Male clients of female commercial sex workers: HIV, STDs and risk behaviour

Social stigma and taboo limit current understanding of sexual behaviours an d epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in clients of comm ercial sex workers/prostitutes. We designed a study to determine risk behav iours and prevalence of STIs in a group of sexual health clinic attending m ale clients of female commercial sex workers (FCSWs) in Sydney, and to comp are these characteristics with men who denied any commercial sexual contact . Eight hundred and ninety cases and 2670 controls were included. Clients o f FCSWs were older, more likely to be married and of non-English speaking b ackground than controls. Clients had more sexual partners but reported more condom usage than controls. Prevalence of STIs at presentation was lower i n clients than controls but clients were more likely to report STIs in the past than controls. HIV prevalence was low in both groups.