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About 2.8 percent of participants in
a major study of black gay and bisexual men in six US cities during 2009-11
became infected with HIV each year. This infection rate was almost 1.5 times
that of white men who have sex with men (MSM), said study co-chair Kenneth Mayer
of Fenway Community Health in Boston.
Black MSM under age 30 had an
incidence of about 5.9 percent per year, “or about three times the rate of
white MSM,” said Assistant Dean Sheldon D. Fields of Florida International
University. “These rates are comparable to [what is seen in] countries in
sub-Saharan Africa that are hardest hit by the epidemic.”
Black MSM “engage in comparable, if
not less risky behavior than other gay men,” said CDC researcher Gregorio
Millett. Young black MSM “are less likely to have amphetamine use, injection
drug use, less likely to use drugs during sex, but they are still five times
more likely to be HIV-positive and two-and-a-half times more likely to have an
STD,” he said. “We need to refocus on the context.”
Higher overall prevalence among
black MSM, lack of health insurance, and poverty-related lack of medical care
for HIV are among such contextual factors. “In terms of viral suppression, we
are far less likely, at least 50 percent less likely, to be virally suppressed
compared to white gay men,” Millett said. So the same level of risky behavior
can carry a greater risk of infection for black MSM.
The Affordable Care Act could be
“the biggest game-changer” for black MSM, Millett said. Higher rates of testing
and linkage to care could help reduce the risk of new infections. One study
being developed will look at how pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can fit with
other prevention tools for black MSM, said Fields.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
