China: Gay Dating on the Internet Causes Surge in HIV in Hong Kong

On Wednesday, Hong Kong's health director said Internet-facilitated sexual partnerships among gay men are partly to blame for the territory's cluster of HIV infections. Pin-Yang Lam told a World Health Organization meeting in South Korea that more gay men are utilizing the Internet to meet sex partners, and many are not using condoms.

Over the past two years, health officials have discovered three HIV transmission clusters among gay men. In one of the clusters, more than 50 men contracted HIV from the same initial source, Lam said. This one cluster was responsible for a sharp increase in reported infections, he noted on Hong Kong's government-run RTHK radio.

"We have seen three clusters of HIV among men who have sex with men," Lam said. "In this information age, they find new ways to meet each other and have relationships sometimes on a very casual basis, while condom use is very low."

The territory has recorded about 100 new HIV infections per quarter. Cumulatively, Hong Kong has more than 3,000 recorded infections and 900 AIDS cases.

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