CDC UPDATE 1 in 5 gay, bisexual men in US cities has HIV
CDC UPDATE 1 in 5 gay, bisexual men in US cities has HIV
20 Per Cent Of All Gay Men Have HIV Virus
Obama's And Liberal Republicans Push For Gay Friendly Armies Continues
* Nearly half are unaware of their infection-CDC
* CDC calls for renewed HIV prevention efforts
In an online report filed by Reuters news service reporter Julie Steenhuysen said Sept 23 "Nearly one in five gay and bisexual men in 21 major U.S. cities are infected with HIV, and nearly half of them do not know it, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.
Young men, and especially young black men, are least likely to know if they are infected with HIV, according to a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We need to reinvigorate our response to preventing HIV among gay and bisexual men," Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, said in a telephone interview.
Researchers at the CDC studied 8,153 men who have sex with men in 21 U.S. cities. The men were taking part in the 2008 National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System, which looked at prevalence and awareness of the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Overall, they found that 19 percent of gay men are infected with HIV.
The study found that 28 percent of gay black men infected with HIV, compared with 18 percent of Hispanic men and 16 percent of white men.
Black men in the study were also least likely to be aware of their infection, with 59 percent unaware of their infection compared with 46 percent of Hispanic men and 26 percent of white men.