Boy Zone Samui recently celebrated it’s 1st anniversary party. Many friends and sponsors joined the party outside on the street, and inside Boy Zone.

After European and Thai style barbeques. the dancers from Boy Zone, Malebox and the Ladies from Star Club presented a fascinating show outside on the stage, while inside DJ Adam Madson started the party that lasted until the early morning.

“It is already one year since we opened Boy Zone and it seems to me like yesterday when I was standing here in front of you one year ago. We are very happy that we have established Boy Zone Koh Samui as one of the top gay places and that our dance show has developed in such an fantastic way. We are also very happy that so much of our friends have come together tonight and show that Boy Zone has won their hearts. We see that we are on the right way and want to continue to improve to make Koh Samui an even better gay destination” says Khun Klaus the owner of Boy Zone.

Mexico City - The first ever study of the incidence of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men in Thailand has shown that each year 5% acquire HIV, reported Wipas Wimonsate from Thai Ministry of Public Health at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City on August 4th. The men recruited to this study will continue to be followed for three years, and the data from the study will help the planning of HIV prevention in this group.

Thailand is often seen as a lesson in early and effective HIV control. However, efforts have largely concentrated on commercial sex workers and their clients as well as injecting drug users. The ongoing spread of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) had been largely ignored until a much overdue study of Bangkok MSM in 2003 found an HIV prevalence of 17%.

Although there has been an increase in HIV prevention activities in the past few years, when the prevalence study was repeated in 2005 and 2007, the figure had jumped to 28% and then to 31%. Given that prevalence was high in men under the age of 22 (who had been sexually active for a brief period), this suggested that incidence must be very high. Moreover four-in-five of those infected with HIV in 2005 were unaware of their infection.

In the current study, a cohort of 1,292 Bangkok MSM was recruited, who will be followed at four monthly intervals over a three year period. Recruitment began in April 2006, and was completed by January 2008. Participants are all Thai nationals, male at birth, resident in the Bangkok area, aged 18 or over, and have had anal or oral sex with a man in the six months before recruitment. Participants were recruited from the sexual health clinic where follow up visits were conducted, through a web site, from a range of bars, saunas and parks used by MSM, and through community organisations.

Men recruited were relatively young (73% aged 29 and under), and were frequently born outside of Bangkok (64%). A majority were employed, well educated and identified as homosexual or gay.

In this sample, 23% of men were HIV-positive at baseline. Although 48% of the cohort had previously tested for HIV, none of those with HIV had been previously aware of their infection.

In July 2008, follow-up data were available covering 985 person years of participation in the cohort study. A total of 54 men had sero-converted to HIV, which corresponds to an annual HIV incidence of 5.5%.

The mean age for those acquiring HIV was 24 (range 18-42).

Risk factors for HIV infection
Further information was provided on those who had HIV at baseline. Wipas Wimonsate described the risk factors for HIV infection as being similar to those found in other settings. In multivariate analysis, they were being aged 30 or over (compared to men 21 and under, odds ratio (OR) 2.32). Men without university/tertiary education were more likely to have HIV (OR 1.72), but on the other hand, infection was more likely in those who were employed (OR 1.70).

Unsurprisingly, men who usually had receptive anal sex were more likely to have HIV (OR 1.71), as were men with HSV-2 (OR 3.89) and rectal gonorrhoea (OR 2.54). Moreover, men who had used the recreational drug poppers in the past four months were more likely to be positive (OR 2.29).

Men who had never tested for HIV before were more likely to have HIV (OR 1.60). However men who frequently worried about getting HIV in the future were also more likely to have their fears confirmed (OR 1.96).

There was also information on sexually transmitted infections at baseline. Prevalence was high: 44% of men had hepatitis B, 20% had genital herpes (HSV-2), 4% had syphilis, 9% had chlamydia, and 6% had gonorrhoea.

Pattaya - Tourist police officers launched a raid on Dudes, a well known gay disco, at 3am Friday morning, apparently in response to the club staying open past the official closing time.

Officers shut off the club, which was packed with revellers, and conducted ID and drugs tests, resulting in 30 arrests for meth-amphetamine use, including three foreigners. A further eight people without proper IDs were also detained.

The bar manager was arrested and charged with various offences, and police have applied to the city authorities for a temporary closure order.

Kuala Lumpur - The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will consider setting up a special unit to address the “homosexual problem”.

Deputy Minister Datuk Noriah Kasnon said the ministry would also conduct a study on homosexuel offenders.

“I will bring this to the ministry’s attention so that we can address this social problem together,” she said when winding up debate on the Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan in the Dewan Rakyat here Monday.

Noriah was responding to a question by Datuk Dr Mohd Fuad Zarkashi who wanted to know whether a special unit would be formed under the ministry to provide a counseling service to homosexuals.

She said although the unit has yet to be formed, the ministry together with a non-governmental organisation had set up a social service centre in Chow Kit in August last year.

“This counseling centre provides service to Aids patients, sex workers and transvestites,” she said.

To a suggestion by Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan that a campaign be launched to draw attention to the homosexual problem Noriah said: “It is not the sole responsibility of the ministry but needs the commitment from all levels of society, the family and learning institutions.”