Our findings highlight the importance of routinely offering HIV testing to sexually active individuals in high HIV prevalence areas. They also suggest the need to make testing more accessible to migrant and seasonal farmworkers.

Although use of the Internet as a vehicle for HIV/STI research is increasing, its viability to recruit at-risk populations such as Hispanic men who have sex with men (HMSM) to participate in community-based HIV studies is in its infancy. We report on the first 171 participants enrolled in an ongoing study exploring use of the Internet to recruit Hispanic men who have sex with men (HMSM) living in Miami-Dade County, Florida to participate in community-based studies. We report our initial success with chat-room recruitment and describe the sexual and drug use practices of the initial set of participants who were recruited through the Internet. In addition, we describe the formative work conducted to develop the Internet recruitment procedures we are testing. In two months, we spent 211 hours recruiting in chat-rooms and engaged 735 chatters. One hundred and seventy-six men came to our community sites; 172 (98%) were eligible and completed an audio computer-assisted self-interview. In the previous six months, 94.7% of participants had anal sex; 48.9% did not use condoms for anal sex or used them inconsistently; and 48.5% had used club drugs. Six-month use rates for individual drugs were: poppers (31.6%), cocaine (15.8%), ecstasy (14%) and crystal methamphetamines (11.7%). Use of club drugs was significantly associated with unprotected insertive and unprotected receptive anal sex. These initial findings point to the Internet's potential as a tool for recruiting at-risk Hispanic MSM for community studies.

This study measured use of club drugs among 262 Hispanic men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited at community venues in Miami-Dade County, Florida in 2001. More than 50% of men used club drugs, and 36% used them in the last 3 months. Lifetime and 3-month rates were: ecstasy (36% and 20%), cocaine (34% and 12%), amyl nitrates (28% and 9%), and crystal methamphetamine (20% and 15%). Thirty-six percent had used two or more drugs (polydrug use) in their lifetime and 20% reported polydrug use in the last 3 months. Club drug users had significantly more sex partners in the last 12 months than nonclub drug users. High rates (35%) of unprotected anal sex in the last 3 months were reported by both groups. Men who reported polydrug use in the last 3 months were significantly more likely than men who used a single club drug to have had sex under the influence of club drugs (83% vs. 57%; X2=7.4, p=0.006). At the multivariate level, a significant association between preference for use of English and lifetime club drug use emerged. Effective interventions to reduce club drug use and risky sex for Hispanic MSM are needed.

This study examined factors associated with being at risk of sexually acquiring HIV among a community sample of 244 Hispanic migrant and seasonal farm workers. Bilingual staff interviewed respondents anonymously at worksites, camps, and other public venues in South Florida during the 2002 winter/spring growing season. The following variables were positively associated with being at risk of sexually acquiring HIV in multivariable analyses: being female; being married; having "some" or "a lot" of knowledge about HIV transmission, having ever used marijuana, having two or more sex partners in the last 12 months, and having had a sexually transmitted infection. The findings heighten the importance of recognizing women's elevated risk of HIV infection and conducting further studies to examine the factors associated with this increased risk. The study is an important first step toward developing tailored HIV prevention interventions for this at-risk, understudied population.

This study examined factors associated with repeat (n > or = 3 lifetime) and regular (n > or = 2 times per year, for a minimum of 1 year) HIV testing among a community sample of 538 seronegative Hispanic men who have sex with men (MSM). Bilingual staff interviewed respondents anonymously at public venues in South Florida. We compared (a) repeat testers with nonrepeat testers and (b) regular testers with nonregular testers. Results of logistic regression analyses indicated that repeat testers were more likely to be older, more educated, have a history of sexually transmitted disease, and have more sex partners than nonrepeat testers. Regular testers were more likely to be younger, have lower HIV risk perceptions, and have intentionally taken their first HIV test than were nonregular testers. They were also more likely to engage in oral sex and to only engage in 100% protected insertive anal sex. These findings suggest the importance of studying both the frequency and regularity of HIV testing behaviors, and using them to design interventions to promote testing among Hispanic MSM who are most at risk.