Rate of HIV infection on rise among Ontario‚s gay men

After years of steady decline, the rate of HIV infection among gay men in Ontario is on the rise. In a presentation during the 13th International AIDS Conference in South Africa last month, University of Toronto researcher Dr. Liviana Calzavara reported that the rate of HIV diagnosis among the province‚s gay men has risen from 0.87 per 100 men tested in 1996 to 2.07 in 1999. In an interview published on the U of T Web site, Calzavara said the increase may be due to ”safer-sex fatigue. These people have been practising safer sex for over a decade and every once in a while they‚re going to slip.” Most of the increase took place among gay men in Toronto and Ottawa; infection rates among heterosexuals and women have remained stable.