Keith, this the last attempt to get you to make a relevant point. Any more prevarication and I really, really, think I am entitled to consider these points as taken for granted.

By the way, your comment "This population experienced exponential infection in the early years.
In any population you reach a limit on that kind of growth. Now it just picks off new members

Show such a breathtaking level of stupidiy that it must not be allowed to pass. Keith, I don't believe you have a qualification in a scientific discipline if you can say such a thing.

A disease, unchecked, will spread until it either infects such a proportion of the population that its transmission vectors are disrupted (that so many die as to prevent further transmission) or until a resistance to the disease develops, or until the behaviour of the pool-members is modified to limit the spread of the disease.

96% of gay men do not have HIV - so the disease has a lot of people to get to, left to its own devices. So the disease has not reached a self-limiting point. There certainly isn't any resistance and there is no cure to infection - only drugs to alleviate symptoms. The fact is that gay men are doing better at limiting the transmission of the disease in their communities than are straight people at the moment.

Now to try to get you to make some points. Can you agree to the following statements. Say "yes" or say "no". If "no", then tell us why.

If you run away from this, people will be entitled to draw the obvious and reasonable conclusions.

1) HIV is a disease that can affect anyone who practices unprotected penetrative sex. In Africa it is an epidemic of terrifying proportions amongst the heterosexual majority of the population (up to 40% of the total adult population of some countries.) There are scientific reasons for that and the most important factor driving the spread is sexual networks and a lack of education about effective prevention measures where a lot of effort has been wasted promoting abstinence when condom-use is the only widely effective intervention.

2) In the UK, there is a very low prevalenece of HIV compared to most other countries. Historically the largest single group of people diagnosed each year was gay men, but the disease only affects a tiny minority of gay men (about 4%) and is nowhere near the prevalence level in some heterosexual populations.

3) Now, most diagnoses are of straight people but most of those contracted the disease outside the country. Nonetheless, there has been a disturbing rise amongst straight UK-acquired cases in recent years - a 500% increase.

4) As the number of carriers in any group increases, so the risk of other group-members contracting the infection increases: all other factors and behaviours remaining unchanged. Any increase in any affected group is a cause for serious worry.

4) Ideally, people would abstain from sex until married and then enjoy a lifelong, monagamous relationship. Reality, being different, dictates that the best way to prevent the disease is to educate everyone; because everyone is at some risk, but the greatest effort should be directed at the groups exposed to the greatest statistical risk of infection.

5) A key part of effective prevention is the active removal of stigma and prejudice surrounding HIV and the people affected by it. Ignorance of and about the disease, together with societal stigma and prejudice, hinder outreach and direct intervention efforts directed by at risk groups and minorities. Ignorance, prejudice and stigma deters members of at risk groups and minorities from coming forward and seeking testing and treatment.