AEGiS-14IAC: High level of unprotected anal sex between HIV serodiscordant men who have sex with men, San Francisco.

14th International AIDS Conference


Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

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High level of unprotected anal sex between HIV serodiscordant men who have sex with men, San Francisco.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. TuOrC1148)

Chen S, Gibson S, McFarland W
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, United States

BACKGROUND: An increasing trend in high risk sexual behavior with accompanying increases in sexually transmitted diseases has been noted among men who have sex with men (MSM) in San Francisco and other cities around the world. Less information has been available to characterize the level of unprotected anal sex between MSM of different HIV serostatus - the behavior that can result in HIV transmission.

METHODS: Since 1994, we have monitored trends in HIV related risk behavior in data collected by the STOP AIDS Project, a San Francisco community-based organization providing prevention services to MSM. In the year 2000, we asked whether subjects knew the HIV status of all their anal sex partners.

RESULTS: Of 1,118 MSM who reported unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) in the preceding 6 months, 234 (20%) reported UAI with a partner whose HIV status was unknown. Further, among 495 MSM with 2 or more partners, 149 (30%) had UAI with one or more partners of unknown HIV status. Stratifying by respondent's self-reported HIV status, 25% of HIV-positives compared to 19% of HIV-negatives (p=0.06) reported UAI with at least one partner of unknown HIV status. All age groups and race/ethnicities reported similar levels of UAI with partners of unknown HIV status.

CONCLUSIONS: Recent increases in unprotected anal intercourse among MSM is not simply due to sex between persons who know that they are of the same HIV status. Our data may underestimate the true level of unprotected sex between persons of different HIV status due to response bias. Prevention messages must address disclosure of HIV status to partners.

Keywords: AEGIS, Safe Sex, Sex Behavior, HIV Infections, Risk-Taking, Coitus, Sexual Partners, HIV Seropositivity, San Francisco, Data Collection, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Human, MaleKWDaegis,safesex,sexbehavior,hivinfections,risk-taking,coitus,sexualpartners,hivseropositivity,sanfrancisco,datacollection,acquiredimmunodeficiencysyndrome,human,male

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TuOrC1148

Copyright © 2002 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.