Confirmed. I goggled and did my homework. The main issue is invisibility: transgender people are not always targeted by the studies and statistics regarding HIV. Sometimes, M to F folks are just treated as MSM (MEN who have sex with men!) because the statistics don´t include gender identity as something different from sex. Alternatives had been proposed regarding data-collecting methodology. M to F individuals tend to work as prostitutes and engage in risky behaviors. F to M individuals tend to engage in high-risk sexual behavior, too, even though, so far, the disease isn´t badly spread among them. I found this very nice article at The Body, from where I´m quoting (bolds are mine):
Inclusion of FTMs in studies is not as common. The limited data shows that, compared to MTFs, HIV-infection levels among FTMs are low (e.g., 2% in San Francisco and 3% in Washington, D.C.). The available data on HIV risk, though, gives cause for concern. For example, a colleague and I analyzed data from two needs assessment studies in Philadelphia and Chicago, which included FTMs, to compare risk for HIV infection between MTFs and FTMs. We found that compared to MTFs, FTMs were significantly less likely to have used protection the last time they had sex and significantly more likely to have engaged in recent high-risk sexual activity.
Where do we begin to fix this mess?
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