THE KUKMIN DAILY

The first epidemiological survey results have come out revealing that the majority of AIDS patients are male homosexual persons. It is now expected that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) will make drastic changes in national AIDS prevention policies.

On April 13, Prof. Kim June-myung (infectious diseases department, Yonsei University College of Medicine) presented his research results, titled “Domestic HIV Infection Route Analysis: A Korean Cohort Study in HIV/AIDS Patients,” at the spring symposium of the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases (KSDI), held at Mayfield Hotel in Gangseo-gu, Seoul (photo), providing objective grounds for the argument that a significant number of domestic AIDS patients are male homosexuals.

During the period of December 2006 to January 2018, Prof. Kim’s team conducted an epidemiological study of 1,474 HIV/AIDS patients aged 18 years or older being treated at 19 hospitals in Korea. The study targets were 1,377 male patients and 97 female patients, with a male-to-female ratio of 14.2:1.

In all age groups, the research results show, the infectious routes in order of most frequency are: same-sex or bisexual contact (885 persons, 60.0%), sexual contact between persons of opposite sexes (508 persons, 34.6%), transfusion (6 persons, 0.4%), and communal use of injection needles (3 persons, 0.2%). The majority of infections resulted from same-sex or bisexual contacts.

The research also showed that in the younger age group the ratio of infection through same-sex or bisexual contact is on the rise. In the 18-29 age group, which has become the highest AIDS patients age group since 2011, the infection route “same-sex or bi-sexual contact” was 71.5%, 11% higher than the average for all age groups. Among 18- and 19-year-old AIDS patients, same-sex and bisexual contacts were a particularly high 92.9%.

In this cohort survey, KCDC and university hospitals jointly followed a group of AIDS patients in their treatments. When an AIDS patient wished to receive treatment and medication, a medical doctor counseled, and a professional counseling nurse confirmed the patient’s response as to the exact infectious route, which was recorded on the standardized cohort survey form.

These epidemiological survey results are significant in that they clearly reveal the close relationship between AIDS infections in young male patients and same-sex contacts.

Prof. Kim explained, “Infectious disease professors who treat AIDS patients in the field, and KCDC were already aware that same-sex sexual contact is the major cause of the spread of AIDS. Nonetheless, clarifying this has been difficult because there were no objective resources, and because of opposition by several organizations.”

He added, “Through this research, KCDC can now proceed with clear policies for AIDS prevention and management. When we consider that the younger generation will be the leaders of our nation’s future, KCDC, academic circles, and disease prevention organizations should work together to set up, as soon as possible, AIDS prevention measures for males involved in same-sex contacts.

The survey was conducted on approximately 10% of all 11,439 AIDS patients (as of 2016), making its results the most credible among AIDS research in Korea so far.

Article and photo by reporter Paek Sang-hyun (100sh@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)


Original Article in Korean:
남성 동성애-에이즈 연관성, 의학적 근거 나왔다: 연세대 김준명 교수 감염경로 연구