Question: What is sero-sorting? How Does it Decrease HIV Infection Rates?
The Centers for Disease Control released a report in 2005 that indicated the HIV infection rate among men who have sex with men had decreased by one half over the four previous years. One explanation for the impressive drop is a "homegrown" prevention method known as sero-sorting. What is sero-sorting and how does it help decrease HIV infection rates?
Answer:
Sero-sorting is the practice of choosing sexual partners based on their HIV status. In other words, people "sort" their potential partners according to whether they are HIV positive or HIV negative. Sero-sorting has been noted to be increasing in popularity among men who have sex with men. Unfortunately, because the fear of infecting a negative partner is removed, safer sex is often not used.
While this practice has been happening since the beginning of the epidemic, it's been just recently that HIV infection rates among gay men have been impacted by the practice. Data suggests that sero-sorting may decrease the rate of new HIV infection because there is less unprotected sex between positive and negative partners. However, the data also suggests that the rate of other sexually transmitted diseases actually may increase in frequency. The reason is simple.
Sero-sorting increases the rate of unprotected sex versus safer sex. Countless studies have proven that STDs are more common in people who have unprotected sex. While an HIV positive and negative couple (sero-discordant couple) likely would use safer sex to prevent infecting the negative partner, couples which have two positive members use safer sex much less often, thereby increasing the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, couples where both partners are thought to be negative may not have considered the window of time between exposure and a positive HIV test. The body takes some time to produce enough antibodies for an HIV test to detect. Therefore, if a test is done before there is enough antibodies to be detected, the result will be negative even though there is an HIV infection. Negative couples who do not take this fact into consideration may not use safer sex methods which in some cases may result in new STD or HIV infections.
Keep in mind that while there is evidence that sero-sorting can decrease the rate of new HIV infections, it does nothing to prevent the re-infection of HIV positive partners with new strains of HIV. Because of that, experts remind everyone that safer sex methods are still a must even between two HIV positive people.
Sources:
Carter, M. "Sero-sorting, HIV Optimism and Gay Men in Sydney"; AIDSmap News, 17 May 2006.
"San Francisco Chronicle Examines How Sero-Sorting Might Contribute To Decreasing HIV Incidence Among City's MSM" Medical News Today; 18 Feb 2006.
