The New York Post

By FRANKIE EDOZIEN Post Correspondent

BOSTON - HIV-positive women in New York City are more likely to have unprotected sex than infected gay or heterosexual men, a new Health Department survey has found.

The anonymous computer-assisted study done in 2004 of 1,106 HIV patients found that more than 750 of them were sexually active.

Among those, 307 women were sexually active, with nearly half, 144, saying they had engaged in unsafe sex within the previous 12 months.

This shows that “people, even though they are infected, still need to use condoms,” said Christopher Murrill, the New York City Health Department’s research director.

He said condom use was essential by this group not just to prevent spreading the virus but to ensure they didn’t get other infections.

Murrill presented the findings yesterday at an international scientific gathering here to discuss HIV.

Participants in the Health Department study at four city-run clinics were not asked if they told their partners their HIV status and Murrill couldn’t say for sure if more infected women were in general practicing unsafe sex or just more willing to report it.

The reasons given by participants for unsafe sex included: partners didn’t want to use condoms; none were immediately available; some partners also had the HIV virus; and safe sex was difficult to practice.

Marjorie Hill, who runs the women’s Institute at Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), said a lot of women are still struggling with safe sex issues even when they already are infected.

“Some women don’t feel they are equal partners [for socio-economic reasons] and can’t make demands on the men,” Hill said.

She also pointed out that it is men who actually need to use the condoms.

Of 341 HIV-infected heterosexual men, 131, or 38 percent, had unsafe sex within the previous year.

For gay men, 51 out of 137, or 37 percent, had had unprotected sex with other men.

The New York Post

By FRANKIE EDOZIEN Post Correspondent

BOSTON - There are as many as 45,000 New York City residents who are HIV infected - but who haven’t been diagnosed, health officials said yesterday.

City officials will present their findings for the first time when they address 3,000 medical professionals from around the world at a major Boston conference on viruses and infections.

The startling new figures - the number of undiagnosed cases represents a nearly 50 percent increase from the 88,000 who have been diagnosed - comes in the wake of the revelation that an HIV “superstrain” may have been found in New York.

A recently infected city resident progressed to full-blown AIDS within two months and has a strain of HIV that is resistant to most drugs on the market.

State law has mandated reporting for HIV since June 2000, and officials used various surveillance methods to estimate those who were infected before the reporting requirement but remain undiagnosed.

“The majority of unreported cases are people who are undiagnosed because they have never been tested,” said Lucia Torian, a Health Department researcher.

Torian said that, at a minimum, there are 112,936 people living in New York City with HIV and AIDS. That figure is based on data the city collected in 2002.

City officials contend that without knowing the true scope of the epidemic, they cannot adequately plan, treat or stamp it out.

The middle-aged gay man with the virulent superstrain was addicted to crystal methamphetamine and he’s estimated to have had hundreds of sex partners last fall.

The case was being hotly discussed among conference participants.

“There is a lot of dialogue about how to deal with this case. People are saying, ‘How unique is this case to begin with?’ ” said Judith Auerbach, vice-president for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, amfAR.

“Is this about multidrug resistance or is it the person himself has a weakened immune system [due to his drug use]?” Auerbach wondered.

She said many of her colleagues weren’t critical of city officials for putting out the information - because they remember the first five cases that were ignored in 1981 and the catastrophic results that followed.

On the other hand, others were bothered that it didn’t come out in a release.

Dr. David Ho, of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, is treating the patient in question and is expected to discuss the case in Boston tomorrow