H.I.V. Diagnosis Rates Continue to Rise Among Young Men, African-Americans

By NY Times / David Tuller
Diagnoses of H.I.V. and AIDS in men who have sex with men rose significantly between 2001 and 2006 while declining in other demographic groups, the federal Centers for Disease Control reported Thursday.

The increase in diagnoses was especially high among males between the ages of 13 and 24, with an annual increase of 12.4 percent, compared to 1.5 percent for men overall. The annual increase was still higher among young African-American men who have sex with men, nearly 15 percent. Among African-American men of all ages who have sex with men, the annual increase in diagnoses was 1.9 percent.

Experts said yesterday that the new statistics were an ominous -- but not necessarily surprising -- indicator that the epidemic continues to flourish among gay men more than 25 years after it began. “It’s a grim report,” said Dr. Ronald Stall, an epidemiologist and professor of public health at the University of Pittsburgh. “It means roughly speaking that about half of the American AIDS epidemic is occurring among a few percent of the adult population. And the terrible trends we’re seeing among white gay men are even amplified further among minority men.” Sex between men accounted for more than 97,000 new diagnoses over the six years, almost half of the total number, according to the CDC. report. In contrast, diagnoses attributed to high-risk heterosexual contact and injection-drug use declined annually by, respectively, 4.4 percent and 9.5 percent.

The findings were published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the C.D.C.’s widely read public health journal. The data were based on reporting from 33 states and did not include statistics from some with large gay and minority populations, including California, Illinois and Georgia. The agency noted, however, that the racial disparities presented in the report generally reflected national trends in the epidemiology of AIDS. The agency reported that some of the rise could stem from higher rates of H.I.V. testing among men who have sex with men but added that “available data suggest that these increases cannot be explained by increases in testing alone.”

The C.D.C. recently launched a new H.I.V. reporting system designed to differentiate between recent and older infections. Data from the new effort should become available later this year, according to the agency, and will help experts more accurately track the impact of H.I.V. prevention programs. Jennifer Hecht, education director at the Stop AIDS Project in San Francisco, said that lack of access to information was a key factor in the increase in infection rates. “In a lot of ways this is connected to the administration’s policy of emphasizing abstinence-only education,” she said. “And the high rates we see among black men and other minorities indicate that it’s very much connected to larger issues like poverty and racism.” [Um, that's just plain bullshit logic, all the way around. Hecht's comments could be considered racist and stereotypical. FWIW, abstinence education works -- proven record. Teaching sexual promiscuity is one problem. Teaching that homosexuality is natural and normal and acceptable is the largest problem.
The rates of infection per state are also indicative of this fact. In states where traditional values are more prevalent, infections are lower. In states, like California, where anything goes is the mentality, infections rates are rampant.]

Dr. Richard Wolitski, acting director of the C.D.C.’s Division of H.I.V./AIDS Prevention, said that several factors could be fueling the increase in diagnoses, particularly among younger men. “Because of the new treatments, some men perceive it to be a less severe disease than it once was,” he said. “And this is a new generation that hasn’t been personally affected in the same way that older men have been.”

TOPIC: Syphilis Skyrockets in U.S. -- STDs Raging in Gay/Bisexual Men

Article by Daniel J. DeNoon

A raging epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases in gay/bisexual men drove U.S. syphilis rates up 12% in 2007 -- the seventh consecutive year of syphilis increases. Meanwhile, a CDC study found that tests for another common STD -- gonorrhea -- miss one in three infections among men who have sex with men. Those findings alone are troubling enough. But the picture becomes bleaker against the background of a surging HIV epidemic. "This increase in syphilis represents a major concern for the health of gay and bisexual men," Kevin Fenton, MD, director of the CDC's HIV/AIDS center, said at a news conference. "STDs increase HIV transmission. And if a person is already HIV infected, syphilis can increase viral load [a measure of HIV activity in the body]." Fenton announced the new STD data at this week's National STD Prevention Conference in Chicago.

Syphilis Surges Again
The syphilis numbers are shocking because just a decade ago, the U.S. was on the verge of eliminating the disease. Now 3.7 out of every 100,000 Americans -- and 6.4 out of every 100,000 American males -- carry the infection, which can cause blindness, brain damage, and death if untreated. Rates among men are six times higher than rates among women. This, Fenton said, is largely because of huge increases in syphilis infections among men who have sex with men. About 60% of all recent U.S. syphilis infections occurred in these men. African-Americans continue to be disproportionately affected by syphilis. Syphilis rates are six times higher for African-American men than among white men, and 13 times higher for African-American women than for white women.

Read the entire article here...

EDITORIAL: What keeps coming to mind as I read these articles is that proverb: "Whatever a man sows, that he will reap." Many Americans have sewn sexual immorality and cheered for homosexuality for the past 30 years. Now, our society is reaping what we have sewn. One in four teenage girls has an STD. Syphilis is running rampant among homosexual men. HIV/AIDS is an ever rising tide among those men (and women) who choose to engage in risky behaviors such as homosexual sex, IV drug use and multiple sex partners. Our former President taught kids that oral sex isn't really sex. Madison Avenue offers sex in almost every advertisement -- from shoes to automobiles to restaurants. In the mall, Abercrombie & Fitch coaches young teen boys on how to seduce young teen girls, while the Body Shop shows tweens how to dress like prosti-tots.
Yes, we are reaping what we have sewn. It's hard to feel sorry for those who are infected. The risks are widely documented. The church has been at the forefront (although always maligned) of promoting abstinence and fidelity. Our culture is in a sexual disease ridden state -- and we can ONLY look in the mirror to find who should be blamed.

TOPIC: Top 'Gay' Organization Comes Clean: 'HIV is a Gay Disease'

by ChristiansUnite.com Staff

In a public statement last Friday, Matt Foreman, outgoing Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, rattled the homosexual activist community by joining the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pro-family organizations and a growing number of homosexual activists willing to admit that homosexual behavior is both extremely high-risk and primarily responsible for the spread of HIV/AIDS in the U.S.

Addressing the topic of AIDS, Foreman drastically deviated from the "gay" lobby's party line by admitting, "Internally, when these numbers come out, the 'established' gay community seems to have a collective shrug as if this isn't our problem. Folks, with 70 percent of the people in this country living with HIV being gay or bi, we cannot deny that HIV is a gay disease. We have to own that and face up to that."

A little over a year ago, Lorri Jean, CEO of the Los Angeles-based Gay and Lesbian Center, similarly shocked the "gay" community by stating that, "HIV is a Gay Disease. Own it. End it." Foreman's admission comes on the heels of a letter from Matt Barber, Concerned Women for America's (CWA) Policy Director for Cultural Issues, inviting Foreman and other homosexual activists to work together in discouraging homosexuals from engaging in the high-risk behaviors researchers recently determined are responsible for the epidemic spread of a potentially deadly strain of staph infection among certain segments of the "gay" community. The CDC has acknowledged that many of those same high-risk behaviors, such as male-male anal sex, are chiefly responsible for spreading HIV/AIDS.
Matt Barber addressed Foreman's admission: "It's extremely encouraging to see Matt Foreman, a homosexual activist who has for so long been in denial about the dangers of the lifestyle he has promoted, publicly coming to terms with the undeniable perils of that lifestyle. I only hope he will now stop promoting homosexual conduct and push for other liberal elites, especially those running our public schools, to do the same. Educators must truthfully address the 'gay' lifestyle's potentially deadly consequences. It's criminally reckless for the National Education Association (NEA) and liberal educators to put political correctness and a deceptive political agenda above the lives, health and well-being of America's children. The evidence is there for all to see. 'Gayness' is not about 'who you are,' it's about 'what you do.' The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has now, in effect, acknowledged that reality. Their honesty is refreshing and unexpected," concluded Barber.

Concerned Women for America is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.

TOPIC: Dear Abby: You're Wrong on Homosexuality and 'Gay' Marriage

Article from christiansunite.com

Stephen Bennett, founder of www.TheParentsGroup.com, a worldwide support group for parents, family members and friends who have loved ones who are homosexual, responded swiftly to the flood of e-mails and calls from his group's members regarding "Dear Abby" and her controversial statements on "gay" marriage, and her support of the homosexual lifestyle."I got into the office an hour or so late today and my e- mail was flooded with people questioning 'Dear Abby's' comments. The phone has been ringing off the wall ever since," said Bennett.
Bennett, a former homosexual himself, now married almost 15 years to his wife and the father of his two children, said, "Sorry 'Dear Abby' - You are WRONG on this one!"

"Jeanne Phillips (aka Abby) is opining a lot about how very little she knows. Her using buzz words as 'homophobic' and 'inclusive' and 'judgmental' are to scare people into believing she is 'right.' Homosexual family members need to be loved and be treated with respect, yet going as far out on a limb as Phillips did, is showing FALSE love and is actually harmful. We encourage families to love their 'gay' identified loved ones unconditionally, yet without ever condoning or accepting the behavior. It's a fine line one learns to walk - and when you speak the TRUTH in love - it pays off. 'Dear Abby's' ignorant advice will only cause more harm and pain to a confused society, and not only to the homosexual individual, but to EVERY family member and friend involved," said Bennett.

Bennett ended, "'Dear Abby,' stick to what little you know -- and forget about that which you don't. Encouraging young 'gay' men to accept themselves as such can lead to an early death. I wonder how you would respond to several of our Parents Group members, whose sons have died excruciating and painful deaths due to HIV/AIDS. Try comforting these inconsolable parents. What, I wonder, would you say to these distraught parents, 'Dear Abby'? Maybe, 'That's just life! You can do it! Get up now and move on!' I suggest Jeanne Phillips talk to people like me and a 75-year-old mother in our group whose son walked away from homosexuality after many years. Phillips is brainwashed, ignorant and uniformed. You want the truth 'Dear Abby'? Give me a call."
Stephen Bennett is the founder of www.TheParentsGroup.com, a worldwide Christian organization, helping parents, family members and friends deal biblically with a loved one's homosexuality. Bennett has been on most every major network and cable news program and is available for interviews. Call (203) 926-6960. Stephen's office is located in Huntington, CT.

TOPIC: Abstinence Brings 'Dignity'
Traveling in Africa, First Lady Laura Bush speaks in favor of faith-based HIV prevention.

Article by Isaac Phiri in Zambia

Thursday, June 28, started out as a pampered day in Mrs. Laura Bush's four-nation Africa marathon. Lusaka, Zambia, was the third stop in her week-long trip through Senegal, Mozambique, and Mali. After a private breakfast in one of the top hotels, she was sped to the country's luxurious presidential residency for photos, coffee, and a brief closed-door meeting with President Levy Mwanawasa. After that, accompanied by her Zambian counterpart, First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa, Mrs. Bush hit the road. "I hope you have comfortable shoes," she had warned at the beginning of her trip. "We will work hard." In Lusaka, she certainly did.
Her first stop was Regiment Basic School—a grade 1–9 Catholic-founded school populated by children with HIV and children who have lost parents due to the virus. Mrs. Bush observed a few minutes of a math lesson offered through a U.S.-funded, locally produced radio program. Next, she was entertained by the school drama group, which put on a 10-minute, anti-AIDS play. Then, she held an informal roundtable discussion with 13 female students, some HIV positive, all supported by either the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) or the Africa Education Initiative (AEI). Both PEPFAR and AEI provide hundreds of millions annually in U.S. taxpayer funds to help children in Africa with education and health care.
The final event at the school was a visit to the new Play Pump—a merry-go-round attached to a water pump. The invention is designed to provide clean drinking water from a deep well, and it's kid-powered. Mrs. Bush noted, "It runs on the energy of children at play and is a fun [piece of] equipment in the schoolyard." A cloud of red dust announced the arrival of the heavily guarded entourage that took Mrs. Bush and her daughter Jenna to the Mututa Memorial Center. Center director Martha Chilufuya's late husband, having received a lot of home-based care during his long illness, donated half of their farm to care-giving initiatives.
Today, thanks to PEPFAR, local, and international support, the center has 36 caregivers serving 200 people. Faith-based organizations such as World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, Expanded Church Response, and the Salvation Army are involved in a consortium known as RAPIDS (Reaching HIV/AIDS Affected People with Integrated Development and Support). These organizations help operate a community garden producing food and income for caregivers and their clients. Speaking to the Bush delegation, World Vision's Bruce Wilkinson, a leader with RAPIDS, said, "Today is a day to celebrate." And it was. Salvation Army–supported youth put on a skit. Women, mostly widows, sang and danced. A choir of children moved the audience with their song, "I know the Lord will make a way for me." Young women, led by American Idol finalist Melinda Doolittle, performed the hymn "Amazing Grace."
Mrs. Bush presented an American face that poverty-stricken Zambians rarely see. "Zambia is a strong partner with the United States," she said. "Our two countries are working to advance goals shared by people everywhere: improved opportunities for families, economic empowerment, and, most of all, good health." Mrs. Bush, seemingly oblivious to the blazing mid-day sun and the raging debate over faith-based HIV-prevention through abstinence programs, drove home the role of faith-based organizations in the fight against HIV, malaria, and other diseases. This is a theme she'd taken up starting the day before in Mozambique.

"Faith-based organizations have local connections," she said at a Maputo, Mozambique, seminary. "Churches, monasteries, temples, mosques, and synagogues have gone where no one else would." Places of worship are community centers, she said: "They serve as focal points for education, for distribution of commodities, and for advocacy for the needs of their people." Mututa seemed the right place to drive this point home. "One of the greatest sources of hope is the compassion of people of faith," she said. "In the United States and around the world, I have seen how houses of worship inspire volunteers with their messages of charity and hope."

The impact of faith-based initiatives is evident, Mrs. Bush said. "Millions of people have heard these messages, and they are putting their faith into practice across the continent of Africa."
In case there was a doubter in the audience, she cited an immediate example. "Here at Mututa, parents and caregivers know very well the healing power of faith," she added.
Later, Christianity Today asked Zambian First Lady Mwanawasa whether advancing abstinence using public resources was an issue in Zambia. "Not at all," she said. "As Zambians, we consider churches one of our biggest partners." The teaching of the church is critical, she said: "The message of abstinence is very important in preventing new infections." She mentioned another plus, too. "It brings dignity to young people," Zambian First Lady Mwanawasa said. "It must continue."
During the program at Mututa, Bishop Joshua Banda, pastor of one of the largest Assemblies of God churches in the country, sat in the fourth row. The bishop was encouraged by what he heard. "This is really heart-warming," he told CT. Banda, whose church runs a PEPFAR-funded project for orphans and vulnerable children, has followed closely the abstinence debate in the U.S. and is concerned. "Will there be PEPFAR funding after the end of the Bush administration?" he asked, calling the possibility of losing it "heart-breaking." Banda said he prays that the Bush-backed funding to help Africa fight HIV through encouraging abstinence continues. (The Bush administration has asked Congress for another $30 billion to fight HIV for the next five years.) Banda is disappointed that abstinence remains a topic of debate in the U.S. "We are beyond that," he said, before dashing to his car to beat the Lusaka traffic jam worsened by Mrs. Bush's convoy.
After a quick Zambian lunch at Mututa, Mrs. Bush was back on the road headed for Chreso Ministries, another PEPFAR-funded, faith-based HIV/AIDS initiative.
Chreso started as an outreach of a local church founded by Lusaka-based German preacher Helmut Reutter. The ministry encourages voluntary testing and provides antiretroviral medications to 2,500 adults and 100 children. Mrs. Bush's tour of the health facility ended in the church's sanctuary, where she chatted informally with staff and patients.
After the Chreso visit, Mrs. Bush was taken a little outside of Lusaka to a rural project that serves as a transit home for street children and also offers microfinance opportunities to women from surrounding communities. Mrs. Bush was pleased to see women "able to take care of themselves." Speaking at a formal evening event just before her departure, Mrs. Bush again commented on the role of faith-based organizations. "We saw very moving and sweet faith-based projects, where ministers and pastors and imams are working in their communities to extend the reach of care to people who are either ill or vulnerable," she said. "America stands with you." Mrs. Bush arrives back in the United States this weekend.

TOPIC: Adolescents With High-risk Sexual Attitudes Attract Peers With Similar Attitudes

Article from ScienceDaily

High-risk sexual behavior in adolescents appears to be influenced by the sexual attitudes of peers, and young people select friends whose attitudes about sex are consistent with their own attitudes. These are the conclusions of a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and published in the May/June 2007 issue of the journal Child Development.
The study addressed issues of peer influence. Researchers sought to determine how adolescents come to resemble their peers in risky attitudes and behaviors, attempting to learn whether they are encouraged by peers to adopt certain behaviors or gravitate toward others with similar attitudes and behaviors. They also examined the role of peer attitudes in the development of high-risk behaviors. The study analyzed data on 1,350 15- to 18-year-old male and female students taking part in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationwide study of individual, peer, family, school, and community factors related to health.
High-risk sexual behavior was defined by the number of partners with whom adolescents had intercourse without a condom, since having multiple sex partners without using condoms puts adolescents at risk for contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases [STDs]. The researchers also constructed a measure of attitudes about the undesirable consequences of sex. These measures of sexual behavior and attitudes, from individual adolescents and their friends, were compared over time.
Some of the study's findings showed that peers influence adolescent attitudes and behavior. Adolescents whose friends had intercourse without a condom were more likely to have intercourse without a condom the following year. Those whose friends believed that sex had undesirable consequences were likely to change attitudes to be similar to those of their friends, and were less likely to have intercourse without a condom the following year. The effect of friends' attitudes on sexual behavior was stronger for females than for males.
Other findings showed that adolescents choose new friends with attitudes that are similar to their own. Teens who believed that sex had undesirable consequences were likely to choose new friends and retain existing friends with similar attitudes. This occurred to a similar extent in males and females, but occurred less often among Hispanic adolescents than among non-Hispanic white and African American adolescents. "This study has two implications for prevention," according to David B. Henry, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the study's lead author. "First, it supports the use of adolescent leaders for preventive interventions. Second, it suggests that interventions that use attitude change to change behavior may be more effective among females than among males."
The study was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Summarized from Child Development, Vol. 78, Issue 3, Peer Selection and Socialization Effects on Adolescent Intercourse without a Condom and Attitudes about the Costs of Sex by Henry, DB, Schoeny, ME, Deptula, DP, and Slavick, JT (University of Illinois at Chicago). Copyright 2007 / The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Society for Research in Child Development.

TOPIC: Apple Computer Begins Selling IPod Under Product RED Label
Apple Computer on Friday began selling a red-colored iPod Nano and $25 iTunes gift cards under the label of Product RED. RED is a project created by Irish musician Bono
and Bobby Shriver that aims to raise money for the Global Fund To Fight AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria by donating a portion of profits from a range of branded products -- the AP/Houston Chronicle reports. The announcement was made on Thursday during the filming of the U.S. launch of Product RED on the nationally syndicated "Oprah Winfrey Show".
American Express, Converse, Giorgio Armani and Gap were the initial partners in the program and are distributing credit cards and selling tennis shoes, sunglasses and T-shirts, respectively, carrying the Product RED label. The four partner companies have committed to the brand for five years and have pledged to give an average of 40% of profits from the products to the Global Fund. London's Independent in May announced that it would become the first media outlet to sign on as a partner in the project. In addition, Motorola in May announced that it will partner with Product RED.

According to Global Fund Executive Director Richard Feachem, Product RED has raised more than $10 million in the U.K. from February through September. The funds generated from U.K. sales will be allocated to HIV testing and treatment services for HIV-positive women and children living in Rwanda and to supporting AIDS orphans in Swaziland, he said. Feachem earlier this month announced that Product RED plans to partner with five additional corporations in the next few weeks.
Bono, Winfrey and other celebrities on Thursday shopped in downtown Chicago in an effort to enlist consumers. According to Leslie Dance, vice president of marketing for Motorola, celebrities -- including Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Garner, Chris Rock, Maria Shriver and Steven Spielberg -- will promote and represent various Product RED goods (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 10/12). The Product RED iPod will sell for $199, the same price as other versions of the product, and Apple will contribute $10 from each sale to the Global Fund. "We've moved from the philanthropy budgets to the marketing budgets, and guess what, there's no comparison in size," Bono said.

Source: MedicalNewsToday