Men Shed More HIV in Sexual Fluids

A study presented at the 44th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy has found that men have detectable HIV in their sexual fluids more often than women, potentially making them more likely to infect sex partners. Semen samples from HIV-positive men and cervical and vaginal fluid from HIV-positive women were examined. All of the study participants had detectable blood-based HIV levels. Seventy percent of the men who were taking antiretroviral drugs had detectable HIV in their sexual fluids'compared to 26% of the women taking anti-HIV medications. In men not taking anti-HIV drugs 82% had detectable virus in their semen, compared to 38% of the women not on antiretroviral therapy who had detectable HIV in sexual fluids. This 'suggests that, on or off antiretroviral therapy, men may be more infectious than women,' the researchers conclude.