tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7655407863660711763.post5539719642795154044..comments2023-04-13T15:43:17.917-04:00Comments on Billy Rubin's Blog: The HIV Epidemic Rolls OnBilly Rubinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04850166742797443954noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7655407863660711763.post-63223213447827431992010-09-29T17:56:38.638-04:002010-09-29T17:56:38.638-04:00Hi Ted--
Apologies for the misleading statement. ...Hi Ted--<br /><br />Apologies for the misleading statement. When I wrote that “thirty years into the HIV epidemic, that shouldn’t be,” <i>that</i> was meant to refer to a profound lack of vigilance among gay men for the risks of unsafe sex. Given that the gay community is more intimately acquainted with the consequences of these practices than any other group in the US, the fact that nearly one in ten gay men are both infected and unaware of it is pretty appalling. I didn’t mean to imply that there should have been some change in the pathophysiology of how the virus is transmitted. You are correct; F to M transmission via sex is, particularly in the US, much less likely to occur than between men (or from a man to a woman, since semen is loaded with virus). <br /><br />That said, HIV is largely a disease of heterosexuals around the world. Current estimates are that about 40 million people are infected with the virus, and the overwhelming number of these people engage in what most people would regard as “conventional” heterosexual behavior. The epidemic in the US and, to a lesser extent, in Europe has always been peculiar in their disproportionate number of gay men who are infected.Billy Rubinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04850166742797443954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7655407863660711763.post-21819422185879710522010-09-28T22:27:07.245-04:002010-09-28T22:27:07.245-04:00"Thirty years into the HIV epidemic, that sho..."Thirty years into the HIV epidemic, that shouldn't be."<br /><br />Why? F-to-M transmission is so rare that it's quite clear that M-to-M will invariably be riskier, even if MSMs practiced safer sex than heterosexuals.<br /><br />Now, fact is that they don't, but that's a different issue. And here's a falsifiable prediction: unsafe MSM sex will go up if we ever get universal health care and taxpayers are on the hook for HIV treatment.Ted Frankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10486771226983390342noreply@blogger.com