How many gay and bisexual men have died of AIDS?

Answer 1

From the data that is available, it is impossible to answer this with any degree of certainty. Approximately seventy (70) HIV infections in every ten thousand (10,000) are now thought to be the result of same-sex sexual contact (0.7 percent of total infections). Given that the global death toll from AIDS has now passed twenty-five million, it may therefore seem reasonable to assume that there have been somewhere in the region of 175,000 AIDS related deaths amongst gay and bisexual men. It is, however, a little more complicated than that. Gay and bisexual transmissions tend to be significantly higher in those areas of the world with a ready availability of antiretroviral therapy - and which therefore have significantly higher survival rates. Current AIDS related deaths amongst homosexuals will therefore be much lower than the global rate. The estimated infection rate is a twenty-five year average. In the early years - when survival rates amongst gay and bisexual men where less 10% of those we have today - the proportion of infections occurring amongst gay and bisexual men were significantly higher than they are today. This would mean that, during the early years of the pandemic, a much higher proportion of deaths were amongst gay and bisexual men. All factors considered, it is thought that well over one million gay and bisexual men have suffered an AIDS related death - with more than 300,000 of those deaths occurring in the United States. Taking the United Kingdom as an example of how the situation has changed over the years: * There are currently around 30,000 gay and bisexual men living with HIV in the UK. * Although the HIV infection rates are higher than they were in 1994 (when antiretroviral therapy first became available) - and more than 1,500 new HIV diagnoses are being made every year - there has been a drop of more than 90% in new AIDS diagnoses. * Whilst some 10,000 gay and bisexual men in the United Kingdom are thought to have died of AIDS since 1981, there are currently fewer than 200 gay men dieing of AIDS in any given year - so although the cumulative Death Rate is around 25%, the current annual death rate is less than 0.7%.