Virologist urges HIV 'bug chasers' not to infect themselves

A leading scientist has expressed alarm at a trend in the West in which gay men use social networks to seek HIV-carrying sex partners in order to get infected.

The "bug chasers" are often motivated by a desire to secure life-long medical care and social welfare benefits.

French virologist Francoise Barré-Sinoussi, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for her life-long work in fighting Aids, said in an interview with the Post that she was unhappy to see such abuse of valuable medical resources and warned that the people doing it might not be well informed of all the risks.

One group recently set up a Facebook interest page called "Bugchasing" that has been "liked" by more than 1,200 people. A US website that promotes the idea has registered more than 5,000 members.

Another US-based website called "Bug Chaser Personals" has provided services to help people to "hook-up with a bug chaser". It openly advertised on its website and urged people to "live life on the edge".

Some participants in the UK told local media they wanted to be infected to get "a better quality of life because of the [free] medication".

The phenomenon is largely confined to the UK and US.