After 40 years of intense study on HIV/AIDS, scientists have identified, among other things, at risk populations, stages of disease progression and treatment strategies. What has received less attention is the possibility that infection might elicit an increase in sexual behavior in humans. In 2000, Starks and colleagues speculated that HIV infection could alter host behavior in a manner that facilitated the spread of the virus. Retrospective and self-report data from five studies now support this hypothesis. Individuals with acute—versus nonacute—stage infections report more sexual partners and more frequent risky sex. Additionally, male sexual behavior increases nonlinearly with HIV viral load, and data suggest a potential threshold viral level above which individuals are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior. Taken together, these data suggest that HIV infection influences male sexual behavior in a manner beneficial to the virus. Here, we present these findings, highlight their limitations and discuss alternative perspectives. We argue for increased testing of this hypothesis and advocate for increased public health measures to mitigate the putative impact on male sexual behavior.

中文翻译：

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艾滋病毒感染会增加男性的性行为吗？

经过40年对HIV / AIDS的深入研究，科学家们确定了处于危险之中的人群，疾病进展阶段和治疗策略。受到较少关注的是感染可能引起人类性行为增加的可能性。在2000年，Starks及其同事推测，HIV感染可以通过促进病毒传播的方式改变宿主的行为。来自五项研究的回顾性和自我报告数据现在支持这一假设。患有急性而非非急性阶段感染的人报告说，性伴侣更多，性行为风险更高。此外，男性的性行为随HIV病毒载量非线性增加，数据表明潜在的病毒阈值水平高于该阈值，则个人更可能从事危险的性行为。在一起 这些数据表明，HIV感染以对病毒有益的方式影响男性的性行为。在这里，我们介绍了这些发现，强调了它们的局限性并讨论了其他观点。我们主张对该假说进行更多的检验，并主张采取更多的公共卫生措施以减轻对男性性行为的推定影响。