# who gets AIDS nowdays?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 23, 2001, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706 "2001-08-23T12:48:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@justinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justinh)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/1 "2001-08-23T12:48:48Z")
Just read where the number of AIDS cases is growing again in the US. Would someone please tell me how this happens? I excuse drug addicts cause they don’t behave rationally but who else is that ignorant? Or is there ways to get AIDS that aren’t well known? too many questions… not enough answers. Does anybody have a firsthand or secondhand story?
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/2 "2001-08-23T12:59:33Z")
There have been several news stories recently relating that young gays are seeing a rising incidence of HIV infection, after a decline for several years. The advent of life prolonging drug therapy as well as the fact that people just now reaching adulthood didn’t witness the early years, when diagnosis often meant a year or less of not very pleasant life left, have been cited as reasons in stories I’ve seen.
No, I don’t have a cite and I have to go now.
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### Author:  [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/3 "2001-08-23T13:04:07Z")
According to this article [http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=214145](http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=214145)
the increase in HIV is in young gay minority men.
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### Author:  [@therealblaze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/therealblaze)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/4 "2001-08-23T13:05:10Z")
Could it be that sexual education isn’t very effective in the US? Maybe the hypocritical attitude towards sexuality in general has something to do with this? “Abstinence-only” isn’t probably very realistic or effective policy?
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### Author:  [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/5 "2001-08-23T13:11:05Z")
Oh… you meant just the U.S. I was going to mention that AIDS is far more severe in the Third World, most notably Africa.
IANAD, but I expect the only reasons AIDS will continue to be a threat are:
1. Ignorance. Basically “It won’t happen to me” syndrome.
2. Stupidity. “I don’t remember last night… we did what?”
3. Mutation. The scary possibility that some strain will become transmittable through casual contact.
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### Author:  [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/6 "2001-08-23T13:26:02Z")
I’ll offer a cite or two to back up **beatle’s** assertion that there is a rise in risky sexual activity given the perception that AIDS is now a “manageable” disease.
From [webmd.com](http://my.webmd.com/condition_center_content/hiv/article/1728.87165)
> [@](#):
>
> Aug. 20, 2001 (Atlanta) – New waves of high-risk sexual behavior threaten to wash out hard-won gains in HIV and AIDS prevention. The risky behavior crosses ethnic and racial lines – but minority men and women have the highest infection rates.
> …
> One of the great successes in public-health history is the profound change in sexual behavior among gay men. Twenty years later, most of these men are still practicing safe sex. Unfortunately, what worked to change their behavior isn’t working to change the behavior of younger gay men.
Well, just one cite. Search google for ‘barebacking’ and you’ll find much discussion on this topic.
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### Author:  [@justinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justinh)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/7 "2001-08-23T15:31:58Z")
Then the consensus is that black men and women just don’t comprehend the facts. So is that proof that blacks are mentally inferior? Can you expand that to the white homosexual community?
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### Author:  [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/8 "2001-08-23T15:40:04Z")
This [article](http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/19/health/19RISK.html?searchpv=day04) in the NY Times may have been one that **beatle** saw.
From the article:
> [@](#):
>
> Twenty years after the AIDS epidemic emerged in the United States, public health experts are facing a new and perplexing challenge: AIDS, once a bold and flamboyant killer, a “T. Rex in the living room,” as one expert put it, now seizes its prey more quietly. New treatments can keep the disease at bay, and hyper- vigilance is no longer always an easy sell.
>
> So prevention workers in San Francisco find themselves desperately preaching to a choir they thought was long ago converted: gay men, who were among the first to contract AIDS in this country, the first to demand attention for the disease and money to fight it and the first to mobilize safe-sex campaigns to prevent the spread of the virus.
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### Author:  [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/9 "2001-08-23T16:43:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by justinh \*
> \*\*Then the consensus is that black men and women just don’t comprehend the facts. So is that proof that blacks are mentally inferior? Can you expand that to the white homosexual community? \*\*
Um… what?!? I hope for your sake you’re being hyperbolic.
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### Author:  [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/10 "2001-08-23T17:07:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by justinh \*
> \*\*Then the consensus is that black men and women just don’t comprehend the facts. So is that proof that blacks are mentally inferior? Can you expand that to the white homosexual community? \*\*
Um.
I don’t see anyone but you drawing that conclusion, and it’s a very dangerous one to take with the limited data provided. Why do you state that a rise in minority infection rates means that blacks and homosexuals are mentally inferior?
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/11 "2001-08-23T17:23:54Z")
**justinh** , I feel a warning coming on if you don’t explain that statement…
To answer the OP- “who gets AIDS nowadays?”
Everybody. It is not exclusive to any group, ethnicity, social strata or intelligence level.
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### Author:  [@justinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justinh)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/12 "2001-08-23T18:08:30Z")
I asked a very straight forward question. I received several responses:
one from LNO citing that minority men and woman had the highest infection rates.
another from mrblue92 listed the reasons as 1. iqnorance 2. stupidity, 3. mutation
the rest of the posters confirmed the above 2 points.
I only asked if putting the 2 points together gave the next question. When does that constitute a problem or reason for a warning?
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### Author:  [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/13 "2001-08-23T18:14:17Z")
I think the point that a few people were trying to make is that there is an attitude among some in the gay community that AIDS is a ‘manageable’ and ‘treatable’ disease, and no longer the death sentence it was ten or twenty years ago. I suggested a way to find a plethora of information through Google.
I’m sure that soon enough, someone with far more knowledge in this area will explain the situation – I’m merely relying on a few news articles, an internet search, and the common sense that there’s no cut-and-dried “oh, they’re getting AIDS because they’re stupid, and they’re stupid because they’re black or gay” answer.
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/14 "2001-08-23T18:23:08Z")
I agree. Hearing that a disease is “treatable” can cause people to fear it less, even if it is not “cureable.”
Dangerous. Also, maybe the fact that people have been hearing about AIDS for so long that they are becoming desensitized. Dangerous as well.
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### Author:  [@Corrvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corrvin)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/15 "2001-08-23T18:26:12Z")
A lot of people in the Deaf community are at increased risk. A friend of mine is a Deaf educator who’s been working at teaching her community about HIV infection.
There are two reasons Deaf people are at far more risk (and I’m using the capital D to denote those folks who self-identify as part of this community, who are far more likely to sign as their primary form of communication). One reason, as I understand her, is that most of the attempts to translate “HIV positive” come out as “HIV good.” The same sign means positive and good. It’s very hard for someone to understand a confusing sentence like “You are HIV good/well and you need to use protection.”
The second reason is that many Deaf people think that since they already have a disability because they are deaf, they can’t get another one, so they’re immune to HIV. Not a good mix with the above!
I’d say the abstinence training is a crock…plenty of kids decide that they’re never going to have sex, and don’t need to worry about that kind of protection…then they get “swept away” just one night, and don’t bother. There’s a really nasty habit of some educators to mix morality and safety. Yes, waiting until marriage is moral. Waiting until marriage to sleep with an HIV+ person won’t protect you. Seducing nuns is not moral, but it’s certainly safe in terms of your catching anything from them. We need to get morality out of the sex ed classes. Morality is variable; safety is not.
Corr
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### Author:  [@justinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justinh)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/16 "2001-08-23T18:31:58Z")
I disagree with the desensitized point. How long have you hear about rabies from dogs,rats,bats,skunks,? Well I have heard about that all my life and when I see a questionable dog, or a rat,bat,skunk… I think “watch out they might have rabies”. If I did try to pick up a bat and got bit and rabies I couldn’t use the excuse “well I have know that they can have rabies but I never thought one would get me because I have heard the warnings too often”
my question is: Why did I get rabies?
one possible answer is: I was too stupid to listen to the warnings.
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/17 "2001-08-23T18:36:03Z")
Jeez **Corr** , are you serious? What about written materials? You make the Deaf community sound less than bright, though I know you didn’t mean to and that’s not the case.
The part about one disability protecting you from another could almost make sense, though.
I know several people who felt they really dodged a bullet remaining HIV negative, only to get Hep C.
When I was in HS, AIDS was a joke and we would never catch it. I did not use condoms until college or later, I can’t remember. I still can’t believe I’m negative.
But that was at the beginning of the pandemic, when you could still hear in the media that only gay men got it. Of course, Time magazine said in the 1970’s that cocaine was non-addictive…
I find it hard to believe that in the US today, ignorance couls be a factor. Willfull disregard makes more sense.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/18 "2001-08-23T18:45:35Z")
I think it’s safe to say that economics are a factor in the higher infection rates of minorities.
According to the 1992 US census, “33% of blacks and 29% of Hispanics lived below the federal poverty level, \*\*\*\*\*\* compared with 13% of Asians/ Pacific Islanders and 10% of whites.” (_Bureau of the Census. Poverty in the United States, 1992_)
If you’re having a hard time keeping the cupboards stocked, you’re unlikely to shell out $10 a week for condoms.
> [@](#):
>
> **Corrvin sez:**
> …many Deaf people think that since they already have a disability because they are deaf, they can’t get another one, so they’re immune to HIV.
What?!
I’ve only known two deaf people, and only one of them was congenitally deaf. They certainly weren’t that stupid, and I can’t imagine anyone reasoning that way. Nobody gets old enough to be sexually active without catching a cold, so I think it’s safe to assume that they’d know that they don’t have any special immunity to infectious diseases.
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### Author:  [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/19 "2001-08-23T18:48:40Z")
**justin** , are you looking for the answer, or just looking for people to agree with your position on the inferiority of minorities?
Just because ignorance about AIDS is most the likely reason people are infected with it does **not** mean you can leap to the conclusion that higher infection rates in a certain minority indicate a lack of intelligence among that group. I would categorize **LNO** ’s explanation as a very reasonable one–that ignorance of the fact AIDS is still deadly is at least partially the cause.
Here my educated guess:
1. Most experts seem to agree that AIDS originated in Africa.
2. Therefore, it was likely brought to the US by Africans.
3. Most Africans are black.
4. Although we sometimes claim to be a color-blind society, people still have a tendency to socialize with more people of their own race than with other races.
Conclusion: the distribution of the virus from it’s source made it more likely to infect a black American than a white one. (And **Larry** makes a good point, too.)
Along the same lines, homosexuals, obviously being more open minded about sex than the general public, are probably more open minded about interracial dating. (I would not risk concluding an increased level of promiscuity among homosexuals **must** be the reason, though I suppose others would… I don’t know if there are legitimate statistics on this or not.)
I’m not saying these are correct explanations, but if you are intellectually honest, you need to at least consider them.
**EJsGirl** : “Willful disregard” (depending on how you define it) is either ignorance or stupidity IMHO.
I sense a forum switch in this thread’s future.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2001, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-gets-aids-nowdays/77706/20 "2001-08-23T18:53:26Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by EJsGirl \*
> \*\*Of course, Time magazine said in the 1970’s that cocaine was non-addictive…
> \*\*
(Brief hijack.) Medically, cocaine _isn’t_ addictive at all.
> [@](#):
>
> Tolerance occurs, but physical dependence has not been confirmed; no stereotypical withdrawal syndrome occurs when the drug is discontinued. However, the tendency to continue taking the drug is strong.
> _----The Merck Manual of Diagnosis & Therapy_
It’s only addictive in the same sense that gambling or participating in internet forums is.
**We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.**
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