Survey on risk of HIV-sexual transmission from HIV-positive men who have sex with men to their male primary sexual partners through unprotected sexual behaviors

Objective To investigate the risk of HIV-sexual transmission to primary partners among HIV-positive men who have sex with men(MSM) who engaged in unprotected sexual behaviors and to determine the contributions of its factors to HIV transmission risk. Methods Participants were recruited by "snowball" sampling in Shanghai and Chengdu of China. The survey was administered face-to-face by well trained staff in a confidential room. All participants completed questionnaire anonymously. Results Approximately 26.9 percent (83/308) of participants had the sexual transmission risk to their primary partners. The results of multiple Logistic regression showed that HIV-sexual transmission risk among participants who were diagnosed HIV infection within one year was 3 times(OR=0.34,95% CI:0.15-0.79) and 6 times(OR=0.17,95% CI:0.06-0.49), respectively, than that of the ones diagnosed between 1-2 years and more than 3 years. Furthermore, disclosure of HIV infection to their family and all their primary sexual partners were protective factors for the HIV-sexual transmission risk, OR=0.24 (95% CI:0.10-0.55) and OR=0.04 (95% CI:0.01-0.13) respectively. In addition, the risk of HIV-sexual transmission to primary sexual partners among participants who looked for sexual partners by internet increased 3 times of that among participants by other ways(OR=0.33,95% CI:0.14-0.78). Conclusions HIV-sexual transmission risk between HIV-positive MSM and their male primary sexual partners could accelerate HIV spread among MSM, thus, intervention practice of early ART, sexual partner notification and family disclosure, as well as new media intervention are urgently needed.