A survey on homosexual males in Taiwan shows that 90 percent of the recorded 164 HIV-positive men are gay, and that 46 percent had delayed seeing a doctor until they knew they were affected by HIV, according to the results released Sunday. The survey was conducted by the Center for Disease Control under the Cabinet-level Department of Health. The results were released on the eve of World AIDS Day, which is observed on Dec. 1. to heighten awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection.
Lo Yi-chun, a medical doctor at the center, disclosed that some of the gay men did not see a doctor until more than six months after an unsafe sexual encounter, or had waited until they developed symptoms of AIDS before seeking treatment.
He said the 46 percent of HIV-positive homosexual males who delayed seeing their doctors is a higher rate compared with other countries, where the rates range between 24 percent and 45 percent.
A previous study by National Taiwan University Hospital showed that delay in seeking diagnosis or treatment of HIV could increase the chances of death by 20 percent to 30 percent.
According to Lo, in his interviews with HIV-positive patients, many admitted that they did not think they would be so unlucky as to contract HIV in a casual sexual encounter because they had only a limited number of sexual partners.
Statistics on new HIV cases in Taiwan compiled by the Center for Disease Control showed that homosexual males accounted for 46 percent of the 728 cases certified as HIV-positive between January and May this year.
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