About AIDS

"The report's staggering figures reveal that one-third of all black gay and bisexual male Americans under the age of 30 are HIV-positive, and that infection rates have climbed sharply."

No! That is not what the report said. And yet, this is the second sentence in a BBC article broadcast worldwide last week after the Centers for Disease Control released data showing high HIV infection rates among a group of young gay men in six cities. It also went on to assert that 7% of all gay men, regardless of race, are infected. (An Associated Press story the day before wasn't much more discerning.)

We are never sure why reporters for important news outlets cannot seem to use statistics accurately. Ignorance? Recklessness? Sensationalism? Nothing about the CDC report's numbers can be extrapolated to gay men in general in the U.S. The study dealt only with six highly infected cities; the subjects were all bar patrons, not structured to reflect the general gay male population. The truth is, we do not know what the infection rate is among any group of gay men.

Despite the media's shrill inaccuracy, the CDC's report should be a sobering wake-up call, because regardless of what the true numbers are, we have a serious problem with infection in this population. The report should galvanize the nation into heightened prevention efforts with young gay men. It should also remind those YGMs themselves that their sexual decisions still matter. This deadly epidemic is not over.