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Only having sex with same-status partners is an HIV prevention strategy for 40% of gay men
Gus Cairns, 2014-03-11 16:20:00
A study from Seattle has found that only having sex with men of the same HIV status was by far the most common method of trying to avoid HIV in gay men who did not always use condoms, according to findings presented at the 21st Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI).
This study found that 'condom serosorting' – being open to sex with serodiscordant partners, but always using condoms with them – was far less popular as a strategy, as was ‘seropositioning’ – being top (insertive) when you are negative, bottom (receptive) if you are positive.
The Seattle study did not report on ‘viral sorting’ – having unprotected sex with men with HIV if they have an undetectable viral load – but a study from Germany found that 10% of men with HIV there regarded themselves as non-infectious if they had an undetectable viral load and based their choices about sex on this belief.
It found that men who used viral sorting were far less likely to disclose their status or talk about HIV. The Seattle researchers are collecting data on viral load and will report on this soon.
Source:1