Unintentional HIV exposures from young men who have sex with men who disclose being HIV-negative.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the proportion of new sexual partners potentially exposed to HIV from young MSM who disclosed being HIV-negative.


METHODS
Cross-sectional, observational study of men aged 23-29 years recruited from randomly sampled MSM-identified venues in six US cities.


METHODS
Participants were interviewed and tested for HIV. Analyses were restricted to MSM who reported last testing HIV-negative and having one or more new partners in the prior 6 months.


RESULTS
Of 1701 MSM who reported a total of 11 793 new partners, 1075 (63%) disclosed being HIV-negative to 4253 (36%) new partners before having sex with them for the first time. Of disclosers, 352 (33%) reported last testing HIV-negative > 1 year before their interview and 80 (7%) tested HIV-positive (HIV-infected unaware). By race, 24% of black, 5% of Hispanic, and 3% of white disclosers tested HIV-positive. Of the 4253 new partners, 296 (7%) were partners of the 80 HIV-infected unaware MSM. By race, 22% of new partners of black, 3% of new partners of Hispanic, and 4% of new partners of white MSM, were partners of HIV-infected unaware MSM who disclosed being HIV-negative.


CONCLUSIONS
Many new sex partners may be unintentionally exposed to HIV from young MSM, particularly those who are black and who disclose being HIV-negative based on an earlier test. Young MSM should test for HIV more frequently and consistently use condoms with all partners unless they are in a mutually monogamous relationship in which both partners have tested HIV-negative at least 3 months since their last potential HIV exposure.
MacKellar
Duncan A
DA
Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention-Surveillance and Epidemiology, National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA. dym4@cdc.gov
Valleroy
Linda A
LA
Behel
Stephanie
S
Secura
Gina M
GM
Bingham
Trista
T
Celentano
David D
DD
Koblin
Beryl A
BA
LaLota
Marlene
M
Shehan
Douglas
D
Thiede
Hanne
H
Torian
Lucia V
LV
D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D044383:Black People; D017280:Condoms; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D018023:HIV Seronegativity; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D012747:Sexual Partners; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People; D001741:Black or African American