US: Providers must be vigilant about screening for other STDs

The number of syphilis cases in the United States among men who have sex with men who are infected with HIV, as well as in the general population of MSM, are nearing “epidemic” levels, according to Ina Park, MD, medical director of the California STD/HIV Prevention Training Center and associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.

“We’re soon going to be at levels close to the early 1980s, right at the start of the HIV epidemic,” she said.

Park discusses an ocular presentation of syphilis as well as other STDs in patients with HIV. She emphasizes the importance of frequent STD screening among these patients, noting that the increase in syphilis should serve as a reminder to be vigilant. Watch Dr. Parks comments via Healio

New Zealand: Syphilis infection rates almost double

The annual number of gay and bisexual men who have contracted infectious syphilis has almost doubled, prompting a call for DHBs to make sexual health a higher priority. Sexual Health Clinics have reported a rise from 81 cases of infectious syphilis last year to 141, with 86 percent of all 2014 cases found in gay and bisexual men.

Auckland’s infection rate has more than doubled over this period, with numbers rising from 41 cases of syphilis to 85. Further south, Waikato has also seen a large increase in infection from 6 to 16 cases.

Dr Peter Sexton of the Gay Men’s Sexual Health research group at the University of Auckland says, “Syphilis will continue to spread and risks becoming a serious endemic problem unless DHBs are required to make sexual health a higher priority.”

A marked increase in infectious syphilis cases has continued in Auckland in 2015 and Saxton says Auckland and other DHBs need to develop and implement syphilis outbreak plans.  Read more via Gay NZ

US: Risky sex more common among young gay, bi men with detectable HIV

New strategies to reduce risky sexual behaviors among young gay and bisexual men with human immunodeficiency virus may be needed to reduce new infections, according to a new study.

Researchers found that most young gay and bisexual men with HIV don't have the virus suppressed by medication, making them more likely to infect others, and more than half reported recent unprotected sex.

While medications for HIV and access to those treatments improved over time, lead author Patrick Wilson said addressing unemployment, education and mental health is also important. Read more via Reuters

Now, a condom that can kill HIV

Aiming to increase global use of condoms as a way to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS, Dr. Mahua Choudhery and her team have developed a new non-latex condom which contains antioxidants and can kill the deadly virus even after breaking. The condom is made of an elastic polymer called hydrogel, and includes plant-based antioxidants that have anti-HIV properties.

"Supercondom could help fight against HIV infection and may as well prevent unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases and If we succeed, it will revolutionise the HIV prevention initiative," said Choudhury, the lead researcher.

Choudhury, who studied Molecular Biology, Biophysics and Genetics in India before getting her PhD in the US, has been researching diabetes and the obesity epidemic. She was one of 54 people awarded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Grand Challenge in Global Health" grant.  Read more via HuffingtonPost

Op-Ed: The choice to take the HIV prevention pill has nothing to do with sluttiness

I began taking PrEp, I told people the news very casually over drinks or in passing. Many times, this conversation has become a defense of my sex life. “Oh, so you’re a hoe now?” one person replied or “So you want to start having sex with everyone?”

Now that I’m taking the daily pill, the only thing I worry about is the next time I am going to be slut-shamed by another gay man for being on PrEP. When PrEP became FDA-approved in 2012, many long-time activists immediately began calling it a party drug for gay men who just wanted to have lots and lots of condom-less sex.

Others focused on “taking a drug that is poison to you”, like Larry Kramer, playwright and activist, who told the New York Times that being on it “lessened your energy to fight, to get involved, to do anything”, showing a fear that this new drug would make us lose our activist roots – that a way to save us from an epidemic that has ripped through the gay community for decades is a form of selfishness.

That’s quite a lot to put on a pill whose only job is to block the virus from staying in your bloodstream and becoming a chronic medical condition.  Read more via Guardian 

US: No new HIV infections in San Francisco community PrEP clinic

A trailblazing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) program by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation sexual health center Magnet was lauded at the 2015 HIV Prevention Conference. The PrEP health program began as a pilot program in November, 2014 and will continue to expand when it moves into a new health and wellness center, Strut, in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood.

In early December, Magnet director Steve Gibson, MSW, shared lessons learned about the PrEP health program—which has seen no new HIV infections—at the conference in Atlanta, Georgia.  Read more via Beta

A HIV-Positive Dating App Leaked 5,000 Users’ Data

A security researcher has discovered that user data was until recently leaking from two health apps: Hzone, a dating app for HIV-positive singles, and iFit, a fitness app.

These two leaks together affect far fewer people than some other breaches, however the health app leaks are significant because they contained, in some cases, unusually sensitive and personal information. They also underscore how many health apps do not have to comply with federal patient privacy laws — even if they collect personal information — if they do not share that information with doctors and others bound by those same privacy laws.

In the case of Hzone, such information included names, email addresses, birthdays, relationship statuses, number of children, sexual orientation, sexual experiences, and messages like this, according to DataBreaches.net: “Hi. I was diagnosed 3 years ago now. CD4 and Viral Load is relatively good. I’m therefore not on Meds yet. My 6-monthly blood tests are due in June. Planning to go in meds. I’m worried about the side effects. What kinds of side effect have you experienced? Xx.” As many as 5,000 users appeared in the breach.  Read more via Buzzfeed

Mexico: Surrogacy ban for gay men and foreigners

The only state to allow gay surrogacy in Mexico has now limited the service to native couples only. State legislators in Tabasco last week voted to limit surrogacy services to heterosexual, Mexican couples effectively banning gay men and foreigners. Furthermore, couples hoping to use a surrogate must include a woman aged 25-40, who will have to provide proof that she is medically unable to conceive or bear a child.

Legislators say they made the decision to “strengthen” surrogacy laws in order to avoid impoverished women in the country from being exploited.

Mexico has become an increasingly popular destination for gay couples from the US wishing to start a family. The country becomes the latest to ban surrogacy for same-sex parents and foreigners this year. In August, the Nepali Supreme court issued an injunction suspending commercial surrogacy across the country. New laws banning surrogacy in Thailand came into effect earlier this year – ending access previously available to gay couples.  Read more via PinkNews

Human Dignity Trust releases pivotal research on criminalisation and democratic values, good governance & well-being

The Human Dignity Trust has produced a series of ground-breaking notes explaining how criminalisation interacts with various key areas of democratic values , good governance and well-being.

These notes highlight how crucial decriminalisation is for states to prosper and uphold their core democratic principles. They demonstrate the variety of lenses through which criminalisation's damaging effects can be seen, from exacerbating HIV to harming businesses to undermining the rule of law.

In combination they make it abundantly clear that the decriminalisation of homosexuality must be a global priority. Topics include: Democratic Values, Rule of Law, Role of Business, Public Health, International Human Rights Law, International Organisations, and Rights in Times of Conflict. 

Read more via Human Dignity Trust
 

US: IRS denies gay couple’s deduction for fertility treatments, says homosexuality is a “choice”

Is being gay, in a long-term committed relationship, the same as being biologically infertile? That’s the argument being made by a Stetson law professor in a lawsuit against the federal government.

Joseph F. Morrissey, who teaches constitutional and business law at Stetson, is seeking to overturn a ruling by the Internal Revenue Service that denied him and his partner a tax deduction. The deduction would have been for costs associated with their use of in-vitro fertilization and a surrogate who gave birth to their twin sons.

An IRS revenue agent who denied the claim said Morrissey’s sexual orientation was a “choice,” according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Tampa.

While the amendment to his return was being reviewed, Morrissey wrote the IRS in 2014 arguing that the agency had allowed heterosexual couples’ deductions for fertility treatments, including the use of an egg donor. Read more via Tampa Tribune 

Turkey: Court sentences trans woman who spoke out against discrimination

Trans woman H.Ç. has been sentenced to one year and two months in prison after gynaecologist F.H. refused to treat her because of her transsexuality and then filed a lawsuit claiming insult against her. 

On 15 September, H.Ç. filed a complaint against a gynecologist for “discrimination, insult, preventing access to the right to medical treatment and negligence in medicine.” The governorate did not allow the investigation after the complaint. The doctor counter sued H.Ç. for 'insulting' him and the court found in his favor.

Social Policies, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD LGBTI) lawyer Rozerin Seda Kip objected to the governorate’s decision but her objection was denied by a majority of votes at the Istanbul Regional Administration Court.  Read more via LGBT Turkey