According to the study carried out by the World Health Organization and published in the WHO Bulletin, the number of people aged over 50 who become HIV positive via sexual intercourse is on the rise. 

 

Quite unexpectedly, people over 50 are actually more likely to have unprotected sex than younger people. This reality corroborated with the fact that the HIV screenings for older people is less common because it is assumed they aren’t facing high risks of infection has led to the current situation that is worrying health authorities. 

 

"HIV prevalence and incidence in the over-50-year-olds seem surprisingly high and the risk factors are totally unexplored," wrote the study report published by WHO in its March bulletin and Minnesota's St. Olaf College. 

 

The researchers who carried out the study found out that the number of people over 50 in the U.S. rose to 25 percent in 2006 from 20 percent in 2003. In Europe, the number is lower. Only 8 percent of the HIV infections arise in people aged over 50 in Europe. Meanwhile, in Brazil, the number of people over 50 who are HIV positive has doubled between 1996 and 2006 from 7.5 to 15.7 cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants.

 

Now that these alarming facts are out, a future study might focus on the possible impact the drugs to treat erectile dysfunctions may have on the HIV epidemic, the WHO report said.