Gay Euro-break Risks
posted: 23/12/2009
A study of HIV rates among gay men in some European cities shows much higher rates of HIV than in England. HIV transmission is a bigger risk for men taking popular foreign city-breaks, because men often let down their guard when on holiday, and it is often difficult to discuss sexual risks, unless you are fluent in other European languages.
The study used anonymous oral HIV tests and a simple questionnaire on the gay scene in Barcelona, Spain; Bratislava, Slovakia; Bucharest, Romania; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Prague, Czech Republic; and Verona, Italy – similar to a study on the gay scenes of Manchester, London and Brighton, a few years ago.
Manchester and Barcelona
In Manchester and the other English cities study we found 1 in 10 gay men had HIV (and around 3 out of 10 men with HIV did not yet know this). In this new European study Barcelona had a far higher rate of HIV – 17%, not far off twice the rate in the English cities. In Verona, Italy, the rate was 12%. However in Prague the rate was 3%. HIV rates were much higher in Southern Europe than in Eastern Europe.
Men reported different amounts of HIV risk taking in the European cities. 67% of men in Barcelona and by 36% of men in Prague reported using condoms with a casual partner. Men in Barcelona and Verona had the highest number of reported casual partners (a mean of 16 and 12 respectively), with lower numbers reported by men in Eastern Europe (a mean of 6 and 8 respectively).
NW gay men importing HIV
Looking at NW England’s HIV statistics, we know that Spain was where at least 52 people got HIV, followed by Portugal (20), France (13) and Germany (13), and Italy (12) and the Canaries (8).
Gay men in England need to take good care to neither export nor import HIV while enjoying themselves abroad.
Source
HIV bio-behavioural survey among men who have sex with men in Barcelona, Bratislava, Bucharest, Ljubljana, Prague and Verona, 2008-09. Eurosurveillance 48: 41, 2009.
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