High risk group threatens population
As many as four out of ten HIV positive African-American men could be putting their partners at risk by not using condoms, according to research in the latest UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing. A study of 130 middle-aged and older men in the USA found that many of the 40 to 65 year-olds were engaging in high-risk sexual practices.
38 per cent didn’t use condoms during oral sex, with 25 per cent having unprotected vaginal sex and 22 per cent having unsafe anal sex. The research also showed that men who were single and displayed fewer HIV symptoms were least likely to use condoms during sex.
“Despite the worrying number of men not using condoms, 78 per cent of those who took part in the study were able to answer questions about HIV and AIDS correctly and 25 per cent claimed to be knowledgeable about the subject but still engaged in risky sex” says Dr Christopher Lance Coleman from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia.
“These findings are of particular concern as HIV and AIDS rates among black (non-Hispanic men) in the USA and in people over 50 have risen considerably in recent years. In fact, AIDS prevalence statistics for minority men in the USA are staggering.”
For example:
- In 2005, 127.6 per 100,000 cases of HIV/AIDS were African-American men compared to 18.5 for White men, according to data for 33 US states using confidential name-based reporting. The US Center for Disease Control suggests that this ethnic group is eight times as likely to develop AIDS as white males.
- Figures for 2005 also show that 44 per cent of all new cases of HIV were black (non-Hispanic) males, based on the latest data from 50 US states.
- AIDS rates are also rising in people over 50. In 2006, 27 per cent of adults living with AIDS in the USA were over 50.
77 per cent of the 130 African-American men who completed the questionnaire for this study, after responding to advertisements posted in two infectious disease clinics, were single. The average age of the participants was 46.