WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A new study suggests that "POZ parties" -- events where HIV-positive men meet other HIV-positive men for unprotected sex -- could spread strains of the deadly virus that are resistant to treatment.
The study is the first to take a close look at the POZ parties, which first surfaced in the mid 1990s in New York City. The popularity of the parties has increased, and they now routinely occur in many major U.S. cities -- Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, Palm Springs, Seattle, Boston and Washington -- and other countries, including Canada, Australia and Western Europe.
When the parties first started, participants were invited by word of mouth, but now information is posted on a Web site and sent to thousands of e-mail addresses.
The parties could result in a reduction of HIV infections, which is the intended goal of many of the party participants, a team led by Michael Clatt of the National Development and Research Institute in New York wrote in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.
On the other hand, Clatt and co-authors said, it could "facilitate diffusion of HIV superinfection, both among HIV-positive men at POZ parties as well as their HIV-negative sex partners in other venues."
Clatt told United Press International, "The concern here is many men who have sex with men have limited knowledge about treatment-resistant strains of HIV infection and education resources are needed."
Resources that once went for public outreach and education have now been diverted to HIV testing programs, Clatt said. Although testing is important, it "has not been shown to have a sustained impact on behavior change in any at-risk population," he added.
Clatt said there is no evidence of HIV strains that are resistant to medications or more virulent strains emerging from POZ parties.
"It is very much a mistake to understand these environments as the cause of treatment-resistant strains of HIV infection," he said. "The evolution of treatment-resistant strains is the result of natural biological processes of genetic mutation."
Clatt added, however, that "to the extent that treatment-resistant strains are prevalent in any kind of sexual environment, they may be spread in unprotected sexual exchange, (but) POZ parties are not unique in this respect."
Paul Feldman of the National Association of People with AIDS objected to what he called "the spin" that the POZ parties could lead to spread of HIV.
"It looks like POZ and gay bashing a little bit to me," Feldman told UPI.
A bigger risk is "people who have unprotected sex with a partner who purports to be HIV negative but has had unprotected sex since their last test," Feldman said. "That's the real risk."
Feldman said that serosorting -- the practice of knowing a person's HIV status before having sex as is done at the POZ parties -- is an important and effective HIV-prevention strategy.
"This study documents that HIV-positive men who have sex with men are engaging in responsible behavior by serosorting and having sex with each other," he said.
Feldman said concerns about infection with a superstrain of HIV may be misplaced because it has not been shown to be clinically important, and less than two dozen cases have ever been reported, he said.
The recent case of a 46-year-old New York man who contracted a strain of the virus that was resistant to medication, and initially appeared to be more virulent, generated concern among gay men and public-health officials, but it now appears the reaction may have been overblown.
The New York Department of Health investigated the case, which was first reported in February, and did not find any evidence the man -- who reportedly had thousands of sexual partners -- had passed the HIV strain on to anybody else. In addition, the department announced in March that the man seemed to be responding to medications.
In the study, Clatt's group surveyed 115 men who attended one or more POZ parties in New York in 2003.
The majority described themselves as gay and white, and they ranged in age from 20 to 61. Some had become infected with HIV as recently as 2 months previous, and some had been living with the virus for 20 years. Nearly 70 percent said they were on a drug regimen that can suppress the level of HIV virus in the body but does not eliminate it.
Clatt's group raised another concern in addition to the spread of an HIV superstrain: The HIV-positive men who attend these parties might be more susceptible to other sexually transmitted diseases because they could have weakened immune systems.
Many of the participants reported attending POZ parties before, and unprotected sex with several people during one party was common. About one-third said they had contracted a sexually transmitted infection other than HIV during the past year.
Feldman saw the issue differently. The fact that many of the men knew they had contracted a sexual disease indicates that they are getting screened routinely, he said.
"Would it be better if nobody had any other sexually transmitted infections? Sure, sure, but these are the guys who are doing the right thing and getting regular screenings for STI's," he said.
