Let's hear it for promiscuity!
Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 8:19 pm
The more sex partners gay Vancouver men have, the better they are at practicing safe sex: study
A new study has found that gay and bisexual men with more sexual partners are better at practicing safe sex.
The research out of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS debunks a common myth that being more promiscuous puts you more at risk for the virus.
"I think we hear that time and time again... 'If people just reduce how many sex partners they have,'" said Nathan Lachowsky, one of the study's authors, on CBC's The Early Edition. "But it really it only takes one partner and one sexual act to transmit any kind of STI."
The study divided the Vancouver men in its sample into groups based on the number of sex partners they'd had in the past six months. It then asked them about which seroadaptive strategies they practiced — "sero" means blood and "adaptive" means changing one's behaviour.
"It's using knowledge of HIV status and HIV transmission to make a decision to alter sexual behaviours to reduce the risk of transmission," he explained.
The study found that the men with the most sex partners were also the best at employing strategies to prevent HIV transmission.
Condoms are one way to reduce HIV transmission. But asking about a partner's viral load — that's the number of HIV virus particles in a milliliter of blood — is also a good protective strategy, according to Lachowsky.
Universal access to HIV treatment in the province has improved the number of people who are able to achieve undetectable viral loads.
"That research has shown us that [having a low viral load] basically eliminates the likelihood that someone will be able to pass on the virus," he said.
On the other hand, factors associated with being worse at practicing safe sex were mental health and substance use issues. Lachowsky says that's one area he wants to look into further.
