1 in 6 Gay Men Recently Infected

posted: 26/07/2010

One in six gay men having a HIV positive test in the UK became HIV positive within the past six months. This is the first result from a new system tracking trends in recent HIV infections in the UK.
 

The Health Protection Agency devised a formula (an algorithm) and method for tracking recent HIV infections. Knowing how many people were recently infected is helpful for working out what is actually happening in the UK HIV epidemic.

The number of recent infections matters because people who are recently infected are far more infectious than at any other time.
 

Tracking recent infections
The new formula and tracking method, called either the Recent Infection Testing Algorithm (RITA) or Serological Testing Algorithm for Recent HIV Seroconversion (STARHS), measures the amounts of certain antibody markers. These amounts change depending on how long ago the HIV infection took place. Amounts below a certain level mean the infection was recent (approximately within the last six months).
 

The RITA / STARHS method is not exact enough to tell an individual when they became HIV positive, because we all vary in how our immune system responds to HIV, but the method is good enough to give rough timings, which is all we need to track what is happening with the epidemic.
The work on this tracking system began in 2008, when the Health Protection Agency rolled-out STARHS as part of the routine public health monitoring of all newly diagnosed HIV infections in the country.
 

Results
The data presented the International AIDS 2010 conference in Vienna that has just ended, came from samples of 2099 people, who broadly represent, demographically and geographically, people newly diagnosed in the UK. The samples were collected between February 2009 and May 2010.
 

Gay and bi men results

Amongst gay and bisexual men, 16.1% of diagnoses were judged to be recent – within the past six months – one in six. There wasn’t any difference between gay and bi men of different ages.
 

Heterosexual results

Among heterosexuals, 6.2% men and 6.8% women were recently infected. This is just one in sixteen heterosexuals being infected within six months of their positive test.
 

There appears to be a trend for recent infections to be more commonly identified in younger heterosexual women (probably due to antenatal testing), but the age variations were not statistically significant. Curiously, in women aged 50 or over, there was a relatively high proportion of recent infections, but this is based on a small number of cases and could be due to chance. But it fits with another recent report from the HPA at the Vienna International AIDS Conference - many long-term heterosexual relationships break up when people are in their 50s, and women, no longer needing contraception, may neglect to consider the need for safer sex - condoms - to protect against STIs such as HIV.

Recently infected heterosexuals were largely people born in the UK. Heterosexual people born in Africa tend to have infection diagnosed later, the majority becoming HIV positive before migration to the UK.
 

Source

Reference: Lattimore S et al. Surveillance of recently acquired HIV infections among newly diagnosed individuals in the UK. Eighteenth International AIDS Conference, Vienna, abstract FRAX01001, 2010.
 

Residential Weekend PLUS for HIV+ Gay Men

posted: 26/07/2010

Residential Weekend PLUS is for men who have attended a previous George House Trust weekend for gay men with HIV. It is intended as a 'step up' from that first weekend.
 

Are you interested?
This exciting new residential weekend will run from Friday September 17th to Sunday 19th 2010 in Whaley Bridge, in the Peak District.
 

You need to have taken part in one of the previous weekends run by George House Trust for gay men living with HIV.
 

• Residential Weekend PLUS will be led by Colin Armstead, (Service and Development Manager at George House Trust) and Alistair Gault (Alistair Gault Training).
• The weekend is designed so that there is maximum time for discussion, reflection and sharing experiences.
• A key part of the Residential Weekend PLUS experience for everyone will be a one to one session with a qualified worker. If you wish to apply for the weekend there is an expectation that you will agree to this session, which will provide you with an opportunity to explore issues with a worker on a one to one basis
• Residential Weekend PLUS runs from lunchtime on Friday September 17th to the afternoon of Sunday September 19th. You would also take part in a meeting for everyone who is attending in the week before - on Monday September 13th at George House Trust
• Transport, accommodation and meals are all provided for free
• There is a strict limit on numbers and we expect a high demand for places.
   

Ask by Monday 16 August

If you would like to be considered for this weekend please email Colin by Monday August 16th at the latest - to say you are interested.
 

We will then send out application forms shortly after the 16 August and will confirm who has a place at the weekend by Friday August 27th.
 

Residential Weekend PLUS is funded by Elton John Aids Foundation
 

Image © Copyright Bill Booth and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

1 in 7 London gay scene men are HIV+

posted: 22/07/2010

HIV is far more common on the gay scene in major cities than most men realise. A new anonymous survey in bars and clubs in London shows 1 in 7 men on the scene there have HIV. Many on the gay scene across the country don’t even know they have HIV.

A few years ago the same survey showed Manchester, London, and Brighton all with 1 in 10 men on the scene having HIV. If it is 1 in 7 in London now, Manchester is unlikely to be far behind.

Using a simple anonymous HIV saliva test of 1,251 men in gay bars, clubs and saunas, 15.2% were found to have HIV. This is much higher than the Health Protection Agency estimate for gay men in London in general. Men using the scene are more likely to have HIV than gay men who aren’t regularly out on the scene.

1 in 7 Bus

There’s now a campaign running in London using the iconic red London Routemaster bus, with ‘1 in 7’ as the destination on the front. It’s to be seen in adverts in London gay magazines, on Gaydar, and as posters in London bars, saunas, and sexual health clinics.
 

Alan Wardle, Head of Health Promotion at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “Men who have seen the campaign in focus groups have been genuinely shocked by the ‘1 in 7’ figure. Yet the reality is that, after Brighton, London has the highest HIV prevalence of any city in the UK.

"Many gay men wrongly believe that you can tell someone’s HIV status by what they look like, how they act, or who they’re friends with. But you can’t tell whether someone has HIV by looking at them, and with a quarter of gay men who have HIV currently undiagnosed, he may not even know himself.
 

"The assumption that HIV is visible is almost certainly affecting whether men use condoms or not. 47% of gay men surveyed reported having unprotected anal sex with at least one partner, and a quarter reported doing this with more than one casual partner. With this in mind, it’s vital this campaign reminds men that the best way to protect themselves and others is to use condoms.”
 

Source

Gay Men’s Sexual Health Survey 2009 in 36 gay venues. University College London / Health Protection Agency. Between December 2008 and February 2009, HIV prevalence of 15.2% was recorded among 1,251 men taking OraSure oral swab HIV tests in 36 London gay bars, clubs, and saunas.
 

Rise in Over 50s HIV Infections

posted: 21/07/2010

People over 50 are as much at risk from unsafe sex as younger people, the UK’s Health Protection Agency (HPA) has just warned. Today it revealed evidence, at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, that the number of people over 50 who are catching HIV has more than doubled in seven years.
 

In 2000 there were just 299 new HIV infections among the over-50s, according to the HPA. But in 2007 there were 710 people infected.
 

Gay and bi men are the majority infected when older, but white heterosexual men infected abroad - typically in Thailand - are another significant group of older men who are diagnosed.

Late diagnosis common
Half of those diagnosed when over 50 were diagnosed late. Younger people are much less likely to be diagnosed late. Late diagnosis is bad news when you are older - during the eight year study period three quarters of the deaths among people aged 50 and over occurred within one year of the diagnosis, with half of those diagnosed late. Unfortunately, late diagnosis with HIV reduces people's life expectancy and quality of life. If treatment is started late it cannot undo all the unnoticed damage already caused by HIV.

Some people diagnosed after 50 were infected when they were younger. After some early symptoms (such as flu-like symptoms with a rash), many people after HIV infection remain apparently fit, healthy and continue to feel well, without suspecting they have HIV, for as long as 10 years.

Most are recently infected by risky sex
But half of the over-50s diagnosed had recently been infected, through taking chances without condoms.

Getting away with risks in your earlier years doesn't mean that luck will continue.

Letting down your guard just because you are older can still catch anyone out. We often hear older people say, rather sheepishly, 'I should have known better'.
 

Keep on testing - and condoms
"This highlights the importance of HIV testing, whatever your age," said Ruth Smith, a senior HIV scientist at the HPA's Centre for Infections. "We must continually reinforce the safe sex message – using a condom with all new or casual partners is the surest way to ensure people do not become infected with a serious sexually transmitted infection such as HIV."
 

Her co-author, Dr Valerie Delpech, head of HIV surveillance at the HPA, said people in the older age group needed to be aware that they were just as much at risk as young people if they had unsafe sex.
 

"Although adults aged 50 and over account for just 8% of all new HIV diagnoses, the fact that cases have more than doubled in recent years serves as a timely reminder that anybody is at risk of HIV infection if they do not use protection and practise safe sex," she said.
 

More information from HPA

Source
 

Laws Should Not Worsen HIV

posted: 02/07/2010

The ‘Vienna Declaration’  sounds like a half-forgotten piece of school history, but it is brand new and all about ending laws and policy across the world that cause HIV harm. The UN has at the same time set up a brand new Global Commission on HIV and the Law  to deal with some of the toughest issues in HIV. Laws and policies across the world are making the HIV epidemic worse and causing harm to many people. Anti-gay, anti-sex-worker, anti-drug, anti-HIV sex and transmission laws and policies are all the UN Commission’s new battle-ground.
 

If you agree that the law should not criminalise drug users because this makes the HIV epidemic far worse and causes more harm than good, you are invited to sign the Vienna Declaration. The Vienna Declaration is a call from the international scientific community to countries across the world (including the UK) to face the facts and recognise that the so-called 'War on Drugs' isn't working, and causes far more harm than good, particularly in the fight against HIV.

It asks the UN and countries to update drug policy and laws to end this HIV harm, discrimination against people's human rights, and to remove the legal and other barriers to effective HIV prevention, treatment and care.
You can read and sign the Vienna Declaration here  and facebook and twitter it from there
 

Why is the Declaration from Vienna? Well, the International AIDS Conference opens in Vienna in Austria later this month.

This conference is the largest HIV conference, and is held every two years, and is the one where big HIV news on treatments and almost everything else is revealed. 

New - Global Commission on HIV and the Law
The Global Commission on HIV and the Law was set up last month – the secretary general of the UN said “I urge all countries to remove punitive laws, policies and practices that hamper the AIDS response … . Successful AIDS responses do not punish people; they protect them … . We must ensure that AIDS responses are based on evidence, not ideology, and reach those most in need and most affected.”

The Commission has a challenging job – its job is to produce practical steps, based on evidence and that support human rights, that will reduce HIV transmission caused by laws and policies. So it will focus its efforts on ending laws that criminalise HIV transmission and exposure, illicit drug use, sex work, and same sex relationships. Global Commission on HIV and the Law
 

HIV and the Law is part of the Law on Trial  season at Birkbeck College this weekend, and Matthew Weait, a long-time ally of George House Trust and who works at Birkbeck as a senior law lecturer, writes about how the law should not worsen HIV discrimination and stigma, and if laws do this they do not deserve our support.