The US Centers for Disease Control has warned that HIV infections amongst US gay men are rising alarmingly as unprotected anal intercourse becomes more common.
Dr Hillard Weinstock of CDC said gay men continue to have the highest risk of acquiring HIV in the US, with a new infection rate four times higher than that seen in injecting drug users.
Dr Weinstock surveyed STD clinic attenders in six major US cities, and found that 8% had become infected with HIV each year since 1991. This group of individuals is of particular concern to public health officials because some STDs not only make individuals more vulnerable to infection, but also increase the risk that they will pass on HIV to others whilst the STD remains untreated.
Another community survey of gay men aged 15-22 (not recruited from STD clinics and not suffering from STDs) found an HIV incidence of 3% in 1998/99. If this infection rate persists, young gay men who have unprotected anal intercourse on a regular basis will have a greater than one in five chance of becoming infected with HIV within ten years of starting to have anal intercourse.
At the US national HIV prevention conference in Atlanta this week, delegates also heard:
- 50% of younger gay men in San Francisco report unprotected anal intercourse in the past year, compared with 37% two years ago. One-quarter said they had unprotected anal intercourse with a partner of opposite or unknown HIV status.
- Gay men who are optimistic about the long-term benefits of HIV treatments are more likely to report having unprotected anal intercourse, regardless of their HIV status, suggesting that HIV-positive men are less concerned about transmitting HIV, and HIV-negative men are less concerned about the consequences of infection.
Fuller reports on concerns about rising infection rates amongst US gay men can be found at
hivandhepatitis.com
Reports from the Los Angeles Times and Newsday
also look at rising infections rates and changing attitudes towards unprotected sex amongst American gay men.