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Gay Health News: A recent report in The Lancet shows that the level of HIV infection is "out of control" among French gay men.
By: Nigel Robinson
48% of new infections are gay men
48% of new infections are gay men
HIV "out of control" among French gay men
This is despite an overall fall in the number of new HIV cases in the country.
Statistics published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal show that nearly half (48 per cent) of the 7,000 people newly infected with HIV in 2008 in France were gay men.
Gay men were also 200 times likelier to be HIV-positive than heterosexual men.
Although new infection figures fell significantly among the general population from 8,930 in 2003 to 6,940 in 2008, the level of new infections among gay men during that period remained stable.
Stephane le Vuem of the French National Institute for Public Health Surveillance who led the research said that the results provided a new perspective on the HIV epidemic in France.
“HIV transmission disproportionately affects certain risk groups and seems to be out of control in the MSM [Men who have Sex with Men] population,” she said.
The report follows recent findings that young, gay, white men were significantly contributing to the spread of HIV in Europe.
