AEGiS-14IAC: Childhood sexual abuse as characteristic antecedent in male homosexual with HIV/AIDS in Mexico.

14th International AIDS Conference

Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

Childhood sexual abuse as characteristic antecedent in male homosexual with HIV/AIDS in Mexico.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. D11080)

Delgado Lopez Sandra DL
Profin-VIH, Mexico City, Mexico

ISSUES: In a population of 200 subjects, aged, from 27 to 42 years, who live with HIV or AIDS, attended at a private clinic, it's been observed antecedents of childhood sexual abuse in 90% of the subjects.

DESCRIPTION: From 180 subjects in which was possible clearly identify sexual abuse*, 170 are male sex, all of them homosexual. This is a significant point if it's considered that sexual abuse in Mexico has been studied and attended only to female population, while the male subjects in this case show the existence of a high incidence of sexual abuse in male population that receive no attention.

ISSUES: Why sexual abuse becomes a relevant factor in this population? We offer this hypotheses as an answer: It exists a straight relation between symptoms suffered by people who has been victims of childhood sexual abuse and high risk practices that conduce to get infected with HIV. This means that some behaviors and/or symptoms characteristic of people who have suffered sexual abuse, have been founded as a characteristic of the personal history of patients who live with HIV when adults. This behaviors are a) self-aggression, b) alcoholism, c) to establish destructive love relations, d) search of risky sexual experiences, e) low self-respect, f) rupture between body and mind, g) sexual identity problems, h) depression.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Thus, we conclude that, as the referred event remains unattended, by one side, male adolescents population who has been victim of sexual abuse and no infected with HIV, is in high risk to develop behaviors that drive to get infected with HIV. By the other side, while sexual abuse remains unattended in patients with HIV, it's omitted a factor that favors the persistence of conducts as referred over, which are important to them for the risk of alcoholism, unprotected genital sex relations, depression and consequent unadherence to treatment, reckless life, and careless of their body and health.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Infections, Homosexuality, Sex Offenses, HIV Seropositivity, Safe Sex, Incidence, Mexico, Adolescence, Adult, Human, Female, Male

020707
D11080