Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Survey prompts HIV warning

More than a third of gay men with HIV have unprotected sex, according to a new survey.

Source: Channel 4 news

The poll by University College London revealed a fifth of gay men without HIV also shy away from using condoms.

Worried researchers are calling for more efforts to discourage such risky behaviour.

The latest poll questioned 2,640 men in Manchester, Brighton and London in gay clubs, bars and saunas between 2003 and 2004.

The rate of HIV infection was highest in Brighton, at almost 14%, and lowest in Manchester, at 8.6%.

Across the entire sample, one in three men who were HIV positive did not know they had the infection - a figure that tallies with previous research.

This was despite the fact that over two-thirds of these men said they had been to a sexual health clinic within the past year.

Some 18% of HIV negative men and 37% of HIV positive men said they had had unprotected sex with more than one partner in the past year.

Over the same period, one in five HIV negative men and four out of 10 HIV positive men said that they had had a sexually-transmitted infection.

Lead researcher Dr Danielle Mercey said: "This research shows we have to renew our efforts to ensure people with HIV get an early diagnosis and curb any risky behaviour. This involves expanding the number of venues where testing is done and increased focus on sexual health education."

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