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1st appeared 30 June 1998 San Francisco Gay Men Increasingly Having Unprotected Sex Half of the young gay men who participated in a UCSF study were engaging in high-risk sex activities, many with a partner of differing or unknown HIV status. Research findings showed unprotected anal intercourse among young gay men has increased by 50 percent since 1992, said Maria Ekstrand, a research scientist with the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, in a presentation today (June 30) at the 12th World AIDS Conference. In a related presentation today, Dennis Osmond, UCSF associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, reported that this increased risk behavior has not yet led to increased rates of infection. The rates are high enough, however, to lead to substantial numbers of infected gay men as they get older. Both presentations are based on an ongoing research project called the San Francisco Young Men's Health Study. Osmond is the principal investigator. The researchers first noticed an increase in unprotected sex as they looked at the responses to the 1995 questionnaire. Ekstrand speculated on several reasons for the increases. Men might be burning out, she said, and getting tired of years of practicing safe sex. They may feel the AIDS epidemic is over, or that if they got infected there would be a cure available before they got sick. Lack of condom use also might be due to a desire to trust the partner, she noted. Osmond speculated on several reasons why the researchers are not seeing rates of infectivity increasing with more unprotected sex. He said many infected San Franciscans are combating HIV with multi-drug therapies, and may be less infectious than those untreated. The infection rate has been declining in San Francisco and the men in the study are possibly less likely to encounter an infected sex partner. Although there have been extraordinary gains for safe sex made in the gay community, Ekstrand emphasized that the war is not yet won. "We can't sit back and get lulled into a sense of security," Ekstrand said. "Twenty-two percent of gay men having unprotected anal sex is an unacceptably high number. It is extremely risky and will eventually lead to increased infections." source: Corinna Kaarlela, News Services |
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