Risk Behavior Rising Among French Gays

On Wednesday, French health officials commented on research showing that unprotected sexual intercourse is rising fast among French homosexuals. Gilles Bruecker, director of the Institute for Health Monitoring, called the results "catastrophic." ACT UP President Jerome Martin said it is time for gays to be vigilant about safe sex.

A questionnaire administered to 6,184 homosexual or bisexual men found that 77 percent had had at least one episode of casual sex in the previous year; 50 percent had had at least 10 casual-sex partners during that time. More than one-third of respondents who had anal sex with a casual partner said they had had unprotected sex at least once during the past year.

Fifty-six percent of HIV-positive men in the survey said they had had unprotected anal intercourse with a casual partner in the past year, a rate twice as high as HIV-negative men surveyed.

Britain and the United States have also recently expressed concern about the rise of unprotected anal sex, especially among young gays. Health experts fear the success of antiretrovirals in controlling HIV has created complacency.

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