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This article appeared in The Ubyssey, February 22, 2000.

STUDY SUGGESTS HIV RATE HAS DROPPED FOR GAY MEN

By Michelle Mossop

An ongoing study conducted jointly between doctors at UBC and St. Paul's Hospital suggests that the rate of HIV infection in young gay and bisexual men has dropped since the 1980s

The Vanguard Project is intended to analyse the incidence of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, among gay and bisexual men between the ages of 15 and 30.

While the overall number of HIV cases increases from year to year, the study finds that in the gay community of the Lower Mainland, the incidence of infection in the last five years is far lower than it was in the 1980s.

We wanted to focus specifically on gay and bisexual men because the bulk of the HIV epidemic is still found among gay and bisexual men in the country,' explained Steve Martindale, coordinator of the Vanguard Project. There are over 43, 000 reported cases of HIV in Canada, and the organisation estimates that 15,000 cases go undiagnosed.

For more information, contact:

Bonnie Devlin
Vanguard Project Coordinator
608 - 1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6Z 1Y6
Tel: (604)806-8306
Fax: (604)806-9044