There was an upwards blip around the year 2000 and it now seems to be falling. and try to explain the following: According to an article in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle HIV incidence rates pooled from San Francisco's loveual health clinics fell to 3.2% from a high of 5.4% in 2000. Similarly, HIV incidence rates at a San Francisco HIV anonymous testing centre declined from 3.9% to 2.8% over the same period. "It's wonderful news, but we can't explain why," Eileen Shields from San Francisco's Department of Public Health was reported as saying on the website 365Gay.com. San Francisco's health director, Dr Mitch Katz, is reported to have suggested to the San Francisco Chronicle that "the most likely explanation is that effective AIDS drugs have lowered the level of virus in those men who are HIV-positive and still having unprotected love." Jason Riggs from San Francisco's Stop AIDS Project told several media outlets that the Project's surveys have shown that less HIV-positive men (21% vs. 31% in 2001) and HIV-negative men (4% vs. 20% in 2001) are having unprotected love with partners of different or unknown status. Riggs also suggests that public health campaigns aimed at curbing methamphetamine use are now paying off. "We know that crystal meth accounts for about 30% of new HIV infections," he told a local TV station, "and so the treatment and prevention programs for crystal meth abuse could be having a very dramatic impact on this decrease or possible decrease." It seems that the data does not match your stereotypes. :-)
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