Unsafe sex still main cause of HIV infection

New research findings suggesting that unsafe medical practices are the main cause of HIV transmission have been rejected by medical experts in South Africa.

They insist that unsafe sex continues to be the main cause of infection.

The controversy began when a team of eight researchers from three countries who reviewed data on HIV infection in Africa estimated only about a third of adult cases are sexually transmitted. They said healthcare practices, especially contaminated medical injections, could also be a major cause.

The findings, reported in the International Journal of STD and AIDS, contradict widely-held views about the spread of the HI virus.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) currently estimates 5 percent of all global HIV infections are through unsafe medical care and injections. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 2.5 percent of new infections were attributed to this, Dr George Schmid, a research scientist at the WHO HIV/AIDS Unit, told PlusNews.

"The authors of the paper have raised an interesting point that has not been seriously addressed in recent years. But whatever the proportion, 5 or 60 percent we should all be working towards ending unsafe injections," Schmid said.

But, he added, "the most important message we should not lose sight of is that unsafe sex is still the leading cause of HIV infection."

South Africa's Medical Research Council (MRC) doubted the study findings. "Its an important issue that should not be ignored, but the extent of it has been over represented," Dr Debbie Bradshaw, director of the MRC's Burden of Disease research unit, told PlusNews.

The researchers had ignored sexual behaviour and looked at unsafe medical care in isolation, she said.

WHO will be holding meetings with the researchers and other medical experts next month, to "come up with a consensus and a way forward from this," Schmid noted.

"In the meantime, the population can have confidence in the health system, particularly in South Africa," he added.