A New Gay App Phenomenon: HIV Biomed-Matching Sex; It is hot!

Researchers have termed a new serosorting-ish behavior that is all the rage on gay dating apps and is probably a novel HIV prevention method, all things considered.

What the hell is ‘biomed-matching’?

According to research published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, this new ‘biomed-matching’ was found as researchers analyzed survey responses from actual users of these gay dating apps.

AIDSMAP‘s take on the research:

The researchers noticed a novel seroadaptive behaviour that they call ‘biomed-matching’ – typically an HIV-negative PrEP user having sex without a condom with an HIV-positive man who has an undetectable viral load. They suggest that the pairing of two effective prevention methods is likely to be highly effective. Condomless sex between two HIV-negative PrEP users would also be ‘biomed-matching’.

Other interesting stats from the surveys when analyzed by researchers?

1. Almost 50% of American users of the gay apps, when asked, said they have communicated with someone who said they were on PrEP Truvada;
2. More than 50% of the same users said they have communicated with a potential partner who said they were HIV-positive and undetectable; and
3. Many of these users were looking for sex without using condoms.

Now there are some issues with some of the stats as AIDSMAP journalist Roger Pebody explains including missed questions like how many users discussed or engaged in condomless sex when PrEP or someone being undetectable was not discussed, among others.

Your Reaction?

What about you? Have you talked with someone on one of the gay dating (sex) apps that was on PrEP or Undetectable? Do you believe these conversations are getting easier in the gay male population?