It’s not 1984.
I’m not trying to give a PSA here, but the outdated notion that HIV and AIDS are a “Gay Cancer”, and written off as something which occurs predominantly amongst druggies and homosexuals, is dangerously ignorant and misleading.
So you see that less than about 2% of the population by sexual orientation carries more than twice the number of HIV infections as the other 98%. The numbers for HIV through intravenous drug use apart from sexual activity amount to about 1/10 that of sexual activity. So the two biggest means of HIV transmission are sexual activity (homosexual > heterosexual by more than 2:1 in raw numbers, unadjusted by population) and intravenous drug use. This all means that an extremely small number of individuals are responsible for the largest portion of HIV infections.
Transmission Category Estimated Number of Diagnoses of HIV Infection, 2009 Adult and Adolescent Males Adult and Adolescent Females Total Male-to-male sexual contact 23,846 - 23,846 Injection drug use 2,449 1,483 3,932 Male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use 1,131 - 1,131 Heterosexual contact* 4,399 8,461 12,860 Other** 47 29 76 * Heterosexual contact with a person known to have, or to be at high risk for, HIV infection.
** Includes hemophilia, blood transfusion, perinatal exposure, and risk not reported or not identified.The distribution of the estimated number of diagnoses of HIV infection among children* in the 40 states with confidential name-based HIV infection reporting, by transmission category, follows:
* The term "children" refers to persons under age 13 years at the time of diagnosis.
Transmission Category Estimated Number of Diagnoses of HIV Infection, 2009 Perinatal 131 Other** 35
** Includes hemophilia, blood transfusion, and risk not reported or not identified.