Article Text
Abstract
Background HIV prevalence among MSM is high, and epidemiological surveys have confirmed that HSV-2 infection can increase the risk of HIV infection and that HIV seroconversion is closely related to HSV-2 infection. In spite of high prevalence of HIV in MSM and strong association between HSV-2 infection and HIV seropositivity, there have been few studies about the prevalence of HSV-2 among MSM in China. To prevent the spread of HIV among this high risk population, there is an urgent need to investigate the HSV-2 prevalence and potential demographic and behavioural risk factors among MSM in China.
Methods A total of 1462 men who have sex with men were randomly selected from three regions (Changzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen) in China. Sera were tested to estimate the prevalence of HSV-2 (ELISA for the detection of HSV-2 type specific IgG) and HIV (ELISA for screening and WB for confirmation), while univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the degree of association between HSV-2 infection and potential demographic and behavioural risk factors. Results—The prevalence of HSV-2 antibodies was 16.0% (234 out of 1462). Factors independently associated with higher prevalence of HSV-2 antibodies were—age, educational level, exchange of sex for money and HIV status (see Abstract P1-S2.36 table 1).
Conclusions The high prevalence of HSV-2 among MSM and strong association between HSV-2 infection and HIV seropositivity suggests the urgent need for intervention to prevent HSV-2 and HIV infections in high-risk MSM in China.