HIV, AIDS Cases Rise Among U.S. Gay, Bisexual Men

By Paul Simao

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A rise in new cases of AIDS (news - web sites) and HIV (news - web sites) infection among gay and bisexual men in many U.S. states, reported in a federal study on Wednesday, has given support for concerns the disease is resurgent in the country.

The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites), released in connection with World AIDS Day, said new HIV and AIDS diagnoses in 32 U.S. states rose 11 percent among gay and bisexual men between 2000 and 2003.

Rates were stable among most other population sectors, and the overall infection rate rose to 19.7 cases per 100,000 people in 2003 from 19.5 per 100,000 people in 2000.

AIDS, which destroys the immune system and leaves victims vulnerable to an array of opportunistic infections and cancers, has killed about half a million Americans and 22 million people worldwide since 1981.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=5&u=/nm/20041201/ts_nm/aids_cases_dc

Ah, America.

you can still use a condom unless you have a death wish. AIDS doesn't discriminate

jkfh ufy 7

no longer even a majority of cases are in the gay population.

...since obviously the first one didn't stick!

The problem is that some people are still engaging in high risk behavior.

...than just how it's spread.

Many of these people didn't live through the 80's and watch our community get decimated by HIV.

They think that the AIDS crisis is over and that because there are drugs that extend life and make it a chronic condition that they no longer have to worry.

We need to redouble our efforts at education because as a person who has had HIV for almost 2 decades, it is no picnic having to worry about blood counts and take expensive pills on daily basis just to survive.

before I get infected. So why should I worry during and after every encounter? Instead live life without the fear and doubt and if it happens it happens. It won't kill me for decades and by then they might have a cure, or at least a prevention of death. This is almost impossible to overcome. The notion that AIDS is not a death sentence.

among a host of other things besides behavior.

I have ever read. Has anyone else seen this?

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/5933610?rnd=1101171243401&has-player=true&version=6.0.8.1024


Bug Chasers

The men who long to be HIV+

~snip~


Hitzel's experience started when he moved from his home in Nebraska to San Francisco with his boyfriend. When that relationship broke up, Hitzel was at the lowest point in his life, and alone. He sought relief in drugs and sex, as much of each as he could get. At first, he started out just not caring whether he got HIV or not, then he found the bug-chasing underground and embraced it. He was sure he'd get HIV soon anyway. He thought he would always feel exactly like he did then; he was certain that ten, twenty, thirty years later he'd still be partying every night. It lasted only six months -- then Hitzel got sick with awful flulike symptoms and lost a lot of weight. A doctor's visit cleared him of hepatitis and other possible problems, but the clinic sent him home with an HIV test he could do himself. Hitzel waited before doing the test and decided to go home to Nebraska, to give up the bug chasing and the rest of the life that was killing him. Once he got home, he did the test and found out he was positive. He now wakes up each day with a terrible frustration that's just below the surface of his once sunny demeanor. He hates the medication he has to take every day, and he realizes that HIV affects nearly every part of his life. While he was bug chasing, Hitzel couldn't imagine ever wanting to be in a relationship again. But now that he's getting his life back in order, he realizes that being HIV-positive can be a roadblock to new relationships.

"Whenever I have to deal with things like medication, days when I'm really down," Hitzel says, "I have to look myself in the mirror and say, 'You did this. Are you happy now?' That's the one line that goes through my head: 'Are you happy now?' " He says it with a snarl, full of anger. "Some days I feel really angry and guilty. I'm pretty much adjusted to the fact that this is my life, but about forty percent of the time I look at myself and say, 'Look what you've done. Happy now?' "

Looking back on it, Hitzel says he was committing suicide by chasing HIV, killing himself slowly because he didn't have the nerve to do it quickly. Hitzel is ashamed and embarrassed that he actually sought HIV, but he's willing to tell his story because he hopes to dissuade others who are on the same path. He gets angry when he hears bug chasers talking in the same ways he talked a year earlier. The mention of "bug chasing" and "gift giving" sets him off.

" 'Bug chasing' sounds like a group of kindergartners running around chasing grasshoppers and butterflies," Hitzel says, "a beautiful thing. And gift giving? What the hell is that? I just wish the terms would actually put some real context into what's going on. Why did I not want to say that I was deliberately infecting myself? Because saying the word infect sounds bad and gross and germy. I wanted it to be sexualized." He's particularly angered by the idea of HIV being erotic: "How about you follow me after I start new medications and you watch me throw up for a few weeks? Tell me how erotic that is."