Arcigay is sounding the alarm among Italy's gay and lesbian population: for the first time since 1995, the year new AIDS cases in Italy began to decline, the number of new homosexual cases has reversed, rising again in 2000. Most of those who contract AIDS were unaware they were HIV-positive.
The state is completely absent: the entire Italian gay and lesbian community, its organizations, and its media must make a concerted effort to inform and prevent this issue.
No TV station or newspaper outside the gay community will tell you this, but in 2000, for the first time since 1995, a reversal of the trend in the number of new AIDS cases developed through homosexual transmission was recorded. According to the latest report (June 30, 2001) from the COA, the AIDS Operations Center of the Italian National Institute of Health, in 2000 there was a slight increase in the number of homosexuals with AIDS, 361 compared to 342 in 1999. A slight but significant increase when compared to the uninterrupted trend of reductions recorded since 1995.
Equally interesting is to note that, despite the reduction in new AIDS cases in recent years, the percentage of homosexual patients, out of the total, has risen from 15.6% in 1994 to 19.6% in 2000. This means that new homosexual cases are decreasing less than the average, even though heterosexuals who contract the HIV virus sexually fare worse.
Furthermore, the number of new cases of full-blown AIDS is generally decreasing—largely thanks to the effectiveness of new combination antiretroviral therapies—but not the number of new HIV infections, which appears to be stable. Obviously, the total number of infected and infected people continues to grow year after year. This is why it remains crucial to always use condoms. AIDS is far from defeated. There are still no vaccines or therapies capable of immunizing against the virus or eliminating it in those who have contracted it, and we cannot predict how long the positive effects of new antiretroviral therapies will last.
To conclude:
Only 26% of those who contract the virus through homosexual transmission have previously received antiretroviral treatment. Those who contract AIDS, therefore, often don't know they are HIV-positive; perhaps they've never been tested, or, even if they do, they've never had access to treatment, exposing themselves to a greater risk of contracting the disease.
Faced with this situation, which certainly presents positive aspects in the fight against the disease in general, but also concerns for the gay population and uncertainty about future developments, and given the total absence of the Ministry of Health and state institutions in the fields of prevention, information, and awareness campaigns, the gay community, organizations, the media, and individuals must make a concerted effort to inform and prevent it. As in the past, we are alone in the face of this disease, which has not yet been defeated. Let us not forget this.
Arcigay is sounding the alarm among Italy's gay and lesbian population: for the first time since 1995, the year new AIDS cases in Italy began to decline, the number of new homosexual cases has reversed, rising again in 2000. Most of those who contract AIDS were unaware they were HIV-positive.
The state is completely absent: the entire Italian gay and lesbian community, its organizations, and its media must make a concerted effort to inform and prevent this issue.
No TV station or newspaper outside the gay community will tell you this, but in 2000, for the first time since 1995, a reversal of the trend in the number of new AIDS cases developed through homosexual transmission was recorded. According to the latest report (June 30, 2001) from the COA, the AIDS Operations Center of the Italian National Institute of Health, in 2000 there was a slight increase in the number of homosexuals with AIDS, 361 compared to 342 in 1999. A slight but significant increase when compared to the uninterrupted trend of reductions recorded since 1995.
Equally interesting is to note that, despite the reduction in new AIDS cases in recent years, the percentage of homosexual patients, out of the total, has risen from 15.6% in 1994 to 19.6% in 2000. This means that new homosexual cases are decreasing less than the average, even though heterosexuals who contract the HIV virus sexually fare worse.
Furthermore, the number of new cases of full-blown AIDS is generally decreasing—largely thanks to the effectiveness of new combination antiretroviral therapies—but not the number of new HIV infections, which appears to be stable. Obviously, the total number of infected and infected people continues to grow year after year. This is why it remains crucial to always use condoms. AIDS is far from defeated. There are still no vaccines or therapies capable of immunizing against the virus or eliminating it in those who have contracted it, and we cannot predict how long the positive effects of new antiretroviral therapies will last.
To conclude:
Only 26% of those who contract the virus through homosexual transmission have previously received antiretroviral treatment. Those who contract AIDS, therefore, often don't know they are HIV-positive; perhaps they've never been tested, or, even if they do, they've never had access to treatment, exposing themselves to a greater risk of contracting the disease.
Faced with this situation, which certainly presents positive aspects in the fight against the disease in general, but also concerns for the gay population and uncertainty about future developments, and given the total absence of the Ministry of Health and state institutions in the fields of prevention, information, and awareness campaigns, the gay community, organizations, the media, and individuals must make a concerted effort to inform and prevent it. As in the past, we are alone in the face of this disease, which has not yet been defeated. Let us not forget this.
