New cases of HIV increase by over 7% in US gay men

28 July 2003

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New cases of HIV in American gay men increased for the third year running, according to US government figures presented to an HIV prevention conference.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), new HIV diagnoses in gay men increased by 7.1% from 2001 to 2002. Since 1999, there has been a 17.7% increase in cases of HIV amongst America’s gay men whilst the rate of infection has remained stable for other risk groups.

Data were collected from 25 US states with HIV reporting systems and presented to the 2003 National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta.

Glossary

risky behaviour

In HIV, refers to any behaviour or action that increases an individual’s probability of acquiring or transmitting HIV, such as having unprotected sex, having multiple partners or sharing drug injection equipment.

sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)

Although HIV can be sexually transmitted, the term is most often used to refer to chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, herpes, scabies, trichomonas vaginalis, etc.

Although some HIV prevention workers have suggested that the increased prevalence of the disease amongst gay men is a result of more unprotected sex, others are urging a more cautious interpretation of the figures. Dr Harold Jaffe, Director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention said that the 2001-02 increase in cases could reflect an increase in HIV testing amongst gay men rather than a potential increase in new infections. The CDC will shortly be introducing new testing procedures, similar to the ones used in the UK, which make it possible to determine if a person has been infected with HIV in the past six months.

Other figures presented to the conference showed that whilst AIDS diagnoses increased by 2.2% in 2002, AIDS deaths continue to fall in the US, by almost 6% in 2001-02.