CDC Meeting Summary: “Consultation on Serosorting Practices among Men who Have Sex with Men”

Here is a link to the full (short and sweet) summary.

[NOTE: Jim Pickett of LifeLube attended this CDC consultation, held Dec 2 - 3, 2008. He is delighted to finally see this summary published, and will be active in pushing this important conversation forward.]

Select highlights:

- "Serosorting is most often defined as a person choosing a sexual partner known to be of the same HIV serostatus, often to engage in unprotected sex, in order to reduce the risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV."

- "The consultants perceived seroadaptation to be a broader and more inclusive term than serosorting and, more consistent with the broader goal of improving the sexual health of gay and bisexual men in the United States. Discussions also focused on possible ways to frame prevention messages, including breadth and content of the messages as well as specific messages for partnerships in which both members are infected with HIV, partnerships in which both partners are not infected with HIV, and partnerships in which the members are serodiscordant or serostatus is unknown."

- "Regarding superinfection, the consultant noted that few cases have been reported in the literature and that the risk appears highest soon after seroconversion and may decline over the course of infection. Some data discussed by the consultants also indicate limited clinical consequences of superinfection. However, the consultants noted the lack of research among African American and Latino men and on superinfection in general."

- "The consultation highlighted the need to clearly define seroadaptation practices, and particularly serosorting, among MSM, and to understand the differing risks based on a variety of contextual factors. Several areas for future research were recommended. The information obtained in this consultation will inform potential future CDC activities, the development of prevention messages or guidance documents, and the creation of future funding announcements. As follow-up to this consultation, CDC will develop a fact sheet on serosorting among MSM that will include definitions of various seroadaptation practices, the state of the science with regard to behavioral patterns and their potential HIV risk under different situations and with different types of partners, and recommendations for future research. The fact sheet will be released later this year."

Read the whole thing.