I recently read in a publication that most new HIV infection cases were in homosexuals and drug addicts. This publication had (cough) a moral agenda, and did not cite sources, so I thought I ought to confirm. Is this true now? Was it ever true in the past? Do you have any data to back it up?
To actually answer the OP, from Duckster’s link the largest groups of new infections (data from 2009) were gay and bisexual men (62%), women (23%), and injection drug users (9%).
Note however that those numbers are for the United States. Worldwide, the statistics are somewhat different:
[ul][li]33.4 million are currently living with HIV/AIDS.[/li][li]The site did not give figures for sub-Saharan Africa, but IIRC the figure is on the order of 25 million people. The majority of these are heterosexual non-intravenous-drug-users who caught it predominantly from sexual contact.[/li][li]Asia south of the formerly Soviet Union nations has about 4.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS.[/li][li]Latin American HIV+/AIDS persons approximate two million people.[/li][li]Nations formerly in or allied with the Soviet Union, plus former Yugoslav states and Greece, include about 1.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS.[/li][li]More than 25 million people have died of AIDS worldwide since the first cases were reported in 1981.[/li][li]In 2008, 2 million people died due to HIV/AIDS, and another 2.7 million were newly infected.[/li][li]While cases have been reported in all regions of the world, almost all those living with HIV (97%) reside in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.[/li][li]According to the World Health Organization (WHO), most people living with HIV or at risk for HIV do not have access to prevention, care, and treatment, and there is still no cure.[/li][li]The HIV epidemic not only affects the health of individuals, it impacts households, communities, and the development and economic growth of nations. Many of the countries hardest hit by HIV also suffer from other infectious diseases, food insecurity, and other serious problems.[/li][li]Despite these challenges, there have been successes and promising signs. New global efforts have been mounted to address the epidemic, particularly in the last decade. Prevention has helped to reduce HIV prevalence rates in a small but growing number of countries and new HIV infections are believed to be on the decline. In addition, the number of people with HIV receiving treatment in resource poor countries has increased 10-fold since 2002, reaching an estimated 4 million by 2008.[/ul][/li]
(Most of the above was quoted verbatim from the linked site, with the regional figures added into the list, partly from the cited site.)
Ugh… those statistics are very depressing.
If I’m interpreting the data correctly, if you are a man that is bisexual or gay… you run a risk of getting HIV that is 25x that of the rest of the US population. Blacks being more at risk than whites, per capita.
Since HIV came to light in the early 80s, we have lost 619,000 American lives to it.
There are only so many means of transmission. Not surprising that the 3 most common means of transmission are the most common source of infection. Perhaps the only surprise is in the proportions.
One issue, IIRC, is that the likelihood of infection from female to male is very low - although as Magic Johnson might tell you, not impossible. Plus, the frequency and variety of partners as well as the physiology of anal sex mean infection likely spreads more easily and quickly in that social group.
The highest risk probably comes when the drug injector and gay communities overlap, in poor urban areas.
I recall an article recently that said a lot of younger gay men were ignoring the AIDS risk, on the mistaken belief that the problem was over and the results not that bad - people tend to hang on for years or decades now, rather than die in a year or two.
Heterosexual transmission of aids in the black community has reached epidemic proportions. It has become the largest killer of black men and women between the ages of 20 and 45, and overall infection rates in D.C. have surpassed those of southern Africa.
hetero
Heterosexual transmission of aids in the black community has reached epidemic proportions. It has become the largest killer of black men and women between the ages of 20 and 45, and overall infection rates in D.C. have surpassed those of southern Africa.
Depressing statistics. More bad news… I read that people who are undergoing treatment with antivirals are continuing to have unprotected sex-and continuing the spread of the virus.