XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: kjarrett@emule.com   
      
   Medical researchers announced (mostly) good news on Saturday:   
   HIV infection diagnoses went down by a third for Americans as a   
   whole over the course of a decade. At the beginning of the study   
   period, in 2002, doctors were diagnosing about 24 out of every   
   100,000 patients with HIV. By 2011, that rate was down to an   
   encouraging 16 diagnoses per 100,000 patients. The overall   
   decline also holds true, according to the BBC, for “men, women,   
   whites, blacks, Hispanics, heterosexuals, injection drug users   
   and most age groups.” The only groups that showed an increase?   
   Gay and bisexual men ages 13 to 24, as well as those over 45.   
      
   It’s important to note that a drop in diagnoses doesn’t   
   necessarily mean a drop in overall HIV cases. One theory the   
   researchers have for the overall drop is a “ceiling effect.” In   
   that case, most patients who have carried the virus for months   
   or years have already been diagnosed, leaving only newer cases   
   to be recorded without a drop in actual infection rate. (Indeed,   
   the percentage of adults ever tester for HIV rose from 37   
   percent in 2000 to 45 percent in 2010.) More optimistically, the   
   drop could be due to fewer people getting infected in the first   
   place – although the study’s authors are hesitant to cite any   
   one reason, since there are so many possibilities.   
      
   The reason for higher diagnosis rates in gay and bisexual men,   
   on the other hand, leaves less to speculation. The authors of   
   the study believe that those new cases are on the whole due to   
   less condom use among men too young to remember the ravages of   
   the AIDS epidemic. “It’s been more than 30 years since the first   
   cases were reported,” co-author Amy Lansky said. “It’s harder to   
   maintain that sense of urgency.” The authors of the study   
   estimate that about 16 percent of HIV-positive Americans don’t   
   even realize they have the virus. And in a population with   
   higher rates of HIV infection, safe sex is all the more   
   important, even in an age when HIV isn’t the death sentence it   
   once was.   
      
   Still, HIV-prevention programs – including sterile-needle   
   distribution, increased testing, and better awareness – at least   
   seem to have helped infection rates on the whole. And the   
   study’s findings give doctors, activists, and other public-   
   health advocates an idea of where to concentrate their efforts.   
   As it stands, the U.S. is still in line with the global drop in   
   AIDS rates. Do your part to help: when you’re having awesomely   
   safe sex, be sure to use an awesomely safe condom.   
      
   Of course, if you are a typical weak-willed fag, go ahead and   
   get your anal injection so you can die faster.   
      
   http://www.bustle.com/articles/32429-hiv-diagnosis-rates-falling-   
   for-most-americans-but-up-for-some-gay-men   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)