Back in the '80s the scare factor was that AIDS would explode through the heterosexual population. At the time there were those who argued against this scenario, but they were regularly denounced as anti-scientific or anti-gay or some-such.
It turns out that nearly 30 years later, the skeptics were right after all. According to the Center for Disease Control:
Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM)1of all races and ethnicities remain the population most severely affected by HIV.
CDC estimates that MSM account for just 2% of the US population, but accounted for 61% of all new HIV infections in 2009. MSM accounted for 49% of people living with HIV infection in 2008 (the most recent year prevalence data are available).
In 2009, white MSM accounted for the largest number of new HIV infections of any group in the US, followed closely by black MSM.
Young, black MSM were the only risk group in the US to experience statistically significant increases in new HIV infections from 2006–2009.
Another myth casually debunked by the CDC cite is the "10%" myth that was bruited about throughout the '70s and '80s, namely that one in ten Americans is homosexual. Apparently, the true figue is close to 2%.
Presumably, the interesting questions are: Why was the prediction of disaster so wrong? Who was responsible for making the wrong predictions? And, can we stop listening to these clowns in the future?
Here's a graph:
Another question - why are the infection rates so different between the white and black populations?
Strange.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment