NAPWA

One out of five gay men with HIV in Australia may not know they are living with it, according to a survey conducted in Melbourne in 2008.

Investigators in the ‘Suck-it-and-see’ studyA clinical trial is a research study to answer specific questions about vaccines or new therapies or new ways of using known treatments. Clinical trials are used to determine whether new drugs or treatments are both safe and effective. Carefully conducted clinical trials are the fastest and safest way to find treatments that work in people. Trials are in four phases: Phase I tests a new drug or treatment in a small group; Phase II expands the study to a larger group of people; Phase III expands the study to an even larger group of people; and Phase IV takes place after the drug or treatment has been licensed and marketed. collected saliva samples from 745 men at a number of gay community venues throughout Melbourne only to discover that 20 out of the 100 men whose samples tested positive were unaware of the fact.

Six of these 20 said that they had never had an HIV test while another six reported their last test being less than six months ago. But probably most alarmingly, 13 of these men reported being ‘confident’ in knowing their HIV status. Unfortunately, investigators were unable to contact the men to tell them they were positive.

‘Because men participated in this study anonymously we cannot personally identify those with unrecognised infections,’ said Dr Mark Stoovè from the Centre for Population Health at the Burnet Institute.

‘So we strongly urge sexually active gay men in Melbourne (and everywhere else – Ed) to seek testing now if they have had unprotected anal sex since their last HIV test or have not been tested in the past six months.’