The researchers undertook the current study to examine the risk behaviors of visitors to gay Web sites and to explore the Internet's role in HIV transmission among Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM). Visitors to three gay Chinese Web sites were invited to complete an online questionnaire between May and August 2006.

The MSM ranged in age from 18 to 64 (median 25), and 77.6 percent reported a college education or higher. Almost 44 percent reported little or no risk for HIV transmission. Twenty-eight percent reported no anal intercourse, while 15.8 percent reported always using a condom for anal intercourse. Only about half the MSM reported their main reason for visiting gay Web sites was to seek sex partners, although 86.1 percent reported having used the Internet to look for sex at some point.

When compared with those men who reported seeking sex partners via the Internet only, MSM who reported seeking partners both on the Internet and in traditional gay venues were older; were less likely to be students; and were more likely to have had unprotected anal intercourse, to have had more than six sex partners in the preceding six months, and to participate in commercial sex behaviors.

"The users of the gay Web sites are relatively young and well-educated and highly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, given their low prevalence of consistent condom use and multiple-risk sexual behaviors," the authors concluded. "Effective intervention programs should be implemented and strengthened in China, especially for those who seek sexual partners both on the Internet and in traditional gay venues."

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