HIV-positive gay men in Western Europe disproportionately affected by STIs

[via aidsmap]

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – including syphilis, gonorrhoea, LGV and hepatitis C – are disproportionately affecting HIV-positive gay men, according to a review of STIs amongst gay men in Western Europe published in the October 2007 edition of the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The authors conclude that this not only highlights the need to routinely test HIV-positive gay men for STIs and hepatitis C, but also suggests that changes in STI incidence may no longer reflect corresponding changes in HIV incidence amongst gay men as a whole.

Since 1996, when the era of effective antiretroviral therapy began, the number of diagnosed HIV-positive gay men who are well and sexually active has increased substantially. In order to understand trends in HIV prevalence and STIs amongst HIV-positive gay men in Western Europe, researchers from London undertook a review of published reports between 1996 and 2006.

They focused on twelve countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) and four STIs in particular: gonorrhoea, syphilis, lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV), and sexually transmitted hepatitis C. They picked these STIs due to their epidemiologic synergies with HIV, their historical use as markers of high-risk sex and their recent (re-) emergence among gay men.

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