The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) has released some preliminary data concerning men who have sex with men (MSM) and crystal meth use—and the results underscore just how dangerous the drug is.
From a study of 162 newly diagnosed HIV-positive MSM, 49 of them (or 30 percent) reported using meth in the six months prior to their diagnoses. Moreover, meth users were almost twice as likely to have been recently infected (in the past 170 days before the survey) than non-meth users (32 vs. 17 percent). The study also revealed that, in the six months prior to their HIV diagnoses, recently infected MSM meth users engaged in unprotected anal intercourse with five times as many sex partners as non-users.
The CDPH Office of HIV/AIDS Surveillance conducted the study while the Centers for Disease Control funded it. MSM were recruited from September 2003-December 2004.
The CDPH expects to have a completed document of the study by year’s end.