HIV infection increasing in straight men.

There's good and bad news in the latest "HIV in Australia Annual Surveillance Short Report 2018",  from the Kirby Institute. Graph above.

The good news is that among HIV+ men there has been a 15% reduction in HIV infections, along with an increase in testing. Also 75% of us have an undetectable viral load on treatment and can't pass it on through unsafe sex.

However the news isn't good for straight men with an increase in HIV infections. They just don't seem to think they're in danger. Even worse, because they're  not getting tested they turn up to hospital with AIDS years after infection, meaning they've been passing on HIV for years without even knowing it.

I think it'd be safe to say that there's HIV+ straight men in the community as I type, who don't know they have it. The message is simple; GET TESTED, and if positive then get on treatment. You not only owe it to your personal health (the longer without meds the more damage done to the immune system) but you owe it to the community you live in.

It's the height of irresponsibility to keep spreading a sexually transmitted disease just because one doesn't want to get tested. Would it be the same case if it was gonorrhea or chlamydia? Sexually active people without a permanent partner should be  getting regular tests as a matter of course anyway. Why should it be any different with HIV?

Rising numbers of straight men are being diagnosed with HIV in Australia, with many unknowingly living with the infection for years before they get tested.

 HIV diagnoses have hit a seven-year-low, but heterosexual people are bucking the positive trend, the latest surveillance report by UNSW's Kirby Institute shows.

 As HIV rates fell dramatically among gay and bisexual men, new HIV diagnoses attributed to heterosexual sex rose 10 per cent over the past five years and 14 per cent between 2016 and 2017, according to the detailed analysis released on Monday.

 Heterosexual sex accounted for one in four new HIV diagnoses in 2017 (238 people: 145 men and 93 women).

 New HIV diagnoses in men that were attributed to heterosexual sex (rather than injecting drugs) rose 19 per cent over the past five years.

 Worryingly, almost half of HIV-positive heterosexuals were living with the infection for years before it was detected (48 per cent).

 The rise in HIV among heterosexual was small but concerning, said the head of the Kirby Institute’s Surveillance, Evaluation and Research Program and co-author of the report, Professor Rebecca Guy.


One in 10 of all people who are diagnosed late (four or more years after infection) have progressed to AIDS by the time they are tested, Professor Guy said.

 “Their immune function had deteriorated to the point where often they are first tested when they are in hospital,” she said.

 HIV testing rates are significantly lower among heterosexuals, Professor Guy said. A 2012-2013 survey of more than 20,000 Australians found just one in three heterosexual people had been tested for HIV in their lifetime.

 The delay in getting tested for HIV meant there was a high-risk they were unknowingly passing the infection on to their sexual partners, Professor Guy said.

 “Many heterosexuals would be unaware that they have been at risk … and the need for testing,” Professor Guy said.

 Associate Professor Limin Mao, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Research in Health at UNSW, said the belief that HIV was a problem of gay men and drug users, as well as prejudice among the community were major barriers to getting people tested.

 A survey of just over 1000 Australians showed almost half would behave negatively toward people with HIV. Roughly 60 per cent said it would bother them if their roommate was HIV positive. Sydney Morning Herald   

You can also listen to an interview on it here.