Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - January 24, 2003
Adrial Hampton Of The Examiner Staff
"It was a hit piece, meant to be shocking," said Shana Krochmal of the San Francisco STOP AIDS Project, who broke the story on the bug chasing phenomena for the gay press four years ago.
The Feb. 6 Rolling Stone article tells the story of a gay man in New York who actively pursues HIV infection. While nobody denies such behavior exists, critics say it grossly inflates the number of infections due to the fetish -- a number the author put at 10,000 infections a year.
The article cites Dr. Bob Cabaj of the San Francisco Department of Public Health as saying up to 25 percent of new HIV infections result from so-called bug chasers.
Cabaj denies ever saying that to the author, and said he told a fact checker to remove the 25 percent statistic.
"I did not have data, as I explained to him, but was saying it was probably more common than people wanted to think," Cabaj said in an e-mail Thursday. "I also explained that the people who exercise poor judgment after drug and alcohol use might be in the same category -- using the drugs to 'by accident' get infected."
Dr. Michael Siever of San Francisco General Hospital said the phenomenon is well known to exist, but in small numbers.
"It makes me angry about how little people check their facts and how willing they are to spread wild rumors," Siever said. "Certainly, it feeds right-wing craziness around 'we deserve this' or something."
Other people quoted in the article, including Krochmal, say their quotes were misused or simply untrue, according to various reports. Rolling Stone has said it stands by the story.
Krochmal said they don't have hard numbers on how many people convert on purpose, but surveys and interviews with newly diagnosed gay men indicate the number is extremely low. Substance abuse, risky sex and a lack of fear due to better treatments are the greatest causes of infections, prevention workers say.
But overblown articles about extreme behaviors hurt prevention efforts as federal officials push abstinence-only education, Krochmal said.
"There is nothing more frustrating than when a story is wrong and inaccurate, and that's all that this story is," she said.
E-mail: ahampton@examiner.com
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