The Internet, HIV serosorting and transmission risk among men who have sex with men, San Francisco

Abstract

In a community-based, time-location sampling survey in San Francisco, Internet-met partners were not more likely to be HIV seroconcordant among HIV-negative and HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) compared with partners met at bars and dance clubs. In addition, HIV-negative MSM were more likely to have unprotected anal intercourse with potentially serodiscordant partners met on the Internet compared with those met at bars and dance clubs (adjusted OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.0, P = 0.01).

Stable Sexual Risk Behavior in a Rapidly Changing Risk Environment: Findings from Population-Based Surveys of Men Who Have Sex with Men in Seattle, Washington, 2003–2006

“…Among HIV-negative men, we found that Internet anal sex partnerships were less likely to involve non-concordant UAI than partnerships formed in some other settings, a difference that was significant when comparing Internet partnerships to those initiated in bars or dance clubs. These findings are consistent with some reports [36][37][38], but not others [39]. In general, studies that have examined both the individual-level and partnershiplevel impact of Internet sex-seeking find that while MSM who use the Internet to find sex partners are more likely to engage in sexual risk behavior, Internet partnerships are not more likely to include non-concordant UAI than partnerships formed through other means [36,37].…”

Do men who have sex with men use serosorting with casual partners in France? Results of a nationwide survey (ANRS-EN17-Presse Gay 2004)

“…Our findings are similar to those found in other studies carried out in industrialised countries, where HIV-seropositive MSM who serosort are more likely to look for sexual partners on websites [14,16,18]. However, our study did not find that HIV-seropositive MSM were more likely than HIV-seronegative MSM to serosort [10,13,16].…”

“…Indeed, it may be easier to disclose one's HIV seropositivity to potential sexual partners during online encounters, especially on "positive-seeking-positive" websites [18]. However, for HIV-seronegative MSM, the HIV-seronegativity of potential sexual partners is as uncertain on the Internet as in other venues.…”

“…This strategy has been described as being used by MSM in several cities in industrialised countries [14][15][16][17]. It is mainly employed by HIV-seropositive MSM who use the Internet to find sexual partners [14,16,18]. Osmond et al showed that this strategy was used most frequently by the 18-29-year-olds [17].…”

Trust and Sexual Interaction: The Significance of the Internet on the Sex life and Sexual Risk Behaviors Of Gay and Bisexual Men in Spain

“…Internet and gay Web sites/chat rooms may have facilitated or potentialized certain phenomena related to sexual practices among gay and bisexual men, such as barebacking (the practice of intentional unprotected anal intercourse; Berg, 2008;Dawson, Ross, Henry, & Freeman, 2005;Grov & Parsons, 2006;Grov et al, 2007) and serosorting (the search for sex partners with the same HIV status to have unprotected sex), particularly among HIV-positive men (Berry, Raymond, Kellogg, & McFarland, 2008;Grov et al, 2007).…”