Who is Spreading HIV? ‘Young bi and gay' No Meds No Tests
[BEIJING] Two gay men relax in a bedroom November 18, 2004 in Beijing. The man with his head turned away works as a male prostitute. He is from a rural area with no education, unable to even sign his name. As a result he works as a prostitute, which offers better economic rewards than manual labor. He cannot read any literature warning him of the dangers of his profession and because he operates in secret in a taboo social sector he is in a very high risk group for contracting the HIV virus. Until as recently as 2001, being a homosexual in China was often treated as a psychological illness and resulted in persecution, stigmatization and even imprisonment. As a result of public stigma, very few men are openly gay in China. This has resulted in less openness about HIV and less sharing of information about the disease, leaving China's gay male population more at risk. Getty Images is partnering with the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS ongoing projects. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images for the GBC) (Photo : Brent Stirton/Getty Images)
There are about 50,000 new reported cases of HIV in the United States alone, CDC reports, and about 1,218,400 Americans are living with the disease. A new study coming from researchers from Columbia University reveal that young gay and bisexual men who have HIV are more likely to participate in unprotected sex than those who take antiretroviral medication, signaling a need for new strategies to address HIV and reduce risky behavior among this demographic, Medical Daily reports.
The study, which was published in JAMA Pediatrics, examined 991 HIV-positive gay and bisexual males with ages 15 to 26 from 20 U.S. clinics from December 2009 to June 2012, Reuters reports. About 69% of participants had detectable levels of HIV in their blood, therefore increasing the risk of infecting someone else via unprotected sex, among other ways of exposure. Among the participants who showed detectable HIV levels, 55 percent admitted to having unprotected anal sex in the last 90 days, compared to 44 percent of the HIV-positive respondents with undetectable viral loads. About 35 percent of the participants with detectable HIV levels admitted they also had unprotected sex with HIV-negative partners, compared to 25 percent of those without detectable HIV levels.
Researchers also noted that African American participants with detectable HIV levels were less likely to report having unprotected sex or condomless sex with an HIV-negative partner compared to those who were not virally suppressed. Additionally, participants who were employed and with detectable HIV levels were also less likely to report unprotected sex compared to their counterparts who were not employed.
Study lead author Patrick Wilson of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City explained, "I think that we can’t take a siloed approach in how we think and respond to HIV. I don’t think it ever was simply a public health issue. It’s an issue that has to do with housing, incarceration, health care access, behavior skills, and provider training.”
Director of the Center for Young Adult, Adolescent, and Pediatric HIV at North Shore-LIJ Health System, Dr. David Rosenthal told HealthDay, “We have known that HIV has decreased in most age groups in the United States, but continues to increase in all patients aged 13-24, and even more so in gay and bisexual men in this age group."
Wilson said that "These findings speak to the need for targeting substance use and mental health concerns — factors related to viral suppression and sexual risk taking."
“Combination HIV prevention and treatment interventions, which include behavioral, biomedical and structural strategies to increase viral suppression and reduce HIV transmission risk behaviors, that target HIV-infected young men who have sex with men are needed to truly curb HIV incidence among this group of individuals, we cannot solely rely on one strategy to prevent and treat HIV," Wilson concluded.
Comments