-Caveat Lector- From http://webcenter.newssearch.netscape.com/aolns_display.adp?key=2002051002020 00182408_aolns.src
}}}>Begin Saturday, May 11, 2002 Annual HIV Tests Urged for Gay Men ATLANTA (AP) - Sexually active gay and bisexual men should get tested at least once a year for the AIDS virus, the government says in a new recommendation aimed at heading off a feared surge of infections. The new guidelines, released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mark the first time the government has made such a recommendation. Previous guidelines from federal health officials have been less specific, urging doctors to recommend HIV tests for patients whose behavior might put them at risk for infection. But studies conducted in the past few years have shown gay and bisexual men, possibly lulled into complacency by medical breakthroughs that have allowed AIDS patients to live longer, are having more unprotected sex. Rates of syphilis and gonorrhea are up among gay and bisexual men in many U.S. cities, and health officials worry those diseases signal a coming spike in HIV and AIDS rates. The new guidelines recommend annual screening for HIV, chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea for gay and bisexual men - plus vaccination against hepatitis A and B. The CDC said some men in high risk groups may need to be screened more often. ``There has been an increase in awareness of the level of risk behavior of men who have sex with men,'' said the CDC's Dr. Stuart Berman. ``There really haven't been recommendations before.'' The guidelines also urge doctors to ask their male patients about the gender of their sex partners - a question CDC experts say doctors are sometimes hesitant to ask. ``It's important for them to provide educational messages about what's important in terms of safe-sex behavior,'' said lead author Dr. Kimberly Workowski. ``A lot of times providers have reticence in asking their patients these questions.'' The CDC updates its guidelines on sexually transmitted diseases about every four years. They were first published in 1982, and the last set was issued in 1998. Among other changes in the new guidelines: The CDC recommended expanded screening among women for chlamydia, the most commonly reported STD. Women with chlamydia infections should be tested again three to four months after they finish treatment, to guard against reinfection. The agency said doctors in California should not use a class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones to treat gonorrhea. Strains of gonorrhea resistant to that class of drugs have become common on the West Coast. Gonorrhea infections have already developed widespread resistance to treatment with penicillin and tetracycline. The CDC said nonoxynol-9, a spermicide, should not be used as a way to prevent STDs. The recommendation is in line with studies over the past few years that have shown nonoxynol-9 can cause vaginal lesions, making it easier for women to contract HIV. 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