Gay men who take the erection drug Viagra or the stimulant methamphetamine to enhance sex are at greater risk of contracting HIV, a new Australian study has confirmed, but researchers say the drugs themselves are not to blame.A study presented at an HIV conference in Perth on Wednesday is the first in Australia to prove that sex enhancement drugs are independently associated with a higher risk of getting the immune deficiency virus. The findings are in line with US studies showing an increasing number of young American men being diagnosed with HIV are taking substances.
Dr Garrett Prestage from the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research in Sydney recorded the drug-taking habits of 1,427 HIV-negative gay men and tracked them over four years to find patterns in HIV infection. "The drugs that were independently associated with seroconversion (an illness occurring after being infected with HIV) are the drugs that enhance sexual pleasure like amyl nitrate, methamphetamine and Viagra," Dr Prestage said. But, he said, the drugs themselves were not responsible for the unprotected, risky sex that led to HIV infection..
"It's not because they take drugs that they become infected. It's because these men are into taking risks in general, whether it be with sex or with drugs." Dr Prestage said his findings show risk is not universal among gay men but specific to a small group of risk takers.
"We need to be targeting our messages to the men who play in more sexually adventurous scenes where risks with both drugs and sex are common," he said. Copyright 2008 AAP
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