Gay Britain - 1 In 3 Dont Know They Have HIV

(London) One out of three gay Britons who have HIV do not know they have it according to research released Tuesday in London.

The study, by the Royal Free and University College Medical School, calls the situation a serious public health concern and called on the government to become more proactive in AIDS education.

The study was based on interviews with more than 8,000 gay men in London's bars, clubs and saunas between 1996 and 2000.

In 2000 the researchers gathered anonymous saliva samples from 1,206 men to test their HIV status.

Slightly over 10 percent of the tests showed positive for HIV and in a third of those cases the people had never had an HIV test. Of those men who said they knew their HIV status, 4 per cent got it wrong.

The study also looked at risky sex. In 1996, 30 percent of the gay men surveyed said they had had unprotected sex over the previous 12 months. By 2000, this figure had risen to more than 40 percent.

The results of the study are published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Recent data in the US also suggests large numbers of gay men with HIV also are unaware of their status.

http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/06/060104ukHIV.htm

Thats crazy :eek:

It kind of makes you wonder what sort of people they are when they dont even take care of thier own health and have regular check ups from the GP :(

Regards,

Lee

I saw that article, and the headline was a bit deceiving... it made it look as if one third of gay men in London are HIV positive and don't know it, plus the ones that do know it, making it well over half the gay men who are infected.

In actual fact, it was only 3% of gay men who were positive and didn't know it, and 10% in total... and that was of the men they found in bars and bath houses, which would probably skew the numbers a bit...if you go where people tend to get drunk and have unprotected sex, you're gonna have a few more people who are positive than if you find gay men who hang out at Book stores, Bowling alleys and a garage where we can work on our bikes (you know... I think there might be a porn there... GA, we'll talk).

Please don't think I'm suggesting that HIV is nothing to be concerned about... quite the opposite, but if we let the press throw out these grossly exagerated and missleading numbers, we send the message to young gay men that HIV is something they can't avoid, and they shouldn't bother trying.

can i get an AMEN! well said Jasun, thanks for that.

Lee, let me assure you that just because this particular study was done in Britan on British people...they are certainly not the only class of people who fit into this category. I really have to wonder what kind of people WE (Americans) are who don't even care about our health. I'm certain there are similar percentages of Americans who are infected and don't know it, many of them in their teens and early 20's at that. HIV aside, the United States is the most obese country on the planet....what does it say about our own concern for our health when we supersize a value meal daily??? Yes, HIV is scary and yes, we need to be very concerned about it...but HIV has become much more manageable these days which helps those infected to lead longer lives. Obesity is causing more widespread health problems for this country overall than HIV ever has.

I'm not trying to discount your opinion, simply shedding a different light on your spin. We have too many of our own issues to worry about to be "wondering what kind of people 'they' are."