A Persistent Scourge - Young Men Contracting AIDS at Higher Rates

The Washington Post reports …

Monday, June 30, 2008; Page A10

A survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of HIV-AIDS data from 33 states between 2001 and 2006 revealed a distressing trend: HIV infection in young gay men rose 12 percent a year. For African Americans in that group of 13- to 24-year-olds, the annual increase was 15 percent. The safe-sex lessons that took hold after the loss of a generation of gay men during this epidemic’s two-decade advance appear to be lost on the young. The stunning success of retroviral drugs for those with AIDS and HIV, the virus that causes the disease, has diminished people’s fear of the disease, though it still has no cure…

[From A Persistent Scourge - washingtonpost.com]

This news breaks my heart.

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P 07/02/2008 12:49 PM 1 point
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While it is defintely a bummer, I was not suprised by this. The problem is that guys of my generation and younger never saw the devastation of the early/mid '90s. When I was "active" in the gay community, I was shocked by how many guys refused to have safe sex because it didn't feel as good. Several friends of mine in their early 20's have recently gotten the virus. They, of course, are devastated. The whole thing breaks my heart.

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Randy 07/02/2008 01:01 PM 1 point
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@P -
::: sigh ::: I know. Hopefully this will help them wake up and take healthier actions.

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Brandon 07/02/2008 07:40 PM 1 point
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This is certainly sad news.

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http://www-afterthoughts.blogspot.com

Randy 07/02/2008 10:26 PM 1 point
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@Brandon - Hi Brandon. It's good to hear from you even though it is on such a sad note.

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ChaplainChas. 07/03/2008 12:33 PM 1 point
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:::Mourning with the Father over the devastation:::

Praying for One last Great Awakening in the Church, and a huge-a-mongous Revival!

<abbr>ChaplainChas.s last blog post..Nothing to Say on ... http://chaplainchas.blogspot.com</abbr>

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Randy 07/03/2008 02:09 PM 1 point
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@ChaplainChas. -
definitely huge-a-mongus.

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Alex 07/07/2008 12:06 PM 1 point
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Randy,

While this story is truly saddening, I think you have made an error. The CDC survey says that HIV infection is on the rise among young men, not AIDS infection, as your headline reads. While I hope you know the difference between HIV and AIDS, you seem to imply that if you have one, you have the other, which is not always true. If I get infected with HIV, it could be decades before I show any symptoms, and I might even be lucky enough to live the rest of my life without developing AIDS at all. So just because HIV infection is on the rise in a certain demographic, it does NOT necessarily mean that AIDS is on the rise as well. In fact, it could be years before we have enough data to accurately say that.

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