Statement of Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. Director National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases National Institutes of Health:
“The third annual National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Sept. 27, 2010, marks an occasion to reflect on how profoundly HIV/AIDS has affected gay and bisexual men. It also is a fitting time to recognize how much this group has influenced the development and implementation of strategies to prevent and treat the virus and the disease. The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to exact a terrible toll on gay and bisexual men. In the United States it is estimated that since AIDS was first recognized in 1981, more than half a million gay and bisexual men have been diagnosed with the disease and more than 300,000 have died. Although men who have sex with men make up only about percent of the U.S. male population ages 13 years and older, sexual transmission of HIV from one man to another accounted for more than half of all new HIV diagnoses in 37 states in 2008. The epidemic is particularly acute among 13- to 29-year-old black males who have sex with other males: More new HIV infections occurred in this population in 2006 than in any other age or racial group of men who have sex with men.”
To read the full statement, go to the National Institutes of Health Website.