CDC: HIV rates high among young gay men, many unaware they're infected...

[Indi Guy]

Source: CBS NEWS

To achieve an AIDS-free generation, the federal government is setting its sights on America's youth, a segment of the population with high infection rates -- and low testing rates.

Of the estimated 12,200 new HIV infections that occurred in 2010 in the 13-to-24 age group, 72 percent were in young men who have sex with men (MSM) and 57 percent occurred in black Americans.

More than half of all youths infected -- 60 percent -- don't even realize they have the disease, the new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed.

"That so many young people become infected with HIV each year is a preventable tragedy," CDC director Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, said in a written statement. "All young people can protect their health, avoid contracting and transmitting the virus, and learn their HIV status."

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• Make HIV testing routine for all, not just those at high risk, panel urges
  
• HIV scientists release road map for cure: "Today's the first step"
  
• National HIV Testing Day urges all Americans ages 13-64 to get tested...

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[font size="1"]By Ryan Jaslow / CBS News/ November 27, 2012, 2:37 PM[/font]

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57554994/cdc-hiv-rates-high-among-young-gay-men-many-unaware-theyre-infected/

[closeupready]

1. This is a solution in search of a problem.

Testing is already widely available. Medications are not.

In fact, Republicans have sought to cut federal assistance to programs that help to pay for medications for those who are HIV+.

Many of those who have not been tested also likely are among the 50 million Americans without access to routine health care, let alone specialized medical care and effective medication to control the virus.

A life-changing medical test can be frightening, particularly if you are unprepared to treat the condition.

[FreeState]

2. Testing is vital

Without free testing and counseling there is very little that can been done to stop the spread in minority populations. I really dont agree that isn't a solution in search of a problem - part of the problem is the spread of HIV among the same populations that need the medication. Both should be tied in together. HIV meds, test and education should be free and easily accessible.

[closeupready]

4. Poor, uninsured and minority people don't have equal access

to treatment. Wider testing is terrific, but without an equal push for wider treatment, unlikely to be effective, IMO.

Here's an article about the issue from 2010:

>>And as The Times reported, at the state level nearly 1,800 people have been forced onto long waiting lists for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, known as ADAP, a government-run program in every state that helps subsidize the costs of medications. Of the over 180,000 people enrolled in the program in 2007, 63 percent were people of color, 77 percent were men, and nearly 75 percent lived below the poverty line.

While states like New Jersey and Illinois plan to dramatically shrink the numbers of people on their rolls, others, like Louisiana, are doing away with waiting lists altogether. “We don’t want to give anyone false hope,” DeAnn Gruber, interim director for the state’s HIV/AIDS program, told The Times.

Ten states, including Florida, plan to stop covering drugs that don’t directly combat HIV or AIDS, but often help stave off diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and anxiety, which are often associated with infections.

ColorLines editor Kai Wright noted two years ago that drug costs for people enrolled in ADAP nationally reached an estimated $1.2 billion in 2007. There are more than a million people living with HIV today, more than ever before. Southern states in particular have been unable or unwilling to maintain their share of the costs required to keep ADAPs running with that level of demand. Advocates and government officials in the South have complained that federal funding favors coastal regions with longer standing epidemics. Either way, there’s not enough money overall: Federal contributions to ADAP have never kept pace with demand, in good times or bad, and the Centers for Disease Control’s HIV prevention budget has never topped $800 million.<<

http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/07/support_for_hiv_and_aids_drugs_still_weak.html

[FrodosPet]

3. Other necessary steps

1. Legalize gay marriage nationwide. Hopefully this will encourage monogamy.
2. Educate the younger generations about safe sex practices.
3. As was mentioned, widespread testing without stigma.

Treatment is vital, but prevention is even more important. Even better than having access to HIV medications and treatments is not needing HIV medications and treatments, so those resources can be allocated to helping treat and prevent other diseases.

[SoapBox]

5. Stigma, Stigma...

Consultation and counseling are vital too...

The stigma being HIV can shove a person out of family and/or community. Helping those that are diagnosed, to understand
what the disease is and is not.

Safety, common sense, treatment, counseling...all, IMHO, are intertwined together.

[SoapBox]

7. p.s...

And at least in past years...if someone was not tested and did not recognize initial symptoms of infection (if they appeared), it could be around 8 - 10 years (yes folks, for those unaware, EIGHT to TEN YEARS) before the HIV may become AIDS. That can vary by person.

Some very basic FYI's for those that don't know this disease:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_being_HIV_positive_and_having_AIDS
http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/Infections/Q15910.html

[AntiFascist]

6. This is just sad....

all the effort put into education, especially during 90s, and trying to eradicate the disease by being safe. Now younger generations come along and many don't know any better. The problem is that there is too much money to be made by drug companies...it's almost like a gay tax for the promiscuous.

[LisaL]

11. The more "single encounters" you have with more people, the more at risk you are.

[AntiFascist]

12. You can be promiscuous and practice safe sex...

but the chances of acquiring AIDS increase if you have more than one partner and practice unsafe sex. If you have unsafe sex with a single partner then they should be tested first and remain monogamous. (and this should all be a basic part of the education).

[JesterCS]

8. I donate plasma twice a week. So I know I'm safe. n/t

[ChillZilla]

10. Shocking statistics

I really thought the highest incidence would be among Christian Conservatives getting blood transfusions.

I jest of course but how can this be a surprise? Anyone that doesn't know the basics of avoiding HIV is living a truly risky lifestyle and doesn't take their health seriously, if at all.

Stop being squimish about who's at greatest risk. Young gay and black men. People screamed when this was labeled a gay disease. Statistics seem to bear that out, at least here in the US of A. Go to Africa, which I have by the way, and it's a little different.

Supress the truth and you exasperate the problem.