About 10% of gay men taking antiretroviral treatment have low levels of HIV detectable in their semen, according to new research. 

In the study, a low but detectable viral load (between 50 and 500 copies/ml) was associated with the presence of HIV in semen.

There is currently a lot of discussion about the effect of HIV treatment on infectiousness and the use of HIV treatment as prevention. Research conducted in heterosexual couples has shown that antiretroviral therapy that reduces viral load in the blood to undetectable levels (below 50 copies/ml) reduces the risk of sexual transmission by 96%. (PositiveLite.com editors note: the research to which this refers - HPTN 052  - measured the impact of early treatment, not undetectable viiral load, two entirely different concepts..  We have questioned aidsmap.com about the accuracy of their statement.)

But there have been rare case reports of HIV transmissions in the presence of an undetectable viral load.

Untreated bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as chlamydia and gonorrhoea may cause viral load to increase in genital fluids, even if a person is taking effective antiretroviral treatment.

Doctors in the United States wanted to see if infection with human herpes viruses also had an impact on viral load in genital fluids.

They monitored blood and semen samples taken from 114 gay men. All were taking HIV treatment and had a blood viral load below 500 copies/ml (88% had a viral load below 50 copies/ml).

HIV was detected in the semen of 10% of the men. The average viral load in semen was low – 126 copies/ml. Whether or not this level of HIV in semen is associated with transmission is unknown.

Detection of HIV in semen was associated with the presence of two viruses of the herpes family – high semen levels of CMV (cytomegalovirus) and detectable EBV (Epstein Barr virus) in semen.

“The association between isolated HIV shedding and high-level CMV replication and EBV replication in the genital tract suggests that the presence of these viruses could play a role in HIV transmission…these findings have important implications for the development of strategies to reduce HIV transmission,” comment the researchers.

They also found that 36% of study participants with a detectable viral load were shedding HIV in semen compared to 6% of participants with an undetectable viral load.

A urethral bacterial STI was diagnosed in 4% of men, but these untreated infections were not associated with the presence of HIV in semen.

For more detailed information on HIV transmission, visit our online resource HIV transmission and testing.

This article originally appeared in aidsmap news, May 2013. Read the full article here.

“I’ve been told that I can look forward to a tremendous reduction in stress and anxiety about seroconverting. I look forward to that. We’ll see. “ 

On April 5, 2013 I took my first dose of Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). I won’t deny it. I’ve been feeling very conflicted about starting PrEP.  

Why do I have access to Truvada when the majority of people who need antiretroviral medication to stay alive don’t have access? I got my hands on this bottle relatively easily. The social injustice is not lost on me. I don’t have relatively easy access to this medication because I deserve it more than anyone else.

So what HAVE I done to deserve access to PrEP? Well, a lot of it is sheer luck, actually.

•    Nearly every time I see the news, I am amazed at how lucky I am. I was born in Canada. Talk about winning the lottery. Out of 7 billion people, I am one of only 34 million people living in Canada. Trust me, it’s a great place to live!

•    I’ve been working in HIV for 20 years, including the last 10 years focussed on tracking biomedical HIV prevention research. This provides me with ongoing access to the latest information.

•    I make a good living. I can access healthcare relatively easily and generally for free or at a cost that has little impact on my standard of living.

•    I have a doctor. He’s young (My age. That’s young. Shut up.), gay, and sees a lot of people living with HIV in his practice. So talking to him about my sex life and about PrEP was not difficult. He keeps up to date on research. After a good discussion, he agreed to prescribe PrEP.

•    Not only do I live in Canada, but I live in Québec, the only province to have a universal public drug plan. As long as the drugs my doctor prescribes are on the provincial drug formulary, I am covered for most of the cost. I pay $500 into the drug plan annually, and PrEP will cost me less than $1,000/year on top of that. And if I ever need other drugs for any reason, I will not pay for them. Because $992/year ($82.66/month to be precise) is the most I would have to pay for all my drugs combined.

I’m not trying to be disingenuous. I know that beyond being lucky and privileged, I have access to PrEP because I’ve taken some very concrete steps as well. I did lots of introspection. I tried to reduce my risk as much as possible through other means. I did a lot of research. I actively sought out access. I make sure I’m very diligent about taking my pills.

I always have been very diligent about that. I take all my antibiotics when I need them. I take vitamins daily. When I was on antidepressants, I never missed a dose in 1.5 years. I follow advice from medical professionals to the letter. Case in point: I’ve needed physiotherapy twice. Both times, the conversation during my second visit went something like this:

Physiotherapist: Wow, you’re made remarkable progress in one week. I’ve never seen anyone progress so quickly with this type of injury. Which exercises did you do?

Me: All of them, like you showed me.

PT: You did ALL the exercise I gave you?! How often?

Me: Every day, like you told me.

PT: You did ALL your exercise EVERY day?! How many times a day?

Me: Twice, like you told me.

PT: You did ALL your exercises, EVERY day, TWICE a day?! I’ve never seen this in all my years of practice! No wonder you’re doing so well!

*SLAP* You’re at risk of HIV!

I might make jokes, but I don’t take this lightly.

Every morning when I wake up it’s the first thing I think about. That might stop after a while. But two weeks into taking PrEP, it’s the same thing. I wake up, and as I ponder about whether I want to go back to sleep again for a little longer, I can’t do it. I immediately think: when I get up I have to take my Truvada pill. Because I’m at risk of HIV.

Each and every time I open the cupboard and grab the bottle, I think: how is it possible that I am so lucky to have such easy access to this medication when millions of people who need it to stay alive don’t have access?

Who needs a coffee? I get a slap in my face every morning. Two of them in fact.

*SLAP* You’re at risk of HIV and STIs!

*SLAP* You’re one of the lucky few who has access to this medication and to this prevention option!

I’ve been told that I can look forward to a tremendous reduction in stress and anxiety about seroconverting. I look forward to that. We’ll see. I’m not there yet by any stretch. But at least I get some measure of comfort from knowing that I’m putting chances on my side by reducing my risk as much as I can in my current situation. Doing my best to stay healthy seems like the right thing to do to honour those who don’t have access to this drug.

About the author: Marc-André LeBlanc has worked in the community-based HIV/AIDS movement for 20 years.He does community engagement, capacity-building and policy work related to biomedical HIV prevention research, both in Canada and globally. He is a co-founder of International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA), serves as secretary on their steering committee, has authored two reports on the global state of rectal microbicide efforts, and leads IRMA’s global efforts to ensure the safety of sexual lubricants. Marc-André loves movies. He got a film studies degree while working full-time, just for the sheer fun of it. He is now leading advocacy efforts to get ice cream and popcorn recognised as new basic food groups in Canada’s Food Guide

This article originally appeared on My PrEP Experience here. 

From Bradford McIntyre of PositivelyPositive.ca  comes this notice of Vanocover’s up coming candlelight memorial . . 

“We have a stellar cast of speakers and performers this year to celebrate and perform a musical tribute to people affected and infected by HIV and to all of those friends and family we have lost to HIV/AIDS.

This year marks AIDS Vancouver's 30th Anniversary. This year also marks the AIDS Candlelight Memorial’s 30th Anniversary.

AIDS Vancouver is the host of the 30th Vancouver International AIDS Candlelight Memorial.

In this special year, this event is a musical tribute.

In Solidarity: A Musical Tribute to People Infected and Affected by HIV and those we have lost to AIDS.

As vice-chair on AIDS Vancouver’s board of directors, I have spent the past three months organizing the 30th Vancouver International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, planning the program and inviting this year’s participants. I will be master of ceremonies (MC) for the event. Learn more about it here.

The Program:

The 30th Vancouver International AIDS Candlelight Memorial

In Solidarity: A Musical Tribute to People Infected and Affected by HIV and those we have lost to AIDS.

May 19th 2013 at 7:30 PM in Alexandra Park, 1755 Beach Avenue, at Bidwell

Master of Ceremonies: Bradford McIntyre

Speakers and Performers

Chief Bill Williams

Bob Baker & The Eagle Song Dancers

Vancouver Men's Chorus

Leora Cashe

Jess Cullen

PALS Chorus

Andrew Hiscox

James Johnstone

Ending with the Lighting of the Candles "

This article by Gus Cairns first appeared on aidsmap.com here.  

Data from two national sex surveys in the United States show that gay and bisexual men (men who have sex with men, MSM) reported significantly fewer sexual partners in the previous year in a survey conducted between 2006 and 2010 than they did in one conducted in 2002. This decline was consistent across most ethnicities and age groups, but was particularly marked, and statistically significant, in younger men aged under 24.

In contrast, the proportion who reported having condomless anal sex at least once in the previous year did not change between surveys. In the minority of men who also had sex with women, condom use fell markedly, but on the other hand the proportion of MSM who also had sex with women fell too.  

The proportion of men who tested for HIV or for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the last year did not change, although the proportion who had never tested for HIV fell.

The survey

The data come from the last two National Surveys of Family Growth (NSFGs). The NSFG is a survey of 15 to 44-year-olds; participants are contacted at random by phone but due to lower contact/response rates, people under 24, black people and Hispanic people are ‘oversampled’, i.e. a higher proportion are initially contacted than are in the general population.

NSFGs used to be conducted every three to seven years, but in 2006 a decision was taken to conduct interviews (by voice-assisted automated computer interview) continuously. This study therefore compared figures from interviews conducted in 2002 with ones conducted in 2006 to 2010.

NSFG interviewed 4928 and 10403 men in 2002 and 2006 to 2010, respectively. Of these, 197 and 272 reported having a male sexual partner in the last year – 2.7 and 2.1% respectively (this difference was not statistically significant, p = 0.1).

The results

The mean number of male sexual partners MSM reported in the previous year fell significantly from 2.9 to 2.3 between the two surveys (p = 0.035) and was more marked in men under 24 years old (mean 2.9 to 2.1 partners, p = 0.027). The number of partners also fell in men aged 35 to 44 from 3.0 to 2.2, though this was not quite statistically significant (p = 0.07).

The fall in the number of partners was statistically significant in men with incomes under 150% of the US federal poverty level (3.0 to 2.1) and in men living in suburban metropolitan areas (3.2 to 2.1) but not in city-centre areas (2.6 in both surveys). There were declines in partner numbers in white (3.0 to 2.5) and black (2.4 to 1.9) men, though these did not reach statistical significance. In general though, there was a consistent picture of fewer partners among most groups.

There were no changes in condom use for anal sex. In 2002, 57% of men had not used a condom the last time they had sex and in 2006 to 2010 the proportion was 58%. In the minority of men who also had sex with women, the proportion who had not used a condom the last time they had vaginal sex was 46% in 2002 but had become 67% by 2006 tp 2010, and this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.04). However, the proportion of MSM who had had female partners also decreased from 38 to 25% (p = 0.03).

One other notable difference was that fewer men reported transactional sex (sex for money or drugs) in the last year (down from 15 to 3%) and fewer men said they had injected drugs or had had sex with someone who had injected drugs (from 12 to 5%).

HIV and STI testing in the last year did not increase. In 2002 and 2006 to 2010, 41% of men said they had had an HIV test in the last year and in the case of STI check-ups 38% reported having one in 2002 and 39% in 2006 to 2010. The proportion of men who had never had an HIV test, however, fell from 25 to 15%.

Conclusions and comments

The researchers comment on the fact that HIV prevalence and the incidence of STIs increased in gay men during a period when numbers of partners and some other sexual risk behaviours were falling. They note that there have been previous studies in Seattle and Peru where STI incidence and/or HIV diagnoses have remained high even though sexual risk indicators in gay men have fallen. Studies of young black gay men in the US, including one recently presented at the 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), have consistently shown that they tend to have fewer partners despite considerably higher HIV incidence.

The researchers speculate that this may be due to ‘network factors’: factors about partners that are not captured by the individual risk behaviour focus of most studies. For instance, some studies have found that black gay men tend to restrict sex to partners of their own ethnicity and are also more likely to have sex with men a number of years older or younger than themselves. Both of these would tend to concentrate HIV infection within the black gay community.  

Whether these are the main drivers of US black men’s greater vulnerability to HIV infection, another interesting aspect of this study is that gay men appear to have taken steps that could reduce their HIV risk by using a method that has received little emphasis in HIV prevention programmes for gay men – reducing their number of partners – while not increasing condom use, which has received the most emphasis.

Leichliter JS et al. Temporal trends in sexual behaviour among men who have sex with men in the United States, 2002 to 2006-10. J Acquir Immun Defic Syndr, early online publication, DOI: 10.1097/QAI.0b013e31828e0cfc, 2013.