can be the most life-altering: sexually transmitted diseases.

These five women sharing the Oprah Show stage have a lot in common. They live in suburban America. They are mothers with successful careers. They also, unknowingly, shared a partner. Each woman, some of whom are in disguise, dated and slept with Philippe Padieu, a man they describe as handsome and charismatic. Unfortunately, he turned out to be very different from the man he claimed to be.


http://images.oprah.com/images/tows/200909/20090923/20090923-tows-sex-victims-2-290x218.jpg
Diane, a 58-year-old martial arts teacher, was the first to meet Philippe. She had been married for 18 years and says when she reentered the dating world, it had changed dramatically. "It was very difficult to meet people, and I really don't do bars. My friends suggested that I use an online dating service," she says. "When I first started dating Philippe, I was head over heels. He was very charming. He made me feel like the only woman on the face of the earth."

Diane and Philippe quickly became serious and decided to move in together. When Philippe lost his job, Diane hired him as an instructor at her martial arts studio and started paying for most of his bills, including his cell phone and medical bills.

Diane says Philippe's money problems put a strain on their relationship. Eventually, he started pulling away so much that Diane suspected him of cheating. As it turned out, she was right. "I stopped by the [martial arts] school and I noticed that the private lesson room door was closed. He opened the door and he blocked the doorway, and that's when I slammed the door open and she was behind the door," Diane says. The last straw, she says, was catching him in a lie about being staying home sick. "Because I was paying for his cell phone, I checked his voice mail messages. There were not one but two voice mail messages from two different women, and I knew."


http://images.oprah.com/images/tows/200909/20090923/20090923-tows-sex-victims-3-290x218.jpg
Diane broke up with Philippe when she discovered he was cheating. A few days later, she went to the gynecologist for a routine exam. Her doctor called within days to say that her pap smear showed precancerous cells due to a sexually transmitted disease. Knowing that he had cheated, Diane decided to let the other women know that they too might have an STD. As she went back through his phone records, Diane realized the cheating had been worse than she thought. "He was dating nine other women at the time he was dating me," she says.

One of the women Diane called was Susan. "We compared notes, and some of the time that she'd been seeing him, I had been seeing him," Susan says. "Then she said, 'I have an STD, and I am certain that Philippe gave this to me.'"

After talking to Diane, Susan went to her doctor and got news even worse than she had feared. "I received a phone call after my testing from my doctor and she said, 'You have HIV,'" Susan says.

The next time Diane and Susan spoke, Susan broke the news. "I got a test two days later," Diane says. "My ob-gyn called me and said, 'You're HIV positive.'"


http://images.oprah.com/images/tows/200909/20090923/20090923-tows-sex-victims-4-290x218.jpg
Given the severity of the news, Susan and Diane decided they had to get ahold of the women Philippe had dated and stop him from infecting others. They filed a police report and launched their own full-scale investigation, starting with Philippe's cell phone records. "We contacted somewhere between 23 and 26 women," Diane says.

One of the women Diane found was Megan, who lived across the street from Philippe and dated him for more than two years. She says she had already suspected him of cheating and broken up with him by the time she got the phone call.

Megan learned she was also infected with HIV and joined the crusade to stop Philippe. "I mainly used the window to watch cars coming in and out and to watch what was going on at Philippe's house or which women were coming in and out," she says. Megan says she stopped women who were leaving Philippe's house to warn them that their lives could be at risk.

Together, the three women took down license plates and followed Philippe for at least six months.



http://images.oprah.com/images/tows/200909/20090923/20090923-tows-sex-victims-5-290x218.jpg
After Susan and Diane filed the police report, the health department served Philippe with a cease and desist order demanding that he stop having unprotected sex. Shortly afterward, Diane remembered a day in 2005 that would serve as the key piece of evidence against her ex-boyfriend.

Diane had driven Philippe to the doctor because he hadn't been feeling well, she says. After he left the doctor's office, he told her all the tests he took—including one for HIV/AIDS—were negative. Once the report was filed against Philippe, his medical records confirmed that he knew he was HIV positive at that 2005 appointment, at the same time as he was having unprotected sex with unsuspecting women. That key piece of evidence led to his arrest.

Police charged Philippe with six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The weapon was his bodily fluid. Ten women, all HIV positive, were willing to testify against Philippe in open court. For the first time in Texas history, prosecutors hired a DNA expert to conduct genetic testing to determine the source of the common strain of HIV. It became clear that one sample was the source of most if not all of the women's diseases. On May 29, 2009, Philippe was sentenced to 45 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 22 years, when he is 76 years old.


http://images.oprah.com/images/tows/200909/20090923/20090923-tows-sex-victims-6-290x218.jpg
It's hard to imagine how one man could trick nine women at once, but Sofia, one of the women Philippe infected, says she never imagined he was cheating. Like Diane, Sofia had just gotten out of a long marriage and was new to the dating scene. "He was so handsome, so gentlemanly. He always opened the doors for you. He wrote notes to me always in Spanish and said, 'Te quiero mi amor,'" she says.

"He was very slippery, though," Susan says."I didn't suspect him because he worked so hard. That's the impression that I got. He was always busy working."

Diane says Philippe was able to juggle so many women because he had a very strategic plan for fooling each of them. "He had us all lined out," she says. "[One woman got] Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Then he had his Tuesday, Thursday. And then he had somebody on Friday night," she says. He even called everybody sweetie so as not to get any names mixed up.


http://images.oprah.com/images/tows/200909/20090923/20090923-tows-sex-victims-7-290x218.jpg
The women say Philippe was also strategic in the women he chose to date. They all agree he manipulated women who were fairly new to dating and just out of long relationships. "He preyed on the vulnerability," Diane says. "I think everybody kind of felt missing a relationship. We wanted to get back into that solidarity of having a significant other."

That desire to have a partner may have played into their desire to trust him, they say. Both Diane and Tricia, another victim, say they discussed using condoms, but Philippe convinced them it wasn't necessary. "He said: 'No, I'm very wholesome. I'm clean. I'm a martial arts instructor. I live my life so right, and we're adults. This is not necessary,'" Tricia says. "I had not been in the dating scene for many years and made some poor choices there that I wish I could turn around."

Diane says she confronted Philippe about using protection early in the relationship. "I said: 'I'm not seeing anybody else. Are you seeing anybody else?' And he kind of mumbled something. And I said, 'If you're seeing somebody else, that's okay, but we're going to start using condoms.' And then that's when he said, 'No, no, I'm not seeing anybody else.'"




http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/print/1
http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/print/1
http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/print/1
http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/print/1
http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/print/1
http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/print/1
http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/print/1

[natina]

White gay males have the highest aids/hiv status




An HIV-positive Air Force sergeant failed to disclose his medical condition before engaging in sexual intercourse



An HIV-positive Air Force sergeant failed to disclose his medical condition before engaging in sexual activity with a “multitude” of partners he met at “swinger” parties and through adult web sites, according to a military investigation, The Smoking Gun has learned.

The criminal probe of Sgt. David Gutierrez, a 20-year military veteran, began last month when the Air Force Office of Special Investigations received information that he had “engaged in numerous, unprotected sexual acts…over the course of three years.” According to court records, investigators charge that, due to Gutierrez’s HIV status, these encounters amounted to “aggravated assault against several men and women in and around the Wichita, Kansas area.”

The 43-year-old Gutierrez, stationed at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, was “apprehended” on August 9 for violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice. At the time, a “search of his person and vehicle was conducted pursuant to a search authority granted by a military magistrate,” records show. Two subsequent searches--conducted at the Wichita home Gutierrez shares with his wife Gina--targeted his computers and other belongings in a bid to “identify potential witnesses and victims.”

Gutierrez’s wife told investigators that he became infected with HIV in 2007 while stationed in Italy. After learning of the diagnosis, she claimed, Gutierrez “contacted his sexual partners in Italy to report possible exposure to the virus,” according to an affidavit sworn by Air Force criminal investigator Derrell Freeman (that document is excerpted here).

However, after being reassigned to McConnell in 2008, “Gutierrez began having unprotected sex with numerous partners,” Gina Gutierrez told Air Force investigators. She said that her husband used adult networking web sites to arrange “sexual encounters with both male and female partners,” and “bragged” to her “about his numerous sexual exploits in the Wichita area and commented he never informed the other parties of being HIV positive.” Online profiles indicate that Gutierrez’s wife has participated with him in swinging activity, both in Kansas and Italy.

Gutierrez, pictured at left, did not respond to an interview request sent to his Facebook page, and a cell phone number listed for him in the Freeman affidavit is no longer in service.

In his affidavit, Freeman disclosed having interviewed two women who reported having unprotected sex with Gutierrez after meeting him through adult web sites. Both women--whose names TSG has redacted from an excerpt of Freeman’s affidavit--told the Air Force investigator that Gutierrez never disclosed his HIV status. The names of both women appear among Gutierrez’s list of Facebook friends.

One woman told of first meeting Gutierrez in person last summer at a swinger party (she first connected with him through adultfriendfinder.com). The alleged victim, a 44-year-old Kansas woman with two sons in the military, said she performed oral sex on Gutierrez at that initial gathering, as well as at subsequent swinger parties over the following months. She added that he took photos and videos “every time these sexual encounters took place.”

The second woman, 44, told Freeman that she initially met Gutierrez in late-2009 via clubforeplay.com. During the Thanksgiving holiday she “engaged in unprotected oral sex and vaginal intercourse” with Gutierrez at his Wichita home. “At no time did D. Gutierrez disclose his positive HIV status” to the woman, Freeman reported.

In a late-October posting on adultfriendfinder.com, Gutierrez wrote that, “We are looking at hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for all (singles man/woman, cpls) that do not have family here in Wichita.” He added, “Any playing is not expected, but more than welcome.”

According to Freeman’s affidavit, Gutierrez’s online handles include “luv4u269me3” and “wetnwild4u2692.” Additionally, Air Force computer crime analysts determined that Gutierrez “was active on multiple adult web sites used to facilitate meetings between like-minded, swinging couples and singles,” and was “actively seeking sexual partners in the Wichita, KS area…At no time did [he] identify himself as being HIV positive.” In one online profile, Freeman added, Gutierrez reported attending 21 Wichita-area swinger events during the first six months of 2010.

Gutierrez’s online profiles include explicit photographs (as seen above) and details about his sexual exploits and preferences (“Honesty” is a key factor when looking for a sexual partner, he claimed in a profile on eroticsouls.com).

In a June 2007 posting on adultfriendfinder.com, Gutierrez conducted a poll on whether respondents were willing to “play” with partners infected with herpes simplex virus (HSV) or HIV. In a follow-up post, he asked, “Why are people scared of the HIV virus, don’t you wear condoms to protect yourself from HSV?” He added, “The research I have done raises several questions on weather or not HIV is even related to AIDs.”

Records show that investigators searching Gutierrez’s home seized his pornography collection, condoms, and a wide variety of vibrators and sex toys. They also took a “blood chemistry report” addressed to Gutierrez from the University of Kansas School of Medicine, and two manila envelopes containing a total of 146 pages of “HIV related research articles.” (7 pages)


http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/usaf-hiv-probe?page=6

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/air-force-swinger-hiv-probe


http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/FastFacts-MSM-FINAL508COMP.pdf

[bte]

@Natina,

Thanks for providing the information (and I say that with sarcasm).

[natina]

Study puts HIV rate among gay men at 1 in 5


One in five gay men in the United States has HIV, and almost half of those who carry the virus are unaware that they are infected, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.
The study tested more than 8,000 men in 21 cities in 2008, making it the most comprehensive such research by the CDC. It found that young, sexually active gay men and those in minority groups are least likely to know their health status, even as infection rates are climbing among men who have sex with men, while the rates of other at-risk groups - heterosexuals and intravenous drug users - are falling.
The findings were released Thursday, ahead of National Gay Men's HIV Awareness Day on Monday.
A CDC official called for a sharper focus on testing. "This study's message is clear: HIV exacts a devastating toll on men who have sex with men in America's major cities, and yet far too many of those who are infected don't know it," said Kevin Fenton, director of the agency's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention

Cities in the study include Baltimore, where the prevalence rate among men who have sex with men was highest at 38 percent, and Atlanta, where it was lowest at 6 percent.
In the District, where the general HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is about 4 percent, more than 16,000 adults, one of the highest numbers in the nation, has the virus, according to the city Department of Health. According to the CDC study, the District had a 14 percent prevalence rate among men who have sex with men.
A CDC spokeswoman said the recent study's findings were similar to those of a National Health Behavioral Study conducted between June 2004 and April 2005, when one in four gay men tested positive for the virus. But the percentage of minorities who tested positive changed dramatically in the three years since the previous study.
Back then, 46 percent of gay black men tested positive in the smaller study, compared with 40 percent in the larger 2008 study. Black gay men outpaced white and Hispanic men in both studies.
In the earlier study, Hispanics represented 18 percent of the infected compared with 23 percent in the most recent study. White men comprised 21 percent of the infected in 2004-05 and 20 percent in the more recent study.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/23/AR2010092306828.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/23/AR2010092306828.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/23/AR2010092306828.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/23/AR2010092306828.html


http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/FastFacts-MSM-FINAL508COMP.pdf

[natina]

"Those infected are almost all white, male, gay and young," the article continued
http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/FastFacts-MSM-FINAL508COMP.pdf


The AIDS crisis that ravaged the gay community in cities like New York and San Francisco may be less visible, but it is still raging, health experts earn--and a new wave of HIV infections may be about to crest.

For some time, researchers have noted that despite efforts to promote safer sex, HIV rates are climbing among young gay men. So are rates for other sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis; unfortunately, individuals already infected with one STI may be at an elevated risk for contracting others, including HIV.

While some of the blame may rest with younger gays not having access to safer sex messages, a perception among young MSMs (men who have sex with men) that AIDS is no longer a serious health concern may also be driving the increased incidence in HIV. Most serious of all, however, is a tendency toward unsafe sex and other risky behaviors, such as drug use, which affect judgment and may lead to more unsafe sex-and a higher rate of HIV infection.

And the trend is not confined to the United States: researchers in the U.K. and Europe have also noted the increase, reported British newspaper The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/07/young-gay-men-hiv-epidemic) on Sept. 7. "By investigating the genetic profile of the virus in more than 500 newly screened patients over nine years, scientists in Belgium have identified clusters of people with type B virus--not the one that is most prevalent in Africa," The Guardian reported. "Those infected are almost all white, male, gay and young," the article continued.

The researchers noted that, "Members of this cluster are significantly younger than the rest of the population and have more chlamydia and syphilis infections," the article said.

That is not to say that heterosexuals do not also face the risk of contracting HIV; overall, just under half of the new cases of HIV in Britain were gay men, but straights were also getting infected. One main difference was that while gays seemed to be getting infected without traveling to other countries, heterosexuals--who were picking up a different strain of the virus--seemed to be contracting the virus while abroad, the article said.

"Gay men are still the most at risk of HIV infection in the UK," said Nick Partridge, the head of British AIDS charity the Terrence Higgins Trust. "We also know that more than a quarter of people with HIV in the UK are currently undiagnosed, and they’re far more likely to pass the virus on than those who know they have it."

The Belgian study, which looked at HIV trends in Britain and Europe, was carried out by researchers at Ghent University. But health experts in the United States also cautioned that HIV remains a serious health threat here.

In a Sept. 3 release from New York-based Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), Dr. Marjorie Hill, the group’s CEO, warned, "A new wave of HIV infections is about to hit New York and we had all better get ready for it," and went on to echo that one major concern is the number of people living with HIV who have not gotten tested, and so don’t know that they have it.

However, Dr. Hill continued, a new state law requiring routine HIV testing is likely to lead to a sharp uptick in reported new cases. "Previously, patients were required to sign a separate written consent form in order to get tested for HIV," explained Dr. Hill. "Now, if you agree to a quick swab test, you will only have to give oral consent.

"When undergoing routine medical procedures or check-ups, you will be offered a standard HIV blood test to sign off on along with the battery of tests that most patients receive. Once you give your consent, it stays in effect for all your future blood tests," Hill added, going on to cite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as projecting an estimate that says "100,000 people in New York City alone are currently living with HIV infection, but more than 25,000 of them do not know it."

Added Hill, "Most of these unknowing carriers of HIV feel and look healthy and are, in most respects. But they are missing out on treatments that could prevent them from progressing to AIDS. Plus, they are in danger of transmitting the virus to others, continuing to fuel the epidemic."

One crucial benefit of testing is that the sooner HIV+ individuals know their status, the sooner they can begin taking medication to keep the virus in check. Though there is no cure for HIV, modern treatment regimens can help many HIV+ people keep their viral loads down to undetectable levels, meaning that they have a better chance at a normal life span. But early treatment is the key, a Chicago specialist in HIV/AIDS, Dr. James Sullivan (http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=&sc3=&id=109750), said recently.


http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/FastFacts-MSM-FINAL508COMP.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/FastFacts-MSM-FINAL508COMP.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/FastFacts-MSM-FINAL508COMP.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/FastFacts-MSM-FINAL508COMP.pdf

[phobun]

Study puts HIV rate among gay men at 1 in 5


I think you're at risk then. What will your wife say? Will she still let you wear her clothes?

[Amsterdamage]

YouTube - Everyone has AIDS! Team America (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StPTCo5qk8E)