Posts Tagged ‘MSM transmission’

HIV rates soar among young gays

Posted in HIV in homosexual men on October 10th, 2009 by hiv_test – Comments Off

More, younger gay men are being diagnosed with HIV than ever before.  The number of men in the  20-29 age group being infected is likely to double 2007 levels by the end of this year.  Already, in the first quarter of the year, 21 men have been infected  in Victoria, just half of the number infected, 43, from two years ago.  Last  year the number infected was 56.  In the past, the group with the most new cases of HIV has been the 30-39 age group, but in just the first quarter, the 20-29 age group has 2 more new cases than the 30-39 age group.

This may suggest that Victoria’s safe-sex campaigns may not be succeeding.  It has been suggested that the State Government has waited too long to respond to growing infection rates, and also that it should invest more money in prevention programs.  Researchers in the field are concerned because this is the  first time in a very long  time that they have seen the 20-29 age group show an increase in infection rate.

Some people think that this recent surge is due to advertisements not sending the right message.  The advertisements were developed using explicit imagery for pornographic videos, but it did not encourage condom use among gays men.  Although the advertisements used explicit imagery, many gay men feel that their sexuality is about who they fall in love with and not about the fact that they have sex with men.  This means that more gay men were having unprotected sex, which means that the ad campaigns were  not fulfilling their purpose.

This may indicate that the need for testing is higher, as  there is a higher rate of HIV infection among young gay men.  Testing for HIV is a necessary component to everybody’s sexual health and well-being.

For the original article, please refer to http://www.hivtestingblog.com/original-articles/.

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Benefits of HIV Post-Exposure Prophylaxis

Posted in HIV treatment on August 14th, 2009 by hiv_test – Be the first to comment

HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is commonly used among health care workers and other individuals who believe they have recently been exposed to HIV. PEP can actually prevent HIV infection in some individuals, but according to a report in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, even when PEP fails to prevent the infection it may still have beneficial effects.

The report involved a 38-year old gay man who reported having unprotected anal sex with multiple partners in the previous 48 hours. The patient was treated with Truvada as post-exposure prophylaxis. During his treatment the patient reported more episodes of risky sex, causing his treatment to be extended. During his treatment the patient was repeatedly tested for HIV. He received a couple negative HIV results, but after repeated exposures the patient tested HIV-positive.

The patient received three viral load tests shortly after his positive HIV test result. The viral load turned out to be extremely low, and his CD4 count was high. These results were out of the ordinary for someone with an acute HIV infection, and the patient had no HIV seroconversion symptoms. Several more tests were performed on the patient and all of them returned similar findings.

The authors of the article report that the patient’s HIV infection was weaker than usual, and that this result was most likely due to the antiretroviral therapy he was receiving.

*For the complete article please refer to http://hivtestingblog.com/original-articles/

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