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June 9, 2008
AIDS: Not a Heterosexual Disease?
AIDS should not be considered a global concern for heterosexuals outside sub-Saharan Africa, asserts the HIV/AIDS director for the World Health Organization (WHO), Kevin De Cock, according to London’s The Independent newspaper (independent.co.uk, 6/8). De Cock made the declaration despite a discouraging report that his own organization—along with UNAIDS and UNICEF—issued less than a week ago showing that while 3 million HIV-positive people worldwide were getting lifesaving antiretroviral treatment in 2007, 2.5 million others became infected.
“It is very unlikely there will be a heterosexual [HIV] epidemic in other countries,” De Cock told The Independent. “Ten years ago a lot of people were saying there would be a generalized epidemic in Asia—China was the big worry with its huge population. That doesn’t look likely. But we have to be careful.”
De Cock acknowledges that AIDS should remain at the forefront of public health concerns, along with other chronic diseases like malaria. He suggested that more prevention efforts should be focused on men who have sex with men (MSM).
“In the developing world, [prevention for MSMs] has been neglected,” he says. “It is astonishing how badly we have done with men who have sex with men. It is something that is going to have to be discussed much more rigorously.”
Anthony, Los Angeles, 2008-07-13 14:54:35
HIV DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE! HIV IS A HUMAN DISEASE!
Zelma Z. Fuxench, Bayamon, Puerto Rico, 2008-07-11 18:59:13
It is so worrisome that a person in such position make that stament implicating that essentially this is a gay disease. Has an infectious diseases specialist we know that any person that is sexually active regarless of its age can be infected with HIV.Trying to keep this condition related to a gay behavior is what makes prevention in great part ineffective.
tnatally, Florida panhandle, 2008-07-08 10:16:18
SInce Hiv is not a heterosexual diseasemaybe this moron can explain to my wife and I how we are infected?Not to mention the 51% of clients at our local aso who are women.Not all of them are infected from guys who were iv drug users or on the downlow.Very sad to hear such a irresposible statement in todays day and age,espesially from someone who should really know better.
stevie g., bay area, ca, 2008-07-08 02:53:35
I'd been living in San Francisco and seeing advertisements for years aimed at MSMs, the message to me being "HIV is a gay disease."
Had some of those ads suggested to me that men can get HIV from women, I might have been more careful. When I went to Thailand, I didn't really understand that HIV was both endemic and primarily hetero-transmitted there. Had I known what my new thai girlfriend's flulike symptoms meant, I probably wouldn't be in the 'club' today. YOU CAN GET IT FROM WOMEN!
James, Minnesota, 2008-06-27 02:22:12
I am shocked at the level of discrimination that us gay people living with HIV/AIDS have to endure even from the very experts that are sapossed to be supporting us. There are more heterosexuals with this disease world wide than homosexuals. Why is the truth being ignored? What is it about gays that most of the United States and the world finds so intimidating? Blaming gays isnt going to stop this disease. It's only going to scare people from seeking testing and treatment.
James Ozmun, Hilo,Hi, 2008-06-25 14:23:02
It's not a homosexual disease either. It's a human blood virus. You would think after 26 years this topic would no longer need be clarified. Wake up everybody.
L.A, Oz, 2008-06-24 14:37:55
Insulting to many. An unlikely heterosexual [HIV] epidemic? Is that much like the gay [HIV] epidemic? Self determination and cause of infection means something to those who have HIV regardless of gay Vs hetero statistics. Being grouped gay and HIV+ you really only ever had one assumed cause regardless of how you contracted it and that was the majority of gays were presumed as drug addled party boys with numerous anonymous sex partners..and that came from gay men during a HIV support group. Nice
can't believe what I read, , 2008-06-17 11:46:20
This article blew my mind. I am a woman, infected for 20 years, and if the writer of this believes it is not a hetero disease, then why are there so many women out there living with a disease, (world wide), we clearly caught from a man. HIV/Aids is a human disease, it does not discrimate. Thank goodness this article is not in the mainstream or on our nightly news. It sends the wrong message to our young people.
William, Washington, 2008-06-17 09:13:10
Not in Washington DC - it's called the "modern epidemic" in DC because it is now found in such high numbers among all risk categories including heterosexuals.
giftfromhubby, , 2008-06-15 12:44:02
This "gift" was a "gift" from my exhusband who was on the DOWNLOW. No matter, with the exception of those who got it early on from blood transfusions and those few who have gotten from organ donations, or children born with it, we all need to take our part in protecting ourselves. Until women are willing to take part in protecting themselves, women will continue to be infected from unprotected hetero sex.
Judi Backof, Fort Pierce, FL, 2008-06-13 23:02:29
Epidemic does not mean everyone is exposed or likely to get it. My definition? When 1 in 30 women of color in my community are infected. How did they get HIV/AIDS if it is not heterosexual. Yes, it is hard to get-if you are aware of your risk and use protection. Come to my town and tell the residents that HIV/AIDS is not epidemic among them and is not a heterosexual disease. Hope you can run fast.
Gina, Metairie, 2008-06-13 13:17:09
I was diagnosed in 1994 (heterosexual) and back then ALL of the messages were geared towards MSM. Today not alot has changed about the prevention message, most magazines still feature MSM, the fools at W.H.O still want to target MSM's and while all of this is going on Women are becoming infected at an alarming rate. Not all positive (hetero) Men are IDU's or on the DL. People, we must wake up and realize HIV can infect ANYONE who has sex without a condom.
Infected White Female Partner, , 2008-06-13 09:34:15
Dismissing the partners (unwitting or not) of high-risk individuals is shocking. It's mostly women who are ignored this way, and I'm damn tired of being an afterthought. HIV denialism is also dismissive of women and those outside the gay male community. We're not aberrations, and don't have AIDS from partying, intestinal parasites, or not thinking happy thoughts. It's the HIV...duh. Just ask Eliza Jane Maggiore.
Jim Hyde, Atlantic City, 2008-06-13 06:00:02
He should come here, to Atlantic City and say that to the 1 in 50 to more like 1 in 30 infected people.
I think that rate is way higher than the 10 in 100 are gay theory.
om,
Jim
Glenn, NYC, 2008-06-12 18:50:17
I want to thank POZ for allowing the comments that have thus far been posted. My impression of POZ was that it was a mouthpiece for the drug companies that support it, pay its bills. This lively debate is LONG OVER DUE in a magazine like this. Tim hit the nail on the head, all of us need to think how we got 'HIV'. I binged on sex, drugs and abused my body with little sleep and poor eating. It changed my life - however I will NEVER take meds again. I respect my body too much.
