title: HIV-1, sexual practices, and contact with foreigners in homosexual men in Colombia, South America.
abstract: From October 1985 to November 1987, a sample of 294 Colombian homosexual men volunteered to answer a questionnaire on sexual practices and consented to HIV-1 testing. Testing for HIV-1 was performed using an ELISA and those positive were confirmed with envelope- and core-specific ELISAs. Statistical methods for data analysis included Mantel-Haenszel methods on contingency tables. The overall seropositivity rate was 21.1%. Subjects who reported a receptive role (either as predominantly receptive or as mixed receptive-insertive intercourse) had a seropositivity rate of 23.7%, which was significantly higher than the 10.3% found in those reporting predominantly insertive intercourse (RR = 2.30, 95% C.I. = 1.16-4.57). For subjects reporting receptive intercourse, sexual contact with foreign visitors was a significant risk factor for HIV-1 infection (RR = 1.84, 95% C.I. = 1.13-3.00). Factors of borderline significance included having had more than ten homosexual partners in the preceding year (RR = 1.53) and a history of international travel (RR = 1.43). These associations did not hold for those reporting predominantly insertive intercourse. The data indicate the need to monitor the spread of HIV-1 at the international level and provide information on subgroups of high transmission rates.
authors.affiliation: Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota, Colombia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Merino
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Prada
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: B F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Polk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D015528:HIV Seroprevalence; D015497:HIV-1; D006716:Homosexuality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D014195:Travel