HIV fectn may bee rare UK gay men by 2030, rearchers say | aidsmap

Contents:

• HIV FECTN MAY BEE RARE UK GAY MEN BY 2030, REARCHERS SAY
• WHAT LED TO THE FALL HIV S UK GAY MEN?
• HIV NOW FECTS MORE HETEROSEXUAL PEOPLE THAN GAY OR BISEXUAL MEN – WE NEED A NEW STRATEGY
• GAY HIV POSIVE DATG
• NEW HIV DIAGNOS GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN AT THEIR LOWT 20 YEARS

HIV FECTN MAY BEE RARE UK GAY MEN BY 2030, REARCHERS SAY

Image ptn, Dan Harry om Coatbridge was a nttant on BBC Three's "I kissed a Boy"A nttant who appeared on the UK's first gay datg show is takg part a new HIV vacce trial. "The trial, EHVA PO1, is beg n by specialists London at the St Stephen's Centre and Wtmster Hospal as well as wh partner s source, Dan HarryImage ptn, Dan Harry marched wh Terrence Higgs tst at London pri this year to raise awarens of their work to end HIVMr Harry said that due to the lack of tn school he was left anx about HIV and left him sred to e out as gay.

He explaed: "I never heard the word gay if wasn't ed as a slur and never got any LGBTQ tn School. "There is a misnceptn around HIV, still predomately affects gay men the UK but actually the implitns this vacce uld have is on a more global sle, " he said. And he’s gay.

WHAT LED TO THE FALL HIV S UK GAY MEN?

’ Now, was gog to be, ‘He was on Who’s the Boss?, he’s gay, and he’s another one of those HIV-posive guys. At the time, he told GAY TIMES: “People are really wary of those livg wh HIV, beg the same room and havg a relatnship wh somebody wh HIV. “I had every expectatn that if I went public wh the fact that I’m gay, no one would want to hire me and I’d lose my hoe, ” he said at a prs nference.

HIV NOW FECTS MORE HETEROSEXUAL PEOPLE THAN GAY OR BISEXUAL MEN – WE NEED A NEW STRATEGY

Speakg wh GAY TIMES about Hio Bastard, Oliver said “beg able to talk about the thgs and even beg able to mentn my HIV, that would’ve been impossible three years ago.

Gay and bisexual men n take the followg steps to rce their risk of HIV fectn:.

GAY HIV POSIVE DATG

New analysis fds fectns started to fall 2013, but olr gay men lag behdAn analysis of HIV diagnos and cince English gay and bisexual men by Dr Franc Brizzi and lleagu om the Medil Rearch Council has found that new HIV fectns fell by more than two-thirds between 2013 and 2018. If this trend ntu, new HIV fectns uld bee a rare event the gay populatn, and there is a 40% chance that England uld h the World Health Organizatn (WHO)/UNAIDS target of only one HIV fectn 10, 000 gay men per year by 2030. Given that the timated HIV-negative gay male populatn of England is about 475, 000, this would imply only 80 new s of HIV per year.

Usg a more sophistited method to timate the annual number of new fectns gay men, they were able to stratify the populatn by age. This analysis reveals that although HIV fectns gay men have fallen all age groups, they have fallen more slowly men over the age of 45, such that they now have higher rat of both new HIV fectn and undiagnosed fectn than 35-45 year olds. The fact that olr gay men are now the age group at hight risk of gonorrhoea and syphilis suggts that a generatn who, the 1990s, may have been very observant of safer sex have also seen a larger relative rise their risk of HIV.

NEW HIV DIAGNOS GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN AT THEIR LOWT 20 YEARS

This suggts that HIV and STI ttg programm targeted specifilly at olr gay men may be need.

Brizzi and lleagu ascribe the fall HIV fectns – a pattern not seen many parable untri – to a very high rate of ttg at-risk gay men and, most of all, to the almost universal provisn of antiretroviral therapy (ART) as soon as possible after diagnosis. There were only about 250 gay and bisexual men takg PrEP the UK by the end of 2013, maly the PROUD study, while onle purchas of PrEP only began the tumn of 2015. This mol found that HIV fectns gay men probably peaked the first half of 2013.