Posted on 02/06/2006 2:49:39 PM PST by Clemenza
Just over half of new infections with the AIDS virus in the United States are in blacks, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
A study of detailed data from 33 states shows that of 156,000 new cases of HIV infection between 2001 and 2004, 51 percent were in non-Hispanic blacks -- although blacks made up just 13 percent of the population in those states.
The good news is that the rate of new infections declined in black women and in many black men -- with the exception of men having sex with other men, the team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
"Despite reductions in diagnoses among African American men and women, HIV continues to pose a major health threat," the CDC said in a statement.
"Despite possible signs of success, HIV continues to exact a disproportionate and devastating toll on African Americans."
The CDC's Tonji Durant and colleagues found that the rate of HIV diagnosis fell by 6.8 percent annually among black women and 4.4 percent annually among black men between 2001 and 2004.
But blacks still had a substantially higher infection rate than other ethnic groups, the CDC team told the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections being held in Denver.
The HIV diagnosis rate even fell by 9.7 percent every year on average among black male users of injected drugs, the CDC study found.
The human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS is spread by sex -- homosexual and heterosexual -- by sharing needles with someone who is infected, or via blood transfusions. Infected mothers can pass the virus to their babies.
The virus infects close to 40 million people worldwide and more than a million people in the United States.
The CDC estimates that 40,000 Americans become infected with HIV each year.
A second study presented at the same conference found that 32 percent of black men in Baltimore who had sex with other men, which includes homosexual and bisexual activity, were infected with HIV.
Or, Professor Irwin Corey's miracle drug for STDs and birth control: "Sulfa-Denial"
Although sharing needles is mentioned as a cause of AIDS, the article does not specify what the main cause of this new stat is. As a recovered junkie, I can say that my first hand knowledge leads me to believe that IV drug use in the inner cities may be a large cause. I saw many black junkies (female and male) in Atlanta's drug zone, ironically named 'The Bluff', share needles with each other, many fully knowing the possible consequences. This was the late 80's - early 90's, but I doubt things have changed much. I could be wrong, but that's my guess.
A contributing factor to the higher number of new infections being among "non-traditional" groups is that the traditional demographic of promiscuous white homosexuals is already almost completely infected. Can't catch it twice you know.
No, Reuters misses the point. The point is AIDS has seen declines in all populations except those where men are having sex with men. But that point doesn't fit the Reuters agenda.
... instead of years arose. (Thought I might need to make that a cogent sentence, lol)
Indeed, the drop in promiscuity amongt whites coupled with a sharp increase in the use of condoms led to a big drop in the number of new AIDS cases in the U.S. Can't remember when this started now it was so long ago.
In the last few years, there has been a rise in promiscuity in a new generation of young white homosexual men who never experienced the ravages of the AIDS epidemic. This has led to increases in AIDS among this group. Not sure how significant the increase has been, but it has shown up in San Francisco and New York.
What the story suggests, if you read between the lines, is infection rates are declining everywhere, so there are fewer new cases, but the decline of black non-Hispanic homosexual men is tiny. Therefore, they constitute a growing share of the new cases. At this rate, the disease will soon be just a disease among black homosexual and bisexual men.
I work in a dialisys clinic and nurses have told me that about 90% of all patients with AIDS are blacks, hepatitis and all. Some of these patients are also on drugs. You should see the bulging veins on these patients from the dialisys needles.
...and less people on this thread know what "down low" means than you think.
I would say the other half is non-blacks, but mostly hispanics and American Indians.
>She dumped him on the spot.
What about the child support? Was/is the the guy paying child support if they had a child?
What?
>Aids goes hand in hand with poverty.
Actually AIDS is due more to homosexuality than one's spending all his money on drugs and becoming poor.
A report on the Daily News a few years ago reported that homosexuality amongst blacks in New York City is much, much higher relative to the percentage of blacks residents. Something like 400-500% higher. I guess these figures can be extrapolated throughout the country.
AIDS, drugs and homosexuality are rampant in the whole Caribbean. Much higher than in Africa.
_ _ _ _ 's Fault.
I guess these figures can be extrapolated throughout the country
No, they can't. Gay men have traditionally traveled to places like NYC to live their lives.
There is something wrong with this report. It doesn't lead to the conclusion that this is all Bush's fault. If they don't want to lose their grant money, they'll have to go back and start over.
This isn't complicated.
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