Increases in HIV Infection

[Brad the Impala]

Alarm over HIV infection among gay men

BANGKOK / PHUKET: While the overall figure for people living with HIV/Aids is declining, new infections among men who have sex with men have been increasing drastically during the past few years, causing grave concern at the Public Health Ministry.

Dr Somchai Chakrabhand, Director General of the Disease Control Department, said yesterday that a recent survey of gay men across the country has found that the highest risk areas were tourism centers such as Phuket, Chiangmai and Bangkok.

He was speaking at the conclusion of a one-day conference on lessons learned from the survey. About 200 health activists and gay rights advocates attended the meeting.

The most dramatic increase in HIV infections among homosexual men occurred in Phuket where the incidence of the disease rose from 5.5% in 2005 to 20% in 2007. In Bangkok, it increased from 17 per cent in 2003 to 30 per cent last year, and in Chiangmai it rose from 15.3% in 2005 to 16.9 per cent last year.

The survey also found that half of the men in this group do not use condoms with their lovers or with "temporary partners".

Male sex workers formed a high risk group for infections due to their unsafe sex behavior and lack of knowledge about protecting themselves Somchai said.

"Most of them have anal sex with their partners without using a condom and lubricant. This could cause deep damage to anal tissue and easy transmission of HIV," he said.

Chatwut Wangwon, of a joint program of the Public Health Ministry and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that while working in Phuket for four years, he found that most men who have sex with men and become infected with HIV are students, of working age and single.

At least 27% of them could have sex with men or women, which means that they could transmit the disease to women.

About 50% of them do not use condoms, while only 26% insisted that they do. Some of them do not use a lubricant but try other substances, such as detergent, which could easy destroy a condom.

phuketgazette.net/dailynews/index.asp?id=6883

Similar Threads:

• EVA AIR steep price increases
• HPV Infection
• Minimum wage increases up to 7 baht

Brad,

the sad reality is that while you and I may fully agree on this all-important subject, it is of far less interest than those more "drama-filled" topics of little or no importance on which we disagree.

I was recently reminded rather forcefully of this subject and of a post I made on it just over a month ago, part of which is reproduced below. It raised little interest then, and I imagine it will have a similar effect now.

I personally know a number of "working" Thais who have/had HIV and who are cases in point.

My "ex" was identified as HIV+ around 8 years ago. None of his friends know this and he has not had any follow up tests/treatment, despite my encouragement in the past to do so, on the basis that he will do so when he "needs to". When he told me four years ago that his wife was seven months pregnant I persuaded him that for her sake and that of his baby he should tell her, which he did. I arranged for them both to see a specialist, but they were "too busy". One year later she was pregnant again and had another son (also apparently healthy). Same advice, same reaction, same total lack of interest in safe sex/responsibility, etc, by both of them. In his case the only thing that surprises me is that having been a glue sniffer for most of the last 20 years, and an alcoholic for all of it, that he is still alive at all.

Last year my partner's brother's ex-girlfriend, who had become a close friend of my partner (who is 100% gay) left Pattaya to go home after she became "ill". One month later she died, leaving a young son (and a mother who lived in Germany, who visited her bedside for 5 minutes, and could not have cared less). Although the words HIV or Aids were never mentioned, this was simply unspoken - when I last saw her, just before she left, she was looking tired and a little drawn, nothing more. She never once tried to have any treatment. (Edit: Apparently she now may have done, as a friend reported seeing her in the HIV treatment area of Banglamung hospital; if so, it was too little and too late)

My partner's brother (who is 100% straight) had left Pattaya several months before, but was certainly subsequently aware of her death. After working in BBB he had worked for some time assisting Dr Seur (Heartt 2000) in his clinic so was well aware of the effect of both HIV and the treatment available, having helped " victims carried in at death's door" and later " seen the same people walk in looking like you or me " just as Michael Burchall describes and as he had described them to his brother (my partner); despite this he has never had an HIV test and his new wife is totally unaware of any of this.

One month ago one of my partner's oldest friends, living in Bangkok, phoned him to say that he was a "bit ill" and going home to get better. A month or so before, when he had last see him, he had lost a little weight and was slightly pale, but he was still well. He was highly intelligent, spoke very good English and made a lot of internet "contacts", many of whom sent him money without ever meeting him - he visited farangs in both Australia and Switzerland who arranged his flights, visas, expenses, etc, also before they had met in person. Yesterday my partner called his mobile, which was answered by his mother who said that he was "sleeping" and would not be able to answer the phone anymore; she suggested he call another friend who had visited him a few days before, which he did. The words HIV or Aids, again, have never been mentioned although he is clearly in a coma, in the last stages of Aids with only days or hours to go, and he had known he was HIV+ for over a year (having evidently told his mother). He had never tried to have treatment.

One week ago one of my partner's friends from his home village who had not seen him for several years telephoned him to say that he was leaving his job as a waiter at a restaurant near Si Racha to come to Pattaya to work as a waiter/host in a gay bar. He has known he is HIV+ for over a year, as do his family and close friends (including my partner). He has been receiving medical treatment, has put back the weight he lost and now looks fully healthy. He has to be careful to take his drugs exactly as prescribed and has to return regularly to his local hospital for tests and a three months supply of drugs, which are free under the Government health scheme. So far nobody else in Pattaya knows he is HIV+.

Why is it that out of these six, only one has sought treatment - and he is probably the least intelligent/educated/informed (as we would see it) of all of them?

I have no idea - I can only suggest it has something to do with his trusting his family and his friends to support him, whereas the others would, literally, prefer to "die in agony" with their family rather than risk trusting their friends and getting treatment.

The only conclusion I can draw from my own, limited, experience is that the key is not only treatment or education, but acceptance, which will be far harder to achieve.

Last weekend my partner was told that his friend, who had been in a coma at the time I wrote, had died. Personally I find it a litte sad, but hardly a surprise, that the original thread I referred to and this one, combined, had under a quarter the replies and less views than one by topjohn5 asking for advice on where to buy cheap underwear.

Correct; if a young man knows that he has the support of family and friends he is much more likely to seek treatment as soon as he is diagnosed. And, as well know, the sooner treatment starts, the better the outcome.

Its both sad and scary.

btw - the doctors i talked to in Pattaya about an Hiv Pos friend gave me much higher numbers than those you quoted Brad. I sincerely hope they are wrong.

Lets hope some genius finds a cure+vaccination soon.

That means the 27% who have sex men and women are not gays? So 1 in 3 Bar Boys are not gays. Why are we then wasting our time and money in those Bars?

[dab69]

That means the 27% who have sex men and women are not gays? So 1 in 3 Bar Boys are not gays. Why are we then wasting our time and money in those Bars?

guess you won't be going back then?

[Khor tose]

That means the 27% who have sex men and women are not gays? So 1 in 3 Bar Boys are not gays. Why are we then wasting our time and money in those Bars?

Duuuuh, how about for great sex? Works for me anyway. :ky:

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

not everyone ignores the problem Gone Fishing. The much maligned LMTU / Earwig was renting a house in Pattaya where half a dozen older fromer working lads with HIV were housed fed and clothed..even while he himself was almost homeless and broke because of a bad business deal. He isn't one to tell anyone though. I hear now he's back on his feet and in top form he's looking to set up something similar in Bangkok

That's all it takes..each person doing there own little bit...and think of the good karma !

[Wesley]

Correct; if a young man knows that he has the support of family and friends he is much more likely to seek treatment as soon as he is diagnosed. And, as well know, the sooner treatment starts, the better the outcome.

i must disagree with you there no 2nd chance with AIDS i have a friend in health and in the past 10 years they are still no further to cure it ....its another form of cancer but worse once you have it you never lose it

.I have lost two lovers and two best friends to this disease, if there is anything I can do to ease the suffering of the working boys who at our expense have been taken ill, I will do all I can to help. It has been something that so far, I have avoided, I would assume particularly, for many years, I was absolutely frightened of Anal sex of any kind. In my old age I have mellowed, unfortunately the disease has not. I did have a friend who while working with Duke Medical in the Research Triangle took every experimental drug they gave him, yet finally after 20 years with the deadly disease, recently succumbed to the affects of it.

I like oogleman, do wish and pray that some genius will find a cure; however, it seems that education is the best remedy for the time being. I do hope people will continue to help Thais4life and Pattaya Gay Charities to ensure that those who have it in our own playground will get the education and help they need in our own special Land of Smiles.

All the best,

Wes

I have thought about this topic a lot as well and it deserves way more attention than some bitching about barboys' quality, cheap underwear or whether the thai or the foreigner should shower first......!

I recently went to the community clinique in bangkok christian hospital in silom to get tested for STD's as a routine. There, I saw statistics an experiment which included 1200 thai men with man-to-man sexual contacts. 900 of them, so the clear majority were born outside of bangkok. i do not know exactly but I believe this largely includes the silom-scene (e.g. bar boys, freelance moneyboys and other dj-station-goers, of whom not so many are born in bangkok (as far as I know). I wonder if these very shockingly high rates of HIV-infection can be duplicated onto bangkok-born non-silom men?

in other words, does anyone know about any correlance between birthplace, income, education and HIV-prevalence?