Young black gay men who hide sexuality may be behind Brooklyn's HIV epidemic, doctors say

'We are seeing more young men,' says AIDS doctor who has treated boys as young as 14.

BY SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A new generation of young Brooklyn black males, many hiding their sexual identity, is worrying doctors who say they are fueling the borough’s HIV epidemic.

HIV cases among men under 30 who sleep with men rose from 232 in 2001 to 491 in 2011. 

“We are seeing more young men,” said Dr. Yusef Afacan, director of the AIDS Center Program at Woodull Medical Center in East Williamsburg. Afacan said he has even treated boys as young as 14 who contracted HIV after sleeping with another male.

500% disparity between blacks and whites testing "positive" for HIV 

“We never saw that a decade ago,” Afacan said. “Young gay men are not using protection.”

Men who have sex with men, or MSMs, include males who identify as gay and also those who hide their sexual preferences for other men.

Doctors believe these men are infecting their black female partners, who made up 79% of all new HIV cases among Brooklyn women in 2011 .

Hoping to stem the disturbing trend, advocates are zeroing in on central Brooklyn neighborhoods, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Williamsburg, Bushwick and East Flatbush, which are home to the city’s largest group of those living with the disease.

More than 15,000 reside in central Brooklyn, where about 3,600 identify as MSMs. Those 15,000 make up 10% of the citywide HIV/AIDS cases.

The Brooklyn AIDS Task Force opened a small store-front office called Brooklyn Men Konnect on Utica Ave. in Crown Heights, which reputedly has some strong anti-gay attitudes.

Workers troll gay dating sites posing as singles who give graphic intimate advice and push the message of practicing safe hookups.

“It’s too much casual sex. People don’t care. They are not wrapping it up,” said Steven Holmes, 23, a Konnect volunteer who was born with HIV after getting it from his drug-addicted mother. “They aren’t using condoms. They are being reckless.”

“Our lifestyle is taboo,” said a 22-year-old Bed-Stuy man who contracted HIV at 17. He had been struggling with his sexuality and didn't ask his partner to use a condom. “The first time I got a STD,  it was HIV.”

Doctors are complaining that Brooklyn's federal aid for young HIV/AIDS patients has dropped from $2 million a year to $350,000.

“Brooklyn is getting screwed,” said Dr. Jeffrey Birnbaum, head of the SUNY Downstate’s Family, Adolescent and Children's Experience program, which had to let go 26 staffers across the county, including three doctors, because of the cuts.

“These issues need to be dealt with.”

simonew@nydailynews.com

Read more: 

FEAR Over One Man's Death in West Hollywood of Meningitis

FEAR, 1st off who knew that John Duran was a Dr: Read up. (Mayo Clinic on Meningitis)  Before you get more drugs put into your system: FEAR! 
One man died and we run screaming the sky is falling. 
Just like everyone that is DEAD from ACT -UP demanding AZT. 
How about a little bit of history of this man health, etc before we create More FEAR

UPDATE: Great article in the Huffington Post by 

James Peron:

Fear and Misinformation: Meningitis and the LGBT Community

AIDS Healthcare Foundation to offer free

meningitis vaccines starting Monday 

Nick Roman

Beginning Monday, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation will offer meningitis vaccines at three Los Angeles-area locations after the death of a West Hollywood attorney who had recently been exposed to the disease.

Brent Shaad, 33, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Saturday evening after his family gave permission to remove him from life support.

Shaad had appeared healthy less than a week ago, according to West Hollywood Councilman John Duran.

On Monday, he began feeling ill, according to an AP report. He went to an emergency room for care on Wednesday, but his condition deteriorated rapidly. He slipped into a coma on Thursday, and doctors declared him brain dead Friday.

Shaad had attended the White Party in Palm Springs the weekend of March 30th and 31st and was a member of the Equinox gym in West Hollywood, and people who may have had contact with him should consider being checked, said Duran.

The free meningitis vaccines are available from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at AHF pharmacies on Santa Monica and Sunset boulevards and the AHF Hollywood Men's Wellness Center on Vermont Avenue, said AIDS Healthcare Foundation president Michael Weinstein.

“While many people, including many gay men, may not have had an exposure or consider themselves at risk, we know that there is a tremendous amount of anxiety out there in the community,” said Weinstein at a news conference Sunday. “We feel that at a minimum, we should offer the vaccine to minimize that anxiety.”

The bacteria that causes meningitis is not as contagious as the common cold, but experts say it can be spread through coughing or kissing. People who contract the illness can suffer from fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, confusion and increased sensitivity to light.

Duran said health officials in the New York area have reported seven deaths from bacterial meningitis this year. He said he understands the fears of some who are afraid that an increase in meningitis outbreak would be labeled as a “gay disease,” as AIDS was in the early 1980s.

But he said the early response then was not strong enough, and that's why a greater response now to meningitis is appropriate.

“What we have learned in our experience with the HIV epidemic is sometimes what happens in New York replicates itself in Los Angeles,” said Duran. “We learned some really painful lessons last time.”

There are two different types of meningitis vaccines: a conjugate vaccine that's given to young people and most adults, and a polysaccharide vaccine for adults older than 55.  The foundation will offer the conjugate vaccine. It requires an initial inoculation, followed by a booster eight weeks later, said Dr. Parveen Kaur, a physician working with the foundation's healthcare centers.

The incubation period for bacterial meningitis is two to seven days, while the vaccine requires about 10 days to provoke an immune response, said Kaur.

Weinstein said the shot costs the foundation $105. It has 10,000 doses available. The foundation will ask for donations or insurance, but it will not turn down anyone who who wants a shot, he said.

The L.A. County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) issued a statement after the AIDS Healthcare Foundation announced its vaccination plans.

In the statement, LACDPH said it had been notified on April 9 of a patient with meningococcal meningitis, and that it has begun an investigation that includes identifying contacts with that person.

At this point in the investigation, Public Health has not identified any other cases of meningococcal meningitis associated with this patient, nor identified any linkage between this patient and outbreaks that have been reported in other areas of the country.

Public Health is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to identify the specific strain of the disease from this patient. The specific strain is expected to be identified in the public health laboratory by the end of next week.

The CDC, CDPH and LACDPH do not recommend a vaccination campaign in response to this one single patient with meningococcal meningitis in Los Angeles. Routine vaccination is recommended for children and teens.  Adult vaccination is recommended for persons with specific medical conditions, laboratory workers exposed to the meningococcal bacteria, and travelers to regions of the world with high rates of meningococcal disease.

AIDS researcher Dr. Michael Gottlieb talks to the Daily Princetonian

By MICHAEL GRANOVETTER 

SENIOR WRITER

Dr. Michael Gottlieb, who in 1981 identified a disease now known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome, spoke on campus Thursday afternoon about lessons the public and scientific communities have learned from the epidemic. The Daily Princetonian spoke with him about his career and the future of HIV/AIDS research.

The Daily Princetonian: You’re in a relatively unique situation, specializing in a disease that didn’t exist when you went through your medical training. Did you ever anticipate your career evolving the way that it did?

Health office warns against home HIV tests

World Radio Switzerland

Federal health officials have issued a warning against using at-home HIV tests.

The tests can’t be legally sold in Switzerland, but they can still be purchased over the internet.

The Federal Commission for Sexual Health says that not only are the tests unreliable, but that there needs to be accompanying services with such tests including counseling and treatment.

The experts say self-tests can provide either positive or negative incorrect results.

Fear of HIV drives AZ man to kill wife, son

GOODYEAR, AZ (CBS5) -

A Goodyear man is charged with two counts of first-degree murder after police said he

admitted to stabbing his wife and 27-year-old son to death.

Gino Maraventano, 62, called 911 on Saturday and told dispatchers what he had done. Investigators said he committed the murders four days before notifying police.

During a police interview, he told investigators he had been plotting to kill his 63-year-old wife, Janet, and then commit suicide after she tested negative for cancer two weeks ago.

Gino Maraventano said Janet Maraventano was sick and he thought he might have given her AIDS or some other sexually transmitted disease because of his secret past with prostitutes.

HIV testing cannot detect "HIV" itself 

According to the police report, Gino Maraventano grabbed a knife with a 14-inch blade from the kitchen and stabbed his wife while she slept in their bed.

Gino Maraventano told police he then went to his son Bryan's room and cut his throat. According to the police report, he said the 27-year-old didn't have a girlfriend and he thought he was disabled because he couldn't get a job, therefore, he didn't think the young man could make it on his own.

One of the Maraventano's neighbors, named Phil, told CBS 5 News his friend must have been in a dark place.

"It's tragic and not the man I knew. I don't think he's the man he wanted to be. Until he confessed it I didn't want to believe it. There is not one inkling of 'I saw this coming.' There is none of that with Gino," said Phil.

Gino Maraventano tried to take his life. He told police he cut his wrists and taped a plastic bag around his head, but it didn't work.

He remains behind bars.

Kansas Lawmakers OK Repeal of AIDS Quarantines Ban

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators have approved a bill to protect medical and

emergency workers that also repeals a 25-year-old ban on quarantining AIDS and HIV patients.

The bill is headed to Gov. Sam Brownback after both chambers approved it Friday night. The votes were 36-2 in the Senate and 120-0 in the House.

The bill directs the state health department to draft rules making it easier for medical and emergency workers to learn if they've been exposed to infectious diseases.

The provision repealing the 1988 law protecting AIDS and HIV patients faced strong criticism from gay rights advocates and civil libertarians.

The health department promised legislators its new rules would continue a ban. Agency officials said even without a ban, it would never be medically necessary to quarantine AIDS or HIV patients.

MEDIA WATCHDOGS BLAST FUMENTO Has the politicization of AIDS left science in the lurch?

The political left assumes that a liberal media watch organization like FAIR would critically examine

the HIV/AIDS hysteria from the medical-industrial complex. They would be wrong.

by Christine Johnson & Steven Kurvink

Like many advocates of progressive politics, we have always
respected organizations like FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting), since we share their viewpoint on the issue of
media censorship and bias.

You would think that a liberal media watch organization like FAIR
would question government and media propaganda regarding AIDS.
After all, FAIR claims to "scrutinize media practices that marginalize
public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints," and seeks to
"break up the dominant media conglomerates" and "establish independent
public broadcasting and promote strong, non-profit, alternative
sources of information."

But you would not know this from the November/December 1999
issue of Extra, FAIR’s bimonthly publication. In it, writer Sam
Husseini denounces Michael Fumento — a longstanding opponent
of the notion of a heterosexual AIDS epidemic — for an op-ed piece
Fumento wrote for the Washington Times (June 8, 1999). Since 1987,
Fumento has hammered away at the constant exhortations declaring
burgeoning AIDS epidemics among heterosexuals, teens, babies, and
women. He derides such sloganeering as "AIDS is an Equal
Opportunity Destroyer," a view promoted by the American
Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR).

Lindsay Nagel baby Rico Trial updates: "Kafkaesque."

Thought Crime Trial Against Nagel/Martinez Family Adjourned By Celia Farber

Brownsdale, MN

This is a short dispatch written to convey the essential facts of what happened on April 1 and 2, in the court case against John Martinez and Lindsey Nagel, parents of Rico Martinez Nagel. 

It’s early morning in Brownsdale MN, a very small town near the Iowa border, about two hours from Minneapolis.  I am soon to depart for the airport and struggling to compose a coherent narrative of a completely incoherent situation.

I’ll start at the end: No decision was reached by the judge in the two day trial in which Lindsey Nagel and John Martinez were (vaguely) accused of Medical Endangerment; The prosecution (“petitioner”) did many inexplicable things throughout the trial, not least of which was to play 4 videos from YouTube, which has not previously been vetted as evidence. That meant delay: The videos have to be transcribed, the transcripts put before judge and opposing legal teams, and the case reconvened. This is expected to happen at best in 15 days. For now, the parents retain custody and a recommendation was made by a guardian ad litem that they should revisit the situation in 45 days to see if compliance was still consistent. If it were, Skype surveillance may be reduced from twice a day to three times a week.So for now, the situation for John and Lindsey Nagel is the same: They retain physical custody of their 3 month old son Rico, and the state controls his medical decisions, i.e. has medical custody.  Still, each day, twice a day they must hold the baby in front of a Skype camera, with a social worker on the other end, which I witnessed; They first hold up each medicine bottle (Rico is on 3 “anti-HIV” medications,  Bactrim, and a drug to regulate his disrupted red and white blood cell counts,) then they draw the liquids into the tube attached to Rico’s stomach via gastric intubation (a plastic tube surgically implanted into his stomach,) while the social worker watches.