Posted on 11/24/2004 3:17:13 AM PST by freepatriot32
BANGKOK, Thailand (Nov. 23) - Women in East Asia are contracting HIV at a faster rate than in the rest of the world, and there's a worrying new trend in Thailand: men who have visited prostitutes are increasingly passing on the infection to their wives, the United Nations says.
In many parts of the world, but particularly in Asia, more women than men are getting the disease because it has spread beyond the brothels where most infections occurred 12 years ago, said the latest global HIV status report published Tuesday.
Women have also seen higher rates of infection than men because it is easier for them to get HIV - the virus that causes AIDS - through heterosexual intercourse.
Some 2.3 million out of the 8.2 million people currently living with HIV in Asia are women - an increase of 56 percent since 2002. Nearly 50 percent of the 39.4 million people infected with HIV worldwide are women, according to the report.
The epidemic has claimed about 540,000 lives in Asia so far in 2004.
In Thailand, about 90 percent of HIV transmission 12 years ago was between prostitutes and their clients. But now, about half of all infections are occurring in the wives of men who visit prostitutes.
Most new HIV infections in Asia occur when men buy sex, a practice that an estimated 5 to 10 percent of men in the region - many of them married or in steady relationships - engage in, said the report, citing household surveys in several countries.
The disease has spread through Asian countries at various speeds and levels of severity.
While national infection rates remain lower than in other parts of the world, particularly Africa, the large populations of many Asian countries mean that vast numbers of people are stricken with the illness.
While countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand were hit early the epidemic, others - including Indonesia, Nepal, Vietnam and China - are only beginning to see the disease spread rapidly and must launch efforts to stop it.
AIDS has now been detected in all parts of China, spreading mainly through intravenous drug use and prostitution. It is also frequently transmitted sexually from injecting drug users to their partners in China.
In Myanmar, a large percentage of injecting drug users have gotten HIV, with as many as 78 percent testing positive for the virus in some areas of the military-ruled country last year.
In India's Tamil Nadu state, about half of sex workers have been found to be infected with HIV.
But Bangladesh, East Timor, Laos, Pakistan and the Philippines, among some other Asian nations, have particularly low infection rates and still have the opportunity to thwart serious outbreaks, the report said.
No. None of it's true.
All this means is that once again the serological tests for HIV (ELISA or Western Blot) have been used to diagnose the prescence of HIV. But these tests haven't been calibrated against the HIV virus itself.
This means that the false-positive rate for these tests when applied to people with any kind of non-caucasian blood protein profile is completely unknown.
Until the tests are calibrated (and its been 20 years now, what's the hold up?) HIV epidemic stories carry the same weight as the weekly Global Warming SUV scares.
thats a good point I totally forgot about the tests not being calibrated for non caucasian blood
Sorry, in retrospect I hope my post didn't come across as getting at you. Thanks for posting this stuff.
It's just that most HIV science is junk science: it presses my buttons when I see it(!)
Just a question here....so.....you're saying that the HIV tests only work for caucasions?
I guess spring break in Asia is out. Looks like Cancun again.
Please provide at least some citations when making such claims, not that I'm instantly dismissing what you're saying. I'm just curious as to where you are getting this information from.
Just a couple of thoughts, without even reading 'till the end of the article.
1) If the transmission route here is
brothel-->hustband-->wife
as indicated elsewhere in the article, how can women have higher rates of infection than men?
That is, how can the husband pass on HIV (be a carrier) without having the virus himself?
In which case, men should have slightly more HIV than women, due to the time lag between husband's becoming HIV-positive and then infecting his wife.
This then leads me to the suspicion that there may be other combinations:
a) Innocent husband, wife cheating with someone else infected, wife gets it herself, husband (due to harder time picking up HIV from vaginal sex) remains 'clean'.
b) Cheating husband (possibly including prostitutes), brings HIV to wife, who ALREADY has it, due to her cheatin'...heart.
Only way that works is, marry as a virgin, marry a virgin, remain faithful.
Or else 'outercourse' yourself into a bucket of bleach.
So, when are you planning on visiting Thailand?
Strictly for legitimate business reasons, of course !!
FULL DISCLOSURE: Just making the point, I wouldn't be caught 'dead' travelling voluntarily to Thailand...
According to my sister who vacationed there recently, there were a lot of foreign businessmen disclosing themselves there *LOL* Thailand is a gorgeous country, just stay away from brothels hehe!
Maybe because one infected man can infect several more prostitutes, his wife and any girlfriends on the side.
Bottom line: HIV is ALWAYS spread by someone's misbehavior.
HIV is only one consideration for the non-scrupulous business traveler. There are alot of cross-dressers hanging out in Bangkok nightspots as well.
Not like the natty cross dressers over here - they take their perversion seriously.
This is not a new trend. This has been going on for ages. Only the disease is relatively new.
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