… but STI rates amongst gay men are going up

Estimated reading time 2 minutes
This article is more than 24 years old.

Strong evidence that the rate of new infections amongst gay men in the UK may

be increasing has been published by the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre

at

target=_blank>http://www.phls.co.uk/publications/CDR99/cdr1899.pdf

Glossary

acute infection

The very first few weeks of infection, until the body has created antibodies against the infection. During acute HIV infection, HIV is highly infectious because the virus is multiplying at a very rapid rate. The symptoms of acute HIV infection can include fever, rash, chills, headache, fatigue, nausea, diarrhoea, sore throat, night sweats, appetite loss, mouth ulcers, swollen lymph nodes, muscle and joint aches – all of them symptoms of an acute inflammation (immune reaction).

rectum

The last part of the large intestine just above the anus.

In a review of data accumulated since 1993, the Public Health Laboratory's

AIDS Centre points to:

  • A 39% increase in rectal gonorrhoea reports since 1993

  • A 60% increase in gonorrhoea reports in gay men in the Thames (London)

    region since 1993

  • The proportion of HIV + gay men presenting with an acute STI increased from

    22% to 33% between 1994 and 1997

Although the authors attribute some of the increase to stricter reporting

requirements for gonnorhoea isolates (introduced in 1995), they note that the

median age of gay men at HIV diagnosis has remained stable at 31 to 33 years

throughout this period, suggesting ongoing transmission. The median CD4 count

has also remained stable, at around 300 cells, over a number of years,

suggesting that people with declining CD4 counts (infected long ago) were being

replaced by people with higher CD4 counts (infected recently).

Dr Barry Evans, Head of HIV & AIDS Reporting at the Public Health

Laboratory told a recent HIV prevention conference that an estimated 1500 new

infections were occurring each year amongst gay men, primarily in London. He

estimated that the number is much lower amongst Africans, and supported his

argument by pointing to the declining median CD4 count amongst Africans

diagnosed with HIV over the past few years.

He also highlighted the groups which need to be targeted in HIV prevention

activities:

  • The untested: 56% of gay men who are HIV-positive and who present with acute

    STIs have undiagnosed HIV infection.

  • Those over 25: the increases in acute STIs are concentrated amongst gay men

    aged 25-44. There has been little change in gay men under 25.

Print