Thursday, December 4, 2008

HIV rates have DOUBLED among gay men in Europe, TRIPLED among gay men in China

Rates of HIV among gay men have tripled in China in three years, according to the Shanghai Daily.

In Europe, rates have almost doubled since 2000, according to aidsmap.


Article from China: HIV-rate among gay men triples

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS infection among local gay and bisexual men has almost tripled from 1.5 percent three years ago to 4.4 percent, said a survey released yesterday, World AIDS Day.

The incidence of syphilis among gay and bisexual men had risen to 10.3 percent, according to the survey. The latest figures from Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention put the incidence of syphilis in gay and bisexual men even higher, at around 13 percent.

The survey information was collected from 203 gay and bisexual men in Shanghai. All those interviewed underwent blood tests for HIV and syphilis. The hospital has started to give any who tested positive free syphilis treatment. Treatment for HIV/AIDS is also free. Read the full article.



Article from aidsmap: HIV diagnoses in European MSM have almost doubled since 2000, UK tops the list

Data from 23 European countries show that the annual number of HIV diagnoses in men who have sex with men (MSM) has increased by 86% between 2000 and 2006, report epidemiologists in the November 2008 issue of Sexually Transmitted Infections. The United Kingdom is the country with the highest number of new diagnoses in Europe, but dramatic increases were also seen in low prevalence countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Read the full article.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm fresh from re-reading the Wisdom of Whores but c'mon, n=203 in a hospital survey with such high rates of syphilis, you'd EXPECT to find a higher rate of HIV infection compared to the general population - so "HIV rates in China TRIPLE" is a little bit misleading!

Marc-André LeBlanc said...

I had the same reaction! I think it speaks to the need for much better surveillance data. We know from many other studies -- including some larger ones luckily -- in several cities and countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America that rates of HIV among gay men are deplorably high. But this morsel of information from China is hardly a big enough picture. I have to admit that reading the original headline and reproducing it here myself, I did think of Elizabeth Pisani's (sometimes self-)accusations of "drumming up" shocking stats to elicit interest and support. I plead guilty to doing the same in this case!

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