Dramatic fall in London HIV rates 'may be due to internet drugs'

Health reporter(wp/es):

A dramatic fall in new HIV infections among gay men in London may be the result of the increased use of internet drugs, it has been claimed.

Four sexual health clinics in the capital saw a decrease in new HIV infections of about 40 per cent last year compared to 2015.

According to New Scientist, some doctors believe the decline may be due to people buying medicines known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) online.

The drugs, which cut the chance of catching the virus, have been approved in the UK as a medication for cutting the chances of getting HIV but are not yet available on the NHS.

Activists in the UK have set up a website, I Want PrEP Now, through which it can be bought from online pharmacies in India and Swaziland. The website works with NHS clinics to check the medicines are genuine.

Will Nutland, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has set up a website that gives people information on how to give themselves PrEP.

He told the magazine: “We need to be very cautious at this stage, but I can’t see what else it can be.

“Something extraordinary has happened in the last 12 months.”

Sheena McCormack, of the London clinic 56 Dean Street, says the fall in infection rates is unlikely to be due to more condom use, as rates of other sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis were about the same in 2016 as the year before.

Although PrEP use has been rising in other countries, in the UK it was low until a sudden surge in the the last year, an increase that coincided with the launch of I Want PrEP Now and Nutland’s website.