Washington Blade - September 6, 2002

NEW YORK -- Risky sexual behavior appears to be less frequent at gay bathhouses than in the past, but gay and bisexual men who do report having unsafe sex in bathhouses are more likely to be HIV-positive, Reuters Health reported Aug. 30. Researchers are highlighting the importance of targeting bathhouses for educational interventions to reduce HIV spread, researchers said. "Gay bathhouses have been described as 'licensed men's health clubs that provide a setting for impersonal homosexual sex,'" lead author Chris A. Van Beneden, a researcher with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, wrote in the Aug. 15 issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. While some AIDS experts take the view that gay bathhouses should be shut down, others see them as an opportunity to reach out to the patrons that visit the establishments in an effort to alter risky sexual behavior. "Well into the HIV epidemic, bathhouses remain venues for ongoing spread of HIV and opportunities for intervention," the researchers concluded.

HIV targets active human genes for rapid spread

NEW YORK -- As HIV replicates within human cells, it latches on to specific DNA within the human genome. But rather than grabbing genes at random, new research suggests the virus selects those genes that will help it replicate in the quickest -- and most lethal -- way possible. The finding could someday help scientists design better gene-based therapies to fight HIV, the researchers said in an Aug. 30 report from Reuters Health. Researchers led by Dr. Frederic Bushman of the Salk Institute for Biological Science in San Diego reported the finding in the current issue of the journal Cell. By identifying specific genes targeted by HIV, scientists may make better choices when it comes to delivering gene therapy, the researchers said.

Unsafe sex rate doubles for gay men in Australia

SYDNEY, Australia -- The number of gay men having unprotected sex has doubled, triggering calls for a renewed safe-sex campaign. Two HIV/AIDS surveillance and behavior reports, issued Aug. 21, also show that the rate of new HIV infections has remained steady over the past four years. Chris Puplick, chairman of the National Council on AIDS, Hepatitis C & Related Diseases, said some gay men were not using condoms after assuming they knew their partner's HIV status. The Annual Report of Behaviour 2002, by the National Centre of HIV Social Research, shows the rate of unprotected anal sex in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth had increased from 14 percent in 1996 to almost 26 percent in 2001. There also were significant increases in the rates of sexually transmitted infections such as chlamydia, Puplick said. John Kaldor, deputy director of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology & Clinical Research -- which released the Annual Surveillance Report 2002 -- said safe sex messages needed to be reinforced. "HIV may be becoming less scary for some people, and may in some context contribute to increases in risky practices," he said.

AIDS workers won't return to Pa. parks after dispute over condom

JIM THORPE, Pa. (AP) -- Workers with an AIDS prevention program won't be going back to parks in Monroe and Carbon counties following concerns raised when a worker gave a condom to a 13-year-old girl at a playground. The Carbon-Pike-Monroe Drug & Alcohol Commission has run its program in Monroe and Carbon counties for about three years. Commission Director Richard Mroczka said the outreach was designed to teach teens about HIV. Parents had complained after a worker gave a condom to a 13-year-old girl earlier this year when there were younger children nearby, officials said. On Aug. 26, officials from both counties told Mroczka they didn't want the group giving out condoms in places such as parks. Carbon County Commissioner Thomas Gerhard, who brought up the issue during a meeting several weeks ago, said he thinks money spent on the AIDS outreach program would be better spent helping people with other diseases such as cancer.

Gay health group to boycott Miami if rights law repealed

SAN FRANCISCO -- Maureen S. O'Leary, executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association, announced last week that the organization would cancel its annual convention, set for Miami in 2003, if an initiative repealing a gay rights ordinance is passed. "We have no choice," O'Leary said. "Miami is an exciting city and a real draw for the hundreds of physicians and other health care professionals who attend our annual meetings. à But if the anti-gay voters win, we won't be there and we will actively encourage other LGBT organizations, businesses and tourists to take their business where they are appreciated." Miami-Dade voters will decide Sept. 10 whether to repeal a law that extends job and housing protections to gays. Miami-Dade County passed its gay-rights law in 1998. GLMA, founded in 1981, represents gay health professionals throughout North America.

From staff and wire reports

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