'POZ parties' signal potential to spread HIV 'superinfection'


'POZ parties' signal potential to spread HIV
'superinfection'
September 29, 2005
An emerging HIV risk environment: a preliminary epidemiological
profile of an MSM POZ Part in New York City Sex Transm Infect 2005;
61: 573-6
The emergence of "POZ Parties"-parties exclusively for HIV
positive men to meet other HIV positive men for sex-signals the
potential to spread HIV "superinfection,"suggests research in
Sexually Transmitted Infections.


POZ parties first emerged during the mid 1990s in New York City,
initially as informal gatherings for HIV positive gay men, to which
recruitment was largely by word of mouth.
They are now held several times a month, with information about
venues posted on a website and emailed out to some 5000
people.
And the concept has spread to several other major cities across
the USA, as well as to Canada, Australia, and Western Europe, say
the authors.
The study involved a brief survey of a sample of 115 men
attending one or more 10 POZ parties in New York during 2003.


Researchers found that those attending the parties were
predominantly white and over the age of 30. Respondents had lived
with HIV infection from as little as 2 months to 20 years since
diagnosis.
Three quarters of the men said they had been to a POZ
party before, suggesting that a
substantial number were regular attenders. The men surveyed said
that they had also used other venues to find sexual partners
The two most popular reasons for attending POZ parties were not
having to broach the subject of HIV status with a new partner and a
desire to have unprotected sex.


One in eight men said that not infecting
someone else was the main reason
for going to a POZ Party.
Unprotected sex with several partners over the course of an
event was common. Almost two thirds said they had had receptive
anal sex, while almost three quarters said they had had insertive
anal sex.
Two thirds were taking antiretroviral drugs, and a third
reported having had an additional sexually transmitted infection
within the preceding year.


The researchers say that POZ parties have the potential to
reduce the spread of HIV infection. But the risk of sexually
transmitted infections remains a concern, particularly because the
immune system response is already compromised in HIV infection.
But they point out that the mix of high rates of unprotected sex
and the use of other environments for sex may help to spread
treatment resistant strains of HIV infection.
BMJ Specialty Journals

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