September 12, 2007 | Health Matters

HIV up in NYC. What to do?

A recent report of young men in New York City has discovered a startling trend: the rate of HIV infection is on the rise. The group with the fastest-growing rates -- almost doubling between 2001 and 2006 -- were young men between the ages of 13 and 19. Over the same period, the number of new H.I.V. diagnoses in men under the age of 30 who have sex with other men increased by 33 percent.

The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, warned that “unless young men reduce the number of partners they have, and protect themselves and their partners by using condoms more consistently, we will face another wave of suffering and death from H.I.V. and AIDS.”

Responses to the story as it appeared in the New York Times have been varied. Some blame drug use. Others blame bareback porn.

One reader argued it was a mix of several things. "Between crystal meth, the vogue of “bareback” porn, and the ignorance the younger generation has of how serious HIV is, unsafe sexual practices have become more commonplace than at any time since I came of age."

Maybe we need to take a different approach to get the message of safer sex out there...