HIV Rates Much Higher than Originally Reported

Medscape Medical News reports a drastic revision of US rates of HIV infection:

New HIV infections in the United States reached 56,300 in 2006, according to long-anticipated figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)on August 2. That is about 40% more than the previous estimate of 40,000 annual infections, which the CDC has been using since the early 1990s.

This comes on the heels of a Reuters report of a disturbing new study by the American Foundation for AIDS Research:

Globally, men who have sex with men are 19 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population, yet MSM are ignored by many UN member states that pledged to monitor the disease among at-risk groups.

Asian MSM are 18 times more likely to be HIV-infected than the general population, and African MSM are at least four times more likely to be infected. In Latin America, MSM are 33 times more likely to be infected and account for nearly 25 percent of those infected. Nonetheless, MSM programs receive less than 1 percent of total HIV/AIDS spending in the region.

Criminalization of sex between males and institutionalized homophobia are key drivers of HIV/AIDS in many countries, preventing MSM from accessing even basic HIV services, the report concluded. In seven of 10 countries with the highest rates of HIV among MSM, homosexual activity is criminalized. And in seven UN member states, it is a capital crime.

NPR's Talk of the Nation featured an interesting discussion on these stories today. You can listen to the podcast here. The New York Times has a video about the blurring of gay and straight identity contributing to HIV here.