Prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in Japanese homosexual men.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	07670433
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Public health/Health science
Research Institution	Nagoya University
Principal Investigator	ISOMURA Shin School of Medicing, Nagoya University Professor, 医学部, 教授 (00064832)
Project Period (FY)	1995 – 1996
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1996)
Budget Amount *help	¥300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 1996: ¥300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥300,000)
Keywords	Homosexual / STD / HIV / Chramydia / Syphilis / クラミジア
Research Abstract	Objective : To assess the seroprevalence of STD_s in homosexual men living in Tokai area, Japan. Design : A prospective study ongoing since 1986. Methods : As of December 1997,1,314 serum samples were collected from 778 participants. Interviews were conducted when test results were geiven by telephone, except for the HIV seropositives, which were given in person and counselling offered. Results : Only four of the participants were positive for HIV antibody, although seroprevalence of IgG and IgA antibody against Chlamydia trachomatis were high ; 53% and 6%, respectively. High seropositive results were also obtained of syphilis tests : in 27% of them. A small of participants had had sexual contact with individuals from countries where HIV infection rates are high. Only few of the participants had had recent episode of intravenous drug use. Numbers of male sexual partners were decreasing and unsafe sexual practices, such as anal intercourse without condom use, were also decreasing. Conclusions : The apparent low-risk behavior of the men studied here (low levels of sexual contact with foreigners and drug abuse, decreasing numbers of sexual partners and unsafe sexual practices) may explain the low prevalence of HIV infection. However, high prevalence of other STDs indicates that prospective surveillance should be continued on HIV in the studied group.