Posted on 08/12/2003 9:17:08 PM PDT by scripter
(AgapePress) - Researchers are warning of an HIV outbreak on college campuses in North Carolina.
A study conducted by the University of North Carolina and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services indicates that up to 60 college students in the state may have become infected with the virus that causes AIDS. The study found that 25 male college students in a three-county region of North Carolina have been diagnosed with HIV since 2001, and nearly 90% of those students were black men whose infections resulted from homosexual sex.
Lead researcher Dr. Lisa Hightow, a fellow in infectious diseases at the UNC School of Medicine, says half of all new HIV infections occur in young people.
"We feel that this is a wakeup call to the fact that HIV is still being actively transmitted and that it's involving our young people in our state. We feel that this is certainly statewide, but not necessarily limited to the state," she says.
According to Hightow, up until this year, no reports on HIV infection rates at colleges had been published. The researcher says she and her colleagues are consulting with experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and have been working to improve prevention efforts.
"We alerted all the key health department personnel as well as all the campuses, and have started to expand our counseling and testing activities on the campuses," Hightow says. "Many of the colleges and universities that we have been working with have begun to increase student awareness of HIV."
Hightow notes that many of the students in North Carolina who were recently infected with HIV had used the drug Ecstasy and met their homosexual partners over the Internet.
At the beginning of last year, the CDC reported approximately 362,827 persons in the United States living with AIDS. Of these, 42% were whites, 37% were blacks, 20% were Hispanics, less than 1% were Asians and Pacific Islanders, and less than 1% were American Indians and Alaskan Natives. Of the 282,250 men (13 years or older) living with AIDS, 57% were men who had homosexual sex, 24% were intravenous drug users, and 9% were exposed through heterosexual contact. Of the 76,696 adult and adolescent women with AIDS, 59% were exposed through heterosexual contact and 38% were exposed through intravenous drug use. And according to the CDC, at the end of 2001 there were 3,817 children living with AIDS in America.*
Of the 76,696 adult and adolescent women with AIDS, 59% [have claimed that they] were exposed through heterosexual contact [such as repeated unprotected anal sex with IV drug users] and 38% were exposed through intravenous drug use.
Lincoln-Mercury recently signed Magic Johnson as their representative/spokesman.
Sorry - gays are not the only ones spreading this disease.
From the article:
...and nearly 90% of those students were black men whose infections resulted from homosexual sex.
These two are not in contradiction. The article does not say "gays" are the only ones spreading the disease.
What is does say is that a group who is 2% of the population is responsible for nearly 90% of the new infections. So the proper statement would be that in this case, homosexuals account for nearly all the spread of the disease.
Instead of "positive gay role models" we need realistic homosexual role models - people who callously engage in behavior that kills them and their friends while expecting others to pay for it.
I suspect this but do you have another source?
They are not - and I wiil not consider them normal...
Nor, will I become concerned about their AIDS related death rate until they show some alarm and responsibility for it themselves -- and behave accordingly.. I think we already focus too much attention and tax dollars on AIDS, with a resulting negative impact on illnesses that kill far more INNOCENT citizens.
The ONLY Aids victims deserving of sympathy - are those infected innocently or by actions by others....
Aids is the ultimate proof that IRRESPONSIBLE actions have deadly consequences. Semper Fi
From:http://www.avert.org/hivtypes.htm What is the difference between HIV-1 and HIV-2?
There are currently two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. Worldwide, the predominant virus is HIV-1, and generally when people refer to HIV without specifying the type of virus they will be referring to HIV-1. Both HIV-1 and HIV-2 are transmitted by sexual contact, through blood, and from mother to child, and they appear to cause clinically indistinguishable AIDS.
However, HIV-2 is less easily transmitted, and the period between initial infection and illness is longer in the case of HIV-2.
How many subtypes of HIV-1 are there?
HIV-1 is a highly variable virus which mutates very readily. So there are many different strains of HIV-1. These strains can be classified according to groups and subtypes and there are two groups, group M and group O.
In September 1998, French researchers announced that they had found a new strain of HIV in a woman from Cameroon in West Africa. The strain does not belong to either group M or group O, and has only been found in three other people, all in the Cameroon.
Within group M there are currently known to be at least 10 genetically distinct subtypes of HIV-1. These are subtypes A to J. In addition, Group O contains another distinct group of very heterogeneous viruses. The subtypes of group M may differ as much between subtypes as group M differs from group O.
Where are the different subtypes found?
The subtypes are very unevenly distributed throughout the world. For instance, subtype B is mostly found in the Americas, Japan, Australia, the Caribbean and Europe; subtypes A and D predominate in sub-Saharan Africa; subtype C in South Africa and India; and subtype E in Central African Republic, Thailand and other countries of southeast Asia. Subtypes F (Brazil and Romania), G and H (Russia and Central Africa), I (Cyprus), and group O (Cameroon) are of very low prevalence. In Africa, most subtypes are found, although subtype B is less prevalent.
What are the major differences between these subtypes?
The major difference is their genetic composition; biological differences observed in vitro and/or in vivo may reflect this.
It has also been suggested that certain subtypes may be predominantly associated with specific modes of transmission: for example, subtype B with homosexual contact and intravenous drug use (essentially via blood) and subtypes E and C, with heterosexual transmission (via a mucosal route).
Laboratory studies undertaken by Dr Max Essex of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston have demonstrated that subtypes C and E infect and replicate more efficiently than subtype B in Langerhans cells which are present in the vaginal mucosa, cervix and the foreskin of the penis but not on the wall of the rectum. These data suggest that HIV subtypes E and C may have a higher potential for heterosexual transmission than subtype B.
However, caution should be exercised in applying in vitro-studies to real-life situations. Other variables which affect the risk of transmission, such as the stage of HIV disease, the frequency of exposure, condom use, and the presence of other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), must also be taken into consideration before any definite conclusions can be drawn.
Are some subtypes more infectious than others? >Some recent studies have suggested that subtype E spreads more easily than subtype B. In one study conducted in Thailand (Mastro et al., The Lancet, 22 January 1994), it was found that the transmission rate of subtype E among female commercial sex workers and their clients was higher than that for subtype B found among a general population in North America.
In a second study conducted in Thailand (Kunanusont, The Lancet, 29 April 1995), among 185 couples with one partner infected with HIV subtypes E or B, it was found that the probability of both partners in a couple becoming infected was higher for subtype E (69%) than for subtype B (48%). This suggests that subtype E may be more easily transmissible.
However, it is important to note that neither study was designed to fully control for multiple variables which may affect the risk of transmission.
Is subtype E a new subtype?
Subtype E is not new. Stored blood samples show that subtype E was already identified at the beginning of the epidemic in Central Africa and as early as 1989 in Thailand.
What schools? A friend says the sex talk at a very popular bar/club in town is pretty disgusting. It sounds like 3 ways and kinky things are pretty popular.
That's a misrepresentation of what freeper Kevin Curry said. Here's some links on homosexuality and health issues you may find informative. Some of the links, such as links #2 and #9 document some gays actually seek out HIV and some seek to give it away.
As far as other methods of transmission besides sexual, obviously needlesticks and being contaminted with bodily fluids from an AIDS patient are causes of serious concern. But how did the AIDS patient get AIDS? The vast majority got it through homosexual acts, directly or indirectly. So my point is that same sex acts - especially anal sex, of which homosexuals are notoriously fond, is the main method of transmission of AIDS. Homosexuality is actually a disordered condition, and people who identify with that disorder are not helped by society's acceptance and glorification of said disorder. Nor are influencable young people served well by having it rammed and crammed down their throats.
I do not hate homosexuals. I care about them, and I am sorry that the media and government are conspiring, due to their influence, to prevent the truth about same sex attraction and behavior from being publicly discussed.
anal sex is an unnatural sexual act; the rectal area is not supposed to be assaulted like that day in and day out, and there is an ample supply of blood vessels there that can not take that abuse...(unlike the plain old vagina that also doubles as a birth canal)
I would just take a good guess that there are very few HIV cases truely transferred by wholely hetero partners who have no IV drug abuse in their past....
instead, I think we are seeing drug abuser couples getting the virus from shared needles, then passing it along that way....
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