A new study reveals that 30 percent of young men who indulge in sex with other men have higher levels of HIV, which increases the risk of AIDS.
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and other institutions found that 30 percent of young men who have sex with other men have higher levels of HIV, a risk factor for developing AIDS, according to a press statement.
All participants were part of the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN), which provides medical care to youth with HIV and offers counseling, medications, and other preventive measures to youth who are at risk of acquiring HIV. All participants of the study were also aged between 18 and 24. During the study, researchers analyzed the health records of youth with HIV soon after they enrolled in the ATN. They also measured the viral load (amount of HIV in the blood) and CD4 counts of 852 youth in 14 cities in the United States and Puerto Rico.
"In the first few weeks, the viral load can be millions of copies, or higher," said study author Bill G. Kapogiannis, M.D., scientific director of the ATN. "Then, over the ensuing months, it stabilizes at about 30,000 to 50,000 copies. Normal CD4 counts range from 500 to 1,000, but drop substantially during the infection."
Researchers noted that young men who had sexual contact with another male had the highest average viral load, in excess of 115,000. A whopping 79 percent of the participants that were diagnosed with HIV had been referred for medical care during the course of the study.
The discovery also indicated that these participants were diagnosed early in the course of HIV infection. During this stage tackling the infection and warding off health complications are the easiest.
"This is not a time for complacency," the researcher said. "Our results suggest that all health care providers who work with young people-particularly those who work with males who have sex with other males-should stress the urgency of getting tested, and, if infected, into treatment, which benefits their own health as well as reduces transmission to others."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show that 1-in-4 new HIV infections occur in young people ages 13-24. About 60 percent of all youth with HIV do not know they are infected, are not getting treated, and can unknowingly pass the virus on to others.
The study was funded by The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Mental Health.
