Amount of HIV in Genital Fluid Linked to Transmission

Via Health News, by Randy Dotinga

In a development that could enhance HIV-prevention research, a new study of heterosexual couples confirms that the risk of transmitting HIV rises with the level of the virus in semen and cervical fluid.

The finding, that more virus translates to higher likelihood of transmission, hasn't been proven to this extent before, said study lead author Dr. Jared M. Baeten of the University of Washington in Seattle.

"This confirms what we had thought about the biology of HIV," he said, "and it gives us new information about genital levels of HIV being particularly important, even independent of blood levels."

For the study, researchers obtained samples of genital fluid from 2,521 heterosexual couples living in seven African countries. Most were married and living together. At the start of the two-year study, one partner in each couple was infected with HIV, the AIDS-causing virus, and none was taking anti-HIV drugs.

Over the course of the study, published April 6 in the journal Science Translational Medicine, 78 partners became infected within the relationship.

The researchers compared cervical and semen fluid samples from partners who transmitted the virus with samples from men and women who didn't transmit the virus and found that the risk of HIV transmission approximately doubled with each specified HIV increase in genital fluids.

This can help researchers better understand "the natural protections that the penis, the vagina and the rectum have that we want to make sure we preserve," he said. The study "is highlighting what we need to look at going forward," he added.

Read the rest

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

'It's like the treasure': beliefs associated with semen among young HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay men

Published in: Culture, Health & Sexuality, Volume 10,
Issue 7 October 2008 , pages 667 - 679

Authors:
Arn J. Schilder a; Treena R. Orchard ab; Christopher S. Buchner c; Mary Lou Miller a; Kim A. Fernandes a; Robert S. Hogg ad; Steffanie A. Strathdee ade

Affiliations:
a British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, Canada
b Department of Women's Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Western Ontario, Canada
c Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Vancouver, Canada
d Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada
e Division of International Health and Cross-Cultural Medicine, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, USA

Abstract
This paper examines cultural and social meanings associated with semen, along with related issues of unprotected receptive anal intercourse, HIV seroconversion, treatment optimism and viraemia. The findings are derived from qualitative interviews conducted with 12 HIV-positive young gay men and 12 HIV-negative counterparts who participated in a prospective cohort study in Vancouver, Canada. Focussing on the narratives of young gay men, the analysis reveals a diverse range of knowledge, values and functions of semen, especially in relation to its exchange. Beliefs about semen appeared to differ by HIV serostatus and were linked with intimacy, identity and pleasure, particularly among the HIV-positive men. Against dominant representations of semen in relation to issues of loss, anxiety and infertility, this unique study sheds much needed light on its role within the cultural construction of sexuality among gay men. As such, these narratives are of direct importance to primary and secondary HIV prevention, including condom promotion and the development of rectal microbicides.