Why did aids begin in gay community
LGBTQ History Month: The early days of America's AIDS crisis
It was not until the late 1970s when the HIV strain that started the North American pandemic had made its way to the United States, via Zaire and Haiti. By then, the sexual revolution was in entire swing and HIV was spreading silently among gay male populations in huge American cities. Men who have sex with men were, and still are, disproportionately impacted by HIV because it transmits much more easily through anal sex than through vaginal sex.
The first official government state on AIDS came on June 5, 1981, in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a government bulletin on perplexing disease cases: “In the period October 1980-May 1981, 5 young men, all active homosexuals, were treated for biopsy-confirmed Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia at 3 different hospitals in Los Angeles, California. Two of the patients died.”
In NBC Nightly News’ first report on AIDS in June 1982, Robert Bazell reported that “the optimal guess is some infectious agent is causing it.”
In a 1983 appearance on NBC's "Today" show, activist and Gay Mens Health Crisis co-founder Larry Kramer asked host Jane Pauley, "Jane, can you conceive
Why Do Gay Men Have a Higher Chance of Getting HIV?
HIV is preventable. Here are a few ways to reduce the uncertainty of transmission.
1. Apply a barrier technique during sex
Condoms and other barrier methods can protect against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
If you contain HIV or another STI, getting treatment and using a condom or other barrier method every time you own sex can shrink the risk of transmission.
If you don’t have an STI, you can protect yourself from acquiring an STI by using a condom or other barrier method every time you include sex.
Also, it’s vital to buy the right size condom for you and to use it properly.
2. Choose alternative sexual activities
Some activities carry a higher risk of HIV transmission than others.
The chance of transmission is upper during anal sex without a condom or other barrier method.
The chance of transmission is low during oral sex or activities that don’t involve contact with bodily fluids.
3. Limit your number of sexual partners
The chance of HIV transmission increases with the number of sexual partners a person has.
4. Get testing and treatment
If you’re an MSM, consider getting
40 years of HIV discovery: the first cases of a mysterious disease in the early 1980s
Since the year of its finding, HIV has spread from Africa to North America and then to Europe. The first cases were reported in the Together States in men who have sex with men. The following cases concerned transfused patients, hemophiliacs and drug addicts, demonstrating the strong involvement of the blood route in the transmission of the virus. The disease only appeared in Asia around 1986-1987, first in Thailand, then in other Southeast Asian countries.
It should be noted that contrary to trendy belief, the most essential mode of transmission worldwide occurs between heterosexuals. It is estimated that nearly 38 million people are currently infected worldwide.
“AIDS is a late phase of HIV infection,” clarifies Asier Sáez-Cirión, head of the Viral Reservoirs and Immune Control Unit at the Institut Pasteur. “We really need to break down this direct HIV/AIDS association because it represents an obstacle to the eradication of HIV infection. This is our daily struggle.” Indeed, a person who has AIDS is necessarily a carrier of HIV, but a person who is a carrier of HIV does not necessarily h
The HIV/AIDS Epidemic
The United States was the focal direct of the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. The disease was first noticed en masse by doctors who treated gay men in Southern California, San Francisco, and New York City in 1981.
When cases of AIDS first emerged in the U.S., they tended to originate among either men who had sex with other men, hemophiliacs, or heroin users. The fact that the disease was also prevalent among Haitians led to the "Four-H Club" of groups at tall risk of AIDS.
Though some people believe that AIDS began in the U.S. in the 80's, that is actually the decade when it gained recognition as a health condition. Instances of HIV are believed to have been in the U.S. long before that - perhaps as early as the 1960s. The first reported cases of HIV are believed to have come from Kinshasa in or around 1920. Scientists believe the disease was transferred from monkeys and chimps to humans.
The prevalence of the disease among male lover men in the U.S. in the 80's and 90's resulted in a stigma against homosexuals and a general fear and misunderstanding regarding how AIDS was spread. Over moment attitudes changed as celebr
HIV/AIDS In The Lives Of Gay And Bisexual Men In The United States
From the earliest days of the HIV epidemic, homosexual and bisexual men include been among the hardest-hit groups in the Combined States. While gay men make up just 2 percent of the U.S. population, they account for two thirds (66 percent) of new HIV infections, a majority (56 percent) of people living with HIV, and more than half (55 percent) of all AIDS deaths since the epidemic’s beginning.1 It is estimated that 12-13 percent of gay and bisexual men in the U.S. are HIV-positive2, including one in five in many major U.S. cities3. Gay men are the only group in the country among whom recent infections are on the rise; between 2008-2010, fresh infections rose 12 percent overall among gay men, and 22 percent among younger gay men ages 13-24.4 Recent research shows that antiretroviral therapy, which already has helped to dramatically increase the quality and length of existence for people with HIV, has the potential to play a powerful role in the prevention of HIV. People living with HIV can reduce the risk of transmitting the infection to others by up to 96 percent if they are taking consistent ARV treatment5, and for those w