The number of young "men who have sex with men," or MSM, diagnosed with HIV infection is rising by 12 percent a year in the United States – says the study report recently released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC study articulates that male-to-male sex was the largest HIV transmission category in the United States between 2001 and 2006. The CDC health experts use the term "men who have sex with men," or MSM instead of homosexuals because many of these men are not strictly homosexual or even bisexual.
According to CDC, the increase is highest among boys and men between the ages of 13 and 24 years who had sex with other males, particularly among ethnic minorities. The double-digit rise in young gay men is about 10 times higher than in the homosexual community overall, where the number of new infections is going up about 1.5 percent a year.
The report describes trends in diagnoses of HIV/AIDS in 33 states including New York, Florida, New Jersey and Texas, all of which have large numbers of HIV-infected people. Of 214,379 diagnoses during the study period, 46 percent were among MSM.
Richard Wolitski, acting director of HIV-AIDS prevention at CDC, says, “These men represent a new generation that has not been personally affected by AIDS in the same way that their older peers were.”
In Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, publication of the CDC, the health officials write, "To reduce transmission of HIV among MSM of all races/ethnicities, prevention strategies should be strengthened, improved, and implemented more broadly.” They add that testing is important because "after persons become aware that they are HIV positive, most reduce their high-risk sexual behavior.
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