To examine the correlates for syphilis and the prevalence for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C among men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) in Beijing, China. A total of 541 MSM was recruited using peer-referral, community outreach, and Internet. Questionnaire-based interviews provided information including, demographics, sexual and other risk behaviors. HIV prevalence was 4.8%, syphilis 19.8%, HCV 0.4% and HBsAg 6.5%. The median number of lifetime male sex partners was ten. In the past 3 months, 20.7% drank alcohol ≥1 times per week. In the past month, 21.3 and 14.6% had unprotected anal intercourse with regular and casual male sex partners, respectively. Syphilis infection was associated with less education, alcohol use, finding male sex partners through bathhouses/public washrooms/parks, and diagnoses of sexual transmitted diseases (STDs). Syphilis is now epidemic among Beijing's MSM. Prevention efforts are urgent as HIV prevalence is already near 5%. Education, condom promotion, STD control, and alcohol-related intervention are needed urgently.

Blood-borne infections continue to spread, but at lower rates with time among IDU in a southwestern Chinese city where intervention programmes have existed for a few years. Rigorous implementation of harm reduction programmes may have reduced seroconversion to blood-borne infections among targeted high-risk populations.

Recent data suggest that the prevalence of HIV/syphilis infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) in China increased rapidly. This cohort study was to assess the correlates of the incident infections for HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B virus (HBV) among sexually active and HIV-negative MSM in China. A cohort of 507 HIVseronegative MSM was recruited from November 2006 to February 2007. Sociodemographics, sexual and drug use behaviors, uptake of HIV-prevention services, and HIV, syphilis, and HBV seroconversions were assessed at 6-and 12-month follow-up. The incidence rates were 2.6 per 100 person-years for HIV, 16.9 per 100 person-years for syphilis, and 3.3 per 100 person-years for HBV. Multivariate Cox regression analyses showed that syphilis infection (hazard ratio [HR] ¼ 3.6; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1-11.6) and no perceived risk of HIV infection (HR ¼ 6.0; 95% CI: 1.6-22.7) were independently associated with HIV seroconversion. Predictors for syphilis seroconversion included less education (HR ¼ 1.87; 95% CI: 1.1-3.3), found male sex partners through bathhouses/public washrooms/parks (HR ¼ 2.19; 95% CI: 1.2-4.0), drank alcohol 4 or more times monthly (HR ¼ 1.95; 95% CI: 1.1-3.6), and had sexually transmitted diseases (HR ¼ 2.65; 95% CI: 1.5-4.5). The only predictor for incident HBV seroconvension was having more male sex partners in the past 3 months (HR ¼ 11.8; 95% CI: 1.5-90.4). Alarmingly high incidence rates of HIV, syphilis, and HBV were found among MSM concurrently with high prevalent risky behaviors and low uptakes of health care services. The findings of this study underscore the urgent needs for a comprehensive intervention strategy to curtail the rapid spread of HIV, syphilis, and HBV.

BackgroundChina has ambitious to achieve significant reductions in HIV transmission and HIV-related mortality by adopting the World Health Organization's “Treat All” approach. Such a prevention strategy is needed future study on regional scale.MethodsAn observational cohort study of HIV epidemiology and treatment databases was used to study the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy on the transmission of HIV in serodiscordant couples in Guangxi of China.ResultsA total of 7713 couples were entered into the cohort study analysis which included 1885 couples in the treatment-naive cohort and 5828 couples in the treated cohort. During the follow-up of 18985.29 person-years from 2003 to 2014, the average incidence of HIV was 2.4 per 100 person-years (95% CI 2.1–2.6). HIV seroincidence rate was significantly higher among the treatment naive group (4.2 per 100 person-years, 3.7–4.8) compared with the on treatment group (1.6 per 100 person-years, 1.3–1.8). An overall 45% reduction in risk of HIV transmission among serodiscordant couple was associated with ART treatment (adjusted Hazard Ratio [HR] 0.55, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.44–0.69). Treatment prevention had significantly effectiveness for most baseline characteristics of index partners, such as for male, female, age above 25 years, education below high school, farmer, infected by heterosexual intercourse.ConclusionTreatment-as-prevention can be implemented in the real-world on a national or regional scale, but ART adherence and comprehensive harm reduction while implementing this strategy require further study.