HIV Growing Fastest in Homosexual Population

Special Report - September 15, 2008
Two new reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) include additional details about the incidence of HIV infections among high-risk populations in the United States, specifically homosexual men. A CDC fact sheet, published in the September 12 edition of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), updates an August 2008 report, which estimated that 56,300 individuals in the U.S. were newly infected with HIV in 2006. Men who have sex with men (MSM) accounted for 53 percent (or 28,720) of all new HIV infections in 2006, according to the CDC.

“The new analysis underscores the severe impact of HIV among gay and bisexual men of all races and ethnicities, African Americans, and Hispanics,” the MMWR fact sheet states. “It also shows us that, within these groups, the impact is most severe among young black gay and bisexual men, white gay and bisexual men in their 30s and 40s, and black women.”

Key findings from the MMWR fact sheet include:

• Among all MSM, there were more new HIV infections in young black MSM (age 13-29) than in any other MSM age or racial group. According to the CDC, the number of new HIV infections among young black MSM was about twice as high as the number of new infections among white and Hispanic MSM in this age group in 2006.
• Among MSM, white MSM accounted for nearly half (46 percent) of new HIV infections in 2006, with the majority in white MSM age 30-39, followed by white MSM age 40-49.
• Among blacks, men accounted for 65 percent of new HIV infections in 2006, with most of the new infections in black men (63 percent) occurring among MSM.
  

Another CDC report that was also published in the September 12 issue of MMWR notes that the male-to-male sexual contact transmission category accounted for 72 percent of new HIV infections among men in 2006, including 81 percent of new infections among white men, 63 percent among black men, and 72 percent among Hispanic men. “The distribution of new HIV infections in 2006 demonstrates that, more than 25 years after the first report of AIDS, the disease continues to affect the MSM population more than any other in the United States,” the report states.

“These latest CDC reports highlight the truth about homosexual activity that many homosexual activists and their allies continue to downplay and even deny,” said Matt Lytle, director of research for the North Carolina Family Policy Council. “The truth is that homosexuality is associated with high-risk sexual behaviors that put individuals at an increased risk for many STDs, including HIV/AIDS. Instead of promoting homosexuality as healthy and normal, educators and health officials should promote the truth that homosexual activity is harmful and potentially deadly. Time and resources would be better spent embracing prevention efforts that work to help individuals stop dangerous sexual behaviors that put them at risk in the first place.”

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