More and more New Zealand gay men are contracting HIV, a disproportionate 77% of recent new infections are occurring in Auckland, and the NZ AIDS Foundation is at a loss to know exactly why. The revelations that one new man is contracting HIV every four days - with a record annual high of 88 infections for this year looking probable - and that Auckland gay men are suddenly galloping ahead of the rest of the country in contracting HIV show that the virus has regained the upper hand it last had two decades ago. "It looks as though twenty years of good work from the gay community and from HIV prevention organisations is now being unraveled," says NZAF Research Diorector Tony Hughes. "Gay men have been telling us, explicitly, that they don't think there's much to worry about these days, that HIV doesn't seem real to them." The soaring new infection rate is an indication that condom useage, the main weapon in the fight against the HIV epidemic, is not as prevalent as it once was. The NZAF says the Auckland infection figures have clearly become disproportionate to the number of gay men living in Auckland. Our biggest city accounts for roughly one third of New Zealand's general population, and the historical northwards drift of gay men probably sees that figure slightly inflated, but 77% of gay men being found in Auckland is not a credible reason for the increase, according to the NZAF. No reliable count of gay Aucklanders has ever been possible. The reasons Auckland's gay men are contracting HIV at an increasing and disproportionate rate are not clear, with NZAF researchers facing difficulty in reaching newly positive men to discuss the circumstances surrounding their sexual contacts and how they are contracting the virus. "We know these men are out there but due to a more sympathetic society around them and less need for medical intervention due to modern drug treatments many men with HIV don't require the close support that their predecessors did, therefore their contact with the health and counseling community is much more limited these days," says Rachael LeMesurier, Executive Director of the NZ AIDS Foundation. Speculation is mounting that internet dating through non-gay contact sites is playing a role in the increase in HIV transmission, with fewer gay men accessing traditional gay media and venues where they would be exposed to HIV awareness and safe sex campaigns. Michael Stevens, a Ph.D. candidate at Auckland University, has begun talking to recently diagnosed men but says the numbers he has interviewed so far are "far to small to draw any meaningful conclusions from." He says it is difficult to contact newly diagnosed men, and even those who show initial interest in discussing their sexual experiences and behaviour often pull out before engaging in a formal interview. Stevens is trying to encourage newly diagnosed men to talk with him, using word of mouth and contact through Auckland hospital infectious diseases doctors. The NZAF is calling on "all communities of gay men, prevention services and businesses serving homosexual men" to support a renewed effort against HIV infection. Men who have sex with men who have been recently diagnosed HIV positive, or men who have felt the need to test recently but have tested negative and who would like to take part in Stevens' study can contacted him through any office of the NZAF or by email at m.stevens@auckland.ac.nz.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 26th October 2005 - 12:00pm