Author Archives: administrator

CDC sending out an SOS over soaring rates of STDs

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From the New York Daily News…

Every year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) releases an annual report of a national overview of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

The report for 2015 was not encouraging at all. In fact, it was quite discouraging as such STDs as chlamydia and gonorrhea were at an all-time high, including higher rates of syphilis.

Sexually transmitted diseases are typically not discussed in polite conversation. But the less they are talked about, the more of a hidden epidemic they are becoming.

We need to realize that anyone who has sex — oral, anal or vaginal intercourse and genital touching — can get an STD. It doesn’t matter whether you are straight, married, single or gay, everyone is at risk.

Read the full article.

National organizations publish new guide on LGBTQ health advocacy priorities

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From LGBT Weekly…

The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund and the National Coalition for LGBT Health have published a new guide on health issues important to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people. Released in advance of the 2016 presidential election, the “10 Key LGBTQ Health Advocacy Priorities Guide” is intended to educate voters on LGBTQ health priorities the two organizations will continue to focus on during the next administration.

“This new guide is like no other as it outlines critical healthcare issues through an intersectional approach. It takes into consideration the realities that make up the everyday lives of LGBTQ people, such as racial injustice, economic injustice, gender inequality, and immigration status,” said Candace Bond-Theriault, Policy Counsel for Reproductive Rights, Health and Justice at the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund.“We believe that in order to improve the lives and health of all LGBTQ people, a clear understating that these issues overlap is necessary.”

The guide lists the following ten key areas as priorities: advocating for reproductive health, rights and justice; creating an AIDS-free generation, promoting HIV harm reduction, and increasing access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP); expanding public education and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STI) and sexually transmitted diseases (STD); supporting LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness; improving transgender healthcare; addressing religious exemptions and nondiscrimination laws; promoting LGBTQ cultural competency; improving access to mental health; expanding access to affordable health care; and ending violence against LGBTQ people. The guide is available online on the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund and the National Coalition for LGBT Health’s Web sites.

“We collectively identified, prioritized and defined the issues that effect the LGBT community so that this information can be helpful in looking at how elected officials address these issues,” said Brian Hujdich, Executive Director of the National Coalition for LGBT Health. “The guide empowers LGBTQ individuals to have an impact on the health and wellbeing of our community

through voting and having their voices heard on Election Day this November 8th.”

Both organizations will host workshops, trainings, and informational sessions on these priority health advocacy issues during the 2017 Creating Change Conference Jan. 18-22 and SYNChronicity 2017: the National Conference on HIV, HCV, and LGBT Health, set for April 24-25.

$1 million renovation and expansion of the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force

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From the Pittsburgh Trib Review…

A recently completed $1 million renovation and expansion of the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force in East Liberty has made Sean DeYoung’s vision a reality.

The project, which took about a year to complete and included a medical clinic expansion, is a step toward PATF’s goal to transition to a fully integrated medical and social-service care organization for people with HIV.

“I’m a social worker, and that’s where the social work field is moving,” said DeYoung, the AIDS Task Force CEO who came aboard last year. “Research has shown that people who can receive all of their medical and social services in one place are much more likely to get the comprehensive level of care they need.”

The population served by PATF has unique challenges in addition to living with HIV/AIDS, DeYoung said.

“Ninety-eight percent of our client base is below the poverty line,” he said, “so they may also face housing challenges and job challenges, which is a huge problem. If you’re worried about getting evicted or not having a place to stay, you’re not going to be worried about taking your medication like you’re supposed to or coming to see your doctor when you need to.”

The renovated PATF center, unveiled at a ribbon-cutting last Tuesday, offers a food pantry, an on-site pharmacy, legal aid, programs for medical case management and federal housing assistance. It also offers an adherence program designed to help patients who struggle to remember to take their medications through personalized texts or phone calls.

Read the full article on the Trib Review online.

Carnegie Mellon University recruiting HIV-negative individuals at risk of getting HIV

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carnegiemellonuniversity_wordmarkSocial scientists at Carnegie Mellon University are recruiting HIV-negative individuals who are at risk of contracting HIV for one-hour interviews about their daily lives, their view on their personal HIV risk, and their thoughts about the costs, risks and benefits of taking PrEP.

You are eligible to participate if you:

Are HIV negative and between the ages of 18-60, AND;

* Have had sex without a condom in the last 6 months, OR
* Have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection within the last 6 months, OR
* Use a needle to inject drugs

All participants will receive $50 cash.

This study is sponsored by the Center for Inclusion Health at Allegheny Health Network

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact: 

The PrEP Study
Phone: 412-336-8993
Email:CMUPrEPstudy@gmail.com

Gonorrhea treatment showing signs of failing

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From Project Q Atlanta…

Federal health officials warned of new signs that gonorrhea is growing resistant to current treatments, a development more troubling for gay men who face a higher risk of the sexually transmitted disease than other populations.

Findings of a new study from Hawaii prompted the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to raise a warning flag on Wednesday during its 2016 STD Prevention Conference in downtown Atlanta. The findings showed that the current treatment for gonorrhea – a shot of ceftriaxone and an oral dose of azithromycin – was losing its effectiveness in a cluster of infections in Hawaii.

That’s more troubling than data released in July that showed emerging drug resistance and limited treatment options for gay men at a time when infections among them are on the rise, federal officials said during a press conference Wednesday.

“It seems that in the battle between humans and pathogens, gonorrhea is a formidable opponent,” said Jonathan Mermin (photo), director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD & Tuberculosis Prevention.

“We are seeing troubling signs that treatments are failing us. We may be running out of options for treating gonorrhea,” he added.

Gonorrhea is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the country and it impacts gay men more severely than other populations. The CDC has said about 56 percent of gonorrhea cases in the U.S. are among men and of those, 48 percent are estimated to be gay men. Put another way, men who have sex men face a gonorrhea incidence 17 times greater that seen in heterosexual men and nearly 14 times that seen in women, based on the 2014 STD Surveillance Report.

Read the full article.

Optimal Care Checklist available for men who have sex with men

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for men onlyWhether you are gay, bisexual or any man who has sex with other men (MSM), there are certain health issues that are important for you to talk about with your doctor. This brochure entitled Your Sexual Health, published by the National Coalition of STD Directors and the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors, is designed to help you get important health care specific to the wellbeing of gay and bi men.

Issues such as Pre-Exposure Prophylactics (PrEP), rising STD rates in the community, getting vaccinated for Hepatitis A & B and for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) are just a few of the topics you might want to discuss with your health care provider. Your Sexual Health can help you break the ice. Being informed is an important first step in protecting yourself and your community.

HIV pill could cut infections in gay, bisexual men by a third

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From Reuters Health…

The rate of new HIV infections among gay and bisexual men could drop by up to a third over the next decade if enough eligible men take a drug that protects against the virus, researchers estimate.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, eligible gay and bisexual men meet any of three criteria: they have unprotected anal sex in a monogamous relationship with a partner not recently tested for HIV, or they have unprotected anal sex with a partner outside of a monogamous relationship or they have any anal sex with someone who is HIV positive.

Getting the drug, known as Truvada and manufactured by Gilead, to 40 percent of high-risk men would prevent 1,162 infections among every 100,000 gay and bisexual men over 10 years, researchers estimate in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

The daily pill is a combination of two antiretroviral drugs that work to keep the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, from reproducing in the body. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012, Truvada is often just referred to as PrEP, which stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis.

“We were all interested in estimating the public health impact and efficiency of PrEP,” said Samuel Jenness, the study’s lead author from Emory University in Atlanta.

Jenness and colleagues point out that PrEP is 92 percent effective in preventing HIV infections.

To see how PrEP might change the number of new infections over the next decade, the researchers used a mathematical model that took into account HIV transmission rates among men who have sex with men and the CDC guidelines.

They ran several scenarios through the model and found that getting PrEP to 40 percent of eligible men – and having 62 percent stick to the daily regimen – would avert 33 percent of expected infections among all gay and bisexual men in the U.S. over the next decade, compared to a scenario in which the drug was not available.

Getting PrEP to 10 percent of eligible men would avert about 11 percent of expected new infections, and increasing coverage all the way to 90 percent would avert about half of cases, the researchers calculated.

In a scenario where 40 percent of eligible men take PrEP, the researchers say, having 25 men taking the pill every day would prevent one new HIV infection.

Counseling men on adhering to the daily pill would maximize the public health investment by decreasing the number of men needed to treat to prevent one infection, they add.

Jenness told Reuters Health that currently, 5 percent to 10 percent of gay and bisexual men take PrEP.

In an editorial published with the study, an HIV expert said he’s not sure it’s actually possible to get 40 percent of eligible gay and bisexual men to take PrEP.

“However, PrEP studies from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and other high-income countries are showing that those who seek out PrEP have substantial HIV risk and adhere well, resulting in near elimination of HIV acquisition,” writes Dr. Jared Baeten, of the University of Washington in Seattle.

Those results show the men currently starting PrEP are good candidates, he said.

SOURCE: bit.ly/29H7FNb The Journal of Infectious Diseases, online July 14, 2016.

Free test kits can help guys on Grindr test more often

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From the New York Times…

Grindr, the gay dating app, is an effective way to get gay black and Hispanic men to try home H.I.V. self-testing kits, according to a recent study.

Free test kits on GrindrThe small study was confined to Los Angeles, and fewer than 400 test kits were distributed, but the idea has broader potential. Grindr is used by at least five million men in 192 countries, according to its developer.

In the United States, young gay black and Hispanic men are the groups most likely to be infected with H.I.V. and the least likely to be tested for it, because they often lack health insurance and fear being rejected by their families.

In some other countries, gay men may be harassed, jailed or even executed.

The study used banner ads on Grindr to offer free test kits. Recipients received a kit in the mail, a voucher that could be redeemed for a kit at a pharmacy, or a code that would produce a kit from a vending machine in the parking lot of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.

The test requires no blood; a swab of the gums produces results in 20 minutes.

Of the 56 black and Hispanic men who requested kits and were willing to answer survey questions, 69 percent had not been tested in the last six months; medical experts recommend that gay men who do not always usecondoms get tested every three months.

Two men learned from the kits that they were infected.

Researchers at the medical schools of Indiana University and the University of California, Los Angeles, chose Grindr rather than other gay dating apps like Scruff and Jack’d “because it was the oldest and biggest,” said Dr. Jeffrey D. Klausner, an H.I.V. specialist at U.C.L.A.’s David Geffen School of Medicine and one of the authors of the paper published in Sexual Health.

The idea of using the app to encourage home testing is “ripe for expansion” to other cities, and possibly to other countries, Dr. Klausner said

HIV epidemic continues for gay men across the globe

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From Johns Hopkins University…

Across countries and income levels, gay men continue to see disproportionately high rates of HIV infection, according to a new study from Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. Though overall HIV rates have flattened in recent years and a diagnosis is no longer the death sentence it was once considered, researchers are concerned that the epidemic persists globally among men who have sex with men.

“It’s a tragic situation and it’s painful that the history of AIDS is looking like its future, but that’s actually where we are,” says study leader Chris Beyrer, a Bloomberg School professor and president of the International AIDS Society. “But the first step in taking on a problem is recognizing and articulating it, and we’ve really done that here.”

The findings, to be published July 9 in The Lancet, follow up on a 2012 call to action from the same group of researchers. Back then, they laid out anambitious framework to curtail HIV epidemics in gay men, setting targets for policy reform, funding, and improvement in HIV prevention and treatment—including expanded access to pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a pill that has proved highly effective in reducing transmission among this population.

Read the full article.

Research: condomless gay porn can lead to more barebacking

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From Advocate.com…

[…] The study recruited 265 men who have sex with men (MSM) who were asked to relate the number of hours in an average week they spent viewing “man on man” porn, and how much of it featured anal penetration with a condom, as well as condomless anal sex.

Muscular nude male torso

In order to discern the perceived impact of their porn consumption, participants were also asked to describe how often in the preceding three months they fantasized about engaging in sexual acts they had watched, if watching Internet porn influenced the kind of sex they desired, if they sought out sexual contact after watching [porn on] the Internet, whether or not they felt Internet porn contributed to their engaging in “risky sex,” and whether they engaged in condomless anal sex.

Nearly all of the participants had consumed at least some porn both with (91.3 percent) and without (92 percent) condoms in the preceding three months. And researchers were able to discern a clear correlation between condom usage and the condom content of the pornography consumed by the participants; for instance, those who consumed “much” condomless porn (50 – 74 percent) could be expected to participate in 25 percent more sex without condoms than those who only viewed “some.”

Read the full article on Advocate.com.

Department of Health, Division of HIV/AIDS is seeking your input

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stakeholders survey imageYou have a stake in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The Pennsylvania Department of Health, Division of HIV/AIDS is seeking your input regarding planned activities for statewide HIV prevention and care efforts. This anonymous and confidential survey will gather your response to the planned goals for helping people at high risk for getting HIV and those that are HIV-positive in Pennsylvania. To participate in the survey go to the online survey. Please consider forwarding this link to all your co-workers, clients, and community members who might be interested in HIV prevention and care in Pennsylvania. This survey ends July 7th, 2016.
 

Pennsylvania still experiencing alarming increase in new syphilis infections

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As of May 2016, Pennsylvania is still experiencing an alarming increase in syphilis cases, primarily among men who have sex with men (MSM). Over the last 5 years, Pennsylvania has experienced a 90% increase in syphilis infections. Most were men under the age of 30.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection. If it goes untreated, it can lead to serious health problems including paralysis, blindness, and dementia. In the late stages, the disease can damage internal organs and can result in death.  In its early stages, syphilis is 100% curable with simple antibiotics.

Syphilis can be transmitted through oral sex and although condoms can help prevent infection, they’re not an absolute guarantee against it.  

You can get syphilis and not have any symptoms, so the only way to know you’re infected is to get a simple blood test. As a result of the increase in syphilis cases, the Pennsylvania Department of Health recommends that all sexually active MSM get a routine syphilis test every 6 months. Several locations around the state have free syphilis testing, click on this link to find testing near you: hivtest.cdc.gov.

To find out more about Syphilis, go to www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/stdfact-syphilis.htm

You can also email medical help at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health by sending a message to rgy2@pitt.edu.

New campaign seeks to eliminate HIV / AIDS stigma among Latinos

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From PR Newswire…

“Some Hispanics may avoid seeking testing, counseling, or treatment if infected because of immigration status, stigma, or fear of discrimination. Additionally, traditional gender roles, cultural norms, homophobia, transphobia and other stigma related to substance abuse and mental health are challenging,” stated Guillermo Chacon, President of the Latino Commission on AIDS and Founder of the Hispanic Health Network.

oneconversation_campaignmaterials_pandora_500x500_eng_staticThough Hispanics are only 17 percent of the population, they make more than 23 percent of new HIV diagnoses each year. In 2013, Hispanics had the second highest rate of new HIV diagnoses compared to other races/ethnicities.

It’s time for younger generations to get involved to stop HIV/AIDS. La Red Hispana is addressing the issue by working with its media affiliates nationwide — with an audience of 11 million people — to provide accessibility to resources via radio, digital and social media. We can stop HIV, one conversation a time.

“We are convinced that information is a powerful weapon to dispel fears of HIV. As Latinos join the conversation about HIV, it becomes more natural to talk about a topic that was taboo for the community before,” said Alison Rodden, CEO of Hispanic Communications Network- La Red Hispana.

Among the organizations joining HCN’s effort include AIDS Project East Bay, Latino Commission on AIDS, National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, National Minorities AIDS Council, AIDS.gov and Health Initiative of the America part ofUniversity of California at Berkeley.

Pinyon Foundation and HCN are members of the Partnering and Communicating Together to Act Against AIDS (PACT) initiative- a five-year partnership between CDC and organizations representing those affected by HIV/ AIDS.

For more information about the campaign, visit LaRedHispana.org/detengamosvih

 

30th anniversary celebration of PATF honors Dr. Tony Silvestre

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Hundreds gathered at the WQED studios in Oakland on Thursday, April 14th at a fundraiser to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force. The evening’s honoree, Dr. Anthony Silvestre received the prestigious Kerry Stoner Award in recognition of his extraordinary efforts in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Tony Silvestre, PhD - Professor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health

Tony Silvestre, PhD – Professor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health

Dr. Silvestre became an integral part of the Pitt Men’s Study—a groundbreaking research project at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health—in the early days of the AIDS epidemic. Silvestre, known for his experience in community organization, recruited 4,000 participants from the greater Pittsburgh area—the vast majority of whom would spend the next 33 years donating blood and answering in-depth sexual health questions as a means to understand and therefore combat the disease. The Pitt Men’s Study played a key role in research that not only helped determine how the virus was spread, but also the effectiveness of modern anti-viral medications (also known as HAART).

In addition to the Kerry Stoner Award, Silvestre also received a citation honoring his achievements in combating HIV/AIDS statewide from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

“People don’t realize that this disease is still tragically affecting many—with young black gay kids at a rate as high as in some developing nations. Those who are marginalized by race, age and sexual orientation are not on anyone’s agenda and, as a result, are often left out of the health care system,” Silvestre commented at the event. “That’s why we need organizations like PATF and the Pitt Men’s Study.”

For most of his adult life, Silvestre was central to the LGBTQ community in Southwestern Pennsylvania, lending his skills and experience to effect positive change for marginalized communities. In addition to his efforts with the Pitt Men’s Study, he worked to establish a Center for LGBT Health Research within the Graduate School of Public Health and is currently the co-director of the HIV Prevention and Care Project—an organization also within the University that provides technical assistance to the Pennsylvania Department of Health in creating a state-wide response to the AIDS epidemic.

The Kerry Stoner Award is presented annually to honor a person who has, through a longtime dedication to Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force’s mission, shown commitment to Kerry Stoner’s legacy and vision. Stoner, a tireless HIV/AIDS activist who died of complications from AIDS in 1993, was a founder and the first Executive Director of the PATF.

The PATF 30the anniversary event raised over $100,000 in support of people living with HIV/AIDS and in support of the PATF HIV prevention programs.

 

National Coalition of STD Directors honors April as National STD Awareness Month

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Washington, D.C. – Every April, the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) is proud to join its member health departments, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other partners to recognize April as National STD (sexually transmitted diseases) Awareness Month.  With the reality that last year, for the first time since 2006, rates for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis all increased concurrently, we dedicate this month to renewing the fight against STDs and refocus our members, ourselves, and our communities on sexual health and STD prevention.

“At a time when we are seeing skyrocketing STD rates, particularly rates of syphilis, we know that STD programs in state and local health departments need more funding, providers of all kinds need to scale up STD screening, and we need a renewed focus on encouraging condom use,” stated William A. Smith, Executive Director of the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD).

logoIn 2014, for the third year in a row, reported cases of primary and secondary syphilis – the stages where the infection is most likely to spread – have increased by double digits.  In 2012, primary and secondary syphilis increased by 11 percent, in 2013, by 10 percent, and in 2014, by a shocking 15 percent.  Monitoring and controlling these STD epidemics are state, territorial, and local public health STD programs, which are the backbone of our national STD infrastructure.  However, the current public health infrastructure has been continually strained by budget reductions at the federal, state, and local levels and is cannot sufficiently prepare for the reality of rising rates of STDs, and other outbreaks.

To bring attention to these growing needs, NCSD will be hosting a Congressional Briefing On April 13th, titled “Syphilis Resurgence and Why STD Programs Are Critical to the Nation’s Health.”  To bring this message home, NCSD will also be mailing “syphilis and gonorrhea to the Hill” in the form of mailing stuffed microbes to all Members of Congress’ offices.  Please contact NCSD’s Director of Policy and Communications, Stephanie Arnold Pang, for additional information on these events.

In addition, to ensure that policymakers and their staff are aware of the importance of STD programs, this year NCSD is sponsoring a Virtual Hill Day for STD Awareness on April 26th.  More information on this opportunity can be found here.  NCSD has also created a number of materials available for members’ and partners’ use to honor STD Awareness Month, including a draft op-ed, and sample social media posts, including a Thunderclap to coincides with the Virtual Hill Day for STD Awareness, which are available on NCSD’s website.

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The National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) is a partnership of public health professionals dedicated to promoting sexual health through the prevention of STDs. NCSD provides dynamic leadership that strengthens STD Programs by advocating for effective policies, strategies,and sufficient resources by increasing awareness of the medical and social impacts of STDs.
For more information, visit www.NCSDDC.org.  

National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day: The realities of our lives

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From the HRC blog…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention caused a media firestorm when it announced that Black men who have sex with men in the United States now have a 50 percent chance of being diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime.

Youth and HIVBut for us, this is not some abstract statistic. It is the reality of our lives. And it is not the whole story either. Often lost in mainstream coverage of HIV are the ways stigma and discrimination put young people like us at increased risk for HIV – while also limiting our ability to get tested or seek treatment.

How can we take steps to reduce the spread of HIV if our schools failed to offer comprehensive sex education? How could we be expected to take advantage of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis – the once-daily pill regimen that can prevent HIV – if there were no providers in our communities willing to prescribe it? How could we be expected to adhere to our medication and reach an undetectable viral load if we were constantly worried about where were going to put our heads at night? Or, what food we were going to eat? These are the questions young people are grappling with as we continue to make-up more than 25 percent of all new HIV transmissions in the U.S. These are the questions that demand answers.

But rather than scaring young people into submission with reminders of how terrible things used to be, we should be empowering them to make smarter, healthier choices. Young people don’t need to be shielded from the truth about HIV and AIDS. What we need is love, compassion, and mentorship from the people around us. What we need are laws and policies that affirm all of who we are. Only then will an “AIDS-free generation” ever truly be in sight.

Continue reading on the HRC blog.

Web series explores what it means to be undetectable

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From the Huffington Post…

A new web series from Todd Flaherty is elevating the conversation surrounding what it means to have an undetectable HIV-positive status and helping to break down stigma for those living with HIV.

what is undetectableAccording to Tyler Curry, creator of The Needle Prick Project, “an HIV-positive person can achieve undetectable levels after undergoing antiretroviral therapy (ART). A level of a person’s HIV viral load is what causes them to be more or less likely to transmit the disease. An undetectable viral load reduces the likelihood of transmission by 96 percent.”

Many people, queer and straight alike, are still uneducated about what exactly undetectable means. Flaherty’s new web series, appropriately titled “Undetectable,” follows a fictional gay man after he finds out about his own HIV diagnosis and his subsequent journey.

The Huffington Post chatted with Flaherty this week about his new project.

Social apps can also be a solution to the problem

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From care2.com…

…Men who have sex with men and trans women are two of the most at-risk groups for contracting HIV. This is due to a complex range of factors including historic under-service by public health campaigns, a general lack of targeted sexual health advice for young LGBTs and criminalization of LGBT identity and HIV-positive individuals, among others.

This study, if its findings can be replicated by future research, could represent a relatively low cost way to improve HIV testing and prevention. Some dating apps, like Grindr and Hornet, have actually already begun offering HIV testing information through their platform.

Even the federal government saw the worth in examining sexual behaviors related to dating apps and commissioned a sizable study on the topic.

While some conservative groups have said the $432,000 grant money is a waste, this latest research suggests that teaming dating apps with proper HIV testing and information services can lead to meaningful increases in awareness. Understanding interactions on these apps — and through social media in general — can hopefully lead to even more effective interventions.

It’s estimated that about 156,300 people in the U.S. are unaware that they live with HIV. These individuals remain a transmission risk with the potential to unknowingly infect their sexual partners.

Encouraging testing with targeted, relatively low-cost interventions could be one way of decreasing that number.

Read the full article: http://www.care2.com/causes/how-social-media-could-help-fight-hiv-among-gay-men.html#ixzz454Nl6HKD

Gay men follow HIV prevention regimen, if MDs prescribe it

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From Reuters…

Out of more than 1,000 gay and bisexual men surveyed, only 83, or fewer than one in 10, reported that they use HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

But 42 percent of those who do use it said they had not skipped a single dose in the previous 90 days, and only 6 percent had skipped more than two doses per week, the investigators reported at the annual meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine in Washington, DC.

Docs need to prescribe PrEPThe lesson for care providers is that men are willing and able to take a daily pill, so it is important to talk to those who could benefit and increase prescription rates, study leader Jeffrey Parsons, a professor of psychology at Hunter College, City University of New York, told Reuters Health by email.

“The majority of gay men who are . . . good candidates for PrEP are not on the medication, and many haven’t spoken to their medical providers about PrEP. We need to get conversations going, and in general promote more open dialogue between doctors and patients regarding sexual health,” Parsons said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has guidelines to help healthcare providers determine who is an appropriate candidate for PrEP with safer sex practices and Truvada, a pill made by Gilead that contains the antiviral drugs emtricitabine and tenofovir.

Read the full article.