Gonorrhoea resistance among men who have sex with men: what’s oral sex got to do with it?

Abstract

The term “men who have sex with men” (MSM) refers to men who engage in sexual activity with other men, but who may also have sex with women. Relevant to healthcare delivery and sexual historytaking, many MSM do not consider themselves to be “homosexual” or “gay”, so it is important that appropriate language is used during clinical consultations. MSM are an important group of individuals from the public health perspective as they may act as a bridging population for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including human immunodeficiency virus, to pass from high-risk MSM sexual networks into the general population, and vice versa. Research conducted on 1783 men in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces showed that more than one in 20 South African men engage in consensual sexual activity with other men. 1