Difference between revisions of "Homosexuality and AIDS"

Revision as of 00:27, October 7, 2007

Human Immunodeficiency Virus attacking T4 lymphocytes

In respect to homosexuality and AIDS, the original spread of AIDS is generally attributed to the promiscuity of homosexual men. Originally the syndrome was called the "gay disease" because the overwhelming majority of patients were homosexual men.

Of newly diagnosed HIV infections in the United States during the year 2003, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that about 63% were among men who were infected through sexual contact with other men.^[1]

As of 1998, fifty-four percent of all AIDS cases in the United States were homosexual men, and the CDC stated that nearly ninety percent of these men acquired HIV through sexual activity with other men.^[2]

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from 1994 to 1997 the proportion of homosexual men stating they had anal sex increased from 57.6 percent to 61.2 percent.^[3] Studies report that anal sex may be an important risk factor for the relay of many diseases.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} For example in 2004, Jeffrey D. Klausner, Robert Kohn, and Charlotte Kent reported in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases the following: "Proctitis, or inflammation of the rectum, is a condition that is not uncommon among men who have sex with men (MSM), and, in HIV-negative men, greatly increases the risk of acquiring HIV infection. With the recent increases in bacterial sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among MSM in the United States and Europe, there has been a concomitant increase in the number of cases of clinical proctitis."^[9]

On March 15, 2004 Medscape published an article entitled New Look at "Gay Bowel Syndrome" in which they linked HIV infection with gay bowel syndrome.

References

See Also

• Homosexuality and Promiscuity