HIV Still Spreading Among Gay Men

Despite all the good news this week about this subject, like this story, this story, and this story, a new study is showing that HIV is still spreading among gay men.

Scientists say this is due to a combination of lifestyle and biological factors, and that rates are rising in all countries around the world.

We're even hearing that it doesn't really matter if it's a higher-income or more developed country, either.

In the U.S., infection rates among gay men have been increasing by 8% each year since 2001, contributing to a 15% prevalence rate — which puts the U.S. on par with countries like Thailand, Malaysia and some African and Caribbean nations where neither awareness of HIV/AIDS nor drug treatments are as widespread.

That's scary.

Though, it's being seen as this could be less about lifestyle (though it is still most certainly a factor), and more about the physicality of gay male relationships — HIV is spread about 18 time more easily though anal sex than vaginal sex.

Which means gay males absolutely should be more careful, regardless of their lifestyle!

This is why all that good news about HIV this week gives such an amazing feeling — it's still a huge and terrifying problem, but at least there are good signs out there.

[Image via AP Images.]

Tags: awareness, country, death, gay, health, hiv, infection, lifestyle, men, new study, prevention, problem, relationship, scary, sex, study, treatment