Get Tested

From POZ:

National HIV Testing Day
June 27, 2007

An estimated 250,000 people in the United States are HIV/AIDS positive and don't even know it. An opportunity for people nationwide to learn their HIV status, and to gain the knowledge they need to take control of their health and their lives. National HIV Testing Day also provides an invaluable opportunity to dispel the myths and stigma associated with HIV testing, and to reach those who have never been tested or who have engaged in high-risk behavior since their last test. HIV testing can reduce new infections when HIV-positive persons become aware of their status and take the necessary precautions to stop spreading the disease. HIV testing is easier, more accessible, and less invasive than ever.




Gabriel Rotello on Andrew Sullivan declaring the End of AIDS:

It has always been incumbent on any responsible gay opinion leader to repeatedly stress that 1996 did NOT mean the 'end of AIDS' or the 'end of a plague,' but rather a historic opportunity to bring that about.
Yes, sure, we all agree that 1996 marked a turning point in the lives of the infected and those who love them, which is Andrew's obvious and endlessly belabored point. But the responsible among us also agree that to emphasize such a self-evident fact without equally emphasizing the dangers of complacency is the height of irresponsibility. It plays into the very syndrome that now dooms a new generation of gay 20-year-olds to a 50% prevalence of HIV by middle age.
The truth is that in 1996, when Andrew Sullivan began taking his HIV meds, his own personal plague ended -- the only plague one suspects he really cares about. But for countless other gay men, their plague was about to begin, in part because of the complacency epitomized by Andrew's bullshit.
And that, sadly, is a bitter history lesson from 1996 that Andrew Sullivan will probably never acknowledge.




From Pitt Men’s Study

New AIDS Nightmare Looms for Gay Men: Study"

Since 2001, HIV incidence among men who have sex with men (MSM) has risen about 1.9 percent per year in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia, University of Pittsburg researchers told the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto. Without a return to safe sex or an unforeseen medical discovery, these infection rates will saturate the population as it ages, the review of studies presented by Ron Stall suggested.


In 2001, HIV affected about one in 12 20-year-old MSM in these countries. The projected rate of infection could be one in four by the time they are in their 30s, researchers estimated. By age 60, 58 percent could be infected.

Among African-American MSM, the rate of new infections is now 4 percent among those ages 15-22, and 15 percent among ages 23-29, warned Stall. At an average increase in new infections of 4 percent per year, three-quarters of those ages 23-29 would be infected by age 50. Calling this incidence rate "almost unbelievable," Stall said, "African-American men who have sex with men suffer among the highest HIV prevalence rates of any risk group in the world."

High rates of HIV diagnoses among MSM were also seen in 35 states CDC used to analyze HIV data. Growing methamphetamine use and complacency are partly to blame for the increase, said Dr. Ronald Valdiserri, deputy director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, STD and TB Prevention. "In the United States, 5 percent [of the HIV budget] is spent on prevention," said Valdiserri. "America is more interested in treating this disease than preventing it. We can't treat our way out of this epidemic, even as a rich country."