By Paul Simao

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A growing number of gay and bisexual men in the United States are engaging in risky sex with partners they meet on the Internet, raising fears that the AIDS virus could be poised for a major comeback in the group hardest hit by the epidemic.

Online chatrooms and Web sites are replacing gay bathhouses and sex clubs as the most popular meeting point to arrange high-risk sex, according to two new studies presented on Tuesday at the 2003 National HIV Prevention Conference.

The findings come amid growing evidence of an apparent resurgence of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, as well as syphilis in men who have sex with men. The presence of sexually transmitted diseases is known to facilitate the spread of HIV.

New HIV diagnoses among gay and bisexual men have jumped more than 17 percent since 1999, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week. Some 850,000 to 950,000 Americans have the AIDS virus and approximately 16,000 die from the disease each year.

"It's clear we need to reach gay and bisexual men with appropriate messages, not only in traditional high-risk settings but also online," said Dr. Ron Valdiserri, deputy director of the CDC's National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention.

In one survey by the California Department of Health Services, 23 percent of gay and bisexual men infected with syphilis admitted meeting sexual partners on the Internet, compared to 21 percent who had done so in bathhouses.

MORE SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS

Researchers noted that men who met partners online, in bathhouses or at sex clubs tended to have more sexual encounters than those who did not.

A separate study by the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California in San Francisco found that 39 percent of gay and bisexual males interviewed online admitted having unprotected anal sex with someone they had met on the Internet in the previous two months.

Eleven percent of these respondents were HIV-positive.

Despite the sobering data, there were some signs the Internet could be used as a tool for delivering HIV prevention and safe sex messages to groups at high risk.

AIDS experts reported success raising HIV and STD prevention with gay and bisexual males online through the use of banner ads, one-on-one outreach sessions and discussions in chat rooms on Web sites.

The anonymity of the Internet often allowed educators to address issues some men might feel reluctant to discuss in clinics or elsewhere. There was also a need to heighten awareness of HIV prevention with other groups such as minorities and teen-agers.

Research presented at the conference showed about 20 percent of blacks and Latinos were unaware of the antiretroviral drugs that had revolutionized the battle against AIDS in the early 1990s.

"Information about these treatments must be communicated more effectively ...," said Valerie Mills, associate administrator for HIV/AIDS at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

About half of the estimated 40,000 new HIV infections reported each year in the nation occur among blacks.

By DANIEL YEE, Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA - The number of newly diagnosed cases of AIDS rose in the United States in 2002 for the first time in a decade, a disturbing turnaround that health officials say reflects growing complacency about the dangers of HIV.

For gays and bisexual men, HIV diagnoses rose for the third straight year.

"If we let down our guard even a little bit this is the kind of thing that can happen," said Dr. Ronald Valdiserri, a CDC deputy director.

HIV diagnoses among gay and bisexual men rose 7.1 percent in 2002 in 25 states with long-standing HIV reporting procedures, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. The number represented an increase of nearly 18 percent since 1999.

That is disturbing, because the number of newly diagnosed HIV cases per year fell steadily throughout the 1990s, even among gay men.

For the country as a whole, the CDC reported 42,136 AIDS diagnoses last year, a 2.2 percent increase from the previous year and the first rise since 1993.

The increase in HIV cases can be blamed on a younger generation that does not remember the devastation of the AIDS epidemic, lack of concern because of the advent of life-extending AIDS-treatment drugs and burnout from years of safe-sex warnings, health officials have said.

"We continue to sound this warning note to communities and state and local health departments that we need to redouble our efforts," Valdiserri said.

New cases also continue to rise because people are not diagnosed early enough and pass the infection to others before they know they have HIV, the CDC said. Officials also said it is difficult for people to adhere to complex HIV drug regimens.

There were 16,371 AIDS deaths in 2002 — a 5.9 percent decline from 2001.

"I don't think we're losing the war, but we're certainly not finished with the war," Valdiserri said.

The statistics highlight the need for more prevention efforts aimed at gay and bisexual men, said David Ernesto Munar of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.

The CDC plans to provide money to community groups in large cities that have had outbreaks of sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis and AIDS, Valdiserri said.

The report on HIV among gays and bisexuals does not include New York, California or Florida — areas of high HIV activity in the past. Also, the report does not indicate whether the new diagnoses are new or old infections; CDC officials recently unveiled a system that will be able to detect new infections starting in 2004.

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian company said it was preparing for human trials of an hi-tech gel that had been 100 percent effective in preventing HIV) infection in monkeys.

Biotech company Starpharma was given permission by the US Food and Drug Administration to test its product VivaGel on humans and the tests were likely to proceed in Australia in the next three months.

Starpharma chief executive John Raff said the gel contained a protein that prevented the HIV virus from connecting to healthy cells and infecting them.

"There's no doubt this works on monkeys, now we've got to see if we get the same results with humans," he said.

Raff said the gel, which is inserted into the vagina before sex, could be a major breakthrough in preventing HIV infection, particularly in developing countries.

"There's 42 million people with HIV worldwide and the number is expected to double in 10 years, so if we can get an effective preventative measure out there you can do the sums on what the impact could be," he said.

"At the moment they've got drugs to keep you alive but there's nothing to stop infection."

Starpharma development manager Tom McCarthy said while condoms remained an excellent barrier to HIV, the gel would allow women to take control when men refused to cooperate.

"The goal of the product is to lower the risk of HIV infection in women ... for example, they don't have to negotiate for the use of a condom with a male," said.

"The long-term benefits are in offering women the ability to control the risk of infection with STDs, especially HIV but also diseases such as herpes and chlamydia."