[afro-nets] HIV Upsurge Seen in Black Male Students

[Ingrid Kloet <Ingrid@spinn.net>]

HIV Upsurge Seen in Black Male Students
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Hello Friends

SAN FRANCISCO - A sudden, surprising increase in HIV infections
has been discovered among male black college students in North
Carolina, and officials fear the same is probably happening
across the South.

The upsurge is driven by young men having risky sexual encoun-
ters with other men. Typically they do not consider themselves
to be gay or bisexual and may even have girlfriends, as well.

"It's a public health emergency. I don't know any other way to
put it," said Dr. Peter Leone, HIV medical director at the state
Health Department.

The increase was first noticed in late 2002, and officials now
believe in began in mid-2001 and is still continuing.

The high rate of AIDS infection among U.S. blacks has been one
of the most striking difficulties of AIDS prevention.

Blacks are 11 times more likely than white Americans to get
AIDS. Even though they make up 12 percent of the population,
they account for 39 percent of AIDS cases and 54 percent of new
HIV infections.

Among black men, like whites, the leading cause of infection is
sex with other men. Experts have long lamented the high rate of
risky sex among gay black men. Poverty is often listed as a
strong contributor, so the new findings among relatively well-
off college students were unexpected.

"We are very concerned about it," said Dr. Ron Valdiserri, dep-
uty HIV chief at the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. "Most Americans would not think about college stu-
dents as a high-risk group."

Indeed, a CDC study on 10 campuses in the 1990s found a very low
infection rate.

The North Carolina data were presented Tuesday in San Francisco
at the 11th Annual Retrovirus Conference.

Also at the conference, officials presented newly gathered data
on HIV infections in New York City. Overall, 1 percent of the
city's population carries the virus, including 4 percent of men
in their 40s.

Nationwide, an estimated 900,000 people have HIV. The CDC says
that in recent years infections have risen somewhat among gay
men of all races and fallen slightly among women.

The North Carolina researchers found 84 newly infected male col-
lege students over the past three years, 73 of them black. Only
one black student admitted using injected drugs, and just two
said they had sex only with women. The rest apparently were in-
fected through sex with men.

"The concern is this is our best and brightest within the minor-
ity population who are coming down with a lifelong and poten-
tially lethal infection," Leone said.

The researchers said they suspect a similar upsurge may be oc-
curring among black male college students across the South.

"We have no reason to think this is limited to North Carolina,"
said the CDC's Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick.

Leone said HIV appears to have been recently introduced among
black college students. People are much more likely than usual
to pass on the virus through sex during their first weeks of in-
fection, and this might explain why so many students have caught
it.

When the students were questioned, three-quarters said they
thought they were not at high risk of HIV, despite frequent anal
intercourse without condoms with different male partners.

"Part of it is message fatigue," Leone said. "They've grown up
hearing this thing. It's old stuff to them. They just ignore
it."

Another possible factor may be an especially intense stigma
against HIV and homosexuality in the South, making the students
less likely to discuss their sexual identity or consider them-
selves gay.

"We have a very marginalized group," he said. "They don't iden-
tify with the messages targeted to gay white men."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Medical Editor Daniel Q. Haney is a special cor-
respondent for The Associated Press.


Ingrid Kloet
http://www.gnpplus.net
NM POZ COALITION
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