infection

Two studies of PrEP in gay men and trans women have demonstrated that the availability of PrEP reduced the rate of infection by 86%. This amounts to the highest effectiveness yet seen for PrEP and is superior to most other HIV prevention interventions. Extraordinarily, two separate studies which provided PrEP in very different ways found exactly the same level of effectiveness. The PROUD study was conducted in England and the IPERGAY study in France and Canada.

Up to a fifth of HIV infections among black African men initially classified as 'heterosexual exposure' in the UK are likely to have been acquired as a result of sex with other men, investigators report in the online edition of "AIDS". Using a technique called phylogenetic analysis, the authors identified clusters of HIV transmissions involving people diagnosed with HIV in the UK between 1996 and 2008. Overall, 29% of heterosexual people were in transmission clusters that only involved men who have sex with men (MSM).

We analysed 7 studies from Canada, 13 from the UK, and 174 from the USA. In every country, black MSM were as likely to engage similarly in serodiscordant unprotected sex as other MSM. Black MSM in Canada and the USA were less likely than other MSM to have a history of substance use (odds ratio, OR, 0·53, 95% CI 0·38–0·75, for Canada and 0·67, 0·50–0·92, for the USA).

A collaborative planning framework to minimise the incidence of HIV infection during sex between men.

Strategic Research Goal: We will stimulate and/or carry out research that increases our understanding of the relative and especially attributable risks associated with each of the factors contributing to HIV incidence among men who have sex with men (MSM) in England.

Between 1997-2002, BME MSM accounted for just over one in 10 new HIV diagnoses among MSM in England and Wales; more than half probably acquired their infection in the United Kingdom. In 2002, the proportion of BME MSM living with diagnosed HIV in England and Wales was significantly higher than white MSM. Undiagnosed HIV prevalence in Caribbean-born MSM was high. These data confirm the need to remain alert to the sexual health needs and evolving epidemiology of HIV among BME MSM in England and Wales.