Why is HIV and AIDS often linked to gay men?

Question

I thought it can be spread to men or women, and indeed it affects both. So why is it often said to be related to gays?

Answer 1

The AIDS epidemic was discovered June 5, 1981, when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a cluster of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (now classified as Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia) in five homosexual men in Los Angeles.

Originally dubbed GRID, or Gay-Related Immune Deficiency, health authorities soon realized that nearly half of the people identified with the syndrome were not homosexual men. In 1982, the CDC introduced the term AIDS to describe the newly recognized syndrome, though it was still casually referred to as GRID.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiv#Origin_and_discovery

Answer 2

OMG!

Just so someone says what's real, the first answerer had the correct answer. AIDS was first identified among gay men in New York and, I believe, LA.

Gay men, as a group, engage in no riskier behavior than the behavior of many straight people. It was certainly riskier to be a sexually active gay man in 1980, but that is no longer true.

The person or people who introduced the virus to the United States have not been identified. The flight attendant is a myth, though it could have happened that way.

I think the only thing we can blame entirely on gay men would be some pretty flamboyant parades.
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Answer 3

In 1981 it was thought to be only carried from one male to another as it was spread by an air steward who travelled the world hence causing it to be a worldwide disease. Some men however are bi sexual hence having sex with both sexes spreading the infection into the hetrosexual community.

Answer 4

Because of the nature of anal sex (with tearing of the skin), it is easily spread in that fashion, and that is the kind of sex gay men have. It is 11 times easier for a woman to get it in heterosexual sex than a man. Most women get it from bi-sexual men. The chances of getting HIV, EVEN from an INFECTED partner is still 1 in 600.

Answer 5

Because the first major identifiable outbreak happened in the gay community. With the benefit of hindsight, epidemiologists have determined that there were cases prior to the outbreak in the early 80s but they were written off as unique cases fro which there was no known cause.

Answer 6

Because the disease was brought to the USA by a gay airline attendant. It was also thought to be a gay man's disease because it was predominately affecting gay men at first. Although its anyone's guess whose disease it is now. You need to watch the movie "And the Band Played On" and it will explain your answer to you much better.

Answer 7

The disease is believed to have started in the gay community. It was even called the gay cancer or something like that. But it does affect all people having unprotected sex.

Answer 8

the concept that HIV is someway related to gay men is fake - that is purely a damaging stereotype. HIV is an epidemic, purely like the flu. it could infect any and all human beings in spite of age, race, gender, ethnicity, etc. HIV could be transmitted from one individual to a distinctive by blood, semen, and vaginal fluids. Scientists have faith that the HIV virus in all probability originated in Africa in the chimpanzee inhabitants. sometime in the process the mid-twentieth century, the disease began to head into the human inhabitants (in all probability by human beings that hunted and ate "bushmeat" - the beef of monkeys and chimps). back interior the Eighties, the HIV virus first began to seem in Europe and North u . s .. the undeniable fact that condoms circumvent sexual transmission of disease become no longer the main important rationalization for his or her invention. remember that condoms have been initially invented to circumvent being pregnant in the process heterosexual intercourse. while promptly couples might many times think of to apply a condom to circumvent a being pregnant, condom use become traditionally decrease between gay couples with the aid of fact gay men won't be able to become pregnant. consequently, the HIV virus unfold promptly in the gay community after the virus first began to seem in significant cities around the globe. by ability of the mid-Eighties, HIV had become an entire-scale epidemic with out typical reason or therapy. the two gay and promptly human beings have been tormented by it. although, considering that little become typical at that element concerning to the origins of the disease or the way it become unfold, society began to get scared and regarded for a scapegoat in charge the disease on. gay men have been regrettably the objective of this concern. regrettably, this stereotype has persisted to the modern. the certainty is that HIV can influence every person. promptly human beings could be purely as promiscuous as gay human beings. in case you decide on for to have interaction in sexual intercourse, all human beings could do so in a secure and in charge way. consistently use a condom.

Answer 9

because it is spread by blood or semen. Unprotected sex, especially anal sex, is the primary transmitter. The anus and colon has excellent absorption abilities, therfore the ejaculate is readily assumed into the body. Gay guys at work say taking and giving unprotected anal sex is a kind of gesture of great love and affection.

Women only really get it from guys who have had gay flings or from guys who shares drugs & needles.

Answer 10

The first cases known were from members of the gay community.