Why Is Hiv More Common In Men Who Have Sex With Men
Around the world, MSM are 25 times more likely than average to contract HIV, reports UNAIDS.
In the United States, gay men, bisexual men, and other MSM account for the majority of new HIV diagnoses.
Because HIV is more common among MSM, these men are more likely to have sex with someone who has the virus.
Several other factors also raise the chances of transmission across MSM.
Anal Sex Without A Condom
HIV can be transmitted through sex without a condom or other barrier method.
The chance of transmission is higher during anal sex without a condom or other barrier method than vaginal sex without a condom or other barrier method.
This is because the skin around the anus is thinner than the skin around the vagina, so small tears are more likely to occur during anal sex.
Someone without HIV is more likely to contract the virus during anal sex if they are the receptive partner .
Early diagnosis and treatment for HIV are important. Treatment with antiretroviral therapy prevents progression to AIDS. It can also reduce the virus to undetectable levels, at which point it cant be transmitted to others.
The CDC recommends that MSM get tested for HIV at least once a year. People at higher risk of HIV may benefit from more frequent testing, such as every 3 to 6 months.
Not all MSM follow these recommendations. As a result, some may have HIV without realizing it. This can lead to delays in treatment and increase the chances of transmission.
As of 2018, approximately 1 in 6 MSM with HIV in the United States didnt know they had the virus, reports the . In that same year, per the CDC, only 65 out of 100 gay and bisexual men with HIV in the United States received some HIV care.
Some MSM dont seek testing or treatment due to homophobic stigma or fear of discrimination.
Medications are available to reduce your likelihood of acquiring HIV.
In 2017, the CDC reported, PrEP was taken by:
What Cdc Is Doing
a The term male-to-male sexual contact is used in CDC surveillance systems. It indicates a behavior that transmits HIV infection, not how individuals self-identify in terms of their sexuality. This web content uses the term gay and bisexual men to represent gay, bisexual, and other men who reported male-to-male sexual contact.b Unless otherwise noted, data in this web content are for adults and adolescents aged 13 and older.
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.
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Statistics Do Not Lie
The average number of sexual parters the average gay person has is usually double the number of their heterosexual counter-parts. There is also the reality that gay people are far more likely, in the aggregate, to have anonymous unprotected sex – and those who engage in this practice are likely to do it more than. It is precisely this behavior that caused homosexuals to be so devastating in the homosexual community and why AIDS is making a come back in the homosexual community while it drops elsewhere. Http://www.Alternet.Org/activism/shocking-second-hiv-epidemic-among-us-gay-men-no-one-talking-aboutThere are many homosexuals who DO NOT engage in these destructive practices, and they are to be commended. Yet the ones who do should not be avoided for fear of offending the sensibilities of those who ARE not behaving that way. Disagreeing with a man sleeping with a bunch of women and pointing out that he is likely to contract an STD is not disagreeing with men in general – its disagreeing with promiscuity and anonymous unprotected sex. Whether the promiscuity is hetero or homo is irrelevant to the realities of high risk sexual behavior. If you engage in it, the chances of getting an STD are MUCH higher. Statistically, that behavior is far more prevalent in the homosexual community right now. That is just the reality of it. A gay person not engaged in the high risk behavior is not likely to get an STD. Those that do? Most likely will.
Hiv Infection Rates In The Us
The HIV virus affects the human immune system and, if left untreated can eventually lead to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome .
The CDC reported that in 2009 that male-to-male sex accounted for 61% of all new HIV infections in the U.S. and that those who had a history of recreational drug injection accounted for an additional 3% of new infections. Among the approximately 784,701 people living with an HIV diagnosis, 396,810 were MSM. About 48% of MSM living with an HIV diagnosis were white, 30% were black, and 19% were Hispanic or Latino. Although the majority of MSM are white, non-whites accounted for 54% of new infections HIV related MSM infections in 2008.
In 2010 the CDC reported that MSM represented approximately 4 percent of the male population in the United States but male-to-male sex accounted for 78 percent of new HIV infections among men and 63 percent of all new infections. Men overall accounted for 76% of all adults and adolescents living with HIV infection at the end of 2010 in the United States, and 80% of the estimated 47,500 new HIV infections. 69% of men living with HIV were gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. 39% of new HIV infections in US men were in blacks, 35% were in whites, and 22% were in Hispanics/Latinos. The rate of estimated new HIV infections among black men was 103.6six and a half times that of white men and more than twice the rate among Hispanic/Latino men as of 2010.
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Debunking Common Myths About Hiv
Read responses to myths that ‘HIV is a gay disease’ or a ‘death sentence,’ and find other important information about getting tested.
Myths about who contracts HIV
MYTH: HIV is a gay or LGBT disease.REALITY: While rates of HIV are disproportionately higher among members of the LGBTQ community, HIV is by no means confined to LGBTQ people. Anyoneregardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or other factorscan acquire HIV. Calling HIV a gay or LGBTQ disease is medically untrue and only serves to perpetuate harmful stereotypes about people living with HIV and members of the LGBT community.
MYTH:I am over 50! I dont need to worry about HIV.REALITY: HIV transmission is about behavior, not how old you are. Moreover, according to the CDC, older Americans are more likely to be diagnosed with HIV at a later stage of the disease.
MYTH:I am in a monogamous relationship. I dont have to worry about HIV.REALITY: It is still important to get tested for HIV even if youre in a monogamous relationship. According to the latest estimates, 68 percent of new HIV transmissions among gay and bisexual men occur in the context of a primary relationship . Be sure to talk to your partner your sexual health and practices and theirs. You might even consider getting tested together for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections .
Myths about who contracts HIV
Myths about HIV testing and treatment
Myths about HIV prevention and safer sex
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Mental Health: A Major Issue Affecting Hiv In Lgbtq Communities
LGBTQ people are disproportionately at risk for a variety of mental health issues, including major depression, bipolar disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. These issues can lead to detrimental outcomes, like drug use, suicideand, of course, HIV.
Poor LGBTQ mental health comes from a myriad of factors. Some are societal, including the stigma and shame associated in some communities with having a queer or transgender identity. Others are interpersonal, like the need to stay in the closet or the fear of being outed. Often, queer and transgender children are told that they are not good at performing their assigned gender, which can lead them to internalize a sense of failure early in their lives.
Most of the research studying LGBTQ people and mental health centers around gay and bisexual men. Researchers tend to consider mental illness and HIV to be a syndemic in gay and bisexual men, meaning they intertwine with one anothereach epidemic perpetuates the other. Depression, trauma, and substance use are all linked to HIV acquisition risk in different ways.
In addition, as with so many other health disparities in the U.S., racism worsens the impact of mental health issues on people living with HIV.
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What Is Rectal Fluid
Rectal fluid is the mucus that lines the rectum. Mucus is a slippery secretion produced by certain parts of our body known as the mucous membranes. These membranes are located at the entrances into the body and line the internal passages of many of our organs, including the gastrointestinal tract , the vagina and cervix, and the foreskin and urethra.
Mucus has several functions. A major function is to protect the mucous membranes from germs . It does this by trapping germs and preventing them from coming into contact with the membranes. Mucus also contains substances that can to some extent kill germs.
For some membranes, mucus also acts as a lubricant that prevents friction and tearing of the mucous membrane tissue when objects pass through them. For example, mucus in the vagina reduces friction during sexual intercourse and mucus in the gastrointestinal tract facilitates the passage of food and feces. Mucus in the rectum also helps reduce friction during anal intercourse.
How Homelessness Among Lgbtq People Ties In To Hiv
Homelessness is a major risk factor for acquiring HIV. People who experience homelessness are not only at a much higher risk for acquiring HIV, they are also much less likely to receive HIV medical treatment, and they have worse health outcomes than people with HIV who have housing.
Unfortunately, LGBTQ peopleespecially LGBTQ youthare much more likely to experience homelessness than the general population. LGBTQ youth are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than their cisgender, straight counterparts. And though LGBTQ people do not comprise 40% of the population, LGBTQ youth comprise 40% of all homeless youth.
LGBTQ homeless youth experience many other hardships that are considered risk factors for acquiring HIV, including poor mental health, minority stress, substance use, unprotected sex, and survival sex.
Within the LGBTQ youth population, a persons identity can affect how they experience homelessness and the factors that lead to homelessness. For instance:
Homelessness among young gay and bisexual men has been connected with a greater lifetime risk for HIVmeaning the risk extends much longer than their period of homelessness. Young gay and bisexual men who run away from home engage in oral and anal sex on average one year younger than non-runaway young gay and bisexual men. They are also more likely to experience forced sexual contact, get diagnosed with an STI, and use drugs, including injection drugs.
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Federal Funding For Aids Research
Contrary to the high-profile posturing by Hay and many others, the facts show that federal expenditures on AIDS research, education and prevention per person are much greater than for any other killer, including all heart diseases, strokes or cancers, even though the latter diseases cause many more deaths. As syndicated investigative journalist Michael Fumento has noted:
A death is a death. We are getting less return for the money than if we left it in the research of cancer and other diseases. People will die of those diseases because of the shifting of money to AIDS. We will never know their names, and no one will ever knit them a quilt or block the Golden Gate Bridge for them.5
One indicator of the priorities our country sets on health care is the amount of money spent on disease prevention relative to the impact that disease has on the general population in terms of deaths, lost days of productivity due to sickness, and other measures.
AIDS now claims an extremely high and disproportionate share of limited research and preventions funds. As of 2015, annual National Institutes for Health expenditures per death for AIDS have been forty times that for heart disease, 12.6 times that for lung diseases, and seven times that for cancer.
AIDS deaths have decreased by nearly two-thirds since its peak in 1995, but funding has more than doubled during this time.
Yes It Has Been Proven But It Isn’t Anyone’s Fault
I am going to talk openly about this subject.Some people who are gay may not realise that it does not need to be the ‘usual’ kind of intercourse that HIV/AIDS spreads through it can be any exchange of bodily fluids. Things like herpes can be spread purely by touch as well, and pubic lice are spread simply by sharing a bed or towels with someone who is infected.Another thing is that being gay and having sex means no need for protection from pregnancy, so obviously there is a much lower use of condoms in the gay and lesbian communities, leading to the perfect breeding ground for STDs. This is only natural.This is not helped by the fact that schools do not teach anything about homosexual sex and how to stop STDs being spread through that. When we were taught, we were told that being gay and lesbian is fine- that we should make sure we are all equal. However we are taught nothing about the risk of same sex intercourse, and how infections can be prevented.I don’t wish to vote yes, I am a strong believer in anti- homophobia and gay marriage, but the facts are all there.
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Young Gay And Bisexual Men’s Partners Are More Likely To Have And Transmit Hiv
The prevalence of HIV in gay and bisexual communities creates a bit of a vicious cycle: since HIV is more common among men who have sex with men, a gay or bisexual man is much more likely to contract HIV from his partner and, as a result, spread the disease even further to other men.
The issue here is partly biological. The most popular sexual act among men who have sex with men anal sex is simply much more likely to spread HIV than vaginal sex.
These problems are further driven by a lack of knowledge, particularly among young men. A CDC survey of high school students found nearly 60 percent of young people with HIV are unaware of their infection, which makes them much less likely to take the proper precautions.
The demographics, forms of transmission, and lack of awareness work together so gay and bisexual men are a lot less likely to get away with other issues, such as risky sexual practices, that increase their exposure to HIV.
List Of Estimated Hiv Infection Rates By Country
Disclaimer: estimated HIV rates can be inaccurate. For example, UNAIDS reported that the HIV rate among MSM in Australia was 18.1%, but the actual rate reported by The Australian Federation of AIDS was 7.3%. This is due to the fact UNAIDS relied on a convenience sample of men who were more at risk to HIV, and thus did not capture an accurate representation of the MSM population.
| Country |
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| 0.1 |
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What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Hiv
Within a few weeks of getting HIV, some people get flu-like symptoms that last for a week or two, but others have no symptoms at all. After initial infection, people may not have any symptoms for years. HIV can be controlled with the right medical treatment and care. However, if its left untreated, it may develop into AIDS .
Increased Risk For Hiv Among Gay Bisexual Adolescent Males
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New research suggests there are no significant differences in several HIV-related risk behaviors among heterosexual, gay and bisexual adolescent males in the United States.
Young gay and bisexual men, however, were found to be more susceptible to contracting HIV largely because their partners are more likely to be infected with HIV, according to data presented at AIDS 2016 by CDC researchers.
The study is the first nationally representative look at HIV-related risk behaviors among gay, bisexual and heterosexual male students in ninth through 12th grades. Proportions were similar among all groups who answered questions about several behaviors, including whether they ever had sexual intercourse, are currently sexually active, had sexual intercourse with four or more partners, and used a condom the last time they had sex. The gay and bisexual male study population had a 57-fold increased risk for contracting HIV compared with heterosexual young men due to the prevalence of infection in their male sex partners.
Overall, including those who inject drugs account for 60% of the 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States, the release said. In 2014, 13- to 24-year-olds accounted for more than one in five HIV diagnoses. Among the 13 to 24-year-olds diagnosed with HIV in 2014, 80% were gay and bisexual males.
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