Unsafe Sex Among HIV-Positive Men

Since April, at least three Iowa men have told police they believed Aaron Dahlberg when he told them he was HIV-negative before having unprotected sex with them. Now the Inver Grove Heights man faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of an Iowa charge of criminal transmission of HIV. Dahlberg is free on $35,000 bond. Karen Egerton, a prosecutor for Iowa's Johnson County, said all of Dahlberg's accusers have so far tested negative, although the law does not require that victims be infected in order to prosecute.

While Dahlberg says he's innocent, others say the case illustrates a disturbing new trend. After nearly 20 years and millions of dollars spent on AIDS awareness, an increasing number of HIV-positive gay and bisexual men are having unprotected sex, experts say. Since the beginning of AIDS awareness nearly two decades ago, HIV prevention efforts have almost exclusively targeted one group: the uninfected. The new trend has forced the CDC and the National Institutes of Health to rethink their target audience. The CDC's education plan through 2005 now includes "a priority on prevention" for HIV-positive people.

Russ Lovaasen, a healthy-looking Minneapolis resident, has lived with HIV for 19 years. Sometimes he drops clues, such as sporting a rainbow-colored necklace adorned with a red ribbon -- the international AIDS-awareness symbol. For many HIV-positive people, Lovaasen said the fear of rejection fuels the decision to keep quiet. Sometimes that means putting others at risk. Simon Rosser, director of the HIV/STI Intervention and Prevention Studies Center at the University of Minnesota, said "very, very few" people with HIV want to pass it on to others, so they're willing to take precautions. "But every now and then, you just want sex to be spontaneous, beautiful, wonderful. That's what people with HIV want, too. I'm not saying it's right or wrong -- it's just something to understand," Rosser said.

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