A surge in 'chemsex' parties, where people spend days getting high on ...
LONDON, Sept 12 - A surge in “chemsex” parties, where people spend days getting high on drugs and having sex with scores of partners, is re-fuelling epidemics of HIV among gay men in European towns and cities, doctors say.
The result, AIDS experts say, is that in cities across Europe, HIV is spreading rapidly among men who have sex with men - leading to concentrated epidemics in hard-to-reach groups. Chemsex is characterized by the use of drugs such as crystal meth, mephedrone and GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, to enhance sexual arousal, performance and pleasure.
In a small study published in 2014 of people attending HIV clinics in England and Wales, 30% of HIV-positive men surveyed reported chemsex in the previous year, and 10% said they’d engaged in slamsex.Ignacio Labayen de Inza, a chemsex specialist who works at several UK clinics and online as a counsellor for men seeking help, says “things have got much worse” since then.
Globally, the fight against HIV and AIDS has made dramatic progress in the past decade. According to the UNAIDS agency, 1.7 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2018, a 16% drop since 2010, driven mostly by reducing HIV rates in Africa. “People are not scared any more of HIV,” he said. “Many people I see say they think ‘it’s only a matter of time anyway, so I might as well have some fun’.”
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