"Bug Chaser"

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   An awful term, from an awful story.  Why was it published?  This is from drudgereport.com. which took it from msnbc.com:

       THE STORY IS TEASED on the cover as a SPECIAL REPORT—BUG CHASERS, THE MEN WHO LONG TO BE HIV+. The majority of the piece focuses on Carlos, a gay New Yorker who seeks out HIV-positive partners and purposefully has unprotected sex. “I think it turns the other guy on to know that I’m negative and that they’re bringing me into the brotherhood,” the article quotes Carlos as saying. “That gets me off, too.” For people like Carlos, and for gay men a generation removed from the front lines of the AIDS crisis, getting HIV is seen as the ultimate, nihilistic, erotic adventure, according to the story. “It’s like living with diabetes,” Carlos says. “You take a few pills and get on with your life.”
        While the fringe phenomenon of gay men looking to get infected has been known about for years, the Rolling Stone story asserts that “bug chasers” are a significant phenomenon in the gay population. The piece’s most eyepopping statistic comes from Dr. Bob Cabaj, the director of behavioral-health services for San Francisco County. The story says that “Cabaj estimates that at least twenty-five percent of all newly infected gay men” are either purposefully seeking infection or are “actively seeking HIV but are in denial and wouldn’t call themselves bug chasers.”
        But Cabaj says that attribution is made-up. “That’s totally false. I never said that. And when the fact checker called me and asked me if I said that, I said no. I said no. This is unbelievable.” Cabaj said there’s no way of knowing what percentage...