The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new study Thursday that could indicate a "second-wave" AIDS epidemic, The Washington Post reported.
Positive HIV status among young gay men has been rising 12 percent each year since 2001, the study showed, with the steepest increase among young, black men.
"These men represent a new generation that has not been personally affected by AIDS in the same way that their older peers have," Richard Wolitski, acting director of HIV/AIDS prevention at the CDC, told the Post.
Not enough is being done to prevent the spread of the infection, according to Phill Wilson, head of the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles. "When you see a 15 percent yearly increase, that is an epidemic that is out of control," Wilson told the Post. "And yet we don't see a response that recognizes it is an epidemic out of control."
Ron Simmons, president of Us Helping Us, an AIDS organization for gay black men, suggested that powerful antiretroviral therapy might have lessened the fear of AIDS within the gay community.
"I can remember going to a funeral every four or five days. Now if you talk to some of these young men, they say, 'If I do get infected, I will simply take the blue pill or the pink pill, like my friend,'" Simmons told the Post.
Article by The Advocate published 6/30/08
Positive HIV status among young gay men has been rising 12 percent each year since 2001, the study showed, with the steepest increase among young, black men.
"These men represent a new generation that has not been personally affected by AIDS in the same way that their older peers have," Richard Wolitski, acting director of HIV/AIDS prevention at the CDC, told the Post.
Not enough is being done to prevent the spread of the infection, according to Phill Wilson, head of the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles. "When you see a 15 percent yearly increase, that is an epidemic that is out of control," Wilson told the Post. "And yet we don't see a response that recognizes it is an epidemic out of control."
Ron Simmons, president of Us Helping Us, an AIDS organization for gay black men, suggested that powerful antiretroviral therapy might have lessened the fear of AIDS within the gay community.
"I can remember going to a funeral every four or five days. Now if you talk to some of these young men, they say, 'If I do get infected, I will simply take the blue pill or the pink pill, like my friend,'" Simmons told the Post.
Article by The Advocate published 6/30/08
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