Recent results from a sexual health survey show that the rate of HIV infections amongst the gay male population of London is soaring. Sexual health workers claim that the wellness and wellbeing of men in London’s gay community is being severely damaged by so-called ‘party drugs’. They feel that there is a strong and very harmful link between drug use and gay sex, and that it increases risk-taking behaviour.
The latest published figures on the subject show that the rates of infection in London have leaped by over 20 percent. HIV/AIDS charities have warned that the virus is on the increase and is becoming the most serious public health crisis in the United Kingdom.
Across the country as a whole the rates of infection are up by around eight percent, meaning that there are around 3,240 new infections amongst gay men who have had sex with other men. In just London there were nearly 2,000 cases of the disease amongst gay men.
Drugs play a huge part in this because infection can be caused by sharing needles when users are taking drugs, but also because when people are under the influence of drugs they are more likely to indulge in risky sexual behaviours such as having unprotected sex.
Thanks to new treatments, those who contract HIV have a good chance of living a normal, healthy life, so long as they continue to take daily anti-retroviral tablets to keep the disease at bay. Nevertheless, the disease is still a massive concern, as many people do not know that they have the disease and this can lead to widespread spreading of the disease as well as people having serious declines in health due to the damage that the disease causes to the immune system, and this can even result in premature death.
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