This press release was issued by the Canadian Medical Association Journal on January 10, 2000.
In their first year follow-up of a prospective study involving 681 gay and bisexual men in Vancouver, Steffanie Strathdee and colleagues report a high incidence of HIV infection and a disturbing trend toward increasing levels of unprotected anal sex.
Over a period of 638.63 person-years, 11 men became seropositive between enrolment and follow-up, for an overall HIV incidence rate of 1.7 per 100 person-years. The authors report that this rate rose to 9.5 per 100 person-years among those who exchanged sex for money, goods or drugs.
Of the 232 men with casual partners who reported having protected anal sex in the year before enrollment, 43 (18.5%) reported at least one episode of unprotected anal sex in the subsequent year. The authors state that the incidence of HIV infection is unacceptably high among this cohort of young gay and bisexual men.
In a related editorial, Brian Willoughby warns that advances in knowledge have produced dramatic reactions in the rates of AIDS and AIDS-related deaths, but may also lull wealthier nations into a false sense of security that HIV infection is a manageable chronic illness.
*Note from the Project Coordinator: Although this press release was issued in January 2000, these findings were actually released in May 1997. An unusually long lag-time between the analysis and the publication of this paper resulted in the delay. This press release was issued by the Canadian Medical Association Journal to announce the publication of this paper.
For more information, contact:
Bonnie Devlin
Vanguard Project Coordinator
608 - 1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6Z 1Y6
Tel: (604)806-8306
Fax: (604)806-9044