Significant reduction in HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men. Possible effect of antiretroviral treatment?

MORANDO, NICOLÁS; SQUIQUERA, LUIS; IANNANTUONO, MARÍA VICTORIA; PANDO, MARÍA DE LOS ÁNGELES; GUZMAN, LUCÍA FLORENCIA; MARONE, RUBÉN; OCHOA, CLAUDIA; SALOMÓN, HORACIO; KOGAN, GABRIELA; LAUFER, NATALIA; VILA, MARCELO

Madrid

Congreso; HIV Research for Prevention 2018: AIDS Vaccine, Microbicide and ARV-based Prevention Science (HIVR4P); 2018

Introduction: Since 2000, NEXO NGO facilitates HIV diagnosis to sexual minorities, mainly men who have sex with men (MSM) through the implementation of a testing center. Objective: To evaluate HIV prevalence among MSM from Buenos Aires since the introduction of rapid HIV tests (RHT) in 2014. Methods: Recruitment was based on spontaneous demand of RHT, available for free in the testing center from April 2014 to March 2017. RHT were performed with finger-stick samples using Alere Determine HIV-1/2. All patients completed self-administered surveys and signed informed consents. Confirmatory and complementary studies were offered. The results were delivered to the participants within a counseling meeting. Data were analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics v22 and Epidat 3.0.Results: A total of 5687 RHT were performed in 4958 MSM. We observed a significant decrease in HIV prevalence considering the last three years of testing: 12.1%, 10.8%, and 9.2%, respectively (p